[[FM22] Globetrotting in the Name of Glory (Pentagon Challenge)]

Staff changes

One of the most consistent complaints I received from players last season was the standards of coaching at the club, which admittedly were poor. That said, I think it's less to do with us having worse coaches compared to other clubs in the league, but rather that the budgetary restraints and unappealing nature of living in Uzbekistan to foreigners making it really hard to attract top coaching talent to the league. Nonetheless, emboldened by my relative strong standing as manager, I decided to undergo a complete overhaul of my coaching team and bring in some new faces to freshen up the coaching setup at Bunyodkor.

Two Serbian coaches arrived to help bolster our defensive and goalkeeping coaching, as well as former Costa Rica international Michael Umaña who is a decent all-rounder. My new assistant manager, however, has some clout to his name:

Milan Baroš, a man who scored 41 goals for the Czech Republic in 92 appearances and won the Champions League with Liverpool, takes his first steps into a non-playing football career by signing up as my assistant manager at Bunyodkor. He's a bang average coach but has some great mental attributes and, most importantly, very low wage demands. Like myself, he can barely speak a word of Uzbek, but at least with his solid grasp of English we can at least communicate with each other on the touchline.

In terms of my own coaching abilities, despite picking up a National B qualification last season my stats are still woeful, and it might be a couple of seasons yet before I can effectively lead training sessions for my own team:

I'm also still unable to speak Uzbek to even a basic level despite spending over six months in the country, which in truth probably feels accurate as to how I'd fare in real life.

Nonetheless, I'm happy with the changes we've made to our coaching set up and I hope at the very least the players will stop complaining en masse every week about the quality of their training sessions. 

Pre-season

With our new squad assembled, I was excited to get us into some matches and we embarked on a glorious tour of local Tajikistan to play the best sides there before returning to play two of the teams relegated from the Superligasi last season, Bekobod and Andijon. We won all five games without conceding and the new players were integrating well:

Pre-season was particularly fun for our star striker Islom Rashidhonov, who bagged himself 11 goals across the five games:

It's already starting to feel like our title challenge may well depend on whether we can keep him fit for the entire season as he's pretty much the best striker in the league, as far as I can tell. A lethal advanced forward.

The end of pre-season also saw me obtain my National A coaching licence, which was nice to see:

I immediately requested that the board let me start on my Continental C licence as they obliged, so at the very least I'll have a few badges under my belt once my time in Uzbekistan comes to an end.

Getting underway in the league

After a long winter break the new season was finally here, and we welcomed last season's runners up Nasaf Qarshi to the Bunyodkor Stadioni to open the season. It was a tight game with both sides failing to make the breakthrough in the first half, but on the hour mark our talisman Islom Rashidhonov found himself with space in the opposition area and he slotted a finish home into the bottom corner to give us the lead.

However, despite holding our opposition at bay for the next quarter of an hour, we managed to find ourselves on the losing end of the game after a curled free-kick and amazing strike from outside of the area consigned us to an opening day defeat:

It was a cruel way to lose a game and certainly had me wondering already if my expectations of a title challenge in 2022 might have been a bit premature. Nonetheless, we were thankfully able to recover in our second game against newly promoted Buxoro and ran out 2-0 victors thanks to goals from our new signing Fernando Medeiros, including this superb strike into the roof of the net:

Our other foreign signing Mohammed Dawood was able to make an impact in our next game, scoring twice in the first half as we battered Turon Yaypam in the opening 45 to take a 3-0 lead into the break. However, in the second half we managed to give away two goals from range, and in the end only scraped a 3-2 victory against a side much worse than ourselves. This game and the Nasaf defeat has certainly raised some concerns about my team's mentality and its ability to see out matches.

Dawood wouldn't get a chance to build on this strong performance, unfortunately, as he picked up an injury while playing for Iraq:

That said, we only played two games in the month of March, and as such Dawood didn't miss too many games. The first came at home to Surxon, one of the weaker sides in the league, whom we edged out in a narrow 1-0 win thanks to a goal from Médjo Koné. The Malian has started to settle in Uzbekistan and now has two goals in two games, and his strike was vital in this game to earn us the three points on the night.

Up next was an away trip to Navbahor, who finished firmly in mid-table last season despite having one of the biggest wage bills in the league. It was another close game, one we did have the better of, but with the game beginning to peter out we were still deadlocked at 0-0. With 77 minutes on the clock, however, our young captain Rasul Yo'ldoshev stepped up to rifle home a winner from the edge of the box:

 

Yo'ldoshev is one of the best young Uzbek players in the league and it was great to see him stepping up and winning us a game with a superb goal. We had received a bid from Al-Gharafa in the Qatari league for him in the winter window, which I had rejected, but we're now in a position where he wants to leave and move to a better (and richer) league. I had to promise to sell him if a bid of £20k was received for him to keep him happy—even the better players in Uzbekistan go for dirt cheap—and with AFC Champions League winners Ulsan now circling, I may not be able to keep him beyond the summer break. For now though, we'll get the most out of him while we can.

The win over Navbahor meant we'd won four of our first five games after the disappointing opening day defeat to Nasaf, and we're looking good in the league table:

We haven't been completely convincing so far, but I'm hoping that's primarily down to us signing a lot of new players in the off-season and them needing some time to gel. FC AGMK, last season's winners, have started well and I'm also expecting to see the 2020 champions Paxtakor stay close to the top over the duration of the season.

Frustratingly, we now have a 25 (!) day wait for our next game in May, a month in which we play three games, before then having to wait over a month for our next two matches in June. We're therefore only going to be playing 10 of our 26 total games in the first half of the season, which is strange, but seems to be the norm in Uzbekistan judging by our schedule in 2021. We're still due to be drawn in the domestic cup which has a group stage, so that may explain some of the delays, but we shall see.

In my next post I'll play through to the summer transfer window and report back on how we're doing.

[[FM22] Globetrotting in the Name of Glory (Pentagon Challenge)]

3 hours ago, john1 said:

Good luck!

Thanks John! Appreciate it.

[[FM22] Globetrotting in the Name of Glory (Pentagon Challenge)]

Planning ahead

With the Uzbek season ending in November and not picking up again until March, I'm afforded a long spell to take stock of where we're at as a club and begin planning for the 2022 season. Our 4th-placed finish in 2021 was about as good as we could have hoped for given the bottom-half position we occupied when I took over, but we'll be wanting to push on and compete for the league title this year and get ourselves into continental competition.

The board have relatively unambitious aims, hoping again for a top half finish. They do expect us to reach the semi-finals of the domestic cup though, which we weirdly didn't participate in last year. I'm happy to work with relatively little expectation as it'll probably be a boost to my reputation if we do manage to achieve the goals I've set for myself. The season preview reflects better where I feel like we're at, and where we should be finishing this year:

It's hard to know what to make of our opposition this year. The season favourites Paxtakor, who have the biggest budget and won the league in 2019 and 2020, had a dreadful 2021 campaign and finished 10th, while Navbahor, predicted to finish 3rd, were 8th last season. The three sides who finished above us last year are predicted to finish 4th, 5th and 6th, so I'm expecting a competitive fight at the top of the table for those continental qualification spots.

The board provided us with a very workable budget for transfers this winter—around £1m for fees, and around £15k p/w left in the wage budget—so money likely wouldn't be an issue for us in terms of making the moves we need. The bigger issue was the fact that we rely heavily on Uzbek talent due to the harsh registration rules, and many of the better players in the league weren't too keen on joining us. Nonetheless, we were able to make a number of deals that have given us a very healthy-looking 20-man squad for the 2022 season.

Transfers

I've mentioned the strict rules on foreign talent in Uzbekistan before (no more than 4, and one of which needs to be Asian), and it required me to think hard on how best to fill these foreign player spots for the new season. We had signed Tunisian defender Maroine Mihoubi on a free transfer last summer, as well as Malian winger Médjo Koné, so I had two spots left to fill after we allowed Serbian midfielder Dimitrije Pobulić to leave on a free upon the expiry of his contract at the end of the year.

With one of these signings needing to be Asian, I sent my scouts to a few different countries on the continent and moved some of our excess transfer budget into the scouting budget so we could buy a more comprehensive package for the purpose of finding talented foreigners. A number of players caught my eye but we eventually opted to bring in a hot young talent from Iraq:

Costing us only £1k in transfer fees, Mohammed Dawood looks like a real bargain and we had to move fast to acquire his signature with a number of bigger clubs in Asia eyeing him up. I was looking for more depth and quality in the attack and the fact that he can play across the frontline was hugely appealing, although I imagine he will be predominantly be used on the left as Islom Rashidhonov, our best signing from the summer break, scored 14 goals in 15 games last season and will be our first choice starter as the lone striker. He has a great mix of technical and physical stats for the level we play at, as well as being a very determined character, so am hopeful that he can light up the league this season.

With the Asian spot filled, I could now look further afield for our final foreign player spot. I was keen to sign an attacking midfield option following Pobulić's departure and ultimately went shopping in South America to find this player:

Fernando Medeiros joins us from Angra Audax in the Brazilian Série A and upon his arrival becomes, on paper at least, one of the best and most well-rounded players in the league. Capable of playing pretty much anywhere down the centre of the pitch, I'm hoping to primarily utilise him as a left-sided Mezzala in our 4-3-3 formation but will push him up into the #10 spot should we resort to a 4-2-3-1 against sides defending deep. Like Dawood, his versatility made him an ideal target and at £17.5k I feel he represents superb value despite him being our most expensive signing of the window.

We made 8 signings in total throughout the window, with the other 6 being Uzbek nationals. I won't share screenshots of each one but would like to highlight one player who I was extremely pleased to get the signature of:

We went through last season without a natural left-back, with both of our left-wing backs having no familiarity with playing one position deeper, so was delighted to be able to sign Sherzod Nasrullayev from last season's runners-up Nasaf Qarshi. He's solid defensively, a good passer and a solid crosser of the ball, and will immediately come in as one of the first names on the team sheet. His quality is also highlighted by the fact that he's the only player we have in the Uzbekistan national side, as as well as the only player of ours to feature in the media's Dream XI in the season preview.

All-in-all, the transfer window has allowed me to clear out some of the players who didn't make much of an impact last year and add both quality and depth to the squad. Here is, roughly, my best XI going into the new campaign:

I intend to stick with a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1 for the majority of the season, although may try and have us be more patient in attack rather than the punt-and-run style I employed last year. On paper we have a squad capable of challenging for the league title, so now it's up to us to actually go out and do it.

First up we have a brief pre-season tour of Tajikistan—the only country the board will allow us to travel to—before we welcome last season's runners up Nasaf to the Bunyodkor Stadioni to kick off the league campaign.

[[FM22] Globetrotting in the Name of Glory (Pentagon Challenge)]

8 hours ago, Javier said:

Good start, looking forward to see how next season goes!

Thank you!

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

On 30/04/2022 at 10:49, Ewan0404 said:

I have decided to have a self imposed wage cap. No player can be on over £125,000 a week - there will be an exception for two marquee players. Most contacts will be bonus related in terms of how well the club does.

I hope this works out for you but it'll be a challenge. If you keep the likes of Saka and Ødegaard around long-term they'll be wanting deals close to 200k p/w before long.

[[FM22] Globetrotting in the Name of Glory (Pentagon Challenge)]

After a good start to the second half of the season, we managed to keep up the good momentum and finished the season strongly with a number of good results. An unfortunate 2-0 defeat at home to Navbahor was the only blight on our record as we won 7 of our last 8 games to conclude the 2021 season:

This superb end to the campaign secured us a 4th-placed finish in the league table:

We finished one place and three points behind 3rd place, who qualify for the AFC Cup, but given the poor first half of the season the club had had I think a 4th-placed finish was about as good as we could have hoped for. Our progress since I took over can be seen in how we rose up the league table, with 11 wins in 16 games:

I'm very satisfied with the start to my managerial career, and am glad I choose to come to Uzbekistan to start this challenge. Bunyodkor's place in the league was not representative of the quality of the squad and I believe with some decent business in the transfer market during the off-season, we should be able to make a serious title challenge in my first full season with the club. The eventual winners of the league were FC AGMK who won their maiden title, with reigning champions Paxtakor finishing a disappointing 10th. I expect them to improve next season, as well as Navbahor, as the pair of them have the two biggest wage spends in the division.

We have a healthy budget to play for at this level ourselves with a few thousand to spare in the weekly wage budget and over a million available to spend on transfer fees, and my plan will be to try and poach some of the better talent from other Uzbeki clubs to give us a boost for 2022. The strict registration rules mean we may look outside of Uzbekistan for one or two players, but the majority of the potential acquisitions will need to be homegrown talent. I've already lined up a couple of deals and have a good idea on which players I'd be happy to see leave. With only being able to register 20 players, I can't afford to have any passengers.

In terms of my own career, I was able to get my first coaching badge under my belt with the National B licence before the end of the season and have already begun work on my next one:

I'll definitely be looking to see my contract with Bunyodkor out, which expires next season. If we're able to qualify for the AFC Champions League then I may look for a contract extension to see how we're able to fare in continental competition in 2023, although that may depend on what sort of jobs become available and if my reputation has improved enough for me to get a bigger job. I've been keeping my eye on the job centre to see what roles are available but there's not much that has caught my eye:

For the time being the roles available seem to be at middling clubs in leagues no better than our own, or clubs towards the bottom of stronger leagues. While getting a role in the likes of Qatar, Iran and South Korea is likely going to be the ultimate aim, for the time being I figure it's better to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond with a great chance of domestic silverware and continental qualification.

In the Champions League, Ulsan won their second consecutive title after defeating Al-Sadd of Qatar in the final. I hope that I'll be managing in a final before long but for now, dominating in Uzbekistan is the main target.

[[FM22] Globetrotting in the Name of Glory (Pentagon Challenge)]

The mid-season break had allowed me some time to evaluate my squad and make some deals, as well as giving the players a holiday after a disappointing first half of the season. Upon their return I decided we'd be best served playing a couple of friendlies in order to regain some match sharpness. We played Qo'qon and Nasaf, two of the better sides in the league, and held our own in both games despite drawing 0-0 and losing 3-2. This gave me some confidence that the players we have should be able to secure us a top half finish with ease, even if a push for the title or continental qualification is out of our grasp for this campaign at least.

