[FM22] Arsenal F.C. - Trusting the process?

[Telegram Sam]

Summer 2024

The 2023/24 season had been a genuinely thrilling campaign that ultimately ended with unprecedented success for this young Arsenal team. I had originally anticipated that this upcoming season, 2024/25, would be the first year where we could really push for the title, but having done it a season early the target was now to establish ourselves as consistent contenders even if we didn't win it every year. I knew that our winning points total (89) would not have been good enough in the two years prior—United had won it with 96 and 94 points in 2022/23 and 2021/22, respectively—so improvement would needed moving forward. I also had the personal goal of bettering the 90-point record total the Invincibles had set 20 years before.

Our team was still very young with captain Kieran Tierney our most senior player, and he had only turned 27 in the days following the Champions League final victory. I felt that if I could keep the core of this team together we could enjoy further success in the next 3-4 years with this group of players still the stars, although naturally some would leave and additions would be made.

I ended the season as Manager of the Year, and promptly asked the board for a new contract, which they obliged. I signed a 4-year, £150k p/w contract when my stock could not have been higher. Funnily enough, the Kroenke's had suddenly sold the club at the tail end of last season and our new Chairman was the one who offered me the deal. Early signs indicate they won't be making many changes, but they do seem to want me to become more of a possession-based team, which is not something I'd particularly worried about up to now.

As a final note on the 2023/24 season, five of our players made it into the PFA Team of the Year:

Aaron Ramsdale had something of an iffy couple of years, with his shots-to-saves ratio worryingly low at times. However, he massively improved in 2023/24, establishing himself as one of the best goalkeepers in the world. To cap off an amazing summer after winning the league and saving the crucial penalty in the Champions League final, he was part of an England side who won EURO 2024 by beating Germany in Berlin after extra-time. Fellow Gunners Bukayo Saka and Jude Bellingham also started in the final.

I'll also spare a word for Anel Ahmedhodžić, who established himself as our starting centre-back alongside Gabriel ahead of Benjamin White. He had improved massively since joining in January 2022 from Malmö and had become a key part of our defensive unit in our double-winning season.

Outgoings

Towards the end of 2023, both Benjamin White and Folarin Balogun had attracted interest from major clubs and had asked me to leave. I was reluctant to let either of them go and bargained that I would only let them leave if significant offers were made, which thankfully both agreed to. Interest in White had dissipated by the summer, but Balogun was still attracting interest from Manchester City. They bid over £60m for him in the summer but as this didn't meet the fee I had agreed to sell him for (£75m), he went nowhere and didn't kick up too much of a fuss. His home-grown status and lethality in front of goal meant he was a key part of my plans moving forward.

One player we did receive a lot of interest for was Ramsdale. With Manuel Neuer having retired, Bayern Munich were looking for a new first-choice goalkeeper, and they bid on him frequently throughout the summer. Their final bid was an eye-watering £90m, which I admit I considered accepting given that it would have broken the record fee for a goalkeeper, but ultimately decided that we'd need to spend a huge chunk of that acquiring a replacement who likely wouldn't even be as good. Ramsdale had only turned 26 in May and even though we had promising young goalkeeper Maarten Vandevoordt in reserve, I didn't want to part with my number one for any money and decided to reject the mammoth offer.

I did allow a few first-team players to leave, however:

Our biggest sale was that of Rodrigo Bentancur to PSG for £60m, which represented a £36m profit from what we had paid for him in 2021. Bentancur was a good, mostly solid player for us, and frequently started in our big games away from home to offer more solidity, but was mostly second choice behind Teun Koopmeiners in the defensive midfield position. He'd given me three years of good service and with only two years left on his contract, it felt like a perfect time to cash in on him when his stock was high. He was keen to leave for PSG and I was more than happy to accept his money.

William Saliba followed Bentancur to Paris, with again us making a tidy profit from his sale. Saliba had become a solid player since returning from his many loan spells but was firmly our fourth-choice centre-back behind Gabriel, Ahmedhodžić and White, so accepting £44m from PSG was something of a no-brainer. For the upcoming season, I had both Omar Rekik and Bright Arrey-Mbi as young alternatives who could act as our reserve defensive options, so didn't feel the need to bring in a direct replacement for Saliba. I also allowed Sergiño Dest to depart after a single season with us as I had often been frustrated with him when he would deputise for Tomiyasu and Tierney down either flank. He started very poorly for us and made complaints that he wasn't playing more, and as soon as I saw that Bayern had an interest in him I offered him out in the hope that I could make my money back with a few extra million on top. They obliged, and we parted ways. Our final sizeable deal was allowing Reiss Nelson to leave to Frankfurt; he'd been nothing more than an emergency backup option in the prior season, and like Maitland-Niles the summer before, I felt it was time to cash in on one of our academy products and wish him the best.

Incomings

The first major deal I did prior to our success last season was to bring in Tino Livramento from Southampton. I had scouted him for years and wanted him as an alternative to Tomiyasu as a more attacking option down the right, but every time I made an approach Southampton refused to negotiate and asked that I pay the £90m release clause he had in his contract. Well, in 2023/24 they managed to get themselves relegated, activating a £45.5m relegation release clause I was very happy to pay. If they had negotiated earlier they might have got £60-70m out of me, so I was delighted to pick him up for what I felt was a very good fee.

The departure of Bentancur meant that I was keen to sign another defensive midfielder to compete with Koopmeiners and offer something different. I spent a long time looking for this perfect player, but couldn't quite find the right man. The closest I came to signing someone was bringing in Conor Gallagher, who was looking to leave Chelsea, but his demands to play in a specific role meant I walked away. I was also able to agree a fee for Eduardo Camavinga, who was still a fringe player at Madrid, but even though he was happy to be listed as a Breakthrough Prospect he demanded an insane wage packet that would have made him my highest earner. I walked away and went back to the drawing board.

Eventually, I found the right man. It was a player I had tried to buy two years ago, but he opted to join another side who offered him more money. After breaking our record transfer fee by spending £95m on Jude Bellingham the summer before, I broke it again this summer...

It cost me £102m to prize Declan Rice away from Newcastle United but I felt this was an expensive gamble worth taking. Rice actually agreed to take a pay cut to join us, meaning our wage structure remained in tact. I debated over the fee I'd be required to pay as the £102m was Rice's release clause and Newcastle were in no need to negotiate, but given that I had basically raised the funds for Rice by getting £100m+ out of PSG for Bentancur and Saliba, I went ahead with the deal. Rice's Model Citizen personality was a huge factor for me, and his world class mental stats meant he could become a real leader in our side. Throughout this save I had prioritised leadership, teamwork and work rate in my signings and Rice was a perfect fit from that aspect.

The rest of my signings were primarily newgens with high potential who I'd be looking to blood into the side in coming years:

Tactical Set Up

Bringing in Livramento and Rice also gave me the confidence to try a new tactical set up I had been working on, despite the success the 4-3-3 had given us last season. It worked well for us but I still felt we could be more dominant with a new formation; I also grew frustrated at times with how our wide players operated in the 4-3-3. While Szoboszlai and Reyna had done well there in the second half of the season, they often played too close to the wings and I was keen to try a more narrow formation to really take advantage of the strength we made in central areas. This is what I came up with:

The thinking here is to dominate the middle of the pitch and rely on our wing backs to provide overlapping support down either side. Playing our outer midfielders as Mezzalas means they push wider at times as well, and with our Deep Lying Forward dropping deep to get involved with build-up play, we can attack in a variety of ways. After Martinelli's strong end to last season, I'm also keen to get him more involved, while also deploying Balogun as our Advanced Forward as part of squad rotation. I've played some games with this formation already this season and it's gone pretty well, but I'll go into more detail in a later post.

Newgens

I haven't mentioned any of the newgens I have at the club coming through the ranks, so will do so now. I'll start with some of the players who came up through our youth intakes who look promising:

Undoubtedly the best player to have come through Hale End in my three years at Arsenal, Vyacheslav Spirin is an incredible young striker who is the first newgen to be promoted to our first team squad. He cut his cloth with decent, if unspectacular spells in the lower leagues with Sunderland and Blackburn, but his spell with Celtic in the second half of 2023/24 saw him score 15 goals in 18 appearances. He was called up to the Russia squad prior to EURO 2024 and had a good tournament for them.

He'll be our fourth-choice striker for this season and needs to work on his finishing, but with his raw speed and amazing dribbling and technique I'll be trying to give him as many minutes as I can.

Rated highly by my scouting team, Jude Hippolyte is an exciting young full-back with solid mental states and decent physicals. He needs to develop further before he's an Arsenal regular but I am hoping in 2-3 seasons he might be capable of eventually replacing Tomiyasu. He's on loan at Aris in the Greek Super League for this season.

This is not a player who I think will have a great career at the club, but I wanted to show off Wayne Lehane to you all as he's something of a budget Roy Keane regen. An Irish central midfielder who's temperamental and has 17 aggression and determination, Lehane was even born in County Cork, just like Keane. I'll do what I can to develop him but feel he may be too limited to make the grade here.

Now, in terms of players we've bought, I've a number of highly promising players who should become regular first teamers in the coming years:

Having already established himself in the Vitesse first-team at 17 years of age, I opted to spend  a sizable £10.5m to bring Lucas Gijzen to the Emirates this summer. He'll remain with us for this season and hopefully get some chances to feature for us in cup competitions at the very least.

Picked up for only £40k, Christhian Preza was highly recommended by my scouts and even managed to get himself a work permit at 18 years of age. After spending a season with the club he's now gone out on loan to gain some experience as a first-choice goalkeeper at Bristol Rovers in League 1.

I love signing wonderkids of obscure nationalities, and Nguyen Van Toan fits the bill. Already a star player for his native Vietnam, he was signed two years ago from Pohan Steelers of Korea. I debated using him in our first team this season but felt he'd benefit from regular playing time elsewhere instead; he'll be with Tenerife in La Liga for 2024/25.

Choosing which wonderkid to sign from Brazil is difficult due to the sheer amount of choice, but I opted to activate the £19.25m release clause in Valtecir's contract this summer and bring him to Arsenal. At 6'3 with a high amount of flair and technique he's clearly a Brazilian, but he does have German as his second nationality. I'm hoping he can one day go on to replace Dušan Vlahović in the heart of our attack.

Kamal Miah is a promising left-back who I poached from Middlesbrough, who I'm hoping will go on to be a viable left-back option in future. I was on the fence about signing him until I noticed that Arsenal were listed as his favoured club, so who was I to deny a young man his dream?

I am moving forward with a formation that doesn't include wingers but am hoping I'll eventually find a place for Jung Kim, a promising young Korean who unfortunately does not have a work permit. I've send him out on loan to our affiliate club, Austria Vienna, in the hopes that he can get a work permit based on his performances there.

Mauro Guerrero signed for us last summer in a £5m deal from River Plate, and spent his first year with us out on loan at Brøndby. I debated using him this year but with Livramento joining and Guerrero's crossing and tackling stats still needing work, he has instead headed to Turkey for a year's experience with Fenerbahçe.

Edited January 18, 2022 by Telegram Sam

[hasdgfas]

Transfers Summer 2025

Hi all,

After a tough end of the season in 2024/25, I had very few transfers I wanted to make. A couple that I was eyeing, but how'd it turn out?

