Should I stay or should I go now? Falling in and out of love with Arsenal FC

munchymart

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One day on a whim, I decided I wanted to follow English soccer (or football, as you insist on calling it). As a youngster, I had disliked football as I perceived it to be boring and lacking in action. However, as my eyes matured, I began to realise and appreciate the true beauty in a team of individuals operating selflessly as one. As a diehard NBA fan, I love nothing more than when a team just GETS it, and clicks as a unit. When guys look like they’ve been playing with each other since they were born, when players can pick out their team-mates with pinpoint passes without even looking, when every player knows where every other guy is on the court/field at all times. Chemistry. It’s a wonderful thing to experience. Once I began to appreciate this, I recognised football for what it was: a tactical chess-match of guys probing the field with pin-point passes, until finally – a breakthrough! And Fabregas delivers a killer through ball to a streaking Arshavin into the box for a goal!

As you may have guessed, after extensive research (mainly Wikipedia), I decided to follow Arsenal. I loved that their manager was supposedly an attacking genius, who hated playing 1-0 games as much as people hated watching them. I loved that despite being a relatively rich team in a big market, they didn’t just buy the best players, but got in young talent for cheap and developed them INTO good players. I liked how multicultural the team was. I liked how they went undefeated, just like the NFL team I adore (the New England Patriots). I liked that they had heated local rivalries. I liked that they called themselves arses and gooners.



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And so, one thing led to another and here I am with Football Manager 2010 as the new manager of Arsenal, not knowing anyone on the team outside of Gallas (saw him on the French national team at a WC) and Robin van Persie (saw him on the news once). The first season was a rocky one, spending my entire transfer budget on Sidney Govou because I liked that he was French, then releasing him on a mutual termination because I thought he was too old and was stealing playing time from Arshavin and Nasri (hey, I was completely new to football’s transfer rules!). I quickly got eliminated from the Champions League, and although at the end of the year it seemed like I was starting to put something together, a collapse in the last month led to me finishing 7th in the Premier Division, barely qualifying for the Euro Cup.

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From there began a string of heartbreaks, consistently finishing in the top four but not quite breaking through – seemingly putting it together before falling apart against top teams. Despite winning the Euro Cup the next year, there was little success in the Champions League and I was barren of any silverware for the first four years.

There were flashes, though. There was the 32 game premier league unbeaten streak in 2011-2012, but ultimately being unable to overcome a sluggish start and (again) falling apart late in the year in head to head match ups with eventual winner, Liverpool.

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By year 5, I was becoming increasingly disenchanted with both the game and my team. My strategy thus far had me maintaining the discipline of previous manager Wenger, buying up young youth prospects. I had a few gems – Spanish centre back Arturo Chaves, English midfielder Jonjo Shelvey, French goalkeeper Alphonse Areola, American striker Jozy Altidore, etc., but complementing these with the rare big splash I was able to make. There was the 44 million Euro purchase of Spanish right back Cesar Azpilicueta, and the 85 million Euro purchase of Italian striker Mario Balotelli (I know, I probably overpaid. But it was worth it! Set a new team record for goals scored in his first full season and consistently great in every season since).

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What I didn’t realise was that my young team (youngest in the Premier League every season I have been at the helm) was just going through the bumps and pains of growing up. They consistently hung around at the top, just couldn’t get over the top to get real results to show for it. Despondent with frustration, I pondered what to do about this quandary, and set about buying some veteran stability in midfield and between the sticks (Igor Akinfeev and Claudio Marchisio on a free transfer). But then a curious thing happened. My young team somehow toppled mighty Barcelona in the semi-finals of the Champions league, after an epic second leg where Cesc Fabregas nailed the winning goal in extra time (115 minutes), which landed me a surprise appearance in the big game!

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Excited just to be there and with nothing to lose, I used a radical tactical change (swapping from my regular narrow 4-1-2-1-2 formation to a wide 4-5-1 to exploit Chelsea’s lack of width) and came out with an aggressive attacking mentality in the finals, against a Chelsea team that had bullied me in the Premier league and denied me of the division title. Young Alphonse Areola had the game of his life, accruing a 9.2 rating, and goals by Mario Ballotelli (at 30 minutes, to give us a morale boost heading back into the locker room at halftime with a lead) and Samir Nasri (a clincher deep into injury time to ice the game) put me on top of the football world with a dramatic 2-0 win over a HEAVILY favoured Chelsea squad. I did not realise that one could experience such EUPHORIA over an accomplishment achieved in a video game, but I could NOT stop smiling, and the giddy pride I felt for my plucky young underdogs was indescribable.

