[FM 21] Arsenal - Still Waiting For Arteta's Tiki Taka!

[ajw10]

Season Two

I was way more active than I planned to be in the window. The first thing I did was look for a back up GK, preferably HG. Burnley got relegated so I thought I'd go back and raid for another player. I managed to get Nick Pope for around £8m, a bargain.

I was happy to wait on midfielders as I wanted Ceballos and Odegaard back, so I assessed the players returning from loan. Chambers and Elneny completed their moves for £10m each to Burnley and Milan respectively. Guendouzi had a good season with Hertha and wanted to stay so I gave him a new deal, with the idea that we could sell him on for big money in a year or two, I done the same with Nketiah too. He replaces Aaron Ramsey in the squad as I won't be bringing back the Welshman.

Other deals out include Xhaka to Real Madrid for £30m, Lacazette to Norwich for £25m, Mari to Leeds for £18m, Torreira to Lyon for £24m, AMN to PSV for £8m, Kolasinac to Roma for £7.5m. Ideho and Mavropanos also leave for good money and annoyingly I lose two promising newgens to Liverpool and Manchester United.

I was happy enough waiting for the midfielders until I noticed interest for Cedric. I offer him out and Porto offer £26m. I accept and bring in Lamptey from relegated Brighton for £24m (rising to £54m but with add ons that almost certainly won't be met). 

Aubameyang then picks up an injury. 2 months with a hip issue. He's already in decline so I feel like I need to bring in an established striker and loan out Nkeitah. I somehow bring in Calvert-Lewin for £30m and Nkeitah goes to Schalke on loan.

As for the midfielders, I wrap up Ceballos for £20m but Madrid won't sell Odegaard for anything below valuation. I battle Liverpool for Milinkovic-Savic but Liverpool are favourites. However, he chose us so he becomes my final big signing for £60m.

So, £143m spent and £175m brought in, in what was supposed to be a quiet window.

Team and depth looks a bit like this

GK Leno, Pope

DR Bellerin, Lamptey

RCB Ajer, Saliba

LCB Gabriel, Holding

LB Tierney, Taylor

RCM, Partey, Willock

LCM Ceballos, Guendouzi

RW Saka, Pepe

AMC SMS, ESR

LW Martinelli, Willian

ST Aubameyang, DCL, Balogun

 

[dcaine100]

@ajw10 how did you sign Ceballos for £20m? Did u wait til he went back to Madrid?

[ajw10]

4 hours ago, dcaine100 said:

@ajw10 how did you sign Ceballos for £20m? Did u wait til he went back to Madrid?

Yeah they transfer listed him, they always do

[KillYourIdols]

Well, its 2026, Stan "The Man" Kronke has been replaced by an even more miserable T*at, who has decided whatever I do warrants a "C" for EVERYTHING in the board Objectives, yet still only want Europa Competition for the next 3 years despite years in the Champions league...Yeah, I Know.

 

Anyway, nothing REALLY spectacular Happening. Since I took over in 21 We have had 1 Premier league title, 3 Champions league Semis, 2 FA Cup Finals and won 2 Silly boys league cups. Team seems decent, but I cant complete with the spending power of City, Liverpool, United Ect. Sitting 4th, 5 points off top in a close season so far.

4-3-1-2 Tiki Taka

1st choice - Backup

Berd Leno - Den Henderson

Simon Galli - Kieran Tierney

Dayot Upamacano - Gabriel

Pau Torres - Anel Ahmedhodžić

Wiliam Saliba - Sergino Dest

Dominik Szoboszlai - Aleksandr Golovin

Teun Koopmeiners - Franck Kessie

Ferran Torres - Joe Jackson (Newgen)

Nabil Fekir- Ryan Gravenberch

Darwin Nunez - Agustin Hauch

Chris Zierkis (Newgen) -  Marcos Leonardo

[ajw10]

Season 2

 

On the eve of a massive match it seems like a good time to update.

The season is going... ok. We've had some shocking results and performances (and performers!) but we are in good shape. Smith Rowe has been the star of the season whilst Saka has had a terrible season so far.

August

A mixed month. We were poor against Manchester City but got the win thanks to a Smith Rowe header. We then lead the Super Cup with 4 mins to go and conceded two before the 90. Liverpool are horrible to play against on this game. That was Saka's only good performance so far.

We smashed Everton with Calvert-Lewin scoring his first Arsenal goals against his former side. We rotated a bit for Newcastle, but we lost due to Guendouzi two footing someone during the first ten minutes. Guendouzi has been a disgrace so far this season and he'll definitely be sold by the end of the season.

September

The Southampton game is the angriest I've been at a game in FM. We went 1-0 down early on but responded well. Calvert-Lewin and SMS were linking up superbly and we were 5-1 up and comfortable before throwing it away. Southampton seemed to score with every attack and we were just careless in possession. It's bizarre too as against Southampton and Newcastle we've conceded all of our goals so far in the League.

We battered Milan but couldn't score and then conceded in the last minute because Gabriel decided to play a dumb pass. We performed well at Leeds but didn't for the next three. Smith Rowe continued his fine season by scoring a beauty against Leicester. He's been brilliant and has played in all positions behind the striker. Against Lyon we went 1-0 down and was playing poorly because Aubameyang came off of the bench and won us the tie.

October

Great start to the month as we tore Spurs apart and managed to put them into the relegation zone. Fulham was a great win as we were missing a host of players due to tiredness from the International break. Smith Rowe hasn't been called up for England yet so he was fresh enough to grind out a win. We were 2-0 down at Ajax so a point is a fine result and puts us top of a very tight group. West Brom was probably our finest point of the season and maybe a sign that we are getting back to our best.

United's performances have started to dip too so this could be a great time to play them.

The top performers seems about right. I would say that Smith Rowe and SMS have been the stand out performers. I'm surprised that Tierney is that high as I think he's not played well this season. Calvert Lewin is the top scorer in the league but he's very streaky and I want more from him. Aubameyang definitely plays with more class

 

A huge win, although you wouldn't know it looking at the ratings

Edited March 1, 2021 by ajw10

[Swills417]

New season, new tactic. Going into the 2022/23 season with this new set-up:

 

Half inspired by Cancelo at Manchester City in real life, we have Bellerin joining a midfield 3 and even pushing on. A few quirks need to be worked out with regards to individual instructions (Pepe needs to stay wider, Aubameyang needs to be further forward and Partey needs to fine tune his positioning.  