Frustratingly, our new signing Médjo Koné injured himself in the second friendly and it wasn't as minor an injury as I'd hoped:

Injuries are part and parcel of the game but with only having a squad of 20 players, a player in a certain position being unavailable for a few games really hurts squad depth. We nonetheless went into the second half of the season with confidence and the results have begun to swing our way:

We started with a great home win over reigning champions Paxtakor, with new signings Maroine Mihoubi and Islom Rashidhonov both getting on the scoresheet to earn us the victory. The following four games were all played away from home, with the most impressive of those victories coming against Lokomotiv Toshkent who sit second in the league. Rashidhonov, who we signed from Lokomotiv in the summer window, bagged himself a wonderful brace against his former club and was already beginning to repay the money we'd spent to bring him in. His second goal which secured the win was a fine finish into the bottom corner:

A draw against Surxon, a team close to the bottom of the table, was disappointing but after trailing late on we had equalized to earn ourselves the point. We got back to winning ways against Turon before heading to Nasaf, who sit third in the league table, and nabbing a draw. It was a fortuitous point but a header from new centre-back Davron Xoshimov was enough to get us a result.

This leaves us sitting 6th in the table with 10 games to play:

We may have only moved up two places since the summer break but crucially we are now 11 points clear of Turon in the relegation play-off position, having only been 3 points clear going into the mid-season break. I think it's going to be tough to catch up with the three teams at the top of the table but we've a relatively kind end to the season, so I'm not ruling anything out at this stage.

[[FM22] Globetrotting in the Name of Glory (Pentagon Challenge)]

My first game in management came against Adijon, the worst team in the league who'd drawn one and lost nine of their opening ten games. This was a welcome debut fixture and the game proved eventful, with us running out as 3-0 victors as the home side ended the game with only eight players:

This was the final game before we entered the mid-season break, leaving us in 8th place:

With only the top two places granting qualification to the AFC Champions League for 2022, I didn't have any expectations of continental football next season but felt with a strong second half of the season it wasn't unreasonable to expect us to finish at least 5th, with Qo'qon occupying that position currently and only four points separating us from them. We'd need a good transfer window to make this possible, however.

Squad review

The Uzbeki Superligasi is a relatively straightforward league in FM terms, but we are limited to registering only 20 players for our league campaign. The league also allows for nine substitutes to be named, meaning that the only way to name a full bench (as far as I can tell) is to have all 20 of your players fit and available, as there also doesn't seem to be an option to field young players who don't need to be registered. I noticed immediately that the squad was bloated as we had a number of players who weren't registered, including having five goalkeepers on our books. The 20-player registration limit meant that I had to be picky about who I wanted to keep and who I needed to move on, especially as I wanted to make some additions in this first window. The registration rules only allow for 4 foreign players in our squad, with only 3 of those permitted to be non-Asian, so I'd be primarily relying on Uzbeki talent to build my squad around.

First though, I'll share some of the better players already at the club who'll be staying for this season at least:

Rasul Yo'ldoshev is the best player at the club according to my coaches despite only being 20, and it's hard to argue. He's not a particularly well balanced player but his passing and technique means he'll likely be the creative hub of our side. Having a player with high determination in the centre of the pitch is also key given the relatively poor mental stats I have in the squad.

One of the players taking one of our foreign spots is Dimitrije Pobulić, a Serbian midfielder who joined us this season from Armenian outfit Ararat. As a more-well rounded midfield option who's a decent finisher, I'll be looking for him to play alongside Yo'ldoshev and be more of an attacking threat.

While my scouts don't rate him too highly, Avazbek O'lmasaliyev is a quality young full-back for this level who has great pace and a decent tackle on him. He'll be my starting right-back for the foreseeable future.

Transfers

As mentioned, our squad was bloated as well as being imbalanced, with us having tons of options in goal and in midfield but little depth at centre-back, on the wings, and in the striker position. I moved ten players on and brought in five players of my own during the mid-season break (although the window is still open, so one or two incomings and departures may still occur):

I was keen first to address the lack of depth in defence, and brought in two centre-halves who should provide us with some stability at the back:

Maroine Mihoubi was a free agent after his contract with PFC Lviv of Ukraine had expired, and I felt the Tunisian was worth bringing in despite him taking up one of our precious foreign spots in our squad as well as him becoming our best paid player on £1k a week. He's a really well balanced defender who is better on the ball than most in the division, and I'll be hoping he can establish himself as a key player at the club. I'll also be banking on him developing a great partnership with Davron Xoshimov, another new arrival, who joins us from fellow mid-table outfit Navbahor. With 28 national team caps to his name, his experience is welcome in what is a pretty young squad I have here at Bunyodkor.

I've brought in Islom Rashidhonov to spearhead our attack, with the 23-year-old Uzbeki having already scored 8 goals in 13 games at Lokomotiv Toshkent this season. He is a pretty limited striker but with good acceleration, heading, first touch and finishing, he should be able to bag plenty of goals for this side.

Comfortably our most expensive signing at £115k paid in transfer fees, Médjo Koné joins us from USC Bassam of the Ivory Coast to give us some quality down the flanks. The Malian winger is a great dribbler and I'm hoping he can become of the best attacking players in the league. While my scouting range is very limited, I was able to find the player by moving a bulk of my transfer budget over to my scouting budget, and paying for the world package for just the month.

I still have money to work with but the 20-player registration limit means I'm unlikely to make further moves. I'm pleased with the players I've brought him and am hoping I can get us playing some good football with the talent we now have at my disposal.

Tactics

I haven't given much thought to my tactical set up just yet, but am planning on playing with a basic 4-3-3 in these coming weeks and seeing how it goes. I'll be looking to counter down the flanks and hit early crosses into our new striker Rashidhonov, while making the most of the strength with have in the middle of the park. It seems that a lot of the teams in our division play a basic 4-4-2 so I'm hoping having more men in the centre of the park will pay off for us.

In the next update, we'll get back underway in the Uzbeki Superligasi and see how the team handles itself as we strive to move up the table.

[[FM22] Globetrotting in the Name of Glory (Pentagon Challenge)]

Hello everyone! After spending a number of seasons managing my beloved Arsenal and winning everything numerous times, I fancied myself a totally different challenge and decided to finally undergo a Pentagon save of my own. I've been playing Football Manager for 15+ years and have always liked the idea of a true journeyman save, but have never really given it a go, so figured it was finally the time.

I'm sure everyone here is familiar with the challenge but if not, the long and short of it is that you need to try and win the top continental prize in all five continents (Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America) while starting out as unemployed with no badges and no prior experience. To be forthright, I am playing with attribute masking off and I do have the in-game editor enabled due to my own personal preferences. I don't use the editor to my own benefit but do like to have it available primarily for cosmetic changes. Ultimately I am not playing this save to brag about how good I am or anything like that, and if folks deem this not to be a pure Pentagon save then so be it. I just want to travel the world, win some trophies, and have fun.

Game setup

I have added a significant number of custom leagues to give myself more options in terms of clubs when on my adventure, especially in Africa and Asia. I've 100+ leagues set to playable or view-only and will change this over time as I move from continent to continent. I decided to start my career in Asia, so I have made virtually all the leagues I have downloaded playable, including the likes of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Thailand, Syria and Iraq, along with the leagues that are playable through the base game including Australia, China and South Korea. To try and make the game world as balanced and competitive while I'm in Asia, I've kept a number of the top European leagues playable, along with the likes of Egypt, Morocco, and DR Congo in Africa, and Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and the USA in the Americas. Once I depart Asia I will make most of the leagues there view-only and more leagues playable in the next continent I visit, which will likely be Africa.

I'm starting the save with around 175k~ players loaded. Let's hope my laptop can handle it.

Finding a job

I am playing as myself, starting as someone with no badges and no experience in football, so my stats are understandably woeful:

In terms of allocating my attributes, the main thing I focused on was boosting my adaptability a bit, as I felt that'd be important for someone managing in a far flung land. As a Brit who can only speak English, my language skills certainly weren't going to win me any favours.

My medium term aims for the save was to get myself a job in a middling Asian division, earn myself some coaching badges while building my reputation, and then I'd look to get to into one of the better leagues where winning the AFC Champions League was more likely:

The Chinese, Qatari and South Korean top divisions are the three top-ranked leagues in Asia at the start of the save, while the Arabian Gulf League of the UAE and Persian Gulf Pro League of Iran are also strong. I don't have the J-League of Japan loaded due to licensing issues so going there won't be an option, disappointingly.

When I booted up the game and headed to the job centre and thankfully saw that there were plenty of job opportunities across the Asian continent:

I was tempted to see if I could fluke myself a job in Iran and start off on a strong footing, but that seemed unlikely, and I instead applied for jobs in Bahrain, Indonesia, Iraq, and Uzbekistan. My lack of experience, language skills, or any semblance of coaching ability didn't seem to hinder me, and I received job offers from all four clubs. In the end though, I decided Central Asia would be my first port of call...

Underway in Uzbekistan

I started this challenge to try something new, and managing in Uzbekistan is about as foreign as it gets for me. Bunyodkor Toshkent are an interesting team; a club founded in 2005 with 5 first division titles to their name already:

Digging a little deeper, the club has an interesting and somewhat controversial past. This Guardian article from 2009 is a good read and explains in more detail why the club gained some international attention:

Quote

 

Four years ago Bunyodkor did not exist. They won promotion from the amateur second division at the first attempt, finished runners-up in cup and league next time out, and in their third season won the double, with a run to the semi-finals of the Asian Champions League to boot. They have a former World Cup winner in the team, alongside the Asian footballer of the year. Now they are getting serious.

Bunyodkor are building a new $150m stadium, despite the fact that their current 15,000-capacity home, built in a few months, is less than a year old. A friendly against Barcelona, whose president, Joan Laporta, flew in to lay the first brick last August, will mark the official opening of their new home this summer.

Other Barcelona connections abound. Lionel Messi, Carles Puyol and Andrés Iniesta were joined by Arsenal's Cesc Fábregas last summer in flying to Tashkent, for a reported €1m (about £700,000 at the time) each, to pull on the club shirt for publicity purposes and hold a football skills masterclass for the locals. Bunyodkor made further headlines with an audacious attempt to sign Samuel Eto'o on a short-term contract. There was much amusement around the world at the idea but they were not joking.

"My head started spinning when I heard what they offered – $25m to play for two or three months," Eto'o told the French television station Telefoot after flying to Tashkent, where he, too, gave a skills session.

 

Clearly there were attempts to make Bunyodkor an Asian superb club, but after winning five league titles in six seasons between 2008 and 2013, they haven't won another. In the 2020 season they finished 4th and around the mid-way point of the 2021 season, they find themselves in 9th place as I step in as coach. We have ourselves a 34,000-seater stadium, albeit with an average attendance of only 1300 fans, along with some pretty healthy finances, so I should be able to get the club back up on its feet and competing at the top end of the table if things go well.

The board have requested that I finish in the top half of the 14-team Uzbeki first division, which should be doable based on the strength of the squad and our pre-season prediction of a 5th placed-finish:

In my first game, we're due to face bottom of the league Andijon before we head into the mid-season break. The board have given me a very generous budget of over £2m so I should be able to make some moves that'll help us finish higher up the league in the second half of the season. I'll go into more detail about the squad I have at my disposal and and the transfer moves I've made in my next post.

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

Just a note that I've ended my save, or at least put it on indefinite hiatus for the time being. After so many seasons I've lost my desire to keep playing the save although may return to it in future. I did finish the 2027/28 season so will do a final update at some point.

I've instead decided to start a Pentagon save attempt, which is something I've never done before. Currently managing in Uzbekistan so couldn't be further away from consistent Premier League and Champions League titles with Arsenal. 😅

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

3 hours ago, hasdgfas said:

Big drop for them! Anyone on their squad who would be a good cheap relegation pickup for you?

This is actually the third time they've been relegated in my save after going down in 2022 and 2026. They came straight back up both times. I tried to sign Rice in 2022 but he went to Newcastle on a much higher wage instead, although I ended up eventually signing him in 2024 by activating his release clause.

I just took a look at their squad and they've a couple of handy newgens but nobody too special.

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

2027/28 Season - Part 4

Sorry for the delayed response, folks! I managed to get COVID and that laid me low for a while. Managed to get back into playing the last few days so I've another update.

February started with an FA Cup fourth round tie away at West Ham and we came from behind to earn a 2-1 victory, with Gabriel Martinelli tapping home atW the back post to secure our passage to the next round. We eked ourselves past Bournemouth in the league thanks to a late own goal from Brandon Williams before a 4-0 drubbing of Sheffield United consolidated our position at the top of the league. Jude Bellingham bagged himself a brace in this game to continue his fine form, including a scorcher from the edge of the box.

European competition was underway again and we travelled to San Sebastián to face Real Sociedad in the first knockout round of the Champions League. A hat-trick from Vyacheslav Spirin earned us an impressive 3-1 victory to plant one foot firmly in the quarter-finals, with the young Russian having a superb season for us playing as an inside forward on the left of our attack. 

Next up was the final of the League Cup, where we faced off against Newcastle. Having beaten them 4-0 at St. James Park and 4-2 at the Emirates already this season I was confident of the victory, a competition we'd already won twice during my tenure. However, things didn't go to plan and we ended up losing our first final since the 2024 final of the same competition, where we fell to Manchester City:

It was a frustrating game, naturally. We had the better chances, more shots and more of the ball, but Newcastle seemed more up for it than us and we a constant threat throughout the game. We had fallen behind early on before an own goal from Conor Gallagher and a fine finish from Vlahović took us into the lead, but we managed to let Newcastle back into the game with fifteen minutes to go and the game went to extra-time and eventually penalties. Newcastle didn't miss a single one, Frenkie de Jong missed one for us, and that was that. It was the first trophy Newcastle had won during my save and I was pretty gutted that it was at our expense.