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The next year, boosted by the confidence of being kings of Europe, and with the signings of the aforementioned Akinfeev and Marchisio to settle the team down (along with the natural maturation of my young players such as Fabregas, Nasri, Clichy, Apilicueta, Balotelli, Altidore and Alex Song all hitting their primes, or close to it), we went on to blitz the Premier division and won the league by 27 points, (97 points – 31 wins 4 draws 3 losses – one of those losses a meaningless game after we had already clinched and was preparing for other competitions) with a + 57 goal differential. Young Jozy Altidore set the league on fire, scoring 36 goals with 18 assists and 11 Man of the Match performances for an average rating of 7.6 in 51 total appearances (would’ve won English footballer of the year if not for missing about a month of premier league games with injury), and a mind boggling 14 goals 4 assists and 4 MoM with an average rating of 7.9 in 13 Champions League appearances.
After nailing down the Premier League with a month to go, I set about preparing for the two big games at the end of the year. The first was an FA cup win over Chelsea with 2 goals by Theo Walcott on the way to a 2-1 victory for Arsenal.

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In Europe, my team staged a valiant title defence, overcoming a Bayern Munich side in the semi finals which boasted stars such as Ribery, Marek Hamsek, Edin Dzeko, Toni Kroos, Neymar, Martin Demichelis, Arjen Robben, Philip Lahm and Guillermo Ochoa in goal. After a heartbreaking 3-2 loss on the away leg, young Theo Walcott brought the team from the brink with a dramatic goal in the 91st minute of the home leg to bring the aggregate score to 4-4 and Arsenal advancing with the advantage on away goals.

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I had thought that through an unlucky draw I had faced the most loaded team in the semi’s and that the finals would let up a bit. Not so. Facing a loaded Real Madrid squad featuring Benzema, Kaka, Pato, Christiano Ronaldo, Gonzalo Higuain, Luka Modric, Romelo Lukaku, Lassana Diarra, Pepe, Sergio Romero and Iker Casillas in goal, I grimly accepted that a win would be a tall order and was just happy to be there, with a shot at defending our crown.

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At halftime of the big game, we entered the dressing rooms level at 1-1 after goals by Mario Balotelli and Pato two minutes apart from each other. In the team talk I told the lads just to enjoy the rest of the game, no matter what happens, hoping to alleviate some of the tension that I personally was feeling.

Then, as it went that whole season, a dominant Jozy Altidore came out fired up and scored two goals (at 60 and 62 minutes) to leave Real Madrid reeling, and Arsenal go back to back, sweeping the 3 major competitions, with Jozy Altidore announcing his arrival as a legitimate worldwide superstar, earning player of the tournament honours along the way.

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Which brings us to this year. The year is 2016. Arsenal are defending champions of England and Europe (twice). After a convincing 3-0 win over hated Tottenham to kick the season off in the Community shield however, Arsenal travelled to White Hart Lane to start the Premier League Season. There, we had an uninspiring 1-1 draw, which unfortunately set the tone for the rest of the season, filled with malaise and complacency. A string of convincing wins would be followed by draws or losses to the likes of West Brom, Sunderland, Wigan and Hull, along with disastrous 2-4 and 2-3 results to Chelsea and Man Utd respectively, where we blew 2-0 leads both times (and at home), devastating the fans.

Deciding that some drastic action was needed to shake up the team, I spent the money that I had accrued through a combination of winning the various competitions, profit from selling veterans whose value I had built up (but with young youngsters ready to step in immediately as part of my strategy – or so I believed), and extra funds made available to me by a new ownership group that had taken over, I bought none other than Lionel Messi, in his prime (28) for 125 million Euro, with money left over then for a backup left back (Jean-Alain Fanchone) and a young Italian striker prospect.

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In truth, the problems were probably more to do with the fact that the previously mentioned promising young centre back prospect Arturo Chaves had torn his knee into pieces near the end of the first Champions League season. A star performer who averaged a 7+ rating, I had to turn down offers for him nearly every week before the injury. Following the injury, he has struggled to find his fitness and form, leaving me with no blue-chip players in the heart of my defence. That is to go along with my problems at left back, after selling Gael Clichy to make room for another young stud, English prospect Dean Owens. What I had not considered was that while Owens was spectacular in spurts, filling in for Clichy, he accrued high ratings mainly for his attacking play, using his quickness to run deep into the opposition territory and make plays. I had not considered however, his poor marking ability. This lead to many an opponent exploiting the left side of my defence, before swinging it into the box, and with no stud centre backs, conceding goals at the worst moments.
A typical performance for my team usually went like this: concede early goal before the 20th minute to put us in a hole, **** around for the rest of the game, equalise around the 70th minute, before conceding another heartbreaker in the waning minutes.