[ajw10]

What's Auba's physicals like? He's had two hip injuries for me now so he's finished

[ajw10]

Season 2

I think I hate this team. Last season was fairly stress free as we won a lot of matches with no drama, this season we've been in control for large periods before doing something chaotic and conceding late on. We've dropped 6 points from winning positions which tells you everything.

Lets start with the squad. Auba picked up another hip injury so he's pretty much finished. Willian is going to WBA for £10m in Jan and Guendouzi will be moved on either permanently or on loan. Brazilian wonderkid Sandry is coming in for £16m to replace the Frenchman as we are so reliant on Ceballos in that midfield role. I think that'll be all of our business for January. I'm already planning for next season and I think my big signing will be Sancho. However, Leicester are in the relegation zone so there could be a lot of good players available. I'm thinking of the likes of Barnes, Justin, Thomas, Tielemans and Fofana.

Nov

What a horrible month. Scraped a win v Ajax and got an underserved draw at Anfield. The Norwich game though. We were 2-0 up and cruising before Norwich scored a header on 82. No highlights until the 89th when they equalised. Norwich had 2 shots all game and had 2 highlights. Sums up the season so far.

We followed that up with a terrible performance in Milan and finished the month off by beating a poor Bournemouth side. A frustrating month.

Dec

The month can be split into two. We played well against Wolves, but couldn't get the winner we deserved. Our match against Chelsea might be the worst of the save so far. I think there were 3 highlights all game. We beat Lyon to top the group, and our reward is Atletico, which doesn't feel particularly fair.

West Ham was a game where we led and through it away late on due to our inability to score a second.

The United game turned things around. We rested a few, whereas United went full strength. We have Leicester in the semis, so we SHOULD get to the final

Playing 4th placed Villa and 5th placed City in the space of 2 days was always going to be tough so I'm delighted with those late wins. DCL finally broke his drought by scoring two huge goals - however he's been a huge disappointment. For someone with 16 acceleration, 16 off the ball and 15s in pace and work rate he seems really slow, lazy and has poor movement. He's also scored a fair few long rangers yet only has a 9 for long shots. Bizarre player.

[Mr. VerticalTikiTaka]

18 hours ago, Swills417 said:

Half inspired by Cancelo at Manchester City in real life, we have Bellerin joining a midfield 3 and even pushing on. A few quirks need to be worked out with regards to individual instructions (Pepe needs to stay wider, Aubameyang needs to be further forward and Partey needs to fine tune his positioning.  

I played cedric as an IWB at left back in one game, and the role descriptor says that they join the midfield rather than staying wide, man city style like you said. He was unspectacular, and I prefer the full back stretching the play system, but I was wondering if I should start playing with an IWB rather than full back attack. How has bellerin been performing for you?

[Swills417]

21 minutes ago, Mr. VerticalTikiTaka said:

I played cedric as an IWB at left back in one game, and the role descriptor says that they join the midfield rather than staying wide, man city style like you said. He was unspectacular, and I prefer the full back stretching the play system, but I was wondering if I should start playing with an IWB rather than full back attack. How has bellerin been performing for you?

Early performances are promising I think he has scored 1 and assisted 1 so far in 3 games. I think the main issue is getting the other positions right. I often find the left sided inverted Winger (usually Saka or Pepe) often make the same run off the ball. Also, other player ratings have dipped in a few games. 

I think the next tweak will be to increase the attacking width to give more space to the players, but this probably works against the Gegenpress as I've found the counterpress works best when playing narrow width as the players are all closer together when they lose the ball. 

I saw a thread in the tactics forum that played one CB with an IWB either side that apparently works well in the match engine but looks horrible in the tactics creator with lots of red squares!

Edited March 3, 2021 by Swills417

[ajw10]

Season 2

Willian turned down WBA so he went for £6m to Lokomotiv Moscow instead of the £10m I was expecting. Guendouzi went for £19.75m to Hoffenheim. Sandry and an Argentinian RB regen came in what was a quiet window. We did wrap up some future foreign youth players that'll join us within the next 18 months, including new FM wonderkid Moukoko who we signed to a pre-contract

We also made money off of this, got to love Wenger's love of a sell on clause.

Jan

The perfect month, especially as we were without Partey and Pepe due to the ACON. John-Jules stepped up over two games, but has since gone out on loan to Brentford.

Feb

The Atletico game was a shambles and we were lucky to come away with only a 2-0 defeat. The League Cup final win was more than deserved. We dominated the game from start to finish and we played a changed squad against Spurs' best. Satisfying and our first domestic cup win

March

A month of two halves this. Two dreadful performances, a strong showing v Atletico but we couldn't get that goal needed to push the tie into extra time and we then beat our two main challengers to go six points clear. Saka finally hitting some form was nice too.

April

All that good work slightly undone by a bizarre performance at Bournemouth. That meant the gap was only 3 points so the pressure was on. We responded brilliantly though and we go into our last game with the title in our own hands, with Liverpool being our only challengers.

We should be ok considering our GD but Villa are a good side and Liverpool have a thrashing in them so it's not entirely over. Wolves going down is great as they are an annoying team to play against. Leicester should go down too which is interesting as they have a lot of players that could be picked up.

 

[ajw10]

We almost bottled it

[KingLara]

FM21 – Arsenal Season 1 APRIL

Closing in on a domestic double.

PREMIER LEAGUE

April began with 5 points separating the top 4 teams as we headed for a tough trip to 4^th place Manchester City. I set up for a draw but 23 seconds in we went 1-0 up through Pepe. Bernardo Silver levelled and as the game looked to be petering out into a draw with 10 minutes to go I brought on Depay. He stabbed the winner to get the month off to a great start. We scored both our only shots on target but had more possession and deserved the win.

Sandwiched in between the Europa League tie was a comfortable home win against Fulham. Despite going behind we recovered well. The final three league games of the month were all tough. We narrowly beat wolves before a Barnes thunderbolt gave Leicester a deserved draw and Burnley played well and weren’t flattered by the scoreline as I had to send on the cavalry off the bench to rescue the game.