We didn't have time to dwell on the defeat as we played Newcastle yet again three days later, this time at home in the fifth round of the FA Cup. It was another agonisingly close game where we struggled to take our chances and it finished 0-0, so again extra time was called for. Newcastle took a lead on the 104th minute to make it seem like they were going to steal victory, but in the end Smith Rowe and Spirin got a goal each to to spare our blushes. Our xG come the final whistle was 4.95 from 43 (!) shots while Newcastles was 0.43 from 4, so I would have been furious had they picked our pocket again.

The past few games had seen us drop a level, and we dropped points in our next game as Aston Villa held us to a 0-0 draw at the Emirates; the first time we'd fail to win at home all year. We were still looking good at the top of the table with 30 games played but Chelsea's impressive form had helped them close the gap:

A dominant 3-0 win at Everton saw us rebuild some confidence before we routed Real Sociedad 4-0 in the return leg to secure a 7-1 aggregate victory in our pursuit of our third successive Champions League title. The subsequent draw had us facing off against Manchester City, with PSG or Barcelona lying in wait in the semi-finals if we could progress:

The FA Cup games were now coming thick and fast and we again hosted Villa at the Emirates at the quarter-final stage. Buoyed by our improved attacking displays of late, another goal from Spirin and a brace from Vlahović secured us a passage into the semi-finals, where we'd have to face Liverpool at Wembley. March was rounded off by a late 1-0 win at Leicester City that drew the Premier League title ever closer.

April began with the first leg of our Champions League quarter-final against City which was a home tie for us. We had the better of the game but failed to match the performance that saw us run out 5-1 victors in the league back in December, but a lucky deflection gave us a goal and an eventual 1-0 win. A scrappy 2-1 win over Brighton kept up our strong league form before we travelled up north to the Etihad to try and progress into the semi-finals with a slim advantage.

In recent games it had felt we hadn't been rewarded despite our dominance in games, but against City it was the exact opposite as we managed to secure a 2-0 victory despite being under heavy pressure for the entire match. A superb performance from Aaron Ramsdale (an 8.7 on the night) kept the scores level for an hour before a powerful header from Dušan Vlahović gave us a pretty undeserved lead. City pushed and pushed but couldn't find a way through, and we rubbed salt in the wounds late on as Matthijs de Ligt headed home from a corner to make it 3-0 on aggregate. PSG would be our opponents in the semi-final after getting past Barcelona 3-1, with Bayern Munich and Juventus contesting the other tie.

The big games were coming thick and fast and we faced Liverpool in the semi-finals of the FA Cup in what promised to be another close game between the two of us. It was a close game but one we definitely had the better of, and in the end a single goal was enough as Vyacheslav Spirin scored yet again to send us through to our second domestic cup final of the season:

Some superb play from Livramento and Martinelli down the right had carved Liverpool open down the right and it was a simple tap in from Spirin to give us the lead. With the defeat in the final of the League Cup still fresh in the mind I was determined to lift the FA Cup for what would be only the second time, especially as the board's ever-increasing expectations meant a domestic trophy was one of their demands for the season. It wouldn't be easy though, with us having to face Manchester City yet again after they overcame Leeds with relative ease.

In the Premier League we stepped close to another league championship thanks to a 2-1 win over Spurs, which was flattering to the visitors (our xG was 4.40 to their 0.77). A routine 2-0 victory at West Ham, who would eventually get relegated, secured the Premier League title with four games to spare:

We had been superb all season, with a defeat at Stamford Bridge the only blight on what had been a near-perfect campaign. We had been consistent across the campaign but had really flexed our muscles with some marquee victories including a 4-0 win at Old Trafford and demolitions of Liverpool (4-0), Chelsea (7-1) and Manchester City (5-1) at Emirates Stadium. After winning the title on goal difference last year, it was great to see dominate from start to finish and prove our supremacy over the rest of the chasing pack. The loss at Chelsea meant an Invicibles season was not on the cards, but with 91 points and four games left to play breaking Manchester City's 100-point record total set in 2017/18 was still something we could motivate ourselves for, as well as a Champions League semi-final and an FA Cup final at Wembley to look forward to.

I'll wrap up the end of the season in my next post!

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

4 hours ago, chroniclesofal said:

Really loving everybody's updates this year, lots of interesting saves going on and I always enjoy the more realistic ones as that's how I like to play as well. I've been playing vicariously through your saves for a while, but now I've got Covid it was the perfect time to give FM another crack. I downloaded a database that started with the real results at the end of March and here's how it's gone so far. I wasn't taking screenshots throughout so this will probably be text-heavy, with a focus on squad building and transfers as that's the side that interests me the most, trying to keep things as realistic as possible.

I drew my first three games in charge (2-2 at Palace, 0-0 at Brighton and at home to Chelsea) before four wins in a row (2-0 vs United, 4-5 vs Southampton in a crazy game, 1-3 vs West Ham and 1-3 vs Newcastle) put us in pole position for fourth. We were able to afford dropping points at home to Leeds (2-2 coming from 0-2 down) as well as losing away to Tottenham 2-1 as fourth was already as good as sewn up, and we rounded out the season with a 1-0 home win against Everton. We actually ended up sneaking into third as Chelsea had really fallen off in the stretch.

My system was an assymetric 4-2-3-1 trying to replicate the more 4-3-3 shape Arteta has used this season. Partey as DM (D) at DMC, Xhaka as DLP (S) at CML, and Odegaard as AP (S) at AMCR. Saka or Pepe at AMR as IW (A), Martinelli or ESR at AML as IW (A or S respectively). Lacazette up top as CF (S) to get him involved in link play (he also missed penalties in two of our three opening draws which didn't endear him to me). I used Tomiyasu as a FB (S) and Tierney as a WB (S) to get the more lop-sided aspect to our back-line.

Here was my squad:

GK: Ramsdale, Leno, [Turner] - With Matt Turner coming in, I knew it would be the right time to cash in on Leno. Not much else to do here as I had other priorities.

RB: Tomiyasu, Cedric - I could have put up with Cedric for another year, but I liked the idea of a young, attacking alternative to rotate with Tomiyasu. Think Livramento but on a budget.

CB: White, Holding - Holding is a fine fourth choice, HG, a good leader, but only three options here is obviously too thin when we'll be competing in Europe. The returning William Saliba is the obvious solution, so he enters the rotation as our third CB, competing/sharing game-time with Gabriel and White.

CB: Gabriel, Holding - see above

LB: Tierney, Tavares - perfect for now

DM: Partey, Elneny - I decided to extend Elneny as I like his experience, and I already had one senior player bookmarked to leave in midfield. I see Lokonga as the long-term successor to Partey in this pivot role, but I don't quite trust him there yet and so I prefer to have the ultimate pro Elneny backing up this role. Ideal to back up a key player who will play the majority of matches as he almost never complains. Almost...

CM: Xhaka, Lokonga - While Lokonga develops into a more mature, reliable midfielder, I want to use him as a rotational option in the more box to box role which also has a lot of responsibilities but isn't so crucial defensively. Xhaka has taken on this role well in real life and did fine for me, but he's not really an 8 and so this was one of my top priorities. I decided I would move Xhaka on as I wanted to give Lokonga game time here and I didn't think the Swiss would like being a back-up. This was also the ideal time to cash in, with Newcastle hovering and two years left on his contract at 29.

AM: Odegaard, ESR - Pretty good for now, but with ESR also playing a lot of games at LW I was mindful that a proper back-up to Odegaard wouldn't go amiss

RW: Saka, Pepe - I've completely given up on Pepe in real life and his performances here, despite the winner against Southampton, didn't change my mind. I wanted to find a back-up to Saka who could also fill in at AM, allowing us to occasionally rest two key players while giving enough game-time to the potential new signing

CF: Lacazette, Nketiah - I toyed with extending Nketiah to be able to cash in on him properly this summer, but his demands were a bit much and I decided it wouldn't be realistic anyway. I extended Lacazette as I didn't want to have to sign two players in one position (my nightmare) and felt he would be a fine back-up to a new number 9, as well as allowing us to kick the captaincy issue down the road for a year while the long-term candidates stepped up.

LW: Martinelli, ESR - In theory this position has the ideal depth, two quality options who also offer something slightly different. I've struggled to get a tune out of ESR on FM22 though

So my priorities were as follows: upgrade on Lacazette; upgrade on Xhaka; back-up for Tomiyasu; back-up for Saka/Odegaard.

For my new number nine, I had my scouts look at the usual names (Isak, Nunez, DCL) but the only one who was convincing and affordable was Tammy Abraham, and I wondered if Roma would accept Xhaka or Pepe in a part exchange deal. They wouldn't. So I moved quickly to bring him in for £45M rising to £50M.

I looked at a lot of players for my Xhaka replacement, including Matheus Nunes, Fabian Ruiz, Youri Tielemans and Ruben Neves. The last three were prohibitively expensive at the start of the window and I wanted to get this sorted quickly. So I went for someone many others have bought too in Declan Rice. My scouts said I could have him for between £60M and £80M, but West Ham managed to get me up to £75M. I was just happy for someone other than Pepe to be our record signing.

As I said, I'd considered keeping Cedric around for another year as I looked for a quick, attacking Tomiyasu alternative. But when a few bids came in for Cedric I decided to take it as a sign and accelerated my search. There weren't too many realistic candidates though, and I had to bide my time to get my target as he had just extended going into the summer so at first wasn't interested in negotiating. Chelsea were hovering though so I moved as quickly as I could to get Calegari in for his release clause of £11M.

That was my first three priorities taken care of, and my next step was to take care of (get rid of) the players returning from loan. Off went the handsome Pablo Mari to Stuttgart (£20.5M), my sweet prince Hector Bellerin to Dynamo Kyiv for £19.75M, Maitland-Niles to Freiburg for £19.25M, and Lucas Torreira to Newcastle for £24.5M. And there I thought he didn't like the weather in England...

I also moved Bernd Leno on to Freiburg for £8.25M, Nicolas Pepe to Mainz for £17M, Granit Xhaka to Milan for £29M and the afore-mentioned Cedric to Marseille for £7.75M. These fees felt a lot more realistic than the bizarrely inflated fees for those loan players I was desperate to get rid of but there you go. We also picked up £3M from a tribunal when Eddie Nketiah chose Aston Villa over foreign shores.

All of these departures left me with plenty of cash burning a hole in my pocket, and I couldn't help looking down at that pocket when my scouts told me they thought Harvey Barnes, a real life favourite of mine, was gettable for between £40-50M. I'd struggled to find a RW/AM who could back up for Saka and Odegaard, and I'd decided to bring back Reiss Nelson to cover for Saka when needed (rarely). So I could bring Barnes in to rotate with Martinelli (I felt we lacked directness when ESR and Saka were the wide players, so it would be good to have two direct options at LW). Leicester got me up to £49.5M but I got my man. His old number 15 had just been made vacant and it felt perfect.

At this point my squad was settled and we started the season well with a 4-0 home victory over Aston Villa, with debutant Tammy Abraham scoring the first two goals on his first appearance. Sadly that fast start was curtailed in our following game away to Leeds: in a nightmare start, we had Thomas Partey sent off after three minutes at the same time as Abraham went down with torn knee ligaments and he would be out for three months. I considered relying on Lacazette with Martinelli taking some minutes at CF, but I wasn't taken with that idea as I don't think Martinelli is ready to play up top on his own, and I couldn't countenance the idea of Lacazette week in week out.

So it was back to the transfer window for an impulsive signing, and I didn't really have the time to wait for my scouts to examine any of my potential targets. I considered Gianluca Scamacca and surprisingly Neal Maupay, but I went for a player I like in real life in Ivan Toney. He was overly expensive and my scouts weren't keen, but I think he has something and I liked that he would give us a different option off the bench when Abraham was back. He was brought in for a steep £38.5M with a week or two left in the window, and our business was concluded.

We had an excellent start to the season, making it all the way to October having conceded just one goal, though without Abraham and with Lacazette slogging away up top we were struggling for goals, and luckily Harvey "Harvard" Barnes really hit the ground running and contributed well in his first months. We had a very winnable CL group with Milan, RB Salzburg and Galatasaray but the dropped points in Austria were frustrating.

Unfortunately our first defeat was just around the corner, and we went down 2-1 at Anfield, but I was very happy with the performance, as I usually get battered there, and we did well to stay in the game at 2-0 down and really pushed for a comeback. It took us a while after to get our goalscoring mojo back, and a 4-0 defeat in Milan brought back bad memories, but I took that as us getting all the goals conceded out of our system in one go and I was okay with that. Our defensive record had been incredible but Aaron Ramsdale had bailed us out countless times saving a ridiculous number of one-on-ones while our "no goals conceded" record was still intact, so I couldn't complain much. 

The match following our Milan humiliation was an away match to Tottenham, one of the trickiest fixtures of the season, so when Oliver Skipp was sent off after three minutes I could hardly believe my luck. But we struggled to break them down and Harry Kane scored from distance to give us a lead to reverse. We threw everything at them and eventually Bukayo Saka equalised on 77 minutes, before Emile Smith Rowe stepped up with a welcome contribution, firing in off the bar from 20 yards to win the game (basically a carbon copy of his shot that hit the bar against Tottenham at home last season, except it went in). The win got us back on track and we went on a good run that culminated in a 6-1 domination of Fulham which took us into the break for the World Cup. I hadn't managed to get much out of Ivan Toney though, so the return of Tammy Abraham some time after the restart would be welcome.

During the break we had three fairly uninteresting friendlies, and also two fairly interesting proposals: a few weeks before the window opened, unsolicited bids came in for Rob Holding and Mohamed Elneny. Both players had complained about a lack of playing time, and I didn't think I'd get better offers (both in the region of £14M) in the summer, which is when I had planned on replacing them. So again I decided to accelerate my plans and had a look to see who I could get.