IN: 

OUT: 

A couple early in the window, sending out 4th defender Pongracic for a profit of 6.5M because he was whining about playing time and his contract was expiring. Big success there.

Brought in 18yo Keeper Barrientos from Porto because my scouts liked him, but I'm not convinced. We'll see.

The big ones in the big screenshot though. Obviously Saka for a fantastic fee. And I didn't really mind losing him with some of the other young players we've got coming through. Plus he's had a very successful stint here. Didn't want to keep him upset for this fee. A few youngsters who didn't make it in Mason, Salah, and Stylianou. Partey was getting old and declining, so with a year on his contract it was time to go. I didn't want to renew it at the wages he wanted. Calegari was the backup RB and wanted stupid high wages compared to Livramento(who I'll get to in a minute). And Rekik. Sigh. I really wanted to use him, he looked good! But he couldn't get a work permit! So I finally cut my losses and let him go.

 

The Ins:

Livramento feels like a steal at 25M. Not sure why Southampton wanted to get rid of him so cheaply, but I'll take it, compared to some of the prices I've seen him going for elsewhere in here. He's currently backing up Tomiyasu, but he has a good chance of taking over if he performs.

Rodrigues is the new 4th choice centerback. I don't think he's actually good enough right now for anything except cup matches, but hopefully he'll develop. For just barely more expensive than Pongracic he feels like a good option.

Cerqueira was a minor panic buy? Cunha was injured for several months right before the transfer window closed and I wanted another winger after looking at my depth. Reasonable release clause of 22M and he is FAST. Hopefully he ends up performing as well as he looks.

-----

I'll keep you updated. I'm excited about these transfers!

[WillyBroadband]

@Telegram Sam Hello mate, what newgen pics are you using? I use those Chilled Moose ones, which look cool but I'd rather real photos. 

[Telegram Sam]

6 hours ago, WillyBroadband said:

@Telegram Sam Hello mate, what newgen pics are you using? I use those Chilled Moose ones, which look cool but I'd rather real photos. 

This is all you'll ever need.

[saware]

I'm halfway through my 1st season with Arsenal, in 5th so not really where I'd hoped to be but have suffered with injuries to the wrong people at the wrong times. Started with the transfer window off and have tidied up the squad selling Holding, Elneny, Laca, Chambers, Cedric, & Kolasinac. Therefore, I've got around £80 to play with but I'm finding it hard to get any targets brought in. Went for Vlahovic thinking I could negotiate Fiorentina down and they came back with £200m! Was going in for Koopmeiners too but Atalanta won't sell mid-season unless it's for a ridiculous fee. Camavinga, Bellingham, & Livramento are long term targets but they're unattainable right now. Thinking now that it might be better to wait until the end of the season (using this season's budget) now so prices drop... any thoughts or recommendations?

[WillyBroadband]

54 minutes ago, saware said:

I'm halfway through my 1st season with Arsenal, in 5th so not really where I'd hoped to be but have suffered with injuries to the wrong people at the wrong times. Started with the transfer window off and have tidied up the squad selling Holding, Elneny, Laca, Chambers, Cedric, & Kolasinac. Therefore, I've got around £80 to play with but I'm finding it hard to get any targets brought in. Went for Vlahovic thinking I could negotiate Fiorentina down and they came back with £200m! Was going in for Koopmeiners too but Atalanta won't sell mid-season unless it's for a ridiculous fee. Camavinga, Bellingham, & Livramento are long term targets but they're unattainable right now. Thinking now that it might be better to wait until the end of the season (using this season's budget) now so prices drop... any thoughts or recommendations?

Hey man, it depends what you're after and what tactics you play with really.

I play with a Target Forward/Attack so I signed Wout Weghorst from Wolfsburg who has scored about 35 in 46 games over a season and a half. Also signed Morten Thorsby from Sampdoria and he is one of the most consistent & reliable DM's I think I've ever signed. On paper, neither are particularly exciting or anything but they fit my system so well.

I also have a thing where I really try not to sign anyone with a Teamwork & Work Rate rating of less than 14. That's why I always sell Pépé! 

[BrickCommo23]

20 hours ago, Telegram Sam said:

This is all you'll ever need.

Really enjoyed catching up on your write ups - thank you for doing that. 

Oh and the regen pics are a bit of a game changer too. 

[Telegram Sam]

4 hours ago, BrickCommo23 said:

Really enjoyed catching up on your write ups - thank you for doing that. 

Oh and the regen pics are a bit of a game changer too. 

Thanks mate, I'm glad you enjoyed reading them.

They really make a huge difference. The Newgan program will automatically assign the faces but I usually take some time to manually choose the ones I feel fit the best.

[saware]

8 hours ago, WillyBroadband said:

Hey man, it depends what you're after and what tactics you play with really.

I play with a Target Forward/Attack so I signed Wout Weghorst from Wolfsburg who has scored about 35 in 46 games over a season and a half. Also signed Morten Thorsby from Sampdoria and he is one of the most consistent & reliable DM's I think I've ever signed. On paper, neither are particularly exciting or anything but they fit my system so well.

I also have a thing where I really try not to sign anyone with a Teamwork & Work Rate rating of less than 14. That's why I always sell Pépé! 

I tend to play 4-3-3 at the moment with inverted wingers & full backs pushing forward. Got the team playing well so don’t want to rip up my tactics etc. 

Tend to have a DLP-A or PF-A as the spearhead so ideally want someone to fill that role as Auba has either being injured or had to play on the left because of injuries to Smith Rowe/Martinelli. Have considered Isak, who I’ve seen is quite popular with players this year. Maxi Gomez is available within budget but haven’t really heard any feedback on how effective he is this year.

As for midfield, could really do with a DM. Usually play a DLP-D, which has more often than not been Xhaxa, but open to getting in a DM-D. Preferably would want a left footed option but know they’re rare. Would be happy with Rice or Ndidi but think I’d probably be priced out of a move there too.

[yoyosm]

17 hours ago, saware said:

I tend to play 4-3-3 at the moment with inverted wingers & full backs pushing forward. Got the team playing well so don’t want to rip up my tactics etc. 

Tend to have a DLP-A or PF-A as the spearhead so ideally want someone to fill that role as Auba has either being injured or had to play on the left because of injuries to Smith Rowe/Martinelli. Have considered Isak, who I’ve seen is quite popular with players this year. Maxi Gomez is available within budget but haven’t really heard any feedback on how effective he is this year.

As for midfield, could really do with a DM. Usually play a DLP-D, which has more often than not been Xhaxa, but open to getting in a DM-D. Preferably would want a left footed option but know they’re rare. Would be happy with Rice or Ndidi but think I’d probably be priced out of a move there too.

if your budget allows you, buy Ismail Bennacer (from AC Milan) as a left-footed DM player to play as DLP-de.

if you search only for a backup/cup player, then a cheaper option is Marc Roca from Bayern

Tolisso - with left foot reasonable- also from Bayern you can get it for free in 2022 or very cheap after you sign him in January you should have the option buy now

also an underrated player with reasonable left foot, who can play a lot of defensive roles is Nandez from Cagliari

€

March 2021, Cagliari just accepted an offer from 8.5M €

 

Edited January 21, 2022 by yoyosm
new screenshots

[WillyBroadband]

15 hours ago, saware said:

I tend to play 4-3-3 at the moment with inverted wingers & full backs pushing forward. Got the team playing well so don’t want to rip up my tactics etc. 

Tend to have a DLP-A or PF-A as the spearhead so ideally want someone to fill that role as Auba has either being injured or had to play on the left because of injuries to Smith Rowe/Martinelli. Have considered Isak, who I’ve seen is quite popular with players this year. Maxi Gomez is available within budget but haven’t really heard any feedback on how effective he is this year.

As for midfield, could really do with a DM. Usually play a DLP-D, which has more often than not been Xhaxa, but open to getting in a DM-D. Preferably would want a left footed option but know they’re rare. Would be happy with Rice or Ndidi but think I’d probably be priced out of a move there too.

I can't recommend Morten Thorsby from Sampdoria, enough. 18-20 for Teamwork, Work Rate, Determination, Stamina & Strength and 16 (I think) for Heading. Will send a screenshot later on when I'm home. He also comes up as a model professional. 

Only slight snag maybe is that he has the PPM of "Gets forward wherever possible" which I removed by training.

Also, he is international teammates with Ødegaard.

Edited January 21, 2022 by WillyBroadband
Typo

[WillyBroadband]

1 hour ago, yoyosm said:

if your budget allows you, buy Ismail Bennacer (from AC Milan) as a left-footed DM player to play as DLP-de.

if you search only for a backup/cup player, then a cheaper option is Marc Roca from Bayern (Tolisso - with left foot reasonable- also from Bayern you can get it for free in 2022 or very cheap after you sign him in January you should have the option buy now)

also an underrated player with reasonable left foot, who can play a lot of defensive roles is Nandez from Cagliari

€

March 2021, Cagliari just accepted an offer from 8.5M €

 

Some good recommendations here, man. 

[WillyBroadband]

15 hours ago, saware said:

I tend to play 4-3-3 at the moment with inverted wingers & full backs pushing forward. Got the team playing well so don’t want to rip up my tactics etc. 

Tend to have a DLP-A or PF-A as the spearhead so ideally want someone to fill that role as Auba has either being injured or had to play on the left because of injuries to Smith Rowe/Martinelli. Have considered Isak, who I’ve seen is quite popular with players this year. Maxi Gomez is available within budget but haven’t really heard any feedback on how effective he is this year.

As for midfield, could really do with a DM. Usually play a DLP-D, which has more often than not been Xhaxa, but open to getting in a DM-D. Preferably would want a left footed option but know they’re rare. Would be happy with Rice or Ndidi but think I’d probably be priced out of a move there too.

Julián Álvarez at River is a good shout, mate. Could play as a PF-A and also on either wing, I've only used him sparingly but he's decent and not too expensive. 

I also signed (but have since sold for a profit) Darwin Núñez from Benfica, who would be perfect as a PF-A, not the best technically but has unreal mental & physical stats. 

[WillyBroadband]

How is everyone getting on with Charlie Patino and any of the other youngsters?

I'm in pre-season 2023/24 season and Patino has just had two very successful seasons on loan at Oxford United - in League 1 & then Championship - and is now looking more than ready to step up to my first team.

Marcelo Flores has had two good seasons on loan at Torquay in the Conference but is a way off the first team, just yet. 

Nikolaj Möller also had two good loan seasons and I just sold for £10M which was a lot more than I expected. 

I sold him because I think Mika Biereth is ready for more first team action - he scored over 50 goals in two seasons at Barnet in the Conference & then Ipswich in the Championship.  

[yoyosm]

1 hour ago, WillyBroadband said:

I can't recommend Morten Thorsby from Sampdoria, enough. 18-20 for Teamwork, Work Rate, Determination, Stamina & Strength and 16 (I think) for Heading. Will send a screenshot later on when I'm home. He also comes up as a model professional. 

Only slight snag maybe is that he has the PPM of "Gets forward wherever possible" which I removed by training.

Also, he is international teammates with Ødegaard.

@WillyBroadband

thanks mate, never bought Thorsby, but for the price is a must buy. did you also experience that players' prices drop in 2nd half of March?

Thorsby

 

offer accepted

 

 

 

[WillyBroadband]

1 hour ago, yoyosm said:

@WillyBroadband

thanks mate, never bought Thorsby, but for the price is a must buy. did you also experience that players' prices drop in 2nd half of March?