Man City 1-2 Arsenal – Silva 39 – Pepe 1 Depay 81

Arsenal 3-1 Fulham – Draxler 31 34 Saka 71 – L-Cheek 22

Wolves 0-1 Arsenal – Depay 33

Leicester 1-1 Arsenal – Barnes 56 – Aubameyang 12

Arsenal 3-0 Burnley – Bellerin 74 Pepe 78 Aubameyang 79

 

A run of four games in eight days will test whether we can win the league. Key game against Liverpool at Anfield to come. City fallen away.

1.      Arsenal P33 P79

2.      Liverpool P32 P75

3.      Man Utd P33 P74

4.      Man City P34 P70

 

Fixtures –

Arsenal – Leeds (a) Brighton (h) Tottenham (h) Liverpool (a) Aston Villa (a)

Liverpool – Everton (a) West Brom (a) Arsenal (h) Sheffield United (a) Man Utd (h) Man City (h)

Man Utd – Crystal Palace (a) Southampton (a) Sheff Utd (h)  Liverpool (a) Everton (h)

 

EUROPA LEAGUE

All went to plan after the first leg in Rome. We played poorly with only one player (Depay) having a 7+ rating but having got the away goal I was confident we’d easily brush Roma aside at the fortress Emirates. Sadly I was wrong with no player scoring more than Pepes 6.9 as we had only one shot on target. Aubameyang also missing an early penalty didn’t help.

Not too bothered and with fixtures piling up and lots of tired bodies probably a blessing to go out.

Quarter-Final

Roma 1-1 Arsenal – Zaniolo 79 – Gabriel 29

Arsenal 0-2 Roma – Dzeko 44 Spinazzola 78

 

FA CUP

Liverpool got the Kinglara masterclass! Having gone out to Roma on the Thursday I didn’t want a double defeat so parked the bus against Liverpool who fell for the trap when Aubameyang counter attacked and scored with 11 minutes to go. Match Stats weren’t pretty but we’re in the final against Man United who beat Birmingham 5-0. Cavani hattrick and Dan James with a brace.

Semi-Final

Arsenal 1-0 Liverpool - Aubameyang 79

 

MAY FIXTURES

Despite a couple of clear spaces we still play 4 games in 8 days. Will be tough to juggle selection but needs must.

May 2^nd – Leeds (a)

May 8^th -  Brighton (h)

May 11^th – Tottenham (h)

May 13^th - Liverpool (a)

May 15^th – Manchester United (N) (Fa Cup Final)

May 23^rd -  Aston Villa (a)

Edited March 5, 2021 by KingLara

[hasdgfas]

I would consider this probably the best possible Season 1 Result: 

Bye Spurs!  Enjoy the Championship!

[Mr. VerticalTikiTaka]

16 hours ago, hasdgfas said:

 

Bye Spurs!  Enjoy the Championship!

What happened to spurs? did they sell all their best players or did loads of players get injured, or did jose just mess up his tactics. I guess the only downside to that season was the loss on hte penultimate matchday

[hasdgfas]

2 hours ago, Mr. VerticalTikiTaka said:

What happened to spurs? did they sell all their best players or did loads of players get injured, or did jose just mess up his tactics. I guess the only downside to that season was the loss on hte penultimate matchday

I don't know! They didn't sell players(until this offseason), I didn't see any huge injuries. They just...didn't work. Kane had 6 League goals

[hasdgfas]

Tried some cheeky bids for Kane, but he's not interested. Which, fair.

[whispers]

6 hours ago, hasdgfas said:

Tried some cheeky bids for Kane, but he's not interested. Which, fair.

As someone who almost only plays with spurs in FM. you arent missing out. His stats is way better on paper than his performances.

[maestro31]

Some payback after Bayern tormenting Arsenal irl. 

[hasdgfas]

I had a very eventful Season 2 Summer Window:

 

Lots of ins and outs. I am very excited to get to play with James Ward-Prowse post-buff. He has a delightful attribute layout.

 

I also brought in several young players on frees:

Start of the season has gone really well! 5 wins in 5 in the League. JWP already with 4 goals and 2 assists in these 5 games, averaging 7.45 rating. Already worth the purchase.

[Sysiphus]

4 hours ago, hasdgfas said:

I had a very eventful Season 2 Summer Window:

 

Lots of ins and outs. I am very excited to get to play with James Ward-Prowse post-buff. He has a delightful attribute layout.

 

I also brought in several young players on frees:

Start of the season has gone really well! 5 wins in 5 in the League. JWP already with 4 goals and 2 assists in these 5 games, averaging 7.45 rating. Already worth the purchase.

What do JWP's attributes look like?

[Mike_barry]

Just finished my first season as Arsenal Manager. 

On a whole I would say we preformed very well and I'm excited about next seasons prospects. 

As you can see we only missed out on the league to ridiculously good Liverpool and City sides, much like real life. 

We did however managed to win the Europa league with an emphatic 6-1 win vs Bayern Munich. Nkeitah with a nice hat trick.

In terms of standout players, most of the hale end boys where outstanding for me but particularly Nkeitah, who went on to break Thierry Henrys record of 39 goals in a season with 43.

Transfer business wasn't too crazy, mostly strengthening defence. It was my priority to bring in Max Aarons, as i plan on letting Bellerin go should a decent offer come in for him. 

I also had the board bring in Nuno Mendes for me, as much needed cover at the LB spot. He has mostly played in the Europa league but has been fantastic when needing to cover Tierney. 

We have Donnarumma and Calhanoglu coming in as free transfers in july. I have also signed DCL for 40 million and plan on getting rid of Laca and Auba. 

I will certainly be trying to bring back Martin Ordegaard but I will keep you all updated on how that goes.

[Mr. VerticalTikiTaka]

16 hours ago, whispers said:

As someone who almost only plays with spurs in FM. you arent missing out. His stats is way better on paper than his performances.

I had an interesting thing where kane barely scored or assisted all season and still won player of the year over all of my invincibles, where my defense hardly conceded and auba scored 22 goals. tottenham didnt win a trophy (obviously), finished 5th or 6th and yet his rating was still miles clear of everyone else.

