An Incredible Battle

Game Date: 9/6/2017

Once again I'm back with your final rundown on what has been an absolutely incredible season that could have ended any number of ways with just a couple of games to go.

Transfer Updates

After the arrival of Leguizamon as mentioned in my last post, I haven't purchased anyone else or had plans to, the squad depth is good with more than adequate youth prospects. However we had a handful of departures in late January; Luis Guilherme requested mutual termination of his contract to which I accepted. Fernando joined Brazillian club Palmeiras on a season long loan. Loan moves for Adam Johnson, Prestia & Schubert also generated just shy of £2m in fees.

The FA Cup

While Chelsea have just lifted the trophy in real life, we managed a cup run in game ourselves and lift our 3rd FA Cup in a row. The run could of been a lot harder in truth but it was a great oppurtunity for my youngsters to prove themselves after our carling cup exit.

Aston Villa were the first to fall in the third round, a 4-0 win at the Emirates; three weeks later Cardiff came to visit and suffered the same result. Leicester were the next challenge as we were yet again drawn at home, a 5-0 win was the outcome. The first real test was in the sixth round as Chelsea were to come to the Emirates were a spectacular game closed with a 1-0 victory. Going into the semi final at Wembley against Everton the squad was very tired due to fixture congestion but the youth held their own and pulled off a fantastic 4-1 win, which was the first goal we had conceded in the competition this year.

The team standing between us and the trophy was Norwich, I didn't want to underestimate them as they had obviously been good enough to reach the final. I was slightly worried when it took until the 36th minute for us to break the deadlock but, and I'm not quite sure how to say this, by the 68th minute it was 7-0!!! An incredible hat trick from Jack Wilshere accompanied with a brace each for Cavani & Sousa meant we were making history. Norwich did pull a goal back before Sousa added the final goal in the dying minutes of the game.

Artur Sousa's 7 goals in the competition won him the top scorer, we are currently on a record unbeaten run of 18 games in the FA Cup.

The League Looking Unlikely

At the turn of the year we were sitting in second place eight points behind Manchester City with 2 games in hand. It was clear we would need to have some favours done for us if we were to retain the title for a sixth time. The gap was incresing when we dropped 2 points in a 2-2 draw away at Newcastle in January but a run of 5 straight wins, which included beating Everton twice in 3 days, closed the gap to 2 points in February when City came to the Emirates. After losing our previous two encounters this season I was very eager to get some revenge and to go top of the table so I named a very attacking lineup... It took 8 minutes for Kadlec to open the scoring for City but I refused to change tactics and Franco Equalised 10 minutes later. He then put us into the lead just after half time and we were looking for positive; late strikes from Pajot & Subasi completely stunned the team and the game ended 3-2 to City, our second ever home loss, City 5 points clear.

I wasn't giving up, it was hard but not impossible and an impressive of 8 straight wins followed that defeat and we right back in the title race with just 4 games left it was going down to the wire, 1 point seperating us. Tough games were to come though, Spurs away on matchday 34, too tough. We slumped to a 5-2 defeat at White Hart Lane... 4 points away with 3 games remaining. Manchester United were to travel to London next and we demolished them 3-0 and then a glimmer of hope - City had lost to Spurs too!

Two games remaining, 1 point the gap, could we do it? City had to play united next but they were at home, meanwhile we had West Brom away. Sure enough united did us the favour we needed oh so desperately and our 3-2 win meant we went top after matchday 37 for the first time all year, all we needed to do was win against Birmingham at the Emirates on the final day and the trophy was ours. Sousa, Wilshere & Gylfi made sure it happened and with that 3-0 win our sixth consecutive Barclays Premier League Title was secured!! After spending all season playing second best we crossed the finishing line in pole position.

Season Postions

Final Table

Awards

Gylfi Sigurddson picked up Player of the year for the second year in a row; his 17 goals and 16 assists have been a momumental part of our success. Eden Hazard won the Players' Player of the year award while Hector Clemente won the young player of the year crown.

Cavani's 23 PL Goals in 24 games was only enough for runner up in the race for the golden boot, Aguero won it for the third year running. However Cavani's 7 goals against Swansea was a new record.

Gylfi lost his goal of the season crown to Chris Brunt of Spurs but Clemente came second for his wonderstrike against Southampton in the 7-0 win.


Champion's League

After winning all six group games we had Villareal to conquer in the first knockout round; the first leg was in Spain & we took an early 2-0 lead but poor defending led to the final score being 2-2. Matheus Poell scored the only goal in the home leg and we went through 3-2 on aggregate.