Thorsby

 

offer accepted

 

 

 

That is an absolute bargain, mate! I've not noticed drop offs at all, no. 

[saware]

1 hour ago, WillyBroadband said:

That is an absolute bargain, mate! I've not noticed drop offs at all, no. 

Can’t say I’ve ever heard of Thorsby! Will certainly take a look, those screeenshots make him stand out as a great cheap option.

Will send the scouts to watch Bennacer too, think he’d be in budget. Not sure I want to lose any more players to AFCON though! 

Alvarez has had good scout reports, & is definitely affordable. Ideally wanted someone for right now rather than in the future but might not be able to resist a bargain buy! Will check out Darwin Nunez too as I’d forgotten about him. How much did he set you back?

[WillyBroadband]

1 hour ago, saware said:

Will check out Darwin Nunez too as I’d forgotten about him. How much did he set you back?

I think he cost £39.5M and I sold him for about £46M after a season. That's mainly because he doesn't fit with my system.

[Telegram Sam]

2024/25 Season - Part 1

Starting this season as defending Premier League and European champions means we began 2024/25 with games against FA Cup winners Liverpool in the Community Shield, and Europa League holders Atletico in the UEFA Super Cup. I stuck with our tried and tested 4-3-3 formation in the Shield and eked out a 1-0 win, albeit in somewhat fortuitous fashion as Vlahović bagged the only goal of the game amongst some relentless pressure from Liverpool. Aaron Ramsdale saved a Salah penalty to keep us in the lead and made a string of wonderful saves to earn us the victory. Already my decision to reject a £90m bid from Bayern for him in the summer seemed like the right call.

In the Super Cup I trialed my new 4-1-3-2 formation with great success as we finished it as comfortable 2-0 victors thanks to a brace from Folarin Balogun. We restricted Atletico to 2 shots all game while firing off 17 efforts ourselves, and I was delighted to start the season with two wins from two and a couple more trophies in the bag.

In the Premier League, however, the defence of our title got off to a shaky start:

We had the better of the game even if we didn't dominate it as we'd hoped, and thought that a point away at Chelsea wouldn't be so bad after Martinelli drew us level. However, a late winner from N'Golo Kanté brought us back down to earth and made for a disappointing start to our league defence.

The following game gave us the perfect chance to respond, however; a North London derby at the Emirates. We had dominated Tottenham since I took over, winning 5 of our 6 games against them, but after the Chelsea defeat we needed a convincing victory to make a statement that we'd be strong contenders again this year. The boys delivered with a 4-0 hammering of our local neighbours and Dušan Vlahović bagged himself a hat-trick, despite missing a penalty at 1-0. His second goal was quite something:

We followed the Spurs victory with two more wins away at Sheffield United and home to Bournemouth, with Vlahović bagging himself 4 more goals in those game, before the defence of our Champions League title began. We had been drawn a tough group with both PSG and Bayer Leverkusen standing on our way, along with Olympiacos. The Parisians had conspired to finish a dismal 3rd in Ligue 1 in 2023/24 behind Lyon and champions Monaco, placing them in Pot 2, while Leverkusen were the best of the rest in Germany the season prior. I had noticed in the summer that they had dropped a cool £82m on a certain Youssoufa Moukoko to prize him away from Stuttgart, and expected a tough game.

We started the group with a straightforward 4-0 win in Athens to defeat Olympiacos before we welcomed Neymar, Messi and co to the Emirates. After our strong displays at home in the competition last year, including wins over Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Juventus, I felt we should be able to take all three points from our first encounter. However, in the 5th minute of the game, disaster struck:

A two-footed challenge from our £95m man on Nicoló Zaniolo saw him receive his marching orders at the start of the game, and we had the unenviable task of keeping PSG at bay with a man down. I opted to push Rice into the three-man midfield, changing our 4-1-3-2 to a 4-3-2, and hoped we'd be able to stay in the game without being too defensive. As the first half wore on I realised that we were more than holding our own, with most highlights showcasing our ability to create chances on the counter. We made it to half-time at 0-0 and as the second half began we were very much in the game. In the 69th minute, our hard work was rewarded:

Gabriel Martinelli rose like a salmon to head us into the lead, highlighting what an important player he had become for us. In my first three seasons he flattered to deceive, and was always picking up niggling injuries, but after a strong end to 2023/24 he had started this new season looking like a real player while playing as a striker in our new formation. He was now creating and scoring goals with some regularity, with this header probably the best of the lot.

Annoyingly, we managed to gift PSG an equaliser within two minutes, with a penalty conceded and Neymar scoring from the spot. I had reasoned that a point against PSG with 10 men was a very good result nonetheless, but within 7 minutes of us allowing them back into the game, our front men combined to earn us victory:

A 2-1 win over PSG with virtually the entire game spent with 10 men was one of the best results we'd had and was a vindication of our new formation. 

Back to the league, and we had made it five wins in a row since the Chelsea defeat with comprehensive victories over Burnley (6-0) and Crystal Palace (3-0). A 1-1 draw at Villa Park saw us drop points, but a 2-0 win over Everton at home—the only Premier League side we failed to beat last season, drawing with them twice—and 5-0 battering of Fulham got us back to winning games. In between those matches we had managed a frustrating 1-1 draw with Bayer Leverkusen at home, who were as tricky an opponent as I had feared they might be. They took the lead on the brink of half time before Giovanni Reyna fired home an equaliser in the 54th minute. We knocked their door down for the remainder of the game but couldn't find a second to keep up our perfect start in Europe.

In the League Cup, wins over Burnley and Barnsley secured us a place in the quarter-finals, which would be against Norwich City at home on Boxing Day. As we headed into November, we faced up against Manchester United at Old Trafford before then heading to Germany to take on Leverkusen in the away portion of our double-header. In my prior three seasons I had lost every time at Old Trafford, usually in a pretty convincing manner, but having taken United's crown last year I felt it was time to finally get something on the road against one of our biggest rivals. We managed to do so in dramatic fashion:

Martinelli was absent with a minor injury, so I had placed out star academy product, Vyacheslav Spirin, on the bench (his profile page can be found in one of my prior posts). He had scored on his debut for us in the League Cup against Burnley and was generally looking pretty promising  After Vlahović had failed to impress, I chucked Spirin on in the hope that he'd be able to make an impact...

We had deserved something from the game and I was ecstatic to see our young Russian star be the one to make the impact. At this point the momentum was ours, and while I would have been more than happy to take a point, we kept up the pressure on United and managed to snatch victory in the dying embers of the game.

It was an incredible, dramatic victory and pointed to how well our attackers were doing this season. Vlahović was our top goalscorer and key man while Martinelli was in the form of his life, but Balogun was still racking up impressive goalscoring numbers while Spirin was starting to have an impact in the first team. 

Back to Europe, and after only managing a draw against Leverkusen at the Emirates, I felt a win was necessary here to keep us in control of our group. I would travel to the Parc de Princes in the sixth and final game of the group and really didn't want to go there needing something to to the group, or even worse, just to qualify. After our dramatic victory in Manchester, we managed a comprehensive victory in Germany to solidify our dominance of Group D:

Leverkusen had their chances but some fine attacking play saw us run out comfortable winners. Spirin continued his good form after his equaliser against United, notching two assists as his stock continued to grow. This result made it 10 points from 4 games with Olympiacos at home in our next game offering us the chance to seal qualification at the very least before we travelled to Paris in December.

The season had started brilliantly, and I was delighted with how we were playing. We'd won 8 of our 10 Premier League games, were top of our Champions League group, were through to the League Cup quarter-finals and already had two trophies in the bag. This is how things stood for us in the Premier League with 10 games played:

As well as we had started, we still found ourselves 5 points behind a rampant Manchester City side. With Jürgen Klopp at the helm City had won all of their opening games and were very much looking like the team to beat. With fixture re-arrangements I was not due to play them at the Emirates until February, while I had the daunting task of heading to the Etihad on the final day of the season. The fixture computer had me given me the pleasure of heading to Anfield on the final day of my first three league seasons, and while changing it up this time around, seemed determined to try and set up some sort title-decider.

I'll round up our end to 2024 in my next post. Thanks again to everyone who's taking the time to read my updates.

[Telegram Sam]

7 hours ago, WillyBroadband said:

How is everyone getting on with Charlie Patino and any of the other youngsters?

I'm in pre-season 2023/24 season and Patino has just had two very successful seasons on loan at Oxford United - in League 1 & then Championship - and is now looking more than ready to step up to my first team.

Marcelo Flores has had two good seasons on loan at Torquay in the Conference but is a way off the first team, just yet. 

Nikolaj Möller also had two good loan seasons and I just sold for £10M which was a lot more than I expected. 

I sold him because I think Mika Biereth is ready for more first team action - he scored over 50 goals in two seasons at Barnet in the Conference & then Ipswich in the Championship.  

Patino is in my squad in 2024/25, but primarily plays with the U23s. He played at lot of games at Salford City in 2022/23 and spent the second half of 2023/24 in Switzerland with Young Boys, where he did pretty well. I think I'll likely loan him out in this upcoming January and make a final decision on him next summer, but in truth I don't think he'll ever me more than a backup option for me moving forward.

I ended up releasing Möller after he couldn't get a work permit; he's ended up back in Sweden in the second tier. Biereth actually looked pretty promising in 2021/22 for me, scoring 37 goals at youth team level, but he damaged his cruciate towards the end of that season and spent 8 months out. He then fractured his lower leg shortly after returning and these injuries really hampered his development. I ended up selling him to Newcastle for around half a million in the summer of 2023.

The only youngster who's really had any significant minutes for me is Omar Rekik, who I kept around after selling William Saliba this past summer. He's very much a backup option but I will happily keep him around until he wants to go elsewhere, or if we receive a big bid for him. These are his stats in December 2024:

Edited January 21, 2022 by Telegram Sam

[Vilmar]

10 hours ago, WillyBroadband said:

How is everyone getting on with Charlie Patino and any of the other youngsters?

I'm in pre-season 2023/24 season and Patino has just had two very successful seasons on loan at Oxford United - in League 1 & then Championship - and is now looking more than ready to step up to my first team.

Marcelo Flores has had two good seasons on loan at Torquay in the Conference but is a way off the first team, just yet. 

Nikolaj Möller also had two good loan seasons and I just sold for £10M which was a lot more than I expected. 

I sold him because I think Mika Biereth is ready for more first team action - he scored over 50 goals in two seasons at Barnet in the Conference & then Ipswich in the Championship.  

Patino seems to be OK but not too spectecular. Biereth has been doing well n loan. Not sure he's ready for Premier League stuff though. 

Balogun was a beast at Celtic but in the few minutes I've given him he hasn't hit the same form. None of the other youngster really impress me. 

Edited January 21, 2022 by Vilmar

[hasdgfas]

11 hours ago, WillyBroadband said:

How is everyone getting on with Charlie Patino and any of the other youngsters?

I'm in pre-season 2023/24 season and Patino has just had two very successful seasons on loan at Oxford United - in League 1 & then Championship - and is now looking more than ready to step up to my first team.

Marcelo Flores has had two good seasons on loan at Torquay in the Conference but is a way off the first team, just yet.

Nikolaj Möller also had two good loan seasons and I just sold for £10M which was a lot more than I expected.