[Mr. VerticalTikiTaka]

3 hours ago, Mike_barry said:

 

Did you just bit southampton 8-0? they can't catch a break. In a scrapped save I did, they were a bit of a thorn in my side, holding me to draws twice and forcing me into extra-time in the fa cup.

 

In terms of standout players, most of the hale end boys where outstanding for me but particularly Nkeitah, who went on to break Thierry Henrys record of 39 goals in a season with 43. 

How did you get the best out of nketiah? I have been struggling, especially as I prefer martinelli, auba and balogun as actual players. was he an advanced forward for most of the season?

[Mike_barry]

1 hour ago, Mr. VerticalTikiTaka said:

How did you get the best out of nketiah? I have been struggling, especially as I prefer martinelli, auba and balogun as actual players. was he an advanced forward for most of the season?

Yeah first game of the season we started off with a bang. 

I have him playing as an advanced forward. I only started playing him because Auba was going through a bit of dry patch but then he did not stop scoring

[hasdgfas]

8 hours ago, Sysiphus said:

What do JWP's attributes look like?

Note that this is after season 1, but it should look similar at the start of the game:

[KillYourIdols]

Well, I made it to 2026, 6 games in. Last season was rollercoaster. At one point 9th after a Miserable run and was this close to resigning. Games were being thrown away, the board were borderline furious and my rating was C- for a large period and people were after my blood. Somehow, after a few tweaks, things were back on track. I found myself resorting to a Causious 4-4-1-1 and happy to Shithouse my way via counter attacks to 1-0 wins, ANYTHING to keep my job The fans and Board were not impressed with the "Less than Attractive football on Offer" But I had to do what I had to do. After a Decent run, we finished 2nd, 4 points off Utd, Won the FA cup and got as far as the Champions League Quarter finals, where I was pipped by Bayern.

After getting a d ecent chunk of money from my generous Overlords, and a few Decent sales...

 

 

I looked to add a bit of Quality to the squad and work out what I coudl to to Keep that strong defensive base, but add more attacking intent. Hence this:

 

Brought in Pembele, Lund, Rice (Loan) Fabiani and Almada to Try and give me some attacking edge.

 

And so Far, It been decent. A bit of a Wobble in the firest few friends when I went the Leeds route of Conceding several but scoring 1 more, but after a few Tweaks Results have been all I could ask for:

 

Scored 25 and Conceded 3 in 6 Premier League Matches and 1 Champions League. Scored 61 Conceded 9 in all 15 games.

 

A few of the Better Players:

 

Joe Jackson, My only regen through the Youth team of any note. On a side, thats been poor for me. Need moar Hale End. Decent backup on the right for Ferran Torres. Hopeful.

Carlo Fabiani. Been on my radar for 2-3 years but Roma wouldnt sell and I didnt want to spend 80+ million they were asking for on the Off chance, especially as £80 million is all my given budget a year. Eventually, PSG unsettled him after 2 Good seasons and I leapt at the chance. Payed a bit more per week on wages, but didnt want him to slip through my fingers for £60 Million. So far, Decent. Hopeful,as his Pre-Season was Immense, as was his world cup as he bagged the Golden boot. Up yours PSG.

Alexander Lund. Replacing the Lovable Nebil Fekir who has been my Favourite signing so far this save, but how now at the age off 33 is a) Deteriating and b) Sulking. Whatevs. Looks good and covers the Vital AMC/RM positions.

Johnny Hojer. Now, this is either a Masterstroke, or a Massive Cockup and only time will tell. Signed him as a "Wonderkid" for £14 Million and his Value, without even kicking a ball is £45+ Million. The reason he Hasnt kicked a Ball? He Doesnt have a Work Permit... No one wants him on loan, He ALREADY is refusing to go on loan unless he gets a new contract (Been here about 4 Months) and my new affilliate cant have him until Jan in the window and THEN I might get a permit in the future. I might not. I might kill him before that. Sigh.

 

Thiago Almeda. Good Prospect, Beat Spurs to him ( ) but more Importantly can play ANYWHERE in the Midfield/Attack. Utilitly man at its finest.

Timothee Pembele. Kinda a "Rush" buy as Ansel Ashmodicncewsofhf-Whatever sulked off and demanded a move. Was in for De Ligt, Transfer became news and then he sodded of to Madrid. He was second on my list, albeit more expensive, he was 3 years younger. So far, Solid. Good Signing and Keeps Pau Torres out the team for now.

Simon Galli. Signed as Backup of Tierney who, Predictabily, is always injured or Jaded. Replaced him as first choice after about 2 Months. Tierney now at Chelsea and the Bonus is Pembele can cover at both WB positions.

Luis Duran. my First "Wonderkid" and we have had a Love hate relationship. Never really done it for me, had 4! people infront of him such was my distrust of him (Saliba, Dest, Emerson and Bellerin) I loaned him out JUST to stop seeing his name. Turned out OK for all involved as he is now Key and is First choice, despite spending many MANY months on the Transfer list and Unhappy. We are planning a Holiday to Cleethorpes when this is all over, just us.

Chris Zieris. First Decent chunk I spent  and has been a quality striker. Struggling to get him and Fabiani in the same squad, but its a nice problem to have I suppose. The Immense Darwin Nunez and Agustin Hauch Partnership has been disbanded. Look out Under 23's!

So yeah, that's that. Been a good start to this season and Maybe, just maybe this is the year

 

Feel free to ask Questions/Enquire on Current Former players.

Edited March 8, 2021 by KillYourIdols

[KingLara]

FM21 – Arsenal Season 1 MAY

Double Delight.

PREMIER LEAGUE

We started May 4 points ahead of Liverpool having played a game more with still a north London derby and a trip to Anfield to come. Our fixtures began with a visit to Leeds which I thought might have been tricky but after a poor start was a stroll, Partey scoring a brace. A comfortable home win against Brighton was coupled with Liverpool losing the Merseyside derby to a 94^th minute winner from who else but Alex Iwobi. They’d also lose their next game at relegated West Brom too. We still couldn’t quite seal the league against Spurs but we won the North London derby. Another goalkeeper o.g for us and an Aubameyang late goal gave us the win.  Heading to Anfield the league was all but done. A win would clinch the title and we got off to a good start with Aubameyang giving us an early first half lead. Unfortunately origi equalised and despite controlling the ball and the game we didn’t get the winner denying us from winning it ourselves.