Lyon awaited in the Quarter Finals and once again we were to play away first. I was quietly confident about the game but we went down after 12 minutes when Boyata scored a screamer; Cavani equalised with a spot kick 10 minutes later but then Poell recieved a straight red for an idiotic challenge and with Ansaldi out for 8 months I knew this was now going to be a backs to the wall performance like Chelsea did with Barca. Michel Bastos gave Lyon a 2-1 lead on the half hour and the misery continued when Wilshere was given a straight red for violent conduct just after half time.
We somehow managed to hold on to 2-1 with 9 men for 45 mins and take an away goal into the next leg.

With Wilshere and Poell now on 3 match suspensions and a silly amount of injuries I was forced to play a 17 year old at left back for the return fixture; Fortuneately I had a strong Midfield & Attack available and we coasted to a 4-1 victory, 3 of the goals were spectularly spectacular!

Manchester City beat Barcelona 5-3 on aggregate to set up their semi final with Marseille, we had Atletico Madrid to face. A rather amusing 6-0 victory in the away leg meant I could relax about suspensions and injuries for the return, knowing they would be available again for the final.

With the reserves out we only managed a 1-1 draw at home but still go through to meet City in the final for the third time in four years.

Given the fact city had won the previous three encounters this season you could forgive me for not feeling optimistic about this fixture. Cavani scored his 15th of the competition, which breaks Messi's record set in 2011, to give us an early lead, soon doubled by Eden Hazard. It was a pleasant surprise to be 2-0 up at half time but the job wasn't done. The second half in all honestly was dull, Yaya Toure scored in 90+2 but it wasn't enough to stop Arsenal taking a fourth consecutive Champions League title and completing a third consecutive season where we've won 5 trophies!!

Awards

The Champions League dream team consisted of no less than 8 Arsenal Players; ter Stegen, Poell, Vertonghen, Zaoui, Sigurdsson, Hazard, Sousa & Cavani, joined by Aguero, Modric & Pique.
Hazard won the best player award as Gylfi won best goal for his effort against Lyon.

Cavani has scored an almost inhuman 44 goals in 40 appearances this season and for such an achievement he claims the top player in Europe award, Gylfi coming second & Hazard third.

The teams incredible success has lifted me to the top of the english hall of fame and to 5th in the world wide hall of fame; I also picked up my 5th Manager of the Season award for my efforts during this campaign.

In Other News...

The reserves won their league yet again, Jon Edge being the topscorer with 11.
From now on I'll be updating this blog on a month by month basis, this allows me to update it more regularly with much more indepth content such as player of the month awards. During the off season I will most likely do one post for June & July as there won't be much to say.

I will see you again soon with a pre season summary!

And We're Back

Game Date 1/1/2017

After a month break we're back with The Arsenal. Halfway through 2016/17 Season and we've got plenty going on; a new striker, two more trophies, bad times up north & the Ballon d'Or gets Messi!


A New Striker

After having Franco out for a few months with Injury I decided to add a more established striker to squad. I turned to Roberto Leguizamon of Real Madrid who has been tearing up Liga BBVA for over a year now, aged just 21. His stats include an impressive 19 Finishing and he is a very pacey forward. He is the sixth argentine in my first team but I felt his £27m release clause was too good to turn down.

World Domination

Once again we've lifted the Super Cup, this time Juventus would be the challenge but it was a very straight forward 2-0 victory, Cavani with both goals. The Club World Championship in December was another simple trophy to claim. Al-Ahli of Saudi Arabia swept aside 4-2 in the semi-final before taking
down Carlos Tevez's Boca side 5-0 in the final.


Misery In Manchester

The Trend continues in 2016/17 that I struggle up north; Manchester City won the Community Shield against us on penalties after a 1-1 battle. They also beat us in the league at the Etihad 1-0, Nasri with the goal. With my 2 games in hand that loss saw City jump 8 points clear and already looking out of sight. That is until they travelled to London in December and lost 6-1 at the hands of Spurs, However we were unable to capitalise as we lost away 3-1 to Man Utd.

With draws away at Blackburn & Fulham this is how the table looks at the turn of the year.

Ballon d'Or

I was confident of taking it home this year, we had 5 players nominated, the pick of the bunch being Cavani and Sigurdsson. Messi had a mediocre year with just 22 goals & 11 assists in 33 appearances whereas Cavani had put away 36 in 37 with 10 assists and Sigurdsson had a mammoth 30 assists & 25 Goals in 49.