I sold him because I think Mika Biereth is ready for more first team action - he scored over 50 goals in two seasons at Barnet in the Conference & then Ipswich in the Championship.

Just Patino at this point. Some of my regens are about to start to break through, but since Rekik couldn't get a work permit nobody else has been good enough(although a couple of them are still out on loan.)

Still a bit inconsistent, but he's getting there. I keep forgetting he's only 22. Still has plenty of room to grow and improve.

[Sysiphus]

Loving the consistent updates from everyone... keep it up. Wasn't going to do an Arsenal game this year but I might be tempted after the winter update. Need to find the time to play, I have such a bad laptop that it takes me ages to play—if I get one month in game every real life fortnight I'm a happy man, but let's see in March.

[Telegram Sam]

2024/24 Season - Part 2

After huge wins in Manchester and Leverkusen, the good times kept rolling in November as we notched up victories against Leeds, Brighton, and Leicester City in the league, as well as a straightforward 4-1 victory over Olympiacos in the Champions League. The earlier result that day meant our win over the Greek outfit put us 4 points clear at the top of Group 5 with only our away trip to Paris to play, guaranteeing qualification as group winners:

The highlight of the Olympiacos was undoubtedly the brace from Vyacheslav Spirin, including this volleyed effort from the edge of the box:

It was a breakthrough month for the youngster and my decision to keep him at the club this season rather than sending him out on loan again was vindicated, and he had made vital contributions for us both domestically and in Europe. However, as December rolled in, this dreaded message came through:

Gutting. While not a season-ender, this injury felt particularly cruel after the month Spirin had had. The injury has unfortunately lowered his bravery by a couple of points and will undoubtedly hinder his progress, but I hope he'll be back in time for the final few months of the season where he can hopefully make a contribution.

We continued our strong form into December with a 2-1 win away at Brentford and routine 2-0 victory against Norwich at the Emirates, with Gabriel Martinelli scoring 3 of our 4 goals. Our Champions League campaign ended with a 1-0 defeat in Paris, which was probably undeserved—we notched up an xG of 1.98 and still failed to score—but it ultimately didn't matter as we had sealed top spot after our fifth game in the group:

I was pleased to finish top of the group as defending champions, with PSG lucky themselves to qualify. After finishing top last season and being rewarded with a second round tie against Bayern Munich, I was pleased to see that we did get a reasonably straightforward last sixteen tie this time around, with RB Salzburg drawn as our opponents. They had managed to qualify from their group ahead of Inter Milan, however, so we'd need to be careful to avoid an upset.

With the transfer window now a few weeks away, there was serious unwanted interest from PSG for my entire frontline—Vlahović, Martinelli, and Balogun were all supposedly wanted by the Parisians. This made me a tad nervous, especially re: Vlahović; both Neymar and Messi had publicly spoken out about how he should come and join them. With the form he was in a huge bid was likely imminent, but with his contract running until 2028 I won't be in any mood to negotiate. I really hope he doesn't push for a move.

Following the conclusion of our Champions League group games, we travelled across London to face West Ham. After 89 minutes of significant pressure, Dominik Szoboszlai stepped up to fire home a late winner:

Szoboszlai was now my highest earner (£200k p/w) and probably be outright best player, and the main creative hub of the side. Martin Ødegaard was still featuring regularly but was struggling to perform at the same sort of level. 

We followed the dramatic winner at West Ham with another trip to Anfield to face Liverpool, who we would then have faced 8 times in 2024 alone. I'm really sick of the sight of them at this point. Twice falling behind to the home side thanks to goals from Mo Salah and Curtis Jones, our prowess at set-pieces served us well as Declan Rice scored his first goal for the club before Anel Ahmedhodžić fired home the second equaliser at the back post from a corner. I was very happy to take the point in what was a relatively poor quality affair, and hoped that we wouldn't do battle quite as often in 2025:

Manchester City were still flying high at the top of the Premier League, although some small chinks in their armour had shown with away draws to Crystal Palace and Aston Villa. We followed up our point in Liverpool with a convincing 4-0 victory at home to Newcastle, where Vlahović bagged himself another hat-trick, before then facing Norwich City in the quarter-finals of the League Cup. With both Liverpool and Manchester City having exited in the fourth round, I was keen to win this competition after losing on penalties to City in 2023/24. Another goal from Vlahović, as well as a wonderful brace from Giovanni Reyna, ensured we qualifed through to the semi-finals. Reyna's second goal was particularly enjoyable:

In one of the other quarter-finals, Manchester United lost 1-0 to recently relegated Southampton, which opened up the draw significantly for me. In the semi-finals we will face Southampton ourselves, with QPR heading up against Newcastle:

I know it's just the League Cup, but it remains a competition we have not won since 1993, so I will be pushing hard to make sure we finish the job.

With 2024 now firmly drawing to a close, we had one final game remaining—Chelsea at home. They were having a terrible season, sitting in the bottom half and having recently sacked their manager Roberto Mancini. Roger Schmidt, poached from Borussia Dortmund, had been appointed shortly before our game. I was keen to exert some revenge with our 2-1 opening day defeat at Stamford Bridge the only league defeat we'd suffered so far in 2024/25, and tweaked our tactics slightly so that our 4-1-3-2 became a more conventional 4-1-2-1-2 diamond. I wanted to attack from the beginning and rack up a comfortable victory, and felt confident that we could do so, but nothing quite prepared me for what occurred:

Unbelievable, genuinely. In all my years of playing FM I don't think I've ever had a result like this in a competitive game, let alone one against a major rival. After leading 5-0 at half-time I figured the team would naturally sit off and allow the game to fizzle out, but they went for the jugular and fired 4 more goals past this hapless Chelsea side in the second half. Dušan Vlahović, who bagged a hat-trick in his last game, scored a hat-trick in each half here, and broke the record for most goals scored by a single player in a Premier League game. Declan Rice's effort was a long-range screamer into the top corner, which happened to be assisted by Vlahović, as was Balogun's. Vlahović scored six and assisted two, which I also assume must be sort of record.

This victory rounded off an incredible calendar year, and I enter 2025 hoping that we can continue this momentum into the New Year. Despite our superb start to the season, however, we remain in second place thanks to City's near-perfect start:

I thought I'd take a look at a few stats given that we've reached the season's half way point. Vlahović's incredible haul against Chelsea has sent him well clear at the top of the league's goalscoring charts:

22 goals in 15 starts is incredible going, as is a goal averaged every 56 minutes. I anticipate a bid from PSG in January but I won't consider selling mid-season. I'm also delighted to see Martinelli 6th on this list, with his 10 league goals already bettering the 8 he scored in the entirety of 2023/24.

In terms of assists, we're also looking good:

I purchased Tino Livramento in the summer with the aim of him providing more attacking threat from the right wing-back position, which he has done so brilliantly. I love Tomiyasu and he remains an important member of the squad but for my 4-1-3-2 formation to work, having significant attacking threat from our full-backs is a requirement.

Finally, he's an overview of the squad's goal contributions this season as we close out 2024:

Vlahović has been incredible but I'm delighted to see both Balogun and Martinelli scoring as often as they have done, which has justified our switch to a two-striker formation. 16 goal contributions from Szoboszlai points to his importance to the side while Reyna, Saka, Smith Rowe and Bellingham make up an important supporting cast. I'd like to see more from Ødegaard in the second half of the season, otherwise I may entertain offers for him come the summer.

Thanks again for reading folks; this may be my last update for a wee while as I'm now caught up to where I'm at in-game. 

Edited January 22, 2022 by Telegram Sam

[saware]

On 21/01/2022 at 12:23, WillyBroadband said:

That is an absolute bargain, mate! I've not noticed drop offs at all, no. 

After seeing this I decided to hold off on any January transfers in the hope that when March came around the asking prices of the targets I had in mind would come down… luckily they did! 

Managed to get Vlahovic & Koopmeiners in for next season within my £85m budget. 

Looking ahead to my 2nd season now after finishing 4th thanks to some good form & a collapse by Man City, who finished 5th & promptly sacked Pep. Almost caught Chelsea in 3rd (Man Utd we run away champions with Liverpool in 2nd place) but once CL qualification was secured my players decided to have an early end of season break & their form went out of the window.

We went out of the FA Cup in spectacular fashion, losing 5-1 in the quarter finals away at Liverpool… needless to say I was not happy!

Nketieh finished top scorer, mainly as Aubameyang had been used wide left to cover for Smith Rowe & Martinelli. Saka & Lokonga played well too, however it was Tomiyasu who finished as our player of the year. 

Whilst we were never short for goals I feel like we could’ve done better with a more lethal striker leading the line so I’m excited to see what Vlahovic brings to the table.

Defensively we were strong, we had the tightest back line in the division, & Ramsdale won the golden glove.

Have around £60m to throw at the squad this summer, but looking to increase that with sales of some more fringe players. Haven’t quite decided who to bring in as yet, but that may well depend on who leaves. Newcastle dropped into The Championship so I’m not sure if they’ll keep funding my improvements?! 

Edited January 24, 2022 by saware
Spelling

[hasdgfas]

There was some chat recently about the academy prospects and how they're turning out, so I'm going to do a full youth review of my most promising prospects, both starting and those who are starting to come through as regens.
Starting academy prospects:

Charlie Patino - already discussed pretty heavily, but he is developing really well. He's fighting for the starting position with Lokonga, and is honestly my preferred starter right now as long as he's in form. I'm trying to grab Bellingham on a Bosman though, so we'll see.

Miguel Azeez - Just not quite taking the final step. He has been out on loan a lot, but hasn't performed well enough or developed enough to make it, so I'm going to have to offload him.

Omari Hutchinson - still floating around, but is pretty much another Azeez, not quite taking that final step. His loans have been more successful, but I don't think he's going to make it here. He might be a good Championship or yoyo Prem player, but I don't think he's good enough for Arsenal.

Mika Biereth - Several good lower league loans, but he's not getting game time at Augsburg and I'm really frustrated with that. I'm going to recall him from this loan and try to get him somewhere else he'll play, because he might be a serviceable backup. He won't be a starter, but he might be able to be an alternative option in some instances.

2022 academy regens:

Ellis Poate - I'm very excited about him. He's not good enough to start yet at age 19, but he's a backup to both positions and is getting a little bit of match time. He's the exact sort of player I was looking for, and I'm excited to see him continue to develop.

Raphael Okonkwo - the third keeper. I think he needs to go out on loan to somewhere he'll get regular starts, because he's not getting it here, and I'm concerned he's stagnating.

Steven Eck - The current star of the intake. He's already a full US international, and has been excellent on his two most recent loans. He's currently a starter in La Liga on a Vigo team that's fighting for the Champions League. I don't think he's a striker with only 9 finishing, but with that pace he'll be great on the wing. He'll be a part of the senior squad next season.

2023 academy regens:

Jason Blanks - Looking promising if he can get a bit of a boost over the next season or two. Maybe not a star or a top player unless he has a HECK of a boost in the future, but a good solid backup AMC.

A Greek Youth with a long name -  He's been loving it at Sheffield Wednesday the past couple seasons. Another really speedy winger, I think he's behind Steven Eck, but might outpace him in a season or two.

---

I also have a few players from the 2024 and 2025 intakes that are promising, but I'm going to give them a little bit of extra time before posting them in here as youngsters to keep an eye on. I think these 9 are enough for right now, as we see who else might make it to the first team.