Man United had moved above Liverpool as the only side capable of catching us but lost 1-0 at Anfield on the final Wednesday which meant we were champions. The final game came at villa and I was probably annoyed at having no guard of honour so didn’t really focus on the game. We lost 2-1.

Leeds United 1-5 Arsenal – Rodrigo 6 – Pepe 12 Partey 31 34 Willian 43 Meslier o.g 51

Arsenal 2-0 Brighton – Depay 43 Aubameyang 90

Arsenal 2-1 Tottenham – Lloris o.g 62 Aubameyang 90 – Bale 57

Liverpool 1-1 Arsenal – Origi 31 – Aubameyang 9

Aston Villa 2-1 Arsenal  – Cordoba 21 Mcginn 84 - Aubameyang 44(pen)

LEAGUE TABLE

1.      Arsenal P38 P89

2.      Man Utd P38 P86

3.      Liverpool P38 P85

4.      Man City P38 P79

5.      Aston Villa P38 P62

6.      Chelsea P38 P58

9.   Tottenham P38 P56

18. West Brom P38 P31

19. Newcastle P38 P25

20. West Ham P38 P24

Leicester got the final European place. Norwich, Bournemouth and Nottingham Forrest were promoted.

 

FA CUP FINAL

Although winning the league was always the priority I was keen to do a double. However Man United weren’t the easiest opposition.

Both sides had played just 2 days before so there were tired legs. Thankfully my players had enough in the tank to win comfortably.

FINAL

Arsenal 3-1 Man United – Aubameyang 10 68 Draxler 77 – Szoboszlai 60

 

SEASON SUMMARY

PREMIER LEAGUE BREAKDOWN

WDWWWWDWWWWWDWLDWWDWDWWWWLWWWWWDWWWWDL

HOME

P 19 W 15 D 4 L 0 GF 48 GA15

AWAY

P 19 W 12 D 4 L 3 GF 35 GA 16

OVERALL

P38 W27 D 8 L 3 GF 83 GA 31

PREMIER LEAGUER SEASON STATS

Goals – Aumaneyang 31 Vardy 23 Salah Nketiah 19 Cavani 16

Assists – Bruyne 19 Salah 17 Mane 14 Pepe 12 Moutinho 11

Mom – DeBruyne 13 Salah, Depay 9 Mcneil, Pepe 7

Av R – Salah 7.82 De Bruyne 7.74 Mata 7.43 Bruno Fernandes 7.37 Depay 7.35

 

ARSENAL SEASON STATS All Comps – (Subs)

OVERALL RECORD

P61 W43 D 6 L 12 GF 139 GA 58

INDIVIDUAL

Appearances – David Luiz 51(1) Leno 52 Partey 47(4) Aubameyang 47(4) Gabriel 46(1) Pepe 45(8) Tierney 38(1) Depay 37(8) Semedo 34(3) Ceballos 31(6) Draxler 30(15) Xhaka 29(9) Lacazette 24(12) Saka 23(18) Willian 22(20) Kolasinac 21(4) Elneny 17(25) M-Niles 16(12) Holding 15(3) Bellerin 12(1) Runnarson 9 Saliba 8(3)

Goals – Aubameyang 42 Pepe 24 Lacazette 17 Draxler 10 Depay 9 Saka 7 Willian 5 Xhaka 4 Partey 3 Ceballos Bellerin 2 Kolasinac Saliba Holding Gabriel Elneny Luiz 1

Assists – Pepe 14 Depay Saka 11 Tierney 10 Ceballos 8 Draxler Partey Willian 7 Semedo 6 Aubameyang 5 Lacazette 4 M-Niles 3 Xhaka 2 Kolasinac Saliba Bellerin Gabriel Elneny Luiz 1

Mom – Depay 9 Pepe 7 Aubameyang 4 Leno Tierney Lacazette 3 Kolasinac Ceballos Saka Gabriel Willian 2 Xhaka Draxler Luiz 1

Av R – Depay 7.30 Aubameyang 7.26 Tierney Bellerin 7.18 Pepe 7.17 Saliba 7.16 Kolasinac Ceballos 7.14 Lacazette 7.12 Semedo Partey 7.10 M-Niles 7.08 Holding 7.04 Gabriel, Luiz 7.03 Leno 7.01 Saka, Elneny 6.99 Draxler 6.96 Willian 6.93 Xhaka 6.92 Runnarson 6.78

SEASON AWARDS

Team of the Year

Leno Tierney Gabriel Luiz W-Bissaka Rashford Partey De Bruyne Salah Cavani Aubameyang

Player of the year – Salah

Young Player – A-Arnold

Manager - Kinglara

 

OTHER WINNERS

Forgot to add Italian League. Will have it next season.

La Liga – Barcelona (85 Points)

Ligue 1 – PSG (89)

Bundesliga – Bayern (86)

Europa League Final – Chelsea 3-1 Roma

Champions League Final – Liverpool 0-3 Celtic

 

SEASON REVIEW

Overall a good first season. Will be nice to be back in the Champions Leagued. I’ve brought in several youngsters on pre-contracts so interested to see who sticks when they all get thrown at the wall (proverbially)!

I plan to almost completely gut the reserves and youth coaching as well as hiring a new assistant. Hopefully having secured the league a few better coaches will be happier to negotiate.

Not sure yet about transfers. It will decide what offers come in. I want a new striker to supplement Aubameyang. Lacazette only scored two league goals. Nketiah has done well at Crystal Palace but I want more experience.

 

Edited March 8, 2021 by KingLara

[arsenalthebest]

Still going strong on my FM 20 saves  one using a DB update in the 2021/22 season the other in the 2031/32 season

for the latter I still have Saliba , Tierney , Martinelli & AMN from the real life squad

[stgahoy]

12 hours ago, KillYourIdols said:

...

Could you post a screenshot of Gravenberch? Intrerested in him and curious how good can he be, thanks

[KillYourIdols]

2 hours ago, stgahoy said:

Could you post a screenshot of Gravenberch? Intrerested in him and curious how good can he be, thanks

I'll post tonight for you bud, but he's come on a treat this season, arguably out of his best position

[KillYourIdols]

@stgahoy, as Requested

Took a bit of time, but he finally hit form after battling for a starting place. He was Clearly good enough from the get go, but just didn't click in the team. Found some form end of last season and is now in the form of his life so far this season, all from a Central midfield Attacking playmaker (Support) role. 7 Goals and 5 Assists in 9 Premier League games.