However it wasn't to be as Lionel Messi won his 8th Consecutive Ballon d'Or. Sigurdsson did however take second place ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo.

European Campaign

The Champions League groups had been very generous this term with Zenit, Anorthosi & AZ. As expected we won all 6 games and took maximum points. In other groups AC Milan failed to qualify for the next stage whilst Barcelona & Man City came second in their groups. With some formidable opponents available we were fortunate to draw Villareal, the first leg will be played in Spain.


That's all for now, I'll be back with an end of season update next week :-)

A Milestone, Records & Ridiculous Red Cards!

Game Date: 20/6/2016


Homestead

We had finally clawed our way to the top of the table for the first time this season after fixture 28, although we had a game in hand for a while beforehand, City were at one point 9 points clear & we were only top on goal difference.

The first challenge to stay top was Chelsea away where after going behind the team pulled off a quality come back to win 3-2 including a brace from Franco. Next was Man City away, who could pull back level after slipping 3 behind - In an end to end match which saw Vertonghen sent off and Aguero miss a penalty it finished 3-3. The next game was Newcastle at home where i was forced to play 3 at the back because of suspensions and injuries and immediately it was a mistake, falling 2-0 behind before 25mins; but much like Arsenal did against Spurs just last week with some harsh words at half time we turned it around and secured a 5-2 victory. A 7-0 victory against Wolves was the stand out game amongst the others which we all won. Alex Song saw red in this game for a challenge that prompted the text commentary to say Inch Perfect Tackle.

Despite beating Man Utd 6-2, City lost to relegation candidates Villa, Everton & drew with Norwich which helped secure our 5th successive Premier League Title.

Final League Standings

League Position History

FA Cup Double

For the first time we've won back to back FA Cups, but this was by far the most challenging.

After beating City away 3-0 in the fourth round we had a home tie with Blackburn which was a comfortable 3-1 win.The sixth round drew us away at Everton, who had beaten us before and looked like doing again after going infront but the lads turned it around to win 2-1. The semi final was with Chelsea, who were struggling at the moment, but that didn't stop them scoring twice in the first 15mins and I feared the cup run was finished; but that man Franco was there again to score twice in a majestic 4-2 comeback.

The Final was a tough task of an In Form Liverpool. However it was a rather dry match if I'm honest, we totally dominated it and carried a 2-0 lead for an hour before Carroll made it 2-1 in 86" - Franco got his second of the game in the 89th minute to round off a thorough performance.

Best of the Best

The Champions League was a rollercoaster ride this year many teams I expected to face had been knocked out early and the competition was wide open for challengers to our title. The first team in our way was Rangers who battled hard for a 2-2 home victory - we soon remedied the situation with a 4-0 home victory ourselves.

Next was a team who to my surprise, after 5 years, had never faced before, Barcelona. This game also marked my 300th in management. I thought for sure we would lose as we had a number of injuries at the time; but we gave it everything and managed to get 0-0 at Nou Camp despite the best efforts of our old captain Van Persie. The home tie didn't go exactly to plan as we fell behind very early on and it stayed 0-1 until half time. I unleashed fury at the poor performance and by 50mins we were 2-1 up, further helped with a strike from Cavani at 63". A little doubt was cast on 87" when sanchez pulled one back but Eden Hazard rounded off a well deserved 4-2 victory in the 89th minute.

Lyon knocked out Bayern to setup our semi final meeting - which started in France. I realised I immediately underestimated them when they were 2-0 up inside the half hour. More words of anger were needed at half time and we pulled it back to 2-2 going into the home tie. The french side gave us a strong challenge but we came out eventual 1-0 winners at the Emirates.

Sevilla had turned around a 2-0 deficit to beat Marseille in the semi final, I wasn't going to underestimate them at Ibrox for the final. The only previous meeting between us was the Super Cup just 9 months earlier. Bar an injury to Gervinho the squad was at full strength for the game and started controlling the game from the first whistle, Hazard opening the scoring with a superb individual effort in the 14th minute. However it took my former player, Park Chu Young just 5mins to pull it back level. Hazard wasn't happy about this and scored a brilliant free kick just 3 minute later. Cavani added a third moments after half time before Wilshere completed the victory. Our 3rd straight Champions League title!

In Other News

Hazard's first goal in the final earnt him goal of the competition while Sigurdsson was named European Player of the Year, Gylfi also got Goal of the Season.