[Telegram Sam]

1 hour ago, hasdgfas said:

Raphael Okonkwo - the third keeper. I think he needs to go out on loan to somewhere he'll get regular starts, because he's not getting it here, and I'm concerned he's stagnating.

 

Is that Arthur's brother? 😅

[WillyBroadband]

11 hours ago, hasdgfas said:

Charlie Patino - already discussed pretty heavily, but he is developing really well. He's fighting for the starting position with Lokonga, and is honestly my preferred starter right now as long as he's in form. I'm trying to grab Bellingham on a Bosman though, so we'll see.

Hello mate, Patino looks great, man! I'm only about 2 months into 2023/24 season and he's getting more & more game time for me, I play him as a DM - DLP/S behind a midfield 2 of BBM & CM/A. I feel exactly the same about Azeez, Hutchinson & Biereth. I would probably add Tyreece John-Jules & Marcelo Flores to that list, too. 

I have a 5* star regen/newgen who came through the academy, who looks unreal, I'll send a screenie later on when I'm home. 

[WillyBroadband]

Also, lads, I signed Youssoufa Moukoko for £14M and for an 18 year-old he has been very good. Model citizen, too, which I love 

[WillyBroadband]

Just now, WillyBroadband said:

Also, lads, I signed Youssoufa Moukoko for £14M and for an 18 year-old he has been very good. Model citizen, too, which I love 

I normally try not to sign more obvious wonderkids but I couldn't resist and was amazed no one else went in for him. It was 6 months before his contract expired so maybe paid over the odds but I since realised he is a

Spoiler

-10

 

[hasdgfas]

7 hours ago, WillyBroadband said:

Hello mate, Patino looks great, man! I'm only about 2 months into 2023/24 season and he's getting more & more game time for me, I play him as a DM - DLP/S behind a midfield 2 of BBM & CM/A. I feel exactly the same about Azeez, Hutchinson & Biereth. I would probably add Tyreece John-Jules & Marcelo Flores to that list, too.

I have a 5* star regen/newgen who came through the academy, who looks unreal, I'll send a screenie later on when I'm home.

Yeah, TJJ and Flores are already gone.

John-Jules is at Burnley now and they're mid-table in the Championship. He's just not good enough. Unfortunately I had to end up letting him go for free instead of getting anything for him. It looked like he might have potential but then he didn't quite reach it.

Flores never looked like anything in my save. I got 140k for him, which is something.

[hasdgfas]

Well, I did it. It's going to hurt Patino's playing time a bit, but with all the competitions we're going to be in he'll get plenty of game time anyway....

[Telegram Sam]

2024/25 Season - Part 3

2025 was upon us and the January transfer window came and went with minimal activity. The bid I expected for Dušan Vlahović never came and while I did shop around to scout out some potential bargains, no serious effort was made to improve the squad as I was very happy with what I had at my disposal. The only signing I did make was of 18-year-old Thai goalkeeper Watcharapong Songkrasin from Chiangrai United, who immediately returned on loan to Bangkok United in his native country as he had not been granted a work permit.

The turn of the year had meant it was awards season, with a number of Arsenal players earning individual accolades. Takehiro Tomiyasu was named AFC Player of the Year while our young Vietnamese newgen Nguyan Van Toan, on loan at Tenerife for the season, was named as the confederations Young Player of the Year. Giovanni Reyna was named CONCACAF Player of the Year, as well as US Soccer's Young Player of the Year, with Folarin Balogun coming in second place behind his teammate. In terms of global awards, Aaron Ramsdale was named World Goalkeeper of the Year while also winning the World Golden Glove.

Jude Bellingham, still only 21, picked up the Kopa Trophy, while our still-injured newgen academy product Vyacheslav Spirin was named European Golden Boy. He had performed well for Russia at EURO 2024 and had broken into the Arsenal first-team prior to breaking his ankle; we were expecting him back around March. 

Dominik Szoboszlai was named 3rd in the Ballon d'OR rankings, signifying the impact he had made since he joined from RB Leipzig one year ago, finishing behind Liverpool's Erling Håland and eventual winner Kylian Mbappé of Bayern Munich. We had players in the FIFA World XI for the first time since I had joined, with Ramsdale and Szoboszlai making the starting XI with Vlahović on the bench:

Back to the actual football, and after signing off 2024 in the most spectacular way possible with a 9-0 demolition of Chelsea, a routine 3-0 win at home to Sheffield United was followed by a short trip across north London to face Spurs at the toilet bowl. A goal each for Vlahović and Martinelli either side of half-time made this another comfortable victory over our local rivals, who were now established as an average mid-table side clawing at the chance to at least qualify for the Conference League.

January saw us then get back into cup action with a double-header against Championship leaders in the League Cup semi-final coming either side of an FA Cup third round tie at home to Brighton. In the first leg, a dismal first half saw us fall two goals behind Southampton with a shock upset now on the cards, but after throwing on the big hitters we clawed it back to 2-2 at St. Marys with Szoboszlai scoring twice in the second half. Brighton offered little resistance in the FA Cup tie, with a rotated side coming out as comfortable winners in a 3-0 win at home. The highlight of the game was a debut goal for young striker Arian Kalantari, an English-Iranian striker who I had signed from Persepolis Tehran in the summer:

I didn't have the biggest hopes for Kalantari, who had a fairly limited technical and physical skill set, but brought him to the club after seeing his relative potential and the fact he supported Arsenal too. He was scoring for fun at youth level and his value was rising, so he may yet prove to be a solid asset to the club.

After disappointing in the first leg against Southampton, we made amends in the second game with an easy 3-0 victory that guaranteed us a place in the League Cup final, which we had lost on penalties to Manchester City in the season prior. Two stunning goals from Martin Ødegaard and Teun Koopmeiners, as well as a tidy finish from Reyna, had earned us the victory:

Our opponents in the final would Newcastle United, who had overcome QPR with relative ease in the other semi-final. They were still little more than an upper mid-table side at this point but still had an impressive squad who could hurt us if we were not careful.

In the league, we rounded off a fantastic January with a 4-1 win away at Bournemouth and a 2-0 win against Crystal Palace at Emirates Stadium. The Palace game had not been as straightforward as it seemed, with a late brace from Vlahović in the 85th and 88th minutes sparing our blushes after somehow failing to make a breakthrough up to that point.

February would be a huge month in terms of the title race as we would finally faced Manchester City, as well as their Manchester rivals United, with both games being played at home. City themselves also had a trip to Anfield to contend with and, prior to this month, they were still unbeaten in the league. We started February with a crazy and ultimately disappointing 4-4 draw at home to Aston Villa, who were incredibly lucky to come away with anything. Aaron Ramsdale had picked up an injury before the game and this meant Maarten Vandevoordt would deputise in goal; he would go on to have one of the worst goalkeeping performances I'd seen in 3.5 seasons, ending the match with a 6.1 rating and letting 4 of Villa's 5 shots on target fly past him into the net. The xG story of the game tells you everything you need to know:

I was frustrated to have dropped points at home, but felt much better the day after as City lost their unbeaten record at Anfield as my old foes did me a massive favour by battering them 5-1. 

It was the big game against Manchester City next, and only goal difference could separate us ahead of the game:

A lot was on the line and to my delight we came out as victors thanks to a great striker from Giovanni Reyna and a penalty from Dušan Vlahović in the first half. Benjamin Šeško had pulled one back for City at the start of the second half but we held out to finish the game as deserved winners, subjecting City to their second defeat in as many games. Unfortunately, the game against the other club from Manchester did not go as hoped, and we were held to a frustrating 0-0 draw by a United side who seemed more intent on keeping us out rather than trying to win the game themselves. Two draws from three home games was not what I'd wanted from this month, but our win over City meant we now had a narrow edge in the title race.

A header from Jude Bellingham away at bottom-placed Burnley got us back to winning ways with a narrow 1-0 victory at Turf Moor, before we then travelled to Liverpool to face Everton at their newly-built Bramley-Moore Dock Stadium for the first time. They had taken points off of us twice the season prior, and were doing well with Rafa Benítez still in charge, but goals either side of half-time from Szoboszlai and Vlahović in a game we controlled earned us another win and kept us at the top of the table.

Back to Europe, and we faced up against RB Salzburg away in Austria in the first match of our last 16 tie. After mainly winning games by relatively narrow margins since the turn of the year, we turned on the style and effectively killed the tie in the first leg by finishing up resounding 6-2 winners. Gabriel Martinelli got 3 goals and an assist in an impeccable display, with Gabriel, Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham scoring wonderful efforts to help remind the rest of the continent why we were European champions. Martinelli's opener on the frozen pitch, as well as both goals from Rice and Bellingham, were scorchers:

With our place in the Champions League quarter-finals now virtually secured, attention now turned to Wembley as we faced up against Newcastle in the League Cup final. Despite all of their riches, the Magpies were yet to qualify for European competition or win their first piece of silverware since 1955, so I knew they'd be motivated for this one. I was able to put out pretty much my strongest XI, albeit with Vandevoordt—who had thankfully improved since his horror show against Villa—in goal ahead of Ramsdale, who had since returned from injury.

The game proved to be far more comfortable than I had thought it might be, with a first-half penalty from Vlahović giving us a lead at half-time before Jude Bellingham's deflected shot in the 56th minute effectively killed the game. We probably should have scored more but we completely stifled Newcastle, who failed to register a single shot on target, and ended the final as 2-0 victors. It was our third trophy of the season following victories in the Community Shield and Super Cup, and while we pushed for bigger honours in the final three months of the season, it was great to win this trophy after penalty heart-break the year before. It was our first League Cup trophy since 1993 and the third major honour I had won during my spell with the club.

I won't deny it had been an easy run in, but after coming up against Liverpool and Manchester City in the competition last season felt we were due a bit of luck in our draws:

Moving forward, we had one foot in the Champions League quarter-finals and an FA Cup fifth round tie at home to League 1 outfit Derby County to come in our next game. As far as the Premier League was concerned, it was very firmly a two-horse race with 10 matches to play:

The final day game against City at the Etihad was already looming large, with a relatively straightforward run in the league up until May, where we would face Liverpool (H) and Newcastle (A) before travelling to Manchester. I hoped we'd have some distance between us and City by then, but realistically I think this one may well go down to the wire.

[saware]

On 24/01/2022 at 18:20, saware said:

After seeing this I decided to hold off on any January transfers in the hope that when March came around the asking prices of the targets I had in mind would come down… luckily they did! 

Managed to get Vlahovic & Koopmeiners in for next season within my £85m budget. 

Looking ahead to my 2nd season now after finishing 4th thanks to some good form & a collapse by Man City, who finished 5th & promptly sacked Pep. Almost caught Chelsea in 3rd (Man Utd we run away champions with Liverpool in 2nd place) but once CL qualification was secured my players decided to have an early end of season break & their form went out of the window.

We went out of the FA Cup in spectacular fashion, losing 5-1 in the quarter finals away at Liverpool… needless to say I was not happy!

Nketieh finished top scorer, mainly as Aubameyang had been used wide left to cover for Smith Rowe & Martinelli. Saka & Lokonga played well too, however it was Tomiyasu who finished as our player of the year. 

Whilst we were never short for goals I feel like we could’ve done better with a more lethal striker leading the line so I’m excited to see what Vlahovic brings to the table.

Defensively we were strong, we had the tightest back line in the division, & Ramsdale won the golden glove.