I had been looking at Ryan Gravenberch as a new more technical midfield option, and put in an enquiry before I realised the Toney splurge had left me quite short money-wise (usually Arsenal have so much money I don't really think too much about the budget) and I could only afford cheaper options. I scouted Mahmoud Dahoud and considered him at £13M, but eventually went for former Dortmund midfielder Julian Weigl who also had a release clause, a little more expensive at £17M. Barcelona and Inter (or someone like that) were circling around him so I moved quickly to get him.

Replacing Holding was a bit more of a head scratcher and I scoured the transfer list to see who I could get. I found Max Kilman listed as surplus to requirements at Wolves, and also found Nico Elvedi available (though unlisted) at Gladbach. I agreed deals for both at around £12M, with Kilman cheaper in terms of wages and also HG, though I was leaning towards the pedigree of Elvedi, when I was informed that Liverpool had transfer listed Ibrahima Konate. My scouts decided to leave his report on 93% and not to bother finding out if he was injury prone (an absolute deal-breaker for me) but eventually I decided to just green light the deal and reload the game to go for Kilman or Elvedi if Konate turned out to be injury prone as I suspected he might. Luckily he wasn't, so I didn't have to do any sneaky reloading (blame my scouts), though I did have to do some careful arrangement of the transfer fee as we were really stretching it budget wise to bring him in at around £20M. It felt steep compared to the other two options but I felt he had the potential to become a genuine option rather than just a back-up.

We got back underway with a frustrating 2-2 draw at Wolves, going 2-1 down having led and needing an equaliser from the returning Abraham to salvage a point, and I was concerned that the break had seen us lose that defensive solidity that had served us so well in the first half of the campaign. Luckily we had another "get it out of your system game" in the cup away to West Ham, which didn't really concern me too much, and this was sandwiched between two 2-0 league wins and a 4-0 League Cup victory to serve. Julian Weigl made his debut in that West Ham defeat, and then had his ankle broken to leave him out for three months. So much for cover.

We went to Man City hoping to hold them off, as at this point we were top and they were our closest challengers at seven points behind or so. Unfortunately this plan lasted as long as 30 seconds. We kicked off, and when a Partey pass to Odegaard didn't quite reach its target, Haaland decided to just go ahead and lob the keeper. From 50 yards, with City's first touch of the game... I was a bit lost for words at that, and City went on to dominate us and go 2-0 up (they also have Mbappe, fun times). Like away at Anfield we bravely stayed in it and fought back to 2-1, but City's obscene quality told and Haaland sealed the game before De Bruyne booted in a free kick to put the admittedly deserved gloss on the victory. I wasn't too concerned at losing in the League Cup semis to Liverpool, and was much more focused on the league, so I was delighted to get a last-minute winner in a goal-fest at St Mary's in a near carbon copy of last season's chaotic match to round out the month.

I also had to entertain a derisory bid from Real Madrid for Saka: they'd been chasing him publicly for months, but rather than offering the reported £92M, the offer was a mere £65M. I rejected it and had a bit of a showdown with the kid, and he was really pushing for a move, but when he agreed that £122M would be a fair asking price I breathed a sigh of relief, and Madrid have been sent packing.

Two things stand out in February: firstly, the monstrous week of three home games against Liverpool, City and Madrid that could decide our season. Liverpool (who had just added Raphinha to their squad having signed Lewandowski and Lautaro Martinez in the summer, and were currently tapping up Victor Osimhen) battered us in the first 25 minutes, and though our adjustments helped, we couldn't break them down and lost key points to the other rival in the emergent three-horse race. We tried to learn our lessons and take them into the City game, and it really felt like it had worked: we went 2-0 up thanks to Harvard "Troy" Barnes and Gabriel, but De Bruyne reduced the arrears at 77 minutes and then Thomas Partey gave away a soft penalty from a corner with five minutes left and Haaland punished us again, from closer range this time. We went 1-0 up against Madrid but after they wrestled back control of the game and the score we had to be content with a late Harvard equaliser and had to go to Spain needing to avoid defeat to have a chance.

The other highlight of this month were the two absolute batterings we handed out to relegation fodder Sheffield United (we smashed them, I can call them that) and early season surprise package Leeds, both at home. City and Liverpool had far superior goal difference to ours (little wonder when you see their attacking signings) so these two routs were very welcome.

March, sadly, was a struggle. We beat Aston Villa with a perfect away performance, before getting well and truly FM'd by Bournemouth, you all know the deal. We went down 2-1 in Madrid despite a brave effort, and our confidence at this point was sufficiently damaged for us to have to be grateful for a late equaliser at Brighton. After a two week break we came back refreshed and put bottom side Wolves to the sword, but with Liverpool and City both dropping points were then unable to take advantage by beating Everton. We also lost Gabriel to a ligament injury: he'll join Odegaard, Toney and Saka on the treatment table (must be a big table), with Odegaard tearing his hamstring on international duty, Toney tearing an abdominal muscle in training and Saka done for the season with a broken ankle of his own. We're nearly down to the bare bones in attack, with Martinelli, ESR and Barnes behind Abraham and only Lacazette and Nelson, who have spent most of the season with the U23s, available off the bench.

So this is where you join me, with eight games left and us only four points off Liverpool with City standing to go between us if they win their game in hand. They've got the advantage on goal difference but luckily we won't be playing either of them again... our run-in isn't too bad, with the only "big" teams visiting us at home in Chelsea, United and Tottenham. It's probably going to be a stretch too far, which is a shame as we led the league until February/March, but eventually injuries have kicked in with a broken ankle or two, our form has faltered and the more expensive deeper squads are telling. Hmm, that sounds familiarly traumatic...

I've also been looking into a Saka alternative as I basically never rotated him and don't like Martinelli or Barnes at RW and have rarely used Nelson. I had my eyes on Jarrod Bowen with West Ham in danger of relegation, but my scouts told me I could get Porto's Fabio Vieira, younger at 22, for cheaper at around £28M, which is what I've done and that's arranged for the summer. I'll also be looking to get better competition for Aaron Ramsdale (Jose Sa is on my list, with Wolves as good as down).

Lacazette will be moved on in the summer and we'll see who steps up as a leader in his absence - I made Rice my vice-captain when he arrived, as he was instantly a Team Leader on joining, and Ramsdale is also a convincing option after I persisted with some leadership courses (less luck for White and Odegaard). Abraham was initially a Team Leader (I wasn't keen on that) but his injury saw him drop out, and Tierney swapped between Leader and Highly Influential depending on his playing time. He's now been usurped by Odegaard as the third member of that leadership triumvirate, and I can't say we're getting on very well. He complained about a lack of game time when I was rotating him and Tavares, but honestly he should have been grateful I didn't drop him completely given his underwhelming performances. I've been a bit frustrated with his technical limitations in real life and that frustration has been mirrored in the game, and I've been looking at upgrades for a few months. I've got Nuno Mendes, Owen Wijndal, Marc Cucurella and Rayan Ait-Nouri on my shortlist.

I've also finally started getting a tune out of Declan Rice, after an equally underwhelming first few months for him. I thought he was perfect for the RPM role, but that didn't really work, nor did the BWM role in its various forms. I've often struggled to get the 'third man' in a midfield three to work, and as a lone BBM he wasn't doing much either. I decided to shift things a bit and have more of a midfield two, which I think Rice is more suited to, so I moved Partey up to RCM and I think that's helped a lot, with Rice finally getting his average above 7 and having more influence on games. I've also been very pleasantly surprised by Konate, who has now ousted Ben White as the first choice partner for the excellent Gabriel, who Bayern have been following for some time. Calegari has been another highlight and I trust him in a lot more games than I would have at the start of the season. Tomiyasu remains the go-to option in big games and tough away trips.

I think that's everything I wanted to write about (I had a good CM come through in the youth intake but I basically don't care about the academy) so I'll maybe update at the end of the season or at the start of the next.

Great update! Keep them coming.

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

2027/28 - Part 3

A busy December got underway with a narrow home victory against Wolves, with the 2-1 win ending up being more challenging than it needed to be after our young German centre-back Jörg Granatowski getting himself sent off for a two-footed challenge just before the hour mark. Thankfully, we had already established the lead thanks to goals from Martinelli and Vlahović and our ten men were able to hold out until the end. Things were a bit more straightforward against Everton as we ended up 3-1 winners with strikes coming from Saka, Martinelli, and de Ligt in the first half. An 85th-minute goal from Cristian Pavón proved to nothing more than a consolation for the visitors.

We travelled to Germany for our final Champions League group game with top spot already secured to face Bayer Leverkusen, who themselves were needing a victory to have any chance to qualify ahead of FC Porto in second place. We fell behind twice before levelling the game through Jude Bellingham with roughly fifteen minutes left to pay, before Granatowski managed to get himself sent off for the second time in three matches in the 88th minute. We sat back with ten men to try and see out the point, but in the fifth minute of injury time a superb ball from Yusuf Demir played Dušan Vlahović through on goal and the Serb rounded the goalkeeper to slot home his second goal of the game to earn us a dramatic 3-2 victory. The win didn't really count for anything but it was great to see us battle back through adversity again to end the group stage on a high:

The draw for the first knockout round was relatively kind to us as we managed to avoid the likes of PSG and Real Madrid with both having finished second in their groups, as we instead found ourselves up against Real Sociedad:

The good times kept rolling in the league as we notched up three more victories against Aston Villa (A, 2-0), Southampton (H, 4-1), and Sheffield United (A, 3-2). This meant we had now won eight consecutive games since our 2-1 defeat to Stamford Bridge and we had regained our spot at the top of the Premier League table. However, the busy Christmas schedule meant we now had the unenviable task of travelling to the Etihad to face Manchester City on Boxing Day before then hosting Liverpool at the Emirates two days later to round off 2027. Before then, we had to navigate a tricky away tie against West Ham in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals, and the game ended up going to penalties after neither side was able to score despite our dominance. In the end we managed to secure passage through to the semi-finals in a 4-3 penalty shootout win, with Huddersfield Town waiting for us in the semi-finals.

We made the trip up to Manchester and got away with a point thanks to a header from Vyacheslav Spirin, which was cancelled out by a second-half equaliser from Raheem Sterling. City probably deserved the win based on the number of chances created so I was more than happy with the draw, even if it ended our eight-game winning run. Chelsea and City had both dropped points in the weeks prior and the draw meant we now sat seven points clear at the top of the Premier League at the halfway stage of the season:

With a point earned against City, a win against Liverpool would now really help secure our position at the top of the table. It was a nervy start to the game and we nearly fell behind after Erling Haaland hit the post from close range, but we managed to wrestle control of the game thanks to first half goals from Yusuf Demir and Jamal Musiala. Demir then struck again shortly after half-time with a fantastic free-kick from the edge of the box, which effectively wrapped up the win. A final goal in injury time from substitute Benjamin Badić helped us round up the game and 2027 as a whole in style, with 4-0 being the final result. I'll also point out the superb contribution in this game from Charlie Patino, who ended the game with two fantastic assists. He had become a great squad player for the team and was now comfortable playing at the base of the midfield in the 4-3-3 formation I was now using pretty regularly.

The turn of the year also meant awards season, and the announcement of the best players in the world. Given that we ended 2027 as reigning Premier League and European champions, we had a hugely impressive nine entrants into the Goal 50:

I felt this was mostly fair, although Vlahovic and Musiala should probably have been a tad higher with Rice and Livramento being given placings I thought were rather generous. Both de Ligt and de Jong had been very good since they signed for us, although perhaps not particularly spectacular, but I was nonetheless happy to see them ranked so highly. We also had four starters in the FIFPRO World XI for the year, along with three more players on the bench:

Back to the football and we started the New Year with a comfortable 3-0 victory on the road against Southampton, with Vlahović's bagging a hat-trick and continuing his fine vein of form. We then had three cup games in succession, with a 2-0 away win against Preston in the FA Cup Third Round being sandwiched in between our two Carabao Cup semi-final ties against Huddersfield, which we won 2-0 and 3-1 respectively. Newcastle had overcome Derby County in the other semi-final 4-1 on aggregate so we'd be facing the Magpies at Wembley in a repeat of the 2025 final, which we won 2-0. Despite their riches, they still hadn't won a major trophy since their takeover and were languishing in mid-table this season, although were still involved in the Europa Conference League.

With progress in the cups secured, we had another huge game at home with Chelsea visiting the Emirates. They had inflicted our only defeat in the league thus far and we were very much interested in exacting our revenge, which we did emphatically:

After hammering Chelsea 9-0 in the 2024/25 season, in which Vlahović scored a record-breaking six goals, we inflicted another massive defeat upon our London rivals yet again to reaffirm our status as the best club in the capital and probably the country. The game started in a hectic manner with Vlahović bagging the opener from the spot after Spirin was hauled to the ground in the first minute, before Pulisic equalised for the visitors from kick-off. The game settled into a calmer rhythm before some beautiful football allowed Jamal Musiala some space in the box to curl in a fantastic strike to help us regain the lead:

From there, we never looked back. Vyacheslav Spirin, our star academy product who I had re-trained to play as a left inside forward, scored two headed goals at the back post to give us a 4-1 lead going into half-time. We were in no mood to slow down in the second half as Musiala headed home his second goal of the game before Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe both came off the bench to make the scoreline even more emphatic. Despite not being amongst the goals himself, Jude Bellingham finished the game as man of the match with an incredible three assists to his name in what was so far a fantastic campaign from him.

With Chelsea having been our closest challengers up to this point, this victory gave us a 10-point lead at the top of the Premier League:

The win over Chelsea had clearly whetted our appetite for goals as we faced off against Huddersfield for the third time in a month and trounced them 5-1 in their own stadium, with the highlight undoubtedly being an incredible four-goal haul from Vyacheslav Spirin. After scoring from a corner in the opening minutes, this superb volley gave us a 2-0 lead at half-time:

Former Gunner Eddie Nketiah made it 2-1 early in the second half to make things a bit nervy, but Spirin sealed his hat-trick with a superb finish following a quick counter from a Huddersfield corner before then adding a fourth goal with a header while unmarked at the back post. Emile Smith Rowe scored from the penalty spot late in the game to make it twelve goals scored in two league games for Arsenal.