A Touch of Wenger

Game Date: 3/2/2016

Dip in Form

January saw us have our worst run of games for a long time; with 4 games without a win, 3 in the Premier League. Losses to Manchester City & Everton and a home draw with QPR left us 6 points behind of City. The first leg of the Carling Cup semi with Spurs was the home tie which we drew 2-2.
The loss to Manchester City was our first ever home defeat, which I think deserves a mention.

The Cups

After a 3-0 3rd round FA Cup win over derby the 4th round drew us away at City which I immediately wrote off as a loss but a new signing's debut goal helped us secure a memorable 3-0 win!

The Carling Cup was a little less forgiving and we lost the return leg to Spurs 1-0, who will play Liverpool in the final.

The Market

After the drop in performances I felt I really needed some new blood so chased a young argentine striker I've been trying to buy for ~18 months, Norberto Franco. After a £20m bid was rejected the player expressed his dismay at not being allowed to speak to me so i bid again with £21m and it was accepted. At just 19 he is on £67k/w but scored the opener away at City & got a hat trick in his league debut against Villa.

I also picked up a quality young midfielder, Hector Clemente; just 20, cost me £18.25m. He has some great stats and even better potential, picked up a knock on his first day in training so hasn't played yet - should be a great alternative to Ramsey & Willian.

Additionally both were signed from River Plate & they have more exciting youngsters in their squad so with the boards permission I have selected them as a Feeder Club which is currently pending approval.

Mid-Season Update

Game Date: 1/1/2016


Flawless Victory

The Club World Championship has come and gone and we managed to hold on to our title with relative ease. Beating Wydad Casablanca 5-0 in the semi & River Plate 3-0 in the final - fielding weakened lineups.

Injury Woes

After drawing 2 of the opening 4 games in the league we were already dropping off the pace set by the Manchester clubs and after missing a game for the Super Cup we were sat 5 points behind the pace. Losing Hazard for a month was a big blow but hurt further by the loss of my only major striker, Cavani, for 6 weeks. However we battled hard we managed to only drop points with a draw at swansea and a loss away to liverpool; coupled with some losses for Manchester City & United, the table now looks like this.

Battling on all Fronts


We're still in the league cup, having not won it since my first season I've been fielding stronger lineups as I would like to hold it again. Victories against Villa, Blackburn & Nott Forest have landed us a semi final tie with Spurs - yet to concede in this competition.

The Champions League group stage at first looked tough but we won the group almost flawlessly, only dropping points in the final game away at Zenit. The last 16 draw has also been kind considering Real Madrid were possible opponents, we face Rangers.

A Home Tie with Derby is a few days away in the FA Cup 3rd round, I won't be taking the game lightly as it comes in the middle of a very busy period, having played 4 games in the previous week.

So long... Legend

With the close of the transfer window fast approaching I had to make a choice with Robin van Persie. He had 12 months left on his contract and was already on 205k/w at the age of 32; I was reluctant to keep hold of him due to his wages and the fact I don't really play him. His agent would settle for no less than £5m in fees and £270k/w with appearance and goal bonuses even man city wouldn't pay... So on the final day of the window I offered him out and Barcelona made a £7m bid which i accepted. In order for him to move I had to pay him £83k/w for the remainder of his contract which totals ~£3.5m so I didn't profit all that much & I do now have limited options up front should I lose Cavani to injury.

The fans weren't all too pleased with his sale either but they changed their tune when we lifted the UEFA Super Cup for the second year running, beating Sevilla 3-1. I've also offloaded Alex Chamberlain to Liverpool for £7.5m; he wasn't developing as well as I'd expected and he was also demanding insane wages and I got a good price for him.

The Champions League groups have been drawn and we have Ajax Zenit & BATE, a tougher group than usual but certainly winnable.

Player Watch & Pre-Season

Pre-Season
Game Date: 10/8/2015

Friendlies went very well aside from a 3 week injury for Cavani which was a slight set back however he did make full match fitness before the Community Shield. The games included a 1-1 home draw with Real Madrid.

Looking to win our 3rd consecutive Community Shield wasn't easy with the challengers being Man City for the first time. They took an early through an Mario Balotelli penalty but Cavani's equaliser on the half hour had us level at the break. Throughout the second half we dominated the field and got the reward on 73 minutes when Eden Hazard found the net; but City managed to counter and make it 2-2 on 81" with a goal from Dzsudzsak.

Penalties followed and with Cavani missing the first it wasn't looking great but Szczesny saved the 2nd and it was level until the seventh round of spot kicks where Aaron Ramsey fired wide and Nigel de Jong completed the win for City.