Have around £60m to throw at the squad this summer, but looking to increase that with sales of some more fringe players. Haven’t quite decided who to bring in as yet, but that may well depend on who leaves. Newcastle dropped into The Championship so I’m not sure if they’ll keep funding my improvements?! 

I decided to go big and bring Bellingham in, it cost me more than the £60m I had free so I had to get creative using instalment payments and bonuses but I'm delighted to get a player of his quality in.

Leno departed for Hertha Berlin, I would’ve kept him as he was a very able back-up but he wanted to go & I got £12.5m for him when he was in the final year of his contract. I bought Carnesecchi in from Atalanta for £8.75m to replace him

I've continued a clear-out of the fringe players... Maitland-Niles to Fiorentina for £21.5m, Torreira to Real Madrid for £37.5m, Runarsson is in the middle of contract negotiations to leave for £1.4m, Marseille activated Guendouzi's £9m release clause at the end of his loan, and Mavropanos had a pre-arranged agreement with Stuttgart. Several U23 players have been released or sold off for small fees, whilst Balogun, Patino, and Biereth have been sent away on loan. I've been expecting some interest over the summer for Aubameyang as he's in the last year of his contract but so far nothing! 

I decided to bring Bellerin back into the 1st team squad, & if I can't strike a deal for Livramento over the coming season then I might try to extend his contract as it runs out in June 2023. I've also added Nelson & Saliba back into the fold. If I do lose Aubameyang I've targeted Adeyemi from RB Salzburg as a replacement as he's still cheap at under £20m. 

There’s still some money left in the bank, & I may look at shifting Mari out. However, good, young, & left footed replacements look too costly right now. 

Pepe & Xhaxa are probably due an upgrade over the next season or two so I’ve scouted Raphina & Camavinga respectively, but there are potentially other options & I’m in no rush.

Edited January 27, 2022 by saware
Added info

[BrickCommo23]

Really enjoyed keeping up with everyone's saves so thought I would do a little update of my own having just finished season two. 

I'll skip the first season - I really didn't enjoy it and was just trying to slog through the whole thing to get to the summer and press on with the rebuild. Suffice to say we snuck into fourth place and Champions League football was back at the Emirates.

Liverpool won the league - obviously. We only made two signings in the first year:

The Dutchman came in the start of the season and Musiala followed at the end of the year. 

Season 2

In the last few editions of FM I have bounced around downloading other people's tactics and generally getting annoyed with why it wasn't working. This time round, I was determined to try and create my own system of how I wanted to play and then tweak as needed. I eventually ended up with this:

We keep the ball pretty well, have scored a good number of goals and the the football is generally attractive and attacking (so the board and fans are happy too). It does still have a couple of flaws:

1) I really struggle to get decent performances (at least in terms of ratings) from the two wingers. I think I have read a few places that can be quite common but it is frustrating so I am still working on that

2) It's not great away from home. At best it is solid and we can work out a 1-0 or 2-0 but at worst it's just not very good - I am still trying to understand that one too. 

The tactic was gelling well and we had some good wins in the early season - but around Christmas things started really looking up - mainly off the back of this run:

And all of a sudden, we were well and truly in a title race (a season or two ahead of schedule). 

Unfortunately, shortly after this we lost our 2 centre mids to season ending injuries (Partey and AN Other - spoiler below) and we slightly limped the finish, losing at Man City and drawing away to West Ham. 

However, we did complete the double over Spurs.

Champions League

Our return to the Champions League went well, we won our group and quite comfortably dispatched Inter in the second round. Our reward, PSG! Returning to my theme of the tactic above, we weren't great in the first leg in Paris and lost 3-0 (although we did miss three 1on1s of our own. Which left us with a big second leg. It was closer than I expected:

Some little Argentinian guy scored off their only highlight of the entire match and we fell a goal short. 

FA Cup

We had a slightly gentle run to the FA Cup Final - but set up a final against Champions (and CL finalists) Liverpool. We weren't great and probably should have lost...

Just to wind up Klopp I said it was well deserved. So, the Arsenal have another FA Cup for the cabinet, at least. 

The League

Ended up like this. An improvement on last season but not quite where we wanted to be...

Aubameyang finished the league top scorer with 28 goals (and nearly 40 in all competitions). 

Next season

This is a bit of a work in progress as I haven't started pre-season for Season Three just yet but the aims are simple

1) Maintain a young, technically gifted and ultra mobile squad

2) Keep a closer eye on finances than I usually do and try to become a 'super club'

So - this is my current transfer for the 'season'.

Bellingham (the other midfielder who got injured on the run in) and Moukoko are settling in OK. I feel like next season will be the one when their stats really kick on. 

Danilo I have plucked from Brazil and I hope he can be my metronomic passer at the base of the midfield (and will probably rotate with Lokonga).

And yes, I know - very original I have just signed Haaland too (I am bankrolling Dortmund this season). I'll be honest, I wasn't planning to get him at all (quite like the look of Osmihen at Napoli) but as soon as the season finished he went on the transfer list for £94million.

Liverpool, City and Chelsea (plus PSG) were circling and the thought of Liverpool getting him as well would have probably killed off the season! So, I jumped in and amazingly no one else was interested so I got a free run at him. Even better, I didn't need to agree to a min fee release clause and he's on less wages than Auba was so I think that's probably a win!

The screenshot doesn't quite show it but I have moved on Nelson, Torreira and Bellerin for about £80m or so. Leno is leaving on a free too.

The big decision for me was PEA. I would have kept him on much reduced wages but I didn't want to offer a cheaper contract and upset him and the team morale in the run in so I left it. Slightly ridiculously, no one has come in to sign him and I've never been asked in press conferences what is happening (which feels like a bug). There is probably a bit of real life bleeding in there too - I just want to move the club on.

Thanks for reading...I will hopefully get a Season three preview in the next few days.

Edited January 27, 2022 by BrickCommo23
Typos

[saware]

1 hour ago, BrickCommo23 said:

Really enjoyed keeping up with everyone's saves so thought I would do a little update of my own having just finished season two. 

I'll skip the first season - I really didn't enjoy it and was just trying to slog through the whole thing to get to the summer and press on with the rebuild. Suffice to say we snuck into fourth place and Champions League football was back at the Emirates.

Liverpool won the league - obviously. We only made two signings in the first year:

The Dutchman came in the start of the season and Musiala followed at the end of the year. 

Season 2

In the last few editions of FM I have bounced around downloading other people's tactics and generally getting annoyed with why it wasn't working. This time round, I was determined to try and create my own system of how I wanted to play and then tweak as needed. I eventually ended up with this:

We keep the ball pretty well, have scored a good number of goals and the the football is generally attractive and attacking (so the board and fans are happy too). It does still have a couple of flaws:

1) I really struggle to get decent performances (at least in terms of ratings) from the two wingers. I think I have read a few places that can be quite common but it is frustrating so I am still working on that

2) It's not great away from home. At best it is solid and we can work out a 1-0 or 2-0 but at worst it's just not very good - I am still trying to understand that one too. 

The tactic was gelling well and we had some good wins in the early season - but around Christmas things started really looking up - mainly off the back of this run:

And all of a sudden, we were well and truly in a title race (a season or two ahead of schedule). 

Unfortunately, shortly after this we lost our 2 centre mids to season ending injuries (Partey and AN Other - spoiler below) and we slightly limped the finish, losing at Man City and drawing away to West Ham. 

However, we did complete the double over Spurs.

Champions League

Our return to the Champions League went well, we won our group and quite comfortably dispatched Inter in the second round. Our reward, PSG! Returning to my theme of the tactic above, we weren't great in the first leg in Paris and lost 3-0 (although we did miss three 1on1s of our own. Which left us with a big second leg. It was closer than I expected:

Some little Argentinian guy scored off their only highlight of the entire match and we fell a goal short. 

FA Cup

We had a slightly gentle run to the FA Cup Final - but set up a final against Champions (and CL finalists) Liverpool. We weren't great and probably should have lost...

Just to wind up Klopp I said it was well deserved. So, the Arsenal have another FA Cup for the cabinet, at least. 

The League

Ended up like this. An improvement on last season but not quite where we wanted to be...

Aubameyang finished the league top scorer with 28 goals (and nearly 40 in all competitions). 

Next season

This is a bit of a work in progress as I haven't started pre-season for Season Three just yet but the aims are simple

1) Maintain a young, technically gifted and ultra mobile squad

2) Keep a closer eye on finances than I usually do and try to become a 'super club'

So - this is my current transfer for the 'season'.

Bellingham (the other midfielder who got injured on the run in) and Moukoko are settling in OK. I feel like next season will be the one when their stats really kick on. 

Danilo I have plucked from Brazil and I hope he can be my metronomic passer at the base of the midfield (and will probably rotate with Lokonga).

And yes, I know - very original I have just signed Haaland too (I am bankrolling Dortmund this season). I'll be honest, I wasn't planning to get him at all (quite like the look of Osmihen at Napoli) but as soon as the season finished he went on the transfer list for £94million.

Liverpool, City and Chelsea (plus PSG) were circling and the thought of Liverpool getting him as well would have probably killed off the season! So, I jumped in and amazingly no one else was interested so I got a free run at him. Even better, I didn't need to agree to a min fee release clause and he's on less wages than Auba was so I think that's probably a win!

The screenshot doesn't quite show it but I have moved on Nelson, Torreira and Bellerin for about £80m or so. Leno is leaving on a free too.

The big decision for me was PEA. I would have kept him on much reduced wages but I didn't want to offer a cheaper contract and upset him and the team morale in the run in so I left it. Slightly ridiculously, no one has come in to sign him and I've never been asked in press conferences what is happening (which feels like a bug). There is probably a bit of real life bleeding in there too - I just want to move the club on.

Thanks for reading...I will hopefully get a Season three preview in the next few days.

Interesting that 2 recent posters have gone for Moukoko. Still quite expensive for me at the end of season 1 so seems like I should maybe hold off on buying a Aubameyang replacement for now in case he gets cheaper.

[BrickCommo23]

1 hour ago, saware said:

Interesting that 2 recent posters have gone for Moukoko. Still quite expensive for me at the end of season 1 so seems like I should maybe hold off on buying a Aubameyang replacement for now in case he gets cheaper.

I was surprised how cheap he was. Perhaps I've got a dud PA version...

[saware]

8 minutes ago, BrickCommo23 said:

I was surprised how cheap he was. Perhaps I've got a dud PA version...

I think @WillyBroadbandpicked him up quite cheaply too, & as far as I understand even if you’ve got a ‘poor’ PA version he’d still be better than the majority of others strikers. Will be good to see how he fares for you.

[VivaLaBorat]

Long time reader, rare poster! I have started out with an Arsenal save so thought I would share some of my story so far.

Season 1 - 21/22

Transfers - In:

• Nico Rovella (£23m) - Signed, but delayed until the end of the season. 
• Karim Adeyemi (£17m) - He is the chosen one to replace Auba, whose contract runs out in 2-years, so it gives me plenty of time to ease him in and not have to reply on him too much early on.

Transfers - Out:

• Cedric (£11m) - Wolves
• Pablo Mari (£20m) - Newcastle
• Rob Holding (£17m) - Newcastle
• Callum Chambers (£12.5m) - Wolves
• Pepe (£75m) - Real Madrid 
• Eddie Nkietah (£6m) - West Ham
• Mohammed Elneny (£8m) - Ajax

Loans;

• Dani Ceballos (January)
• Eric Garcia (January)
• Matheus Cuehna (January)

My glut of January signings on loan was largely down to the purge of players sold earlier in the window. I wanted to clear the dead wood, and would have made more permanent signings, but my main targets were waaaaaaaaay too expensive in January.

Premier League - Ended up 5th. I want to say that selling the players I did cost me depth and a shot at the top 4, but the reality is I was 15+pts behind 4th.

FA Cup - BEAT SPURS IN THE FINAL!

Season 2 - 22/23

After qualifying for the Europa League (sigh) and selling so many players last season, I was given £84m to spend and ample wage budget to use. So...

Transfers - In:

• Jude Bellingham (£87m) - I want to bring in some homegrown players, and he is arguable the best of the bunch (of the ones I could realistically sign). I needed to improve in the middle of the park and he is a foundational piece for the next decade.
• Dominik Szoboszlai (£35m) - I bid WAY more for im January, but they eventually just accepted a bid for £35m in the summer. Eyeing him up to be 1 of 5 key pieces in the middle, along with Rovella and Jude.
• Josha Vagnoman (£14m) - A very tactically flexible full-back.
• Benjamin Sesko (£15m) - Same as Rovella, delayed until the end of the season to allow Adeyemi some more game time up top before Auba leaves. 
• Tino Livramento (£67m) -  Same Sesko/Rovella. I have Tomiyasu and Vagnoman, I wanted to give Livramento a full season of games at Saints before arriving. Then, I'll have to try aned move Tomiyasu on.

Transfers - Out:

• Lucas Torreira (£20m) - FC Porto
• Matteo Guendouzi (£19m) - FC Porto
• Hector Bellerin (£12.5m) - Atletico Madrid
• Reiss Nelson (£33.5m) - RB Leipzig
• Berndt Leno (£10m) - Bournemouth
• Granit Xhaka (£33m) - Real Madrid

Loans:

• Eric Garcia - 4th choice centre back.

So far, I've seen huge improvements in results with that extra bit of quality in the squad. We are top after 6 games, sitting on 19pts. We have progress through to the 4th round of the Mickey Mouse Cup and have 7pts through 3-games in the Europa League (playing the backups).

More updates to follow...maybe.

 

[WillyBroadband]

Hello everyone, here are a couple of screenshots of Youssoufa Moukoko for those interested. 

As you can see, he had a bright start but hasn't been as good so far in my second season but that might be due to my change of tactics. 

Edited January 27, 2022 by WillyBroadband
Typo

[Telegram Sam]

2024/25 Season - Part 4

Another trophy was in the bag and we celebrated by battering Derby 7-0 in the FA Cup, with a hat-trick from Martin Ødegaard the undoubted highlight. Balogun bagged himself a brace while Lokonga and Martinelli also got in on the act, and the quality of our finishes in this game was exquisite. We followed that up with a 2-1 win away at Fulham and a comfortable 4-0 win at home to Leeds to keep our title aspirations alive.

Dušan Vlahović had scored in each game to continue his incredible run of goalscoring form, and I moved to finally sign him to a new long-term deal after he finally agreed to contract negotiations in spite of PSG's very public interest:

I was delighted to have signed him down to a new long-term deal, even if it meant making him our highest earner. I should have him at the club for the remainder of his prime years and was more than happy to have him as a focal point that we could build our team around.

In the Champions League, we secured our place in the quarter-finals with a 2-0 victory at the Emirates, meaning we had overcome RB Salzburg 8-2 on aggregate. A brace from Folarin Balogun had sealed the victory and his second goal was a particular highlight:

It had been an dominant display from us across the two legs, but things were about to get harder in the quarter-finals:

If we were to retain our title, we'd have to knock Bayern Munich out for the second consecutive year, with Barcelona and Juventus lying in wait in the semi-finals.

Balogun continued his goalscoring form by smashing a hat-trick past Fulham in the FA Cup, putting us through to the semi-finals. Liverpool, the team who'd beaten us in this competition last season, would face us at Wembley.

Our pursuit for a second Premier League title in as many years took a wobble at Brighton, with Dominik Szoboszlai netting an equaliser for us in the 94th minute of the game. We had the better of the game but had fallen behind with 20 minutes go thanks to a goal from Matías Arezo, and while Szoboszlai's intervention was a welcome one this still very much felt like two points dropped. Since Liverpool and ourselves had beaten Manchester City back in February, they had won six games in a row, and our points dropped at Brighton gave them the initiative back in the title race. With 7 games left to go, this was how we stood:

In other news, we managed to tie down Gabriel Martinelli to a new long term deal after his superb season, and five of our most talented youngsters were featured in the NxGn 50 for 2025:

Spirin was the only one who had been given some serious first team minutes, while Lucas Gijzen had made some sporadic appearances in the cups. Vítovec, Badić and Nguyen Van Toan were all out on loan and I'd be reviewing their situation at the club come summer.

After our draw on the south coast we faced up against Bayern at Emirates Stadium, who we'd defeated 4-0 in the Champions League on aggregate last season on our way to winning the trophy. It was clear from the first half of this game that we'd have a much harder time of it this time around as we faced plenty of pressure from the German champions, which eventually gave way as Kylian Mbappé converted from the penalty spot as the half came to a close. I ditched the 4-1-3-2 that Bayern had no issue countering, and went back to the 4-3-3 that had served us so well last season. It worked, with Martin Ødegaard and Dušan Vlahović both scoring second half headers to earn us a 2-1 victory in the first leg.

A 6-1 demolition of Brentford got us back to winning ways in the league, with another hat-trick from Balogun and a brace from Jude Bellingham setting us on our way. We travelled to Munich with a narrow one-goal lead and the belief that we could hold firm against our opponents to qualify through to the semi-finals.

It didn't go quite as planned.

It was a heartbreaking way to go out. After falling behind in the first half, an own goal from our former player Dest put us into an aggregate lead before Marco Asensio made it 2-2 on aggregate. Kylian Mbappé late strike looked like it had doomed us but Anel Ahmedhodžić headed home from a corner in the dying seconds to make it seem like we could pull off the impossible yet again. In the end though, we faded in extra-time with a number of players struggling to run, and Mbappé struck the killer blow to send us out. It was a disappointing way to go out as defending champions but there was no shame in going out to what was a fantastic Bayern Munich side.

There was no rest for us after our European exit as we headed to Wembley to face off against Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-final four days later. Vlahović gave us a deserved lead in the first half after he fired home from Tino Livramento's cross, but Erling Haaland yet again proved to be a thorn in my side as he drew Liverpool level in the opening minutes of the second half. We created more chances than our rivals but failed to make it pay, and after Kieran Tierney managed to get himself sent off in the 93rd minute of the game, we didn't even make it to extra-time when Liverpool's newgen Colombian centre-back Gerson García headed home a winner in the last minute of injury time.

We'd now gone out of both the Champions League and FA Cup in four days in cruel circumstances. While Bayern had probably edged us over the two legs, we had been the better side against Liverpool yet had still conspired to throw away a 1-0 lead in the second half:

The task was now simple—try to win our next five league games before we headed to the Etihad on the final day of the season.

The exits from these other competitions seemed to be having a negative effect on us in our next game where we played against Norwich at Carrow Road. Again we dominated the game and were failing to make our chances pay, but with the score at 0-0 with 86 minutes on the clock, Balogun stepped up once again to earn us a crucial late winner:

Things were a bit more straightforward in our next game, where we beat West Ham by five goals to nil. They had held us to half-time before a second half blitz kept up our momentum in the title fight. City, meanwhile, kept winning.

At this point in the season, we had gone 33 games without defeat in the league, with our only defeat coming at Stamford Bridge. Unfortunately, a second defeat finally came, which was a potentially lethal below to our chances of retaining the title:

A 2-0 home defeat to Leicester City saw our talisman go off injured after 24 minutes, us hit the woodwork 3 times, our captain score an own goal, and us fail to score from an xG of 1.97. The Foxes had sucker punched us in the second half as we pushed for an opener and we never found a way back into the game. Brutal.

If I thought this was frustrating, our next game against Liverpool was all the more gutting, and effectively put an end to our challenge for the league title.

We had again found ourselves 2-1 to Liverpool against the run of play, before a late rally saw us turn things around in sensational fashion. Just when I thought we might be able to go to City on the final day with something to play for, Kasper Dolberg scored his second goal of the game to deny us the victory we so desperately needed. It was genuinely one of the most frustrating games of Football Manager I've ever played and was furious at the way we had crumbled against our rivals yet again.

And so it was. City didn't flinch at all and won the title in the penultimate game of the season, beating their rivals from the other side of Manchester:

We beat Newcastle United 4-2 on the road in a game that ultimately counted for little before we faced up against the new champions at the Etihad. In typically bittersweet fashion, we won the game 1-0, with a header from Folarin Balogun the difference and making me wonder what could have been. The only upside was that we had denied City from matching or beating the 100 point record total they had set in 2017/18. This was the final league standings:

While the disappointing home results against Leicester and Liverpool that ultimately cost us the title were infuriating, it was difficult to be too upset at the players. We'd finished the season with 96 points, 7 more than we managed last year as winners, and this figure was a record points total for Arsenal—beating the 90 points the Invincibles had earned in 2003/04. Our two defeats had come against 6th-placed Leicester City and 8th-placed Chelsea, while 2 of City's 3 defeats had come against us. We'd done all we could but they were monstrous this season, and in the 12 league games they had played between their defeat at the Emirates and the final day defeat against us at their place, they'd won every single one. I had to hold my hands up and admit that in spite of our superb season, they had deserved it.

The exits from the FA Cup and Champions League were tough to take, but we had gone down fighting. Liverpool went on to lose to Manchester City in the FA Cup final, and Bayern went on to win the Champions League final on penalties, also by defeating Liverpool (by 13 penalties to 12, I might add). 

I'll do a more thorough debrief of my fourth season in my next post, as well as a look at how I'm moving forward into 2025/26.

[BrickCommo23]

2 hours ago, Telegram Sam said:

2024/25 Season - Part 4

Another trophy was in the bag and we celebrated by battering Derby 7-0 in the FA Cup, with a hat-trick from Martin Ødegaard the undoubted highlight. Balogun bagged himself a brace while Lokonga and Martinelli also got in on the act, and the quality of our finishes in this game was exquisite. We followed that up with a 2-1 win away at Fulham and a comfortable 4-0 win at home to Leeds to keep our title aspirations alive.

Dušan Vlahović had scored in each game to continue his incredible run of goalscoring form, and I moved to finally sign him to a new long-term deal after he finally agreed to contract negotiations in spite of PSG's very public interest:

I was delighted to have signed him down to a new long-term deal, even if it meant making him our highest earner. I should have him at the club for the remainder of his prime years and was more than happy to have him as a focal point that we could build our team around.

In the Champions League, we secured our place in the quarter-finals with a 2-0 victory at the Emirates, meaning we had overcome RB Salzburg 8-2 on aggregate. A brace from Folarin Balogun had sealed the victory and his second goal was a particular highlight:

It had been an dominant display from us across the two legs, but things were about to get harder in the quarter-finals:

If we were to retain our title, we'd have to knock Bayern Munich out for the second consecutive year, with Barcelona and Juventus lying in wait in the semi-finals.