The big games kept coming as Manchester City rolled into town following our draw at the Etihad a few weeks prior. It's worth noting at this point that we had probably the worst injury crisis I'd experienced during my time at the club, compounded by the fact we had players away on international duty for much of January. Our young newgens Mauro Guerrero, Renan Renato and Valtecir were all off playing for their U23 sides in South America, while Livramento, Granatowski, Tierney, Ødegaard, and Martinelli were all ruled out for a few weeks due to injury. We were particularly hit hard in defence and I was forced to play Declan Rice at right-back with Livramento, Guerrero and Tierney all unavailable, with Frenkie de Jong playing alongside de Ligt at the back with Rice moved out wide and Renato and Granatowski not around for selection.

I was concerned that we may suffer with these absences and my concerns seemed to be realised when Victor Osimhen struck for the hosts within four minutes. However, we rallied in style as Jamal Musiala followed his brace against Chelsea with a fantastic goal from the edge of the area to draw us level within minutes:

Musiala had suffered for form at times this season but had really picked up his game during this period with lots of games, and had made big contributions when it mattered most. That said, the hero of the day would ultimately be Yusuf Demir as the Austrian playmaker bagging himself a sensational hat-trick to send us on our way to a 5-1 win against City, with Spirin grabbing the other goal. Demir had given us the lead minutes after Musiala had equalised, and he made it 3-1 with half an hour played with a beautiful chip over Ederson. Spirin's goal had come after he received a long pass from Aaron Ramsdale behind the City defence, and he fired home a fourth before half-time with his shot rebounding off the post. Demir finished off his hat-trick with a powerful drive from outside the box in the second half and this secured another sensational home win against one of our title rivals. 

These three high-scoring wins in January had put us 10 points ahead of Chelsea, 13 ahead of Liverpool and 14 ahead of City with 24 games played, with the second consecutive defence of our title now looking imminent. We did finally slip up during this tough period, drawing 2-2 away at Southampton, but it very much felt like a point earned after two superb goals from Dusan Vlahović in the 82nd and 88th minutes completed a fantastic comeback for us. We had been poor for much of the game but with us having battled back to gain something from the match, I notched up our disappointing display to fatigue and injuries more than anything.

We'd played 8 matches in January up to this point and I've still not mentioned our transfer window; it was a relatively quiet one, but we did sign two young players with a view to the future. The first deal was for Aleska Smiljanić, a Serbain defender-come-midfielder who I'd had my eye on for a while:

My scout in Serbia found him when he was 16, although for the past two years he didn't want to make the move to a major club just yet. I spoke with his agent in late December and it became clear his openness to a move had changed, so we decided to activate the £7.25m release clause he had in his contract with Partizan Belgrade.

While we have the likes of Frenkie de Jong, Charlie Patino and Declan Rice as great defensive-midfield options, the former pair's strengths lie in their playmaking rather than their defensive nous and Rice has mainly be deployed as a centre-back for us this season. I'm certainly expecting it to be a few years until Smiljanić becomes a first-team regular, but with his superb marking, tackling, positions, decisions, and strength attributes, I see him already as a good defensive option from the bench to help us close out games. 

The injury issues we had in January meant he gained first-team experience earlier than expected, making his debut against Huddersfield from the bench in the first leg of the semi-final before then starting in the second. I gave him his first league start against Southampton at centre-back due to the increasingly severe injury issues we had and he did relatively well, ending the game with a fine assist from deep to Vlahović to help us grab a point.

This led me to starting him in the final game of the month, which was at home against Newcastle. This time he featured in midfield as I reverted to our old 3-3-3-1 Total Football formation with no full-backs of note to call upon, and I deployed him as the left Carrilero alongside Jude Bellingham. We fell behind after a poor start thanks to a header from Talles Magno, but Smiljanić helped rescue the day with this fine chip over the goalkeeper to level things at 1-1:

Things got even better for the Serb as he yet again assisted his compatriot Vlahović, who fired us into a 2-1 lead on the brink of half-time. Talles Magno equalised for the visitors with his second goal of the game in the second half, making a second consecutive game where we dropped points looking likely, but a curled effort from the edge of the box from Emile Smith Rowe put us back in control before Vlahović second strike of the night rounded off a 4-2 victory.

This rounded off a great January for us and in the remaining days of the window, I made one final signing before the window slammed shut:

The Italian midfielder Saverio Bartoli has the profile of a certain Andrea Pirlo, although has a long way to go before those comparisons can be made with any real conviction. He joined us from Verona for an initial £3m and will spend the first six months with the U23's before I decide how best to develop him in the summer. With de Jong and Patino at the top of their games I don't see a place for him in my squad for a while yet but I'm optimistic about his potential.

We didn't sell anyone in the January window, although we did receive this unexpected loan bid from Inter for Ryan Gravenberch:

If a serious bid had come in the summer I may have considered it, but Gravenberch has largely been great for us even if he's unlikely to ever unseat Jude Bellingham as first-choice option for the number eight role we have in the midfield. I paid £70m for him in 2025 and would want a fair bit more for him if I did decide to sell, so I never really considered Inter's bid. In the summer though I imagine he'll either sign a new deal—his current contract will only have two years left to run—or I'll let him go if we receive an offer of some serious money from a major club on the continent.

As we head into the final months of the season, we face another away trip to West Ham in the FA Cup Fourth Round along with our double-header against Real Sociedad as our Champions League defence really gets going. We also have a Carabao Cup final against Newcastle to look forward to along with what I hope will be a relatively comfortable stroll to the title. We're looking pretty with 12 games left to play:

The only other thing of note is that rumours of another takeover have started filtering through from my press officer...

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

44 minutes ago, hasdgfas said:

These are basically my dream transfers. Obviously sucks to lose him, but anyone's replaceable.

This was basically the situation I had with Dominik Szoboszlai. Bayern courted him for a year and I eventually sold up when it was clear the player wanted the move, but I made sure to get as much money out of them as I could. 

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

2027/28 - Part 2

August 2027

Our title defence got off to the perfect start with four 4-0 victories coming in succession, including a comprehensive victory at Old Trafford:

The 5-2-2-1 was working wonders as we dominated each game we played and found the net with ease. Winning in Manchester was an undoubted highlight, but putting Newcastle to the sword on their own turf was also incredibly pleasing given the money they had spent on their own squad. I had thought that these two tough away games could see us drop points early on but we really hit the ground running in the league after securing wins in the Community Shield and Super Cup.

September 2027

September saw our fine form continue as we won every match we played in, although as the month wore on we relied on late winners to pick up victories:

A routine home win over West Ham was followed by a 6-0 demolition of Atalanta in our opening Champions League fixture, in which Matthijs de Ligt scored his first goal for the club with a headed finish from a corner. The following game against Leeds was a struggle, and in the end we were fortunate to come out of the game with all three points as they created more and had a higher xG than we did. Nonetheless, we left Elland Road with the win and maintained our perfect start to the season to sit top of the table after five matches:

We found ourselves a goal down at Craven Cottage at half-time in our Carabao Cup tie against Fulham, and were eventually able to turn things around in the second half to secure a passage into the next round. Last season we had gone out in the third round in a similar fixture away at West Brom, and with the board now demanding we win a domestic cup this season I was pleased that we didn't suffer the same fate this season as well.

In our final two games of the month, we again had to dig ourselves out of a hole with late winners. Norwich took a surprise lead at the Emirates in the first half before they had a man sent off five minutes into the second, and eventually our pressure told as Gabriel Martinelli scored a close-range header to continue his fine goalscoring form this season and draw us level. I was expecting us to drop our first points of the season before Jude Bellingham fired a strike beyond the Norwich goalkeeper to give us a dramatic late victory in front of our own fans.

Similar scenes occurred against Leverkusen, as they too were reduced to ten men with Palacios picking up two yellow cards in the first half. Ryan Gravenberch scored to give us the lead but we were unable to kill the game off in the second half, and that looked like it may cost us as Leverkusen drew level in the 86th minute with what was their first attack of the game. The equaliser seemed to kick us into action, with Martinelli again scoring an important goal as he fired home two minutes later and secured the win. It wasn't pretty but our perfect start to the season was in tact.

October 2027

The following month would have tougher challenges as we embarked on away trips to Liverpool and Chelsea in the league, Manchester City in the Carabao Cup, and FC Porto in the Champions League. Mixed results were to follow:

Brentford were easily dispatched in our first game of October—we were 4-0 to the good before our concentration waned, allowing the Bees to grab two late consolation goals—before we travelled to Anfield for a Friday night fixture under the lights. As always, it was a tight game against Liverpool, with neither side being able to make the breakthrough before Dušan Vlahović fired us into the lead thanks to a missed header from the Liverpool defender with twenty minutes to go. It was looking like we'd secure a fantastic victory on the road against one of our title rivals until the 88th minute, where we lost possession in our own half and allowed Liverpool to fire home a goal of their own through Lorenzo Pellegrini. A point at Anfield is rarely a disappointment but given that we had the lead late in the game, it was frustrating to see us lose two points at the death.

Disappointment was to follow in Portugal as we lost our perfect start in the Champions League as well, conceding a 94th minute goal from the man we had sold to Porto in January, Heung-min Son. It was a low-quality game but we had the better of it, and some poor defending late in the game allowed the Korean to fire home an equaliser in sickening fashion. We got back on track with a routine victory against Huddersfield at home, with two of our goals coming from our Brazilian newgen striker Valtecir. 

In the League Cup, we navigated the daunting task of facing Manchester City at the Etihad, coming from behind to win by two goals to one. City had rotated their squad heavily for the game whereas ours was relatively strong, but they still managed to take the lead after Kang-In Lee waltzed up the pitch and fired home from range past a flailing Wojciech Szczęsny. However, the game turned around again thanks to a red card for the opposition, with City's young midfielder Claiton receiving his marching orders for a two-footed challenge in the 30th minute. We got back in the game early in the second half thanks to a towering header from Jude Bellingham, before then taking the lead thanks to a screamer from Jamal Musiala:

Luck had gone our away but we've navigated the tie well, knocking out a key contender in the process. With Chelsea also being knocked out in a shock defeat to Colchester, and Liverpool and Manchester United both having lost in the third round, we were now clear favourites to win the cup as we advanced to the quarter-finals.

The month concluded with our first defeat of the season as we fell to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in rather unfortunate fashion:

We created tons of chances for ourselves but struggled to capitalize, and Chelsea ultimately put us to the sword thanks to two fantastic goals from outside of the box coming from Julián Álvarez. It wasn't a game we deserved to lose but ultimately we didn't take our chances and we paid for it.

The Blues had really fallen away in recent years, rarely qualifying for the Champions League and without a title challenge of note during my time in charge, but this season they looked to be improving and beating us would certainly have given them belief that they could finally mount a title challenge. Our loss at Stamford Bridge was our tenth game of the season, and it saw us relinquish top spot in the table for the first time this campaign:

November 2027

I was disappointed to have lost at Chelsea and see us fall into second place, but we were nevertheless in a fantastic position given that we'd already travelled to Old Trafford, Anfield, and Stamford Bridge with only ten games played. November was a chance for us to get back into winning ways and we did just that:

We avenged the late equaliser Porto grabbed in the first game in Portugal by firing four goals past them at home without reply in front of our own fans. All four goals came in the first half as we enjoyed total domination, with Porto only managing two shots of their own, neither of which were on target. The win meant we were guaranteed to qualify from the group before we faced off against Atalanta and Bayer Leverkusen on the road.

Things were even better against Brighton as we dominated the game to such an extent that the home side didn't even manage a single shot, on target or otherwise. The result was made all the more pleasing with Frenkie de Jong scoring his first goal for Arsenal with a great free-kick from the edge of the box.

Leicester were swiftly dispatched at home with another 4-0 victory, with first league goals for the club coming from both Charlie Patino and our young Bosnian winger Benjamin Badić. We played some fantastic football throughout the game as our great form continued, with the best goal undoubtedly being Bellingham's glorious chipped finish to round off a beautiful passing move:

Another 4-0 win secured us top spot in our Champions League group, with Atalanta losing heavily to us again. We then face up against our local rivals Tottenham in another potentially difficult away game, but we ran out comfortable winners in a 2-0 victory thanks to a goal from Emile Smith Rowe from the penalty spot and a fantastic volley from Gabriel Martinelli. We actually received two penalties in this game, with Smith Rowe scoring the first before missing the second, so it wasn't until Martinelli fired home with just over ten minutes to go that the win was secured.

While earning the three points was of course the most important part of the win, it did also extend our incredible record over Spurs since I took over:

I have played through December already, but given the length of this update, I'll include our results leading into the New Year in my next post.

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

2027/28 - Part 1

The prior season had ended on a massive high as we managed to retain both the Premier League and the Champions League, with our domestic victory coming as we edged out Manchester City on goal difference before Jamal Musiala struck twice in the Champions League final to down his former side Bayern Munich. The off-season allowed us to take some time to evaluate our squad with some tough decisions needing to be made, and for us to decide on how we wanted to play moving forward. The 3-3-3-1 had served us well for large swathes of last season but ultimately I had to abandon it later on to ensure we didn't cede too much control and defensive stability in the big games. I had resorted to a 4-3-3 in the Champions League final.

We had some promising young players returning from loan spells who I was keen to blood into the first team this season, and thus I needed to allow some players to leave in order to do so.

Outgoings

The most significant sale was the departure of Dominik Szoboszlai, with Bayern Munich finally getting their man after publicly courting him for nearly a year. They had bid for him four times in January and I was steadfast in my insistence not to lose him midway through the season, but when they came knocking for him again this summer I reluctantly agreed to let him return to Germany. I managed to negotiate them up to a huge fee of £150m, which I felt was reasonable for a world class player in the prime of his career who had finished 3rd in the Ballon d'Or in both 2024 and 2025. He had been incredible for me since he arrived in January 2024, and was a key part of virtually all the success we had enjoyed since. He had dropped off in terms of goal and assist output last year but would nonetheless be an impossible player to replace.