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This then seems fixable. However, I have tired of my team making boneheaded blunders at the worst times, against the easiest of opponents. I have tired of generating some momentum before quickly losing it with a dispiriting performance against a bottom-dwelling team. I have tired of telling my team the same thing, only for them to carry on playing unintelligent and gutless football. I have tired of players complaining of underachieving, and then when I tell the players not to get complacent, or that their performance was disappointing, the players becoming upset with “the way I talk to the team”. And most of all, I have tired of the EXPECTATION of winning.

And that is what brings me here today. So far, despite the struggles the team has won all the minor competitions it has appeared in (Community shield, European super cup, World club championship, League Cup). However, after a draw to Hull City (which I only managed to salvage after a late equaliser deep into extra time), my Premier League hopes hinge on beating Man City head to head, and then Man City dropping two games out of these opponents: Wolves, Burnley, Hull (I’m 7 points behind with 4 games to play – one of which is against Man City).
In the Champions league, I am currently in the semi finals, having won the first leg at home 3-1, but with the away leg looming against…. Man City.
And finally, I have an FA cup finals berth booked against, you guessed it. Man City.

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Winnable? Yes. I have already beaten them once this year in the League Cup, and thrashed more or less the same team (minus their big purchase in the offseason – striker Romelo Lukaku) 6-0 in a premier league game last year. However, given my team’s inconsistency and general malaise, nothing can be taken for granted.

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And this is where my story begins: at a crossroads. If my team can somehow regain their championship spirit and win the champions league again for an unprecedented three-peat in Europe, or at the very least if they manage to salvage an FA cup win out of this campaign, I will be playing out the last year remaining on my contract at arsenal, and make a go of it one more time with a full year of Messi.

If we come away empty handed? I will resign and seek a job overseas. Preferably France, but currently the best jobs available happen to be Schalke, Juventus, Espanyol and Valencia (currently favouring a move to Spain)

I will be posting monthly updates, which will recap games, transfers and be more of a tactical discussion – as opposed to the (rather wordy :p) narrative style of this background post – leading up to the end of this current campaign and the time of the big decision(!) after which you will either be reading a story of Arsenal dominance :)P) or a story of a mid-level European team’s ascendance to the elite class of Europe (hopefully!).

Hope you enjoy the story, and please, offer tips/advice as you go along :)
 
Absolutely epic opening post! A good sign for things to come, will be following!
 
April

The first game after my initial post was against Bolton, and the team did all they could to change my mind! Going to an attacking 4-2-4 with no defensive midfielder, the team put up 4 goals with relative ease. We did also concede 2 goals, but that was to be expected against the best striker in the Premier League, and English footballer of the year, Thomas Necid of the Czech Republic.

Messi had a quiet (for him) game with a 7.5 rating. He made 10 runs and consistently beat his man off the dribble, but failed to find that killer pass or shot to make them pay. Instead, we were carried by two goals and an assist by Nasri, who finished as MoM with a 9.3 rating.

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More encouraging however, is that it appears as I have been thrown a lifeline, as Man City drew with Wolves. Arsenal are now 5 points back, with 3 games to go (one of which is against Man City)

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After his dominant run in the previous campaign, and an even BETTER start to this one, Jozy Altidore had recently found himself in very poor form the last month or so. After returning from a facial injury (broken cheekbone) which kept him out for about a month, he went through an 800+ minute goal drought, and even after breaking the drought was having difficulty putting the ball in the net for the next few games, often hitting the ball weakly, or powerfully but right at the goalkeeper.

But when his team needed him most, with Cesc and Song out with injuries and Messi ineligible to play in this Champions League tournament (as he came midseason), Jozy stepped up and delivered a hat trick of the highest quality, with perfectly timed runs into the box met by pin point passes by Marchisio and Theo (twice), in an emphatic 3-0 win in the away leg against Man City. Just when I was about to give up on this team, they show that you can never count out a champion with a display of crisp passing and desperate defence which belied their seemingly comfortable 3-