 

 

Rest of the team for anyone Interested. A lot of them prove that Star ratings rarely matter in a decent tactic.

Edited March 9, 2021 by KillYourIdols

[KillYourIdols]

Oh, for Fu...

[ajw10]

Haven't played much recently, but I'm now in Jan 2023, so a quickish update is needed. It's the awful 2022 World Cup year, which was won by Colombia, so we are only 14 games into the season.

Season 3

Transfer Window

Bit of a quiet window really. Pepe (£58m), Holding (£20m), Nelson (£20m) and Nketiah (£20m) the main outgoings in a window that saw us bring in £143m. We spent £103m on 2 players, Sancho (£70m) and Luiz Felipe (£33m). We had an £80m fee agreed for Odegaard too, but he chose Liverpool, which I am actually relieved with considering the amount of quality attackers we have.

 

Premier League

Quite a promising run really. The two defeats being the only two bad performances of the season. We played well in every win and definitely should have scored more. Saka was great at the start of the season, Sancho took over after Saka picked up a knock. DCL has been quite disappointing in front of goal and with Moukoko about to join and Real Madrid sniffing around the Englishman it might be time to cash in.

Champions League

A fairly straightforward group, although with an impressive opening win. Just a shame that our "reward" for topping the group is another hard draw.

It's all looking good so far. Everton are bottom by some way so they might be the next big team to go down. Manchester City are struggling in 13th despite spending close to £300m on the likes of Barella, Rice and Neto. Mourinho is their manager though

 

[Mr. VerticalTikiTaka]

NOVEMBER UPDATE - 2021/22 - ARSENAL

Transfers

IN

Sando Tonali -20 million

Don't know what happened with this, massive bargain for a player who should be going for around 50 million. will probably be snapped up by ac milan in real life though

Terry Griffiths - Liverpool- undisclosed

Undisclosed because I overpaid massively. That being said, he's  a 16-year old english right winger/attacking midfielder and his notable stats are 16 passing, 17 technique, 16 determination, 16 off the ball, 16 vision, alongside 13 dribbling,  14 flair and 14 balance. AT SIXTEEN! Already scored his first goal for the club v wolves in the community shield (penalty), and is listed as 2-star current ability

 

OUT

Catalin Cirjan - Fulham - 175k (230k)

Not a player I saw developing into the first team, and was slightly obstructing other youngsters, so I sold him

 

Sokratis - Wuhan - Free

Self-explanitory

 

Zech Medley - Derby - Free

Another one I saw not getting into the first team, and his contract was expiring. I hope I got this right.

 

Elneny - Valencia - 15m

Not a player I think I can develop, and 15 million seemed a good price. Am also trying, and failing, to sell torreira and xhaka.

Kolasinac- Sociedad- 10m (12.75m). 

Not good value, but I couldn't see him going anywhere, and I wanted him off our books.

Maitland-Niles - Benfica - Loan, up to 2.7 million

Mirroring real life, and I think cedric will last as the backup right back for another season

James olayinka - Aston Villa - 300k. 

300k for a player who is not particularly good is a good deal I think. didn't see him developing much

Paul Owosu - Nottingham forest - 155k

Same as above.

Bunch of players got loans for their development

 

TEAM

Slightly bloated squad, and am trying to get rid of defensive midfidlers, but I am pretty happy with the team. david luiz is still here. Key players will be aubameyang, tonali, partey, tierney, pepe, saka and martinelli. nelson is also a prettty important player

 

TACTICS

Same old. 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 custom vertical tiki-taka. sometimes switch to a more pressing game.

 

FIXTURES

After a shaky start to the season, drawing at liverpool and sheffield, we then went on a winning streak, until we lost 1-0 to chelsea mid september. continued to do well, until we played man u, losing 2-1. We beat valencia and tottenham, but we had 1 day between spurs and united in the carabao! So I had to rest half the team, and we got thrashed 4-1. griffiths got an assist, nketiah scoring. We have continued to do well, losing to valencia before bouncing back and losing to leverkusen again.

 

COMPETITIONS

After united beat chelsea, they went 2 points clear at the top of the table, with us just behind, and Chelsea 1 point behind us. spurs, are 6 points off city in 4th, but have 3 games in hand on them. We got knocked out of the carabao to united, aren't in the fa cup yet, and beat wolves in the community shield.

In the champions league, we are doing alright in the group of death with leverkusen, valencia, roma and us. We are second in the group on 8 points with 1 game to go. Anything is possible except valencia not qualifying for anything and leverkusen getting through. we face Roma soon, and a point would secure safe passage. If leverkusen draw or win v valencia, and we win v roma, we finish first. If we lose to roma, we are out.

[Mr. VerticalTikiTaka]

Mini update

We beat leeds 2-0 in the final match of november. Saka mirrored his performance v burnley by missing a sitter. a cross came in, meslier came out far too late, presenting saka with an open goal and all the tima and space in the world. he hit the crossbar. Bellerin scored a very similar goal to the one he actually scored against leeds, and tonali scored his first goal, after pickng up a ball cleared out from 25 yards, controlled it, let it bounce once, and hit a dipping volley into the top corner. 

In the FA cup, we got the easiest possible draw. we will play daghenam and redbridge, the only non-league team still in the competition.

We also beat leicester with 2 extra time goals after miranchuk (dont ask who he is) got sent off. gabriel and guendouzi got their first goals this season. Xhaka has now been sold for 20 million pounds , with the possibility of it rising to 25. Not great business, but it was the best we were going to get. A fan on social media said 'I can't wait for him to be someone else's problem'. after burnley, I agree. Torreira wants to stay, which is a disaster. I think I will have to demote him to the u-23's. 

 

We are top of the league by 1 point but united have a game in hand

[Mr. VerticalTikiTaka]

Another Mini update.