Our defence was given a major shake up this summer with Gabriel, Benjamin White and Anel Ahmedhodžić all moving on to pastures new this summer. All three of them had been with me since my first season at the club and had been big parts of the success we had enjoyed. Gabriel was the hardest one to say goodbye to, but with one year left on his contract and him demanding a significant pay increase in order to stay, I opted to sell him to PSG and cash in on him while we still could. White had been transfer listed by request after playing less football for us last season than any other, and I was pleased to recoup the £50m we had paid for him six years prior. Ahmedhodžić still had three years left on his contract and was happy to stay, but I opted to sell him this summer to allow some of the young defensive talents we had to come through.

Incomings

Having sold three first-team centre backs I knew I needed at least one replacement to come in despite the strength of our young defenders at the club, and ultimately I brought in someone who I believe to be the best defender in the game:

Matthijs de Ligt was Juventus' star man for many seasons and it ultimately cost me a fee that could rise to £100m to prize him away from Turin. I hadn't considered him a viable option but after speaking with his agent and realising that Juventus were open to business for the right fee, I moved to bring him to the Emirates to be the key man in our new look defence. With Frenkie de Jong having arrived six months earlier and Ryan Gravenberch well established at the club, we had a strong Dutch connection back at the club which has certainly worked out well in the past with the likes of Dennis Bergkamp and Marc Overmars.

I was reluctant to bring in anyone else given the depth we already had at the club, but with a huge amount of money burning a hole in my pocket I did opt to bring in one more huge talent:

I had been on the lookout for another left-footer who could play on the right wing as well as in the central positions, and Yusuf Demir fit the bill. The Austrian had finally progressed into the Barcelona first team but was still very much a squad player for them and the Catalans were open to selling him for the right price. That price ended up being £91m, a hefty fee, but with his best years ahead of him I felt it was worth the cost. I'll look to slowly introduce Demir into the first-team and see him as the long-term successor to Martin Ødegaard, who signed a new contract this summer.

Tactics

I have changed my tactics around almost every season so far and have really enjoyed experimenting with new formations and styles. The quality of our side means we can play in pretty much any way we want, although as mentioned I had found the 3-3-3-1 to be overly attacking for our games against the better sides both in Europe and abroad. What I hadn't yet done is found a great five-at-the-back formation, so this is the season where I'm finally going to try that.

This is how we are currently setting up, with this (roughly) being my strongest side:

I'm keen for us to be able to overload the opposition defence with attacking options in numerous channels; Livramento and Saka offer great width and attacking threat from the wing-back positions, Spirin will look to get in behind from the left wing, and Jamal Musiala can break from midfield to offer attacking support. I'm looking for Ødegaard and Vlahović to be creative outlets in the centre of the attacking third and for them also to contribute with goals themselves.

I've not yet fully utilised a Libero, and want to give de Jong a chance to excel from this position as his attributes indicate that he should be adept at it. I'm also using this formation to give Declan Rice more time as a centre-back, such is our depth in midfield.

With our side assembled and new tactic in place, our success last season meant we'd start the new campaign with matches against Brighton in the FA Community Shield and Borussia Dortmund in the UEFA Super Cup. Against Brighton, we found ourselves a goal down at half-time after conceding from a corner, but a second-half fightback saw us win out victorious with four goals scored in relatively short succession:

Gabriel Martinelli bagged a brilliant brace to take us into the lead, before Martin Ødegaard found himself free inside the box to slot home a third goal with his left foot. A headed goal from a corner for debutant Matthijs de Ligt crowned the win in what was a great day out at Wembley as we secured our fourth successive Community Shield. The man of the match award went to Jamal Musiala, who assisted three of the goals on the day.

My favourite goal of the day was Martinelli's equaliser, with some beautiful passing on display as we carved open the Brighton defence before the Brazilian finished in style:

Borussia Dortmund would likely pose a sterner test, and thus they did. A goal from Emile Smith Rowe gave us a deserved lead but an equaliser from Donyell Malen meant it was 1-1 at half-time, despite us having the better of the first half. We managed to get back into the lead just after the hour mark thanks to a header from Vyacheslav Spirin, which ultimately decided the game as we finished as 2-1 winners:

Two games and two trophies to start the season, which is always welcome.

For the Premier League, we would start our defence of the title with a home game against Bournemouth before then heading up north to face Newcastle United and Manchester United. In the Champions League, we were drawn in a very balanced group with no real super teams but no minnows either:

I'll recap the first few months of the season in my next post.

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

56 minutes ago, BrickCommo23 said:

That Livramento winner. You must have been jumping around the room!

It's strange; once we had brought the game back to 3-3 early in the second half I knew we'd find a winner, even as the game dragged on. We had United on the ropes.

I certainly didn't expect it to come from Livramento of all people though!

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

6 hours ago, Sysiphus said:

I've really enjoyed following the thread this year, absolute quality saves that some of you have cooked up, supplied by great posts. Keep up the good work. Maybe I'll get back into an Arsenal save in the summer to pass the time until FM"# comes out, we'll see.

Please do! I've loved reading your career updates in the past.

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

2026/27 Season - Part 3

Going into January, I didn't feel the squad needed strengthening in any particular position but I was keeping my eye out for the right player if he came along. We'd earned some big money in the summer through player sales and the money was starting to feel like it was burning a hole in my pocket, and ultimately I couldn't resist going big when a certain someone caught my eye.

Frenkie de Jong had only 18 months left on his deal at Barcelona and I moved early in the window to secure his signature. At 29 he was perhaps past his peak, but for the type of player he is I figured he'd still be a world class midfielder in his early thirties and as a true Model Citizen I was delighted to add him to the squad.

There wasn't much in terms of outgoings, although I did sell Son Heung-min to FC Porto for £7m almost one year after he arrived. It was an ill-advised transfer and he was nothing more than a fringe player for us during his time here, so I was happy to see hime gone. Getting his £135k p/w wage packet off of the books was great for our finances at the very least.

Bayern Munich had been publicly courting Dominik Szoboszlai for months now, so I was braced for a bid. After rejecting their first three bids, they came back in with this mammoth offer:

It was a reasonable bid but I was in no mind to let Szoboszlai leave mid-season, even if he at first told me he was desperate for a move. I was able to persuade him to stay and I rejected this final bid, although I anticipate they may return in the summer where I may be more open to allowing for a move.

We started 2027 with a narrow 2-1 win at home over Liverpool, with goals from Declan Rice and Dušan Vlahović earning us the victory. Aaron Ramsdale saved a penalty from Mo Salah before half-time to keep us in the lead, and despite being under heavy pressure for the second half, we managed to keep things as they were to secure a huge win in terms of the title race. Liverpool had just lost their last game at home to Manchester City 3-2, so these back-to-back defeats put them five points behind us with just under half the season remaining.

A 4-0 win over Swansea in the FA Cup and a 2-0 win over Norwich in the league kept up our perfect start to the year, but things soon took a turn for a worse. Away at Wolves, we took an early lead through Declan Rice before Wolves levelled through Arthur Cabral. We battered our opponents for the rest of the game but failed to score, only for Fábio Silva to pop up and score a winner for the home side with just over ten minutes left to play. The match stats from the end of the match show how unlucky we were:

We then conspired to lose our next game away at Leeds, making it back-to-back 2-1 defeats on the road. Unlike the Wolves game, we were really poor in this one and Leeds deserved their winner despite it coming with only minutes left to play. This made me seriously question the structure and security of the 3-3-3-1 formation I had used for most of the season as in both games our vulnerabilities at the back had been ruthlessly exposed. This put us 7 points behind Manchester City after 24 games played:

Wins over Stoke and Brighton in the Premier League, as well as Crewe in the FA Cup, lifted the mood a little before Manchester City came to visit the Emirates. It was a huge game given our recent poor form and a win was necessary to help us claw back some points on the league leaders. It didn't go to plan and City edged us out 1-0 at home thanks to a goal from Benjamin Šeško. We had our chances but failed to make them pay and this defeat left us 8 points behind City with only 11 games left to play. I started to believe at this point that retaining the title was pretty unlikely.

We responded positively to this latest setback, however, with a goal from Jamal Musiala earning us a 1-0 win at the San Sario in our Champions League. The goal was a stunning curled effort into the top corner in what was a poor quality affair, with me switching back to the 4-3-3 following our struggles with the 3-3-3-1. In the return leg, we ran out 2-1 winners to earn a passage through to the quarter-finals.

Things also started to look better for us in the league, too. We had responded to the City defeat with 5-0 and 4-0 batterings of Everton and Fulham respectively, before then earning a hard-fought 2-1 win at St. James' Park over Newcastle. In the same time, City had managed to draw 1-1 at home to Fulham before losing 4-2 away at Everton, putting us three points behind them with 30 games played. We were still third with Liverpool one point ahead of us.

Our hopes of retaining the FA Cup were unfortunately dashed as we fell 2-0 at home to Norwich. I had thought the 2-1 defeat to Wolves was frustrating, but this was another level:

Their second goal came from Wojciech Szczęsny deciding to run miles out of his goal, failing to win possession and allowing the Norwich player to fire home from the edge of the box into an empty net. It was a hugely frustrating game and one that was consequential as the board had expected us to reach the final this season.

In the Champions League, we were due to face Manchester City (again) and our woes against them continued as we lost 2-0 at the Etihad in the first leg. City had completed had our number this season and had beaten us three times without us even scoring a single goal. In the return leg, we struggled to get back into the game despite having more control than we normally do against City, but we were given a lifeline in the 67th minute as Szoboszlai scored a penalty to bring us back into the tie. A minute later, Bukayo Saka stepped up to score a stunning goal and level the tie:

The momentum was with us but neither side were able to score, so we went to penalties. After both sides missed two of their first five penalties we went to sudden death, and eventually managed to defeat Manchester City after Aaron Ramsdale saved their eighth penalty of the night and Saka slotted home to earn himself hero status.

It was a huge victory, not only so that we qualified for the semi-finals but also the belief it would give us going into the final weeks of the season. City had wobbled in recent weeks and we just needed to keep winning to stay in the title fight as we also focused on Europe. Interestingly, we were drawn against Wolfsburg in the semi-final—they were 12th in the Bundesliga but had beaten Manchester United and Barcelona to get this far—with PSG and Bayern Munich contesting the other semi-final.

Wins over Crystal Palace, Southampton and Sheffield United had kept up our momentum in the league and actually gotten is into top spot as both Liverpool and City had slipped up again. With five games remaining, the title race was by far the most exciting (and closest) I'd seen in my six seasons here:

Two home games against Bournemouth and Leicester should prove to be relatively straightforward, but things soon got trickier with two London derbies on the road coming before we hosted Manchester United at the Emirates on the final day.

Our first two games did indeed prove to be straightforward with 7-0 and 4-0 wins over Bournemouth and Leicester giving us six points while massively improving our goal difference. City responded in kind by beating Newcastle and Sheffield United 2-0 and 2-1 respectively; Liverpool could only manage a 1-1 draw with United before beating Norwich 3-1 on the road. 

Spurs would have to wait as we first faced off against Wolfsburg at home in the first leg of our Champions League semi-final. I knew they would pose us problems, but was perhaps guilty of underestimating our opponents as they took a 1-0 lead through Timo Werner in the first half, before then doubling their lead in the second through Magnus Mattsson. After making some changes and bringing on Emile Smith Rowe, however, we completely reversed the scoreline in the space of a few minutes with goals from Martin Ødegaard, Smith Rowe, and Vyacheslav Spirin turning things around. Further goals from Smith Rowe and Spirin made it 5-2 and capped off an incredible European night at the Emirates:

With our place in the Champions League final now looking pretty secure, attention turned back to the league and the first of our three final games to close out the league season. It was a thrilling game, with Spirin opening the scoring in the sixth minute before Adeyemi pulled Spurs back into the game with a header at the back post. We pushed Spurs back and kept threatening throughout, but disaster struck in the 63rd minute as Rúben Neves' free-kick hit the woodwork before bouncing back to Gabriel Jesus to tap in and give the home side a 2-1 lead.

It was a sickening feeling to know that we may lose our league title by losing against Spurs for the first time during my reign, but thankfully we managed to earn a point as Spirin got on the end of Saka's cross to score his second goal of the game. It was disappointing not to win but a point still kept us at the top of the table on goal difference after City and Liverpool both won their 36th games:

Our 5-2 win in the first leg against Wolfsburg allowed me to rotate heavily in the second game, and we ran out 4-2 winners in Germany to earn a 9-4 aggregate victory and make it through to the final. We would face Bayern Munich in the final after they put PSG's run to an end 2-0 on aggregate.

We faced an improved Chelsea side at Stamford Bridge; they were firmly in fourth place having spent a number of years outside the Champions League, and I knew after our draw with Spurs a win was an absolute necessity. We started well in what was an open game, with Vyacheslav Spirin continuing his fine run of goalscoring form to give us the lead after 21 minutes. Both sides threatened for the rest of the half but the first 45 minutes ended 1-0 to us. 

The second half got off to a perfect start as Jamal Musiala doubled our lead in the 50th minute with a placed finish into the bottom corner, but Lukaku fired one back for the home side on the hour mark. Chelsea pressed us in the final third of the game but we held firm to secure an absolutely vital win at the home of our London rivals. We would go into the final game of the season top of the league, level on points with Manchester City and a point ahead of Liverpool. Our goal difference was +18 better than City's, so a win against United and we'd retain our title.

The final day was upon us and I opted to stick with the 3-3-3-1, despite my concerns over it. We'd managed a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford and felt confident we'd secure victory against a poor United side, who were 9th going into the final day.

Things started brilliantly for us as Spirin sprung upon a suicide pass from the United goalkeeper and slotted home to give us a lead within 2 minutes of the game. Our lead was short-lived, however, as Hannibal slotted home an equaliser for the visitors in the 10th minute to make things pretty nervous. We were dominating the game but United looked dangerous on the counter, and the nerves soon turned to outright despair as Marcus Rashford fired home two goals to give United a 3-1 lead a half-time. With Liverpool winning at Stoke and City ahead against Spurs, it was looking like the title was slipping out of our grasp in the most painful of ways.