Balogun continued his goalscoring form by smashing a hat-trick past Fulham in the FA Cup, putting us through to the semi-finals. Liverpool, the team who'd beaten us in this competition last season, would face us at Wembley.

Our pursuit for a second Premier League title in as many years took a wobble at Brighton, with Dominik Szoboszlai netting an equaliser for us in the 94th minute of the game. We had the better of the game but had fallen behind with 20 minutes go thanks to a goal from Matías Arezo, and while Szoboszlai's intervention was a welcome one this still very much felt like two points dropped. Since Liverpool and ourselves had beaten Manchester City back in February, they had won six games in a row, and our points dropped at Brighton gave them the initiative back in the title race. With 7 games left to go, this was how we stood:

In other news, we managed to tie down Gabriel Martinelli to a new long term deal after his superb season, and five of our most talented youngsters were featured in the NxGn 50 for 2025:

Spirin was the only one who had been given some serious first team minutes, while Lucas Gijzen had made some sporadic appearances in the cups. Vítovec, Badić and Nguyen Van Toan were all out on loan and I'd be reviewing their situation at the club come summer.

After our draw on the south coast we faced up against Bayern at Emirates Stadium, who we'd defeated 4-0 in the Champions League on aggregate last season on our way to winning the trophy. It was clear from the first half of this game that we'd have a much harder time of it this time around as we faced plenty of pressure from the German champions, which eventually gave way as Kylian Mbappé converted from the penalty spot as the half came to a close. I ditched the 4-1-3-2 that Bayern had no issue countering, and went back to the 4-3-3 that had served us so well last season. It worked, with Martin Ødegaard and Dušan Vlahović both scoring second half headers to earn us a 2-1 victory in the first leg.

A 6-1 demolition of Brentford got us back to winning ways in the league, with another hat-trick from Balogun and a brace from Jude Bellingham setting us on our way. We travelled to Munich with a narrow one-goal lead and the belief that we could hold firm against our opponents to qualify through to the semi-finals.

It didn't go quite as planned.

It was a heartbreaking way to go out. After falling behind in the first half, an own goal from our former player Dest put us into an aggregate lead before Marco Asensio made it 2-2 on aggregate. Kylian Mbappé late strike looked like it had doomed us but Anel Ahmedhodžić headed home from a corner in the dying seconds to make it seem like we could pull off the impossible yet again. In the end though, we faded in extra-time with a number of players struggling to run, and Mbappé struck the killer blow to send us out. It was a disappointing way to go out as defending champions but there was no shame in going out to what was a fantastic Bayern Munich side.

There was no rest for us after our European exit as we headed to Wembley to face off against Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-final four days later. Vlahović gave us a deserved lead in the first half after he fired home from Tino Livramento's cross, but Erling Haaland yet again proved to be a thorn in my side as he drew Liverpool level in the opening minutes of the second half. We created more chances than our rivals but failed to make it pay, and after Kieran Tierney managed to get himself sent off in the 93rd minute of the game, we didn't even make it to extra-time when Liverpool's newgen Colombian centre-back Gerson García headed home a winner in the last minute of injury time.

We'd now gone out of both the Champions League and FA Cup in four days in cruel circumstances. While Bayern had probably edged us over the two legs, we had been the better side against Liverpool yet had still conspired to throw away a 1-0 lead in the second half:

The task was now simple—try to win our next five league games before we headed to the Etihad on the final day of the season.

The exits from these other competitions seemed to be having a negative effect on us in our next game where we played against Norwich at Carrow Road. Again we dominated the game and were failing to make our chances pay, but with the score at 0-0 with 86 minutes on the clock, Balogun stepped up once again to earn us a crucial late winner:

Things were a bit more straightforward in our next game, where we beat West Ham by five goals to nil. They had held us to half-time before a second half blitz kept up our momentum in the title fight. City, meanwhile, kept winning.

At this point in the season, we had gone 33 games without defeat in the league, with our only defeat coming at Stamford Bridge. Unfortunately, a second defeat finally came, which was a potentially lethal below to our chances of retaining the title:

A 2-0 home defeat to Leicester City saw our talisman go off injured after 24 minutes, us hit the woodwork 3 times, our captain score an own goal, and us fail to score from an xG of 1.97. The Foxes had sucker punched us in the second half as we pushed for an opener and we never found a way back into the game. Brutal.

If I thought this was frustrating, our next game against Liverpool was all the more gutting, and effectively put an end to our challenge for the league title.

We had again found ourselves 2-1 to Liverpool against the run of play, before a late rally saw us turn things around in sensational fashion. Just when I thought we might be able to go to City on the final day with something to play for, Kasper Dolberg scored his second goal of the game to deny us the victory we so desperately needed. It was genuinely one of the most frustrating games of Football Manager I've ever played and was furious at the way we had crumbled against our rivals yet again.

And so it was. City didn't flinch at all and won the title in the penultimate game of the season, beating their rivals from the other side of Manchester:

We beat Newcastle United 4-2 on the road in a game that ultimately counted for little before we faced up against the new champions at the Etihad. In typically bittersweet fashion, we won the game 1-0, with a header from Folarin Balogun the difference and making me wonder what could have been. The only upside was that we had denied City from matching or beating the 100 point record total they had set in 2017/18. This was the final league standings:

While the disappointing home results against Leicester and Liverpool that ultimately cost us the title were infuriating, it was difficult to be too upset at the players. We'd finished the season with 96 points, 7 more than we managed last year as winners, and this figure was a record points total for Arsenal—beating the 90 points the Invincibles had earned in 2003/04. Our two defeats had come against 6th-placed Leicester City and 8th-placed Chelsea, while 2 of City's 3 defeats had come against us. We'd done all we could but they were monstrous this season, and in the 12 league games they had played between their defeat at the Emirates and the final day defeat against us at their place, they'd won every single one. I had to hold my hands up and admit that in spite of our superb season, they had deserved it.

The exits from the FA Cup and Champions League were tough to take, but we had gone down fighting. Liverpool went on to lose to Manchester City in the FA Cup final, and Bayern went on to win the Champions League final on penalties, also by defeating Liverpool (by 13 penalties to 12, I might add). 

I'll do a more thorough debrief of my fourth season in my next post, as well as a look at how I'm moving forward into 2025/26.

Unlucky dude. That's a massive points total and would 99% of the time be enough to win the title. 

[Telegram Sam]

2 hours ago, BrickCommo23 said:

Unlucky dude. That's a massive points total and would 99% of the time be enough to win the title. 

Thanks bud. It was frustrating watching City win every week and know that we had to be perfect just to stay up there with them. On multiple occasions they'd edge out a 1-0 or 2-1 win and it just seemed inevitable that they'd beat any other team who wasn't us.

They have Klopp at the helm and are being linked with Haaland from Liverpool, who scored 49 goals for them this season. I'm sceptical that they could get him but if they did we might be struggling to win another title over them for a few years.

Edited January 27, 2022 by Telegram Sam

[hasdgfas]

It all comes down to the final day:

103 goals from United? What???

[hasdgfas]

A very frustrating match, not that it mattered:

[Telegram Sam]

1 hour ago, hasdgfas said:

A very frustrating match, not that it mattered:

Unlucky mate. United we’re dominant in my first two seasons with Ronaldo playing incredibly; they now have Greenwood as their talisman and they batter teams regularly. I think he must score 35-40+ goals each season for them.

[BrickCommo23]

8 hours ago, hasdgfas said:

A very frustrating match, not that it mattered:

That's honestly the highest GD I have ever seen.

In my save United just sold Greenwood to PSG for about £130m. Hopefully that stops them getting so dominant here.

Oh and they sacked Ole and have just appointed Allegri.

[WillyBroadband]

10 hours ago, Telegram Sam said:

Unlucky mate. United we’re dominant in my first two seasons with Ronaldo playing incredibly; they now have Greenwood as their talisman and they batter teams regularly. I think he must score 35-40+ goals each season for them.

Same on my save, mate. I just beat them for the first time at Old Trafford, felt like a minor achievement*. Especially as Rashford scored the winning goal for me - then in the post-game press conference it mentioned something about how he didn't celebrate against them, nice little touch. 

*as I'm a Gooner IRL, haha

Edited January 28, 2022 by WillyBroadband
Typo

[hasdgfas]

I got them back elsewhere:

[Telegram Sam]

2024/25 Season - Review

I have really mixed feelings about last season. Losing the title despite finishing with 96 points was pretty gutting, and I really felt we should have made it to the FA Cup final after dominating Liverpool at Wembley. In the Champions League, it was always going to be a tough ask for us to retain the trophy after winning it for the first time ever in 2024, and going out to eventual winners Bayern Munich was understandable. 

Winning the League Cup for the first time since 1993 was a positive moment, while the Community Shield and UEFA Super Cup wins were nice-to-haves. Our league performance would have made us champions in nearly every other Premier League season, so I can't be too disheartened and clearly we made progression as a team. The 30 victories we notched up was also a record:

In terms of individual accolades, Dušan Vlahović had managed to win the Golden Boot despite missing the last few games of the season, edging out Erling Haaland and Mason Greenwood:

He had managed a goal every 72 minutes in the Premier League, with his record six-goal haul against Chelsea an undoubted highlight. Gabriel Martinelli finished 8th in the goalscorer rankings, hitting the net 15 times in what was a real breakthrough season for him. His 22 goals in all competitions, as well as 13 assists, showcased what a superb player he had become playing as striker. Folarin Balogun had also had a similarly impressive season, with his 27 goals meaning all three of my main striking options were in good form and developing superbly.

In terms of assists, Dominik Szoboszlai had established himself as the creative hub of the side, notching 13 assists in the league (as well as 174 key passes—a league high) and 19 in all competitions. Tino Livramento had also had a great first season for us, with his 12 league assists making him arguably the most effective attacking full-back in the division. On the other flank, Kieran Tierney had a pretty disappointing year as one of the very few players of mine to average below a 7.0 across the season. I was loathe to replace my captain, especially as available left-backs of the prerequisite quality were tough to come by, but I may be forced to make a premature change in that position should he fail to improve in 2025/26. Anel Ahmedhodžic continued his impressive rise and was now firmly the best centre-back I had at the club.

Despite our 96-point haul only Vlahović made the team of the season, much to my surprise. Something fishy had clearly gone on in terms of the voting process given the inclusion of a certain right-winger:

Because I'm a bit of a nerd, I also keep a spreadsheet to track my players' performances season-on-season. Here's my squad for the past season and how they all performed:

Looking forward to the new season, I'm at a bit of a crossroads. I am very happy with the squad and for the first time in this save, I don't really have any clear targets going into the summer window. There's some truly world class talents that tempt me, such as Frenkie de Jong and Pedri, but we already have quality players at the club who aren't nailed on starters (e.g. Reyna, Ødegaard, Smith Rowe) and I don't think I'd make a big purchase without some sales first. I think I'll likely wait and see what interest there is for our players before I make my own moves, although time will tell.

In terms of tactics, I've been messing around with a couple of new ideas that I'll try in pre-season. I'd love some input from you guys; I can't decide if these tactics are inspired genius, or the ramblings of a madman. 😅

I've also been messing around with the idea of some sort of 4-4-2, with some roles thrown in (Segundo Volante, Wide Playmaker) that I haven't used before:

Tips and advice on tactics and player acquisition are welcome!

Edited January 28, 2022 by Telegram Sam