After United blew their chance to go top and drew to west brom, we blew our chance to extend our lead and drew with aston villa. Swansea are on 3 points and look a dead cert for relegation. We went top of our champions league group after beating roma 5-0 and valencia lost to bayer leverkusen. Pepe got a 10/10 match rating for 2 goals, 2 assists and 9 key passes. He was amazing throughout, and I was pleased balogun got an assist. A hilarious thing was a social media fan said after that was 'loooool, people wil overrate pepe for anything nowadays!', which is EXACTLY what spurs fans would say if this happened. Tierney has been great, as we haven't lost or conceded when he was in the team. I think I might drop Gosens

 

Also, smith-rowe is complaining that I didn't offer him an improved contract, despite me giving him a new contract, and even worse, WON'T SIGN AN IMPROVED CONTRACT???!!! what Kind of logic is that? I was wondering if this happened to you and I also have no clue how loyalty bonuses work.

Edited March 11, 2021 by Mr. VerticalTikiTaka

[ajw10]

Season 3

We are in May and I'm actually disappointed with how things went.

We were dominant until that Norwich game. Norwich were struggling and we battered them but Norwich took their chances. Lacazette obviously scored twice for them because it's FM. 

We turned it around a bit with those 3 big wins at the end of Feb, but the performances were still bad, hence the two poor results in March. It's only this month where we've put in some good form. Gabriel was the real casualty from that run, being dropped for Saliba.  Saka has missed the last 2 months with a broken leg and is only just back. DCL has 26 League goals but he's still frustrating and will miss big chances. Sancho though has been fantastic and will often score vital goals.

Moukoko has been great on the RW slot but I can't get him working up front.

We look good for the league but our two away games coming up are massive. Our away form has been sketchy all season whereas our home form is literally perfect. Only 3 goals conceded all season at home. Manchester United do have 3 away games though.

FA Cup

Apart from a crazy semi final where we scored two late goals, it's been a comfortable run and one which will surely end up with us winning it.

Champions League

The 4-0 was what caused me to drop Gabriel. That's twice we've gone out in the first knockouts. We need to improve next season.

Transfer News

Camavinga is coming in on a free. I don't really need him but I can't turn down a freebie, especially one that will be worth loads.

I also have a lot of good regens and a lot of striking regens so big decisions have to be made. Balogun is having a great half season at West Ham so it might be time to cash in

[BrickCommo23]

Finally finished third season and I'm continuing to struggle (but the Board remain delighted as I am ahead of their gentle schedule). 

Season ended like this:

We had some good results but away from home we really struggled and eventually limped into fourth place to get back into the Champions League.

However, at the end of the season I may have finally found a system worth sticking with:

The plan for this offseason is get a bit brutal with the squad and the likes of Holding, Maitland-Niles and others will be on their way out.

So far, I have made a move for Upamecano (original I know) but otherwise I am convinced the team is good enough to do better. We shall see...

[Harper]

Haven't restarted an Arsenal save, but continuing on with my first.

Have built a monster first XI. Tallest in the league. 

GK: Szczesney, 6'5"

RB: Mert Mülder, 6'2"

DCR: Anel Ahmedhodzic, 6'5"

DCL: Gabriel, 6'3"

LB: Riccardo Calafiori, 6'2"

MCR: Gaetano Castrovilli, 6'2"

MCL: Teun Koopmeiners, 6'0

AMR: Reiss Nelson, 5'9"

AMC: Dominik Szoboszlai, 6'1"

AML: Bukayo Saka, 5'10"

ST: Erling Haaland, 6'4"

S1: Karl Jakob Hein (GK), 6'5" ( for injured Emiliano Martinez, 6'4")

S2: Dan-Axel Zagadou (DCL), 6'5" (William Saliba (DCR), 6'4")

S3: Jesse Carden (DL), 5'9"

S4: Diego Rosa (MC), 5'10" (for injured Rúben Neves (MC), 5'11)

S5: Emile Smith Rowe (AMC/L), 6'0"

S6: Nicolò Zaniolo, (AMC/R), 6'2"

S7: Pierre-Emerick Aubamayeng (ST), 6'2"

 

Edited March 12, 2021 by Harper

[ajw10]

Season 3 is over. We won the double, which was nice.

Auba scoring on his last Arsenal appearance was a lovely moment. Sancho cleaned up the Arsenal POTY awards and it was deserved, he was incredible

 

Huge summer ahead as it's time to make decisions on youth team players. We have a lot of talent in the academy teams.

[KillYourIdols]

Minor update, we won the league (Just) by virtue of drawing with Leicester and Leeds knicking a draw at Chelsea on the last day, and just 13 days later Waltzed past Bayern 3-0 in the Cbanpions league final. Newgen Chris Zierkis won Premier League young player of the Year, German player of the year and came second in the Golden Boot, Leno won the Golden Gloves award.

 

A REAL mixed bag. Scored the most and conceded the least in the league but it just didn't FEEL like we were playing well, despite several 5/6 -1 wins and victories over Chelsea, Liverpool, City and a Vital 5-1 win over United towards the end. I never felt "In control" if that makes sense. 

Only 1 major signing this year as, despite being within wage budget and winning 2 trophies, finances are pretty poor. Need to work on that, but Francisco Conceição signed from Liverpool for £59 million, taking up all my budget. I don't really need anyone, but that Right wing position may be problematic as Ferran Torres has been out for 5 months and may not be the same for a while, if ever. As Good as a few of the youngsters are, and they are really good, I will need to rotate at their age, and a good player who can play in multiple positions is a must. 

Team going into the First pre season friendly is...

 

                   Zierkis           Fabiani

 

Gravenberch          Lund             Conceição

 

                 Koopmeiners   Kessie 

 

Galli      Upacamecano     Pembele      Duran

 

                                  Leno

   

And I need a new keeper. Leno is 35 now and dwindling 😔 currently trying to shift 3-4 prospects that won't make it to drum up 100m. I'm lucky in that department, I've brought young, developed and moved on.

Edited March 16, 2021 by KillYourIdols

[bigman]

Anyone here know how to actually make vvd and Gomez actually be injured to start the game? They have injuries listed in the database but when you start a new game they are fine. I want to start with some realism and they have been out most of the season 

[BrickCommo23]

On 16/03/2021 at 19:07, KillYourIdols said:

Minor update, we won the league (Just) by virtue of drawing with Leicester and Leeds knicking a draw at Chelsea on the last day, and just 13 days later Waltzed past Bayern 3-0 in the Cbanpions league final. Newgen Chris Zierkis won Premier League young player of the Year, German player of the year and came second in the Golden Boot, Leno won the Golden Gloves award.