I ripped into the players at half-time and went with a 4-2-3-1 shape, recognising that the 3-3-3-1 was too risky a formation given the counter-attacking threat United posed. We started the second half well and managed to bring the score back to 2-3 thanks to a headed goal from Gabriel from a Szoboszlai free-kick. Minutes later, Bukayo Saka played an incredible cross-field ball to find Musiala on the right wing, and our record signing controlled the ball and slotted home an equaliser to make it 3-3 with 55 minutes on the clock. We'd clawed our way back into the game and now needed to find a winner to remain as champions.

United settled down defensively as we kept plugging away at them. Chances came and went but we continued to pressure them, and eventually a breakthrough came through the unlikeliest of sources:

Tino Livramento, who'd only scored a single goal for us in three seasons, stepped up to receive Musiala's pass and thundered in an incredible strike to give us a 4-3 lead in the 76th minute. It was a goal that would go down in history as we mounted an impressive comeback to defeat United and claim the Premier League title for the third time in four seasons. Feeling that the Arsenal fans had had enough stress for one day, Martin Ødegaard fired home a fifth goal from Jude Bellingham's cross to finish the scoring. We had done it, and not with a point to spare:

With the Premier League title secured, attentions turned to the Champions League as we faced off against Bayern Munich in Dortmund. I went back to a 4-3-3, knowing full well the 3-3-3-1 was out of the question with Mbappé playing down the wings, and hoped for the best.

In the end, it was relatively simple. Jamal Musiala struck twice either side of the half to down his former side, and we were European champions yet again.

For the third time we had won the Premier League and Champions League in the same season, although at times this season it'd looked like we'd win nothing. Retaining both titles was an immense achievement and signified our place as the dominant force in both England and Europe, and has left me thinking of what to aim for next. Nonetheless, we've built a squad for the ages here, and a number of the players can already claim to be bonafide legends of the club.

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

On 25/02/2022 at 15:20, gokalpcakir1 said:

Can you share your PIs?

Sure. I won't include the default PIs for the respective roles.

---

CB (Ball-Playing Defender) - Hold Position

DM (Defensive Midfielder) - Hold Position, Take More Risks

CM (Carrilero) - Get Further Forward

CM (Carrilero) - Get Further Forward

AM (Attacking Midfielder) - Take More Risks, Get Further Forward, Roam From Position, Move Into Channels

---

The key thing is getting the Carrileros to attack more when we have the ball, as they're naturally more defensive than Mezzalas or Box-to-Box Midfielders. I also have them set to manually man-mark the opposition wide men.

 

 

 

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

2026/27 Season - Part 2

I spoke in my last past about how I was trying to recreate a Total Football-inspired formation that included only three defenders, and after some tinkering I think I have found a variation of this formation that I'm very happy with. I've used this formation in all of the games I have played since my last update and it has fared me very well, and has gotten us playing some dominant, possession-heavy and ultimately beautiful football.

The formation I've settled on is a 3-3-3-1, inspired by the 1995 Ajax side that won the Champions League against all odds. I have read a number of articles about Total Football on the fantastic Dictate the Game blog, with this one in particular being the one I followed most to come up with our latest tactical set-up.

The formation is predicated on us having a lot of the ball, spending lots of time in the opponent's half, and placing immense pressure on the opposition defence to try and win the ball back early and punish them. We've a host of quality attacking players so going three-at-the-back allows me to better make use of this talent, and with a large squad we're able to rotate heavily when need be thanks to the depth we have across the field.

I mentioned in my last post that my greatest concern was being exploited in the wide positions when the opposition hits us on the counter, and I think I have been able to find at least a partial solution for this by using both of my central midfielders in the Carrilero role. This is not a role I've ever utilised before, seeing it mainly as a more conservative, boring alternative to a Box-to-Box Midfielder or Mezzala role, but it's been the must crucial aspect of getting this formation to work. The only instruction the Carrilero role has by default is "Stay Wider", which points to what I want my midfield duo to do. I have tasked the likes of Bellingham and Gravenberch, my go-to options for the role, to not only stay wider but also to man-mark the opposition's wingers when we lose the ball. This helps us be pretty strong defensively as they are able to cover the wide men while my defensive midfielder and back three are able to focus on any incoming threat down the middle. So far it has worked very well, and we've kept a number of clean sheets while operating in this formation. I've also asked both players to get forward when we have the ball, meaning they can support our front four and contribute in terms of goals and assists.

This is a hugely demanding role, nonetheless. I'm asking both players to immediately drop back and track opposing wingers when we lose the ball and burst forward to support attacks when we have them. It's knackering, hard work, and I'm also requiring these players to be defensively sound, good on the ball, and effective in the attack. I've used Declan Rice here due to his superb stamina and great defensive stats, while Ryan Gravenberch also fits well due to his physical attributes and creative ability. The star man for me in this role though is of course Jude Bellingham, a complete midfielder, who can do pretty much everything:

In the attack, I've found that our wide players generally perform well and have been notching solid numbers of goals and assists thanks to the high amount of possession we enjoy and the number of players we are able to get joining the attack. While the Carrileros push up and support, we also have the central defenders contributing as well thanks to the freedoms the Wide Centre-Back role allows. I'm still yet to find a perfect way to utilise the Attacking Midfielder in my side but I'm still seeing good performances and contributions from the likes of Szoboszlai and Ødegaard.

I usually do a game-by-game breakdown but as I instead wanted to frame this update around the formation we were using, so will provide an overview of our results from the end of October through to mid-December:

Fantastic, as you can see. After losing 2-0 to Manchester City in October, we went on a 10-game run without conceding a goal in all competitions before finally conceding against Juventus, which was the first time we'd achieved such a run. The formation we were using allowed us to complete dominate lesser sides like Astana and Sheffield United, helping us to really impressive scorelines, but against your average Premier League side we would usually come out deservedly a goal or two ahead by full-time.

One of the things I was also doing with this formation was setting a lot of oppositions instructions going into each game, which included the aforementioned instruction for our two central midfielders to mark the opposition wingers. I was also having our attacking players press the opposition's back line to try and force turnovers high up the pitch. While pressing each member of the defence and goalkeeper would be a given for each match, I'd also seek to show the full-backs onto their weaker foot and go hard on defenders with low bravery and composure. The opening goal we scored against Newcastle was a superb example of this, with Spirin winning the ball back from the defender and immediately playing through Smith Rowe to score an early goal:

A key fixture in this run was our final game in the Champions League group stage as we travelled to Italy to face Juventus. Our five wins from our first five games meant that we could play with relatively little pressure as top spot was secured, but it was still a great opportunity for us to try our new tactic against an elite side. It went fantastically well as we secured a 3-1 win and dominated our illustrious opponents for most of the match:

Gabriel Martinelli had given us the lead before Alex Isak equalised for Juventus immediately after, before Dominik Szoboszlai struck to give us a 2-1 lead with 27 minutes on the clock. We then doubled our lead five minutes later thanks to a second goal for Martinelli and saw the game out with minimal fuss. These last two goals were particularly pleasing to me as we overloaded the box and found ways to score, with the Juventus defence unable to cope:

In both goals we see Bellingham joining the attack from Carrilero position, with him playing Saka through into a dangerous position for the first goal and then making a key pass into Vlahović for the second. In both cases we have lots of attackers in dangerous positions, and both Szoboszlai and Martinelli were able to score with simple finishes when the ball found them free in the box.

After beating Leicester 2-1 in the next game, we were faced with a difficult set of fixtures over Christmas—a trip to Old Trafford to face Manchester United would come first, before then returning to the Emirates to host both Spurs and Chelsea.

In the United game I was emboldened to see us take a 2-0 lead in the first half, thanks to goals from Bukayo Saka and Dušan Vlahović:

Our opener showcased how vital it was for our Carrileros to be able to contribute effectively to the attack, as Gravenberch's superb lofted pass totally carved open the United defence and allowed Saka to finish one-on-one with the goalkeeper. The second goal from Vlahović was relatively straighforward but highlighted how dangerous we can be through the middle with numerous attacking options onrushing through the middle. I'm wanting my central striker to create chances for others but also to get in behind where possible and score goals with regularity.

Unfortunately, we were unable to secure a crucial victory as United came back to make it 2-2 in the second half thanks to goals from Jadon Sancho and Hannibal Mejri. In both cases they were able to get in behind our defence, although I think it was less down to our tactical frailties and more down to conceding chances being inevitable when playing on the road against quality opposition. It was massively disappointing to have drawn the game after going in 2-0 up at half-time, but it was probably a fair result:

A point at Old Trafford would feel much more valuable if we could take six from our next two games against Tottenham and Chelsea, and in the first of our London derby double header we battered Spurs 4-0 thanks to a brace a-piece from Jamal Musiala and Vyacheslav Spirin. I'll hold off on sharing goals from this game but our opener again came from us winning the ball from the opposition defender high up the pitch, allowing Musiala to score a simple goal from inside the box, while our second came about thanks to Gravenberch driving into the box and laying on a simple finish for Spirin. Bukayo Saka continued his fine form by laying on Musiala's second thanks to some great play down the right wing, and Spirin finished the onslaught late in the second half after getting on the end of a cross from former spud Heung-min Son. It was total domination on our part as Spurs were unable to get our from their own half, our our respective shot maps told the story:

Our pass map from this game also showed how we were attacking and building plays, with beautiful diamonds appearing across the pitch:

The Chelsea game was up next, and was a far closer affair. I had noticed that since we had been able to largely neutralise our opponent's wide threats thanks to the defensive action of our two Carrileros, we'd struggled the most against sides who had two strikers pressed up against our three defenders. In this game both Romelu Lukaku and Julián Álvarez caused us problems as Chelsea attacked by Aaron Ramsdale stood firm, denying Chelsea a goal in the game despite an xG of 1.80 for Chelsea. Goals from Vlahović and Martinelli earned us the win either side of the half and we'd just about edged the game, even if Chelsea caused us plenty more issues defensively than Tottenham had done.

This left us with 16 wins and 49 points at the half-way point in the season, but we still managed to find ourselves in third place thanks to the sublime form of Manchester City and leaders Liverpool:

This title race is surely going to be a much closer one than last season, where we won the league with numerous games to spare and ended the campaign with 16 points between us and Manchester United in 2nd place. Crucially, we have already travelled to Anfield, the Etihad and Old Trafford—which is where all of our points thus far were dropped—so I'm hoping we can gain the edge on our rivals between now and May with those tough fixtures out of the way.

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

2026/27 Season - Part 1

Going into the new season, I was keen to try and utilise the attacking talent we had at the club by implementing some form of 3-4-3 formation and getting more of our better players on the pitch. I loved the very fluid side of the 4-4-2 had worked last season, and while it would have been easy enough to keep with a formation that was already working well for, I wanted the side to evolve and get us playing some more interesting, dynamic football at the top end of the pitch.

I've spent a lot of time reading the fantastic Total Football thread on here and was keen to try and implement some form of it in my own Arsenal side. I'd tinkered with various styles in pre-season and the start of a new campaign—a standard 3-4-3, a 3-4-1-2, a 3-4-2-1 with two DMs—and was eager to find something that complimented our team. Aside from playing with only three defenders, the biggest change here was the desire to become a more aggressive, possession-dominant side, as last year the 4-4-2 (and the 4-1-3-2 the season prior) meant we would allow the opposition to keep the ball more with the intention of us breaking with speed when we had the chance. I was now looking for us to pen the opposition back, attack from all angles, and dominate games in the opposition's half.

I trialed this play style in the Community Shield against Manchester United, who had finished a distant second in the Premier League last season. The 3-4-1-2 worked wonders in the first half as we sailed into a 3-0 lead after 34 minutes, with Jude Bellingham scoring our third goal with an exquisite piece of attacking play:

The goal was a superb illustration on how I wanted us to play, with numerous attacking players involving themselves in the build-up and a clear goalscoring opportunity being created through some fluid movement and intricate passing. The formation allows for overloads in various areas of the pitch and makes it tough for defenders to decide on how to mark and engage when we come at them.

However, the drawbacks of the system were soon exposed as Marcus Rashford was left alone at the back post to make the score 3-1 just before half time, and United got themselves a second within a few minutes of the second half starting. We managed to restore a two-goal lead through Martin Ødegaard and that was the last strike of the game as we won the Community Shield for a third time with a 4-2 victory.

A Super Cup victory was then sealed over Europa League winners Leicester City as Vlahović, Smith Rowe and Gabriel all notched a goal on the way to a 3-0 win. In this game Leicester caused us few issues and we dominated the game in terms of goals, possession, shots, and xG:

Our Premier League defence started poorly as we went down 2-1 at Anfield, with Sadio Mané stealing a late winner after an error from Anel Ahmedhodžic. I had reverted to a standard 4-3-3 in this game as I didn't fancy leaving three defenders alone to handle Mané, Salah, and Haaland on their own. It was a disappointing start to the league campaign but we had a series of more winnable games to get us back in the hunt.

I continued with the 3-4-1-2 as we faced weaker sides, and it bore plenty of fruit as we beat Aston Villa 4-0 at the Emirates before notching up two 2-0 victories against Norwich City and newly promoted Stoke. I noticed throughout these games that while we dominated possession and created a fair number of chances, we were frequently forced to make last ditch tackles to deny opposition forwards and Aaron Ramsdale performed extremely well in these games to earn himself three clean sheets. 

In the Champions League we'd been handed a reasonably straightforward group with Juventus, Sporting CP and Astana being the sides we'd have to beat. Our first game was an away trip to Lisbon and we came out on top with a hard-earned 2-1 victory, this time playing an abbreviated 3-3-3-1 shape. You can see from the game's data that we controlled the game and earned our victory:

However, the nature of Sporting's equaliser had concerned me. It was their first shot of the game and again came about due to the vulnerabilities this formation contains:

A ball had been played to one of Sporting's central midfielders, who was in acres of space. As he drove forward Tino Livramento comes inside to close him down and this left Hirving Lozane with our entire right flank to himself, and as the ball is played out to him he has a free run at goal before firing into our top corner. If we were going to make this back three a long term success, I'll need to find a way to stop this sort of thing happening on a regular basis.