I felt we had done enough to deserve the win but at the end of the day its not an important competition and the positives taken from the performance should serve us well as the league kicks off.


Transfers

Per Mertesacker had turned 30 and his stats were starting to suffer so I decided to move him on as he was surplus to requirements even as a backup after the arrival of young Manni, he moved to Juventus for a better than expected £15m. Walcott had made just 11 appearances for me last season and had shown no signs of recovering from the 2 5 month injuries he's suffered in previous seasons, so Man City took him off my hands for £10m. A handful of reserve and youth players I deemed not worthy of a contract extension, including Andre Santos, left on a free.

Aside from the £18m arrival of Federico Manni mentioned in my last post I'd only taken on a couple of youth players. However with 3 weeks left of the window I may yet add to my squad should they fall below par during the opening games.

Player Watch
Youth

An in-depth analysis of future stars I've taken on and what I expect them to grow into.

Aleksander Luczak (DM, MC)

First scouted this regen after my first season at the age of 15 and he really stood out for me so I wasted no time signing him up. Costing just £350k from Osnabruck in the 3rd tier of German football I'd kept him in my main squad since he arrived and acts as cover for Alex Song in the holding midfielder role; has so far made a total of 38 apps with 6 assists and 1 goal in 3 seasons.

Mattheus Poell (DL, DR)

Another regen I scouted after my first season was this full back with 4.5 star potential which with the current lack of quality full backs in the game I marked as a must buy; costing 2m from Ajax. After not being able to find a suitable loan deal in his first season I'd allowed him to stay in the U18 squad but he did make 8 apps for the first team that year. In 2013/14 He had really started to develop well and become my primary backup fullback on both sides and over the next 2 seasons bagged 47 appearances creating 2 goals and collecting 1 man of the match award. Now aged 20 my assistant believes him to have the same ability as Cristian Ansaldi at left back and I'll be rotating them over the coming season.

Klaid Shehu (DR)

Again bought at the end of 2011/12 Shehu showed similar potential as Poell at the age of 15 and cost me £1.9m from Freiburg. Spent his first season with the U18s and was developing well so I drafted him into the Senior team as a backup and gave him some cup games, unfortuneately he suffered a 2 month injury which has slowed his development slightly but made 18 appearances in the last 2 seasons and collected 1 MoTM. With recent signings taking precedence I've just loaned Shehu to Dortmund for the coming season where he should get more first team exposure.

Uros Lalatovic (AMC, MC)

Costing £2.3m from FC Nantes in the January window of 2013, this 15 year old shows some real promise and I have high expectations for him. I've only been able to give him one cup game so far due to a large amount of midfielders already but he's had good loan spells with Sheffield United & Ipswich; will be spending the next season with Bordeaux in Ligue 1.

Emile Nounagnon (MC)

An 18 year old Cameroonian I found in Brazil who cost me just £275k, Emile is yet to play for the Arsenal first team but his attributes are rocketing month by month and has just left for his second season on loan at Dortmund. At 20 he already has 12 caps for his country.

Mirko Grubic (ST, AMC)

Scouted at 15 at Gladbach shows real promise and is currently developing in his second year in the U18 Squad. Cost me £1.4m and at 16 has some very competitive attributes and could soon be part of the first team setup, does however seem to quite prone to injury.

Cherif Zaoui (DR)

Drafted in during last seasons January window as I badly needed some cover for Sagna due to injuries. Cost a sizeable £8.5m with £3m more in future fees the 17 year old had 3 scouts mark him as a definite purchase, made 5 appearances since his arrival. Like Grubic he does seem quite prone to injury and has spent ~2 months out of the last 8.

Carazinho (AMC, MC)


After not being able to secure a new contract with Sao Paulo I poached this youngster on a free just before the January 2015 window and immediately moved to Salamanca where he will spend the next 24 months obtaining a spanish passport. Has some good stats and I've got high hopes of what he can achieve.

Alexander Schubert (ST, AMC)

Another youngster I managed to get on a free is this exciting German, At 17 with excellent Physical stats and very promising mental and technical I've decided to keep him in the first team as my 3rd choice. Hopefully some easy ties in the cups will allow him to start more games.

Jon Edge (ST)

Now 19, Edge has been with me since the 2011/12 youth intake and has shown remarkable signs of improvement since then. In 2013/14 he had a loan spell with Preston in which he made 12 appearances and scored 5. He'll be spending the coming season with West Ham in the championship and should continue his development well.