 

A REAL mixed bag. Scored the most and conceded the least in the league but it just didn't FEEL like we were playing well, despite several 5/6 -1 wins and victories over Chelsea, Liverpool, City and a Vital 5-1 win over United towards the end. I never felt "In control" if that makes sense. 

Only 1 major signing this year as, despite being within wage budget and winning 2 trophies, finances are pretty poor. Need to work on that, but Francisco Conceição signed from Liverpool for £59 million, taking up all my budget. I don't really need anyone, but that Right wing position may be problematic as Ferran Torres has been out for 5 months and may not be the same for a while, if ever. As Good as a few of the youngsters are, and they are really good, I will need to rotate at their age, and a good player who can play in multiple positions is a must. 

Team going into the First pre season friendly is...

 

                   Zierkis           Fabiani

 

Gravenberch          Lund             Conceição

 

                 Koopmeiners   Kessie 

 

Galli      Upacamecano     Pembele      Duran

 

                                  Leno

   

And I need a new keeper. Leno is 35 now and dwindling 😔 currently trying to shift 3-4 prospects that won't make it to drum up 100m. I'm lucky in that department, I've brought young, developed and moved on.

No wonder you won the league if you're playing with 12...

Still great work though and I like the signings. 

[Harper]

Love it when the kids shine bright.

 

[Swills417]

How has everyone found Aubameyang plays a few seasons into the game? I see quite a few players move him on in the first 2 seasons. Will be interested to see if anyone has managed to squeeze anything out of a 33-34 year old forward like him. On my save, his performances are on the precipice of falling off a cliff. Despite a fairly decent natural fitness, his attributes have shown a lot of red and orange arrows recently, without the expected re-balancing of physicals to mental attributes. I kind of want to squeeze that off-the-ball attribute and decisions and composure up to 20 but can't figure out how.

 

 

We are onto October 2022, into the winter world cup year and hoping to be in a good position before the squad breaks for that tournament. Our form has been indifferent this season, with 22 points from 11 games putting us in 4th in the league. We look likely to qualify for the knockouts of the Champions League despite a few wobbly games against Standard Liege and Valencia. I blame these on pitch performances due to summer squad churn, with a number of high profile incoming transfers:

Summer 2022 Transfers In:

• Varane - £79m (rising to £82m)
• David Neres - £64m
• Timo Werner  - £22m (rising to £28m)
• Joao Pedro - £16m
• Vlahovic - £9m (loaned back to Fiorentina for the season)
• Villalibre - £4m (rising to £8m)
• Safonov - £6m (rising to £12m)

 

We spent lots of of the hard earned budget this window. We needed the strengthen as our rivals has loosened the purse strings sufficiently to shake off the financial shackles of the first 2 seasons. Varane was transfer listed as Real Madrid failed to qualify for the Champions League. He hasn't started particularily well, but I'm optimistic once he settles our defence will be able to push to retain the title for the 3rd season and challenge in the later stages of Europe. David Neres was a director of football tranfer, as I tried to ship Pepe off to Real Madrid, but failed to secure a satisfactory offer from them. Wener was agreed at the end of the previous season. 

Pedro was signed as an investment for the future with Aubameyang's form being indifferent. Vlahavic and Villalibre were rotational signings for good value, with the intention of perhaps selling for a profit in the future. Safanov from Krasnodar is a Russia goalkeeper who is meant to be a future star IRL, and is semi-decent as back-up to Leno. 

Summer 2022 Transfers Out: 

• Torreira - £31.5m - AS Roma
• Pablo Mari - £21.5m - Marseille
• Sergio Gomez - £7.75m - Hamburg
• Balogun - £4.7m - Wolves
• Plus a number of young players with sell on clauses

 

Notable Loans Summer 2022 Out:

• Reiss Nelsen - Hamburg
• Martinlelli - Hamburg
• Maitland-Niles - Valencia (with an option to buy)
• Saliba - Osasuna

 

[Harper]

1 hour ago, Swills417 said:

How has everyone found Aubameyang plays a few seasons into the game? I see quite a few players move him on in the first 2 seasons. Will be interested to see if anyone has managed to squeeze anything out of a 33-34 year old forward like him. On my save, his performances are on the precipice of falling off a cliff. Despite a fairly decent natural fitness, his attributes have shown a lot of red and orange arrows recently, without the expected re-balancing of physicals to mental attributes. I kind of want to squeeze that off-the-ball attribute and decisions and composure up to 20 but can't figure out how.

 

I signed him to another deal through 2026 with the intention of using him as an every other game player, sub, and mentor. He's still the club captain, but then only started him in three matches (none in the league), and he got another ten appearances (five in the league) from the bench (not entirely his fault - my fullbacks and midfielders required subs more than Haaland). 

Auba was then crow-barred by Father Time at the end of March 2024, out 3-4 months with a serious hip injury, basically missing the remainder of the season. Since then, Martinelli has usurped him in terms of productivity and versatility. Kinda hoping he just retires before the end of his contract.

Spoiler

 

[ajw10]

Aubameyang picked up two hip injuries during his second season so he fell off a cliff. I released him at the end of S3 and he's spent the last year at Preston

[ajw10]

Anyway, I've almost finished season 4.

Camavinga came in on a free and Foden joins for £64m as he wouldn't sign a new deal at City. We sell off a load of squad players for the value of £110m meaning we turn a profit again.

It was our worst season defensively, we conceded 32 in the league. However it was our best season offensively, scoring 107. We won the league despite only leading the league for the first time on game 37. Leaving the table as this.

Martial had a mad season, although DCL missed the last 6 games through injury.

DCL's replacement? This guy

A ridiculous player, a run of form that probably ends DCL's career with us due to the amount of young forwards we have.

 

And we have two huge matches left to try and complete the treble

[Mr. VerticalTikiTaka]

1 hour ago, ajw10 said:

 

Martial had a mad season, although DCL missed the last 6 games through injury.

 

WHAT!!!??? please, can fm fix how good united are. especially martial