A dominant 3-0 win at home to Wolves kept up our superb league form before we fell to West Brom in out first League Cup game, going out on penalties after a 1-1 draw. The home side had drawn level with a header from a corner in the dying minutes, although in truth our general play meant they had probably deserved that. The problem here was a combination of the tactics and the players; I had fielded a number of youth players including giving three of them their first-team debuts, and this is not a formation where you can just plug players in and expect them to gel immediately. It wasn't a huge disappointment but after winning this competition for the past two seasons, it was tough to see us go out after just a single game.

Against Leeds in our next game we muddled our way to a 1-0 win thanks to a Jamal Musiala penalty, who had had a fine start to his Arsenal career. Leeds created a number of chances, however, and were unlucky not to equalise. This poor performance on the back of the West Brom defeat had me questioning my tactics, and I reverted to our tried-and-tested 4-4-2 as we faced Juventus at home. A brace from Gabriel fired us into a 2-0 lead in the first 11 minutes and Dušan Vlahović wrapped things up in the second half to give us a comfortable win and control of our group after two games.

I was determined not to give up on the 3-at-the-back formation, and made some tweaks prior to facing Brighton on the road. I decided to play with two attacking midfielders behind the lone striker, and pushed our central midfielders back to try and offer us more defensive solidity on the counter. I also made the point of having our two wide players man-mark the opposition's wide threats, who in this case were Lamptey and Cucurella. The result was a 3-0 victory that we just about deserved, although the quality of our finishing was the difference maker. This is the latest version of my tactic and this is, roughly, my strongest team:

The win at Brighton was followed to a disappointing defeat away at Manchester City, were we lost 2-0. We had chances to score and City's opener had come from a suicidal backpass from Saka, with their second coming late in the game as we chased an equaliser. I am wondering whether a more conservative formation is needed for the games against the bigger sides but it could also be a case of our players just needing time to get used to the formation.

We put this disappointing defeat behind us in our last two games, where we routed Astana and Fulham 6-0 and 7-0 respectively. This demonstrated to me why this formation can be so effective; we exerted near total control over our lesser opponents, spent almost the entire game in their half, and enjoyed great spells of possession (60-65%) while creating a high number of goalscoring opportunities:

I don't know yet whether or not this way of playing will bear fruit in terms of trophies, but I'm pretty committed to giving it a go.

I'll finish things up here by showcasing some of the newgens we have at the club who I am hoping to integrate into the first-team this season.

Newgens

Jörg Granatowski 🇩🇪 — 18 years old — CB/ CDM/ CM

Granatowski was my final signing of the summer window, joining us from Wolfsburg on deadline day in a £27m deal. At 6'5" tall, he's a dominant aerial defender who also has an eye for a pass. I'll be mainly using him in the U23s this season and will likely seek to use him more next season, as I expect this may be Benjamin White's last season with us.

Renan Renato 🇧🇷 — 19 years old — CB/ LB

This is Renato's second season at the club after joining us last summer for £13.25m, and his development is going nicely after making 15 appearances for us in 2025/26. He already has two Brazil caps to his name and looks set to become our long-term replacement for his fellow countryman Gabriel. He's even taller than Granatowski at 6'6" and I'm hoping the pair of them can become stalwarts of our defence further down the road.

Andrea Facchinetti 🇮🇹 — 20 years old — CB/ LB/ CDM/ LWB

The Italian-Japanese full-back joined us from Atalanta last summer to deputise for Kieran Tierney and made an impressive 21 appearances in his first year with the club. Already capped once for Italy, Facchinetti has a bright future ahead of him but may find his game-time limited this year as we've switched from a back four to a back three. I'm keen to keep him at the club for this year and the next to help him gain home-grown status with us, but if I can't find opportunities for him in the side I may seek a loan deal in January or next summer.

Mauro Guerrero 🇦🇷 — 21 years old — RB/ RWB/ RM/ RW

Guerrero has had to wait for his chance at the club after signing for us in 2023, but after impressive loan spells at Brøndby and Fenerbahçe I've decided to keep him around for this season. His return to the club was enough for me to reluctantly sell Takehiro Tomiyasu to Barcelona this summer as I felt he was ready to deputise for Tino Livramento at right-back, but our change in formation has meant I've opted to use him elsewhere. He's primarily been deployed as a right midfielder although I did also give him a few games as a Carrilero in central midfield, but opted against that as a long-term option as I tinkered away at my tactical set up.

He made his debut for Argentina at this summer's World Cup and made an immediate impact in his first game, notching up three assists in his nation's win over Uzbekistan. He got a goal and an assist off the bench in our 7-0 win over Fulham in our last match and I'm already starting to see him as my versatile super sub.

Lucas Gijzen 🇳🇱 — 20 years old — CB/ CDM/ CM

Lucas Gijzen had already broken into the Vitesse first-team at the age of 17, and after my scouts raved about him I opted to bring him in for £10.5m in the summer of 2024. After spending one year at the club, he then travelled to Greece to gain first-team experience with Panathinaikos last season. After a steady start, he broke his lower leg in February in what was a potentially devastating blow to his development. After recovering and rehabilitating back with us, he is now fit again and has made two substitute appearances so far this season. I'll look at potentially loaning him out in January but he is already looking like a player capable of making an impression in the Premier League if I can find the time for him.

Nguyen Van Toan 🇻🇳 — 21 years old — CDM/ CM/ CAM

I found Nguyen Van Toan playing for Pohang Steelers in the K-League and as I love young players from obscure nations, I brought the Vietnamese midfielder to the club in 2023. He's been out on loan at Union Berlin, Tenerife and Montpellier, with his most recent loan in France being his most productive as he scored 4 goals and assisted 7 in 26 appearances. This year he has taken the chances I've offered him in the first team, scoring a great free-kick in our 3-0 win at Brighton before notching a perfect 10.0 rating with a goal and two assists against Astana. It's hard to find room for my young attackers right now by he's certainly making a strong case for further inclusion.

Vyacheslav Spirin 🇷🇺 — 20 years old — ST

Spirin was the clear star of my first youth intake in 2022 and no prospect we've had come through Hale End since has come close to matching the Russian's potential. He's scored 16 goals in 30 international appearances for his homeland before his 21st birthday and in the last two seasons has scored 18 goals for us in a limited number of appearances. This season, however, he had reached new levels by scoring 12 goals in 10 games and has firmly put Dušan Vlahović's position as our starting striker under threat. His five goals against Astana was a clear highlight but he almost managed to bag braces for us in our victories over Sporting, Wolves, and Fulham.  

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

4 hours ago, hasdgfas said:

Now as soon as I say this...

With the number of English players I have in my squad, and the fact that my youth intake players are starting to come through, I think I have to accept this, which should inject some life back into the save.

Did they approach you out of the blue or did you apply for the job?

Southgate won EURO 2024 in my save and has just left after the 2026 World Cup, where England finished third. Rafa Benitez has just taken over.

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

2025/26 - Review

The season was over and we'd achieved an unprecedented clean sweep of every competition we'd entered, from the Community Shield to the Champions League. Winning our second Premier League title under my stewardship was particularly sweet having missed out in 2024/25 despite our 96-point haul, and we'd got even better this season as we notched up 99 points on our way to victory. Our opponents had all fallen away dramatically and the final weeks of the season were effectively a stroll to the title. The goal output figures for the season demonstrates our dominance:

We were fantastic in attack last season, although our goal figures were inflated considerably by the 10-0 and 8-0 drubbings of Wolves and Brentford respectively. The key to our title win was our rock solid defence, which only conceded 19 goals all season (with 4 of those coming on the final day during our draw at Norwich). Aaron Ramsdale was again superb, solidifying his status as one of the world's best goalkeepers, with the 26 clean sheets he notched up being a Premier League record:

The actual record was actually 24 clean sheets set by Petr Čech back in 2004/05, so being able to better that after over two decades was an impressive achievement. Between January and April 2026 we notched up an amazing 11 clean sheets in 12 games, with a number of those being 1-0 victories, and this period really sealed the title for us as our opponents all fell away in the meantime.

Our defensive stats show that, for the most part, the control we have over games means that we do not need to perform as many defensive actions as other teams in the league:

As a defensive unit, we are required to make very few blocks and clearances with much more of the play happening down the other end of the pitch, and our above average interception metrics shows that we are effective at winning the ball and turning over possession before attacks can build too much momentum.

Our possession metrics also point to one of our strengths, which is dominating the ball when we have it and winning it back well when we don't. We're one of the most effective pressing teams in the league and while we're careful on the ball when we have it, we're not obsessed with keeping it at the cost of being more adventurous. Sides like Newcastle and Leeds enjoy having the ball but with our 4-4-2 system I rarely found that we had issues preventing them from doing much with it.

In terms of personnel, none stood out more last season than Dominik Szoboszlai:

Operating primarily from the left side of midfield, the Hungarian was the creative hub of our side while also having a keen eye for goal. He earned an incredible 15 Man of the Match awards last season and made 45 goal contributions in all competitions last season, with 21 goals scored and 24 assists laid on for teammates. In the Champions League final he scored the opening goal and consistently made a big impact when we needed him most.

The truth was though that we had a number of incredible performers in the team, which was reflected in the PFA Team of the Year:

I could wax lyrical about the bulk of my squad but the long and short of it is that virtually all of them stepped up and performed with real consistency last year, and the depth and quality of the squad was the main reason why we had won every competition we had entered. Here's a breakdown of how they all performed:

As well as we had done, I knew that I couldn't be complacent this summer and that a squad refresh was probably needed. We had a number of players entering the last two years of their contract and a number of young players were ready to break through and compete for a first-team place. I'd likely need to let go of some talented players who had helped win us a lot of trophies, but with an already bloated squad I tried to put emotion out of the window and give my squad a breath of fresh air.

Outgoings

At the time of writing I am still in the summer window, so there may be more departures, but I did the bulk of my business early:

We've earned some huge money this summer from player sales, none of whom were regular starters despite their quality. The hardest player to let go was probably Folarin Balogun, a home-grown player who'd had a superb three seasons in the first team where he'd scored 65 goals in all competitions. Balogun is a great goalscorer but with Vlahović and Martinelli ahead of him in the pecking order, and some great young attackers waiting in the wings, I decided to cash in on him this summer. The £49.5m we received from PSG was a little less than I had hoped to get for him but it still represents fantastic profit on one of our youth academy prospects.

Takehiro Tomiyasu and Albert Sambi Lokonga had both been with us since the summer I joined and had been great options for me over the past five years. Tomiyasu and lost his place to Tino Livramento as our starting right-back, however, and wasn't going to get his place back anytime soon, so I opted to cash in on him this summer and bid a sad farewell. Chelsea had bid a good amount for him but I had no intention of letting him depart for a rival, so he instead went to Barcelona for nearly double what we paid for him in 2021. Lokonga was a player I had considered keeping around, but during his contract discussions he was adamant on being deployed as an attacking playmaker where I saw him as more of a ball-winner, so I chose to move him on to the other half of the El Clásico rivalry. I may regret losing the midfield depth he offers but with his insistence on being played in a position I didn't want to use him, I felt I had little other choice.

Another fan-favourite who left was Giovanni Reyna, who had become a peripheral figure in his final few months at the club. His influence had dwindled due to the immense quality and depth we had in attacking midfield positions and we ultimately let him leave to Inter for the exact same amount we had paid to bring him in from Dortmund four years prior. Not the best business, perhaps, but he leaves having left a big mark at the club as he seeks pastures new in Italy.

One deal I was very happy with was the sale of Maarten Vandevoordt to Spartak Moscow for a £36.5m fee. The Belgian had served as a capable understudy to Ramsdale for a number of seasons now, but was likely going to continue as one for a number of years yet. I figured it was best to cash in on him now at 24 years of age and aim for an older, short-term backup goalkeeper as a replacement, and then look to integrate one of the great young goalkeepers we have at the club when Ramsdale is past his peak.

In terms of deals that didn't happen, PSG had courted Bukayo Saka for months and came knocking with two huge bids for him in the summer:

I think I could easily have squeezed £150m+ out of them for Saka, but truthfully I don't think I would have sold him for any price. He was one of our own and he had had one of his best seasons under my management last season, so I felt that even if we received some insane money for him I wouldn't really be able to replace him.

Incomings

I had noticed in January that Wojciech Szczęsny's contract at Juventus was up in the summer, and kept him in my mind for this summer. The opportunity to bring back a former favourite on a free transfer was too good to pass up, and he was happy to take a reduced salary and role to rejoin the club where he made his name. Barcelona had also made him an offer but he chose to return to London where he will serve as a capable backup to Aaron Ramsdale. He has signed a one-year contract with the option for a second.

With our U23 side looking light in defence, I was keen to bring in a young defender to offer some depth there who could also develop into a good player for us. I had a number of options but opted to sign Agustín Seaone, an 18-year-old Uruguayan centre-back who looks very promising. It cost me £3.7m to sign him from Nacional, his work permit was granted at first request, and I intend on keeping him at the club to develop for the coming years as he'll qualify as a home-grown talent if he stays with us until he's 21.

In our single big move this summer, I broke our transfer record for the fourth time during my tenure to bring in Jamal Musiala from Bayern Munich for a fee of £111m. The young German also has English citizenship and qualifies as home-grown due to his youth career at Chelsea, and at 23 years of age is already established as one of the best attacking players in the world. This really wasn't a signing I needed to make but with £250m+ burning a hole in my pocket, I choose to go big and bring in a marquee name to give us a boost ahead of the new season. I haven't decided yet where he will play but his versatility means he should be a big player for us no matter where I choose to deploy him.

I intend on making one or two more signings before the window closes, but they're likely be young players who I'm hoping to develop at the club. I'll include an update on some of our most promising newgens who should be involved in the first team this season in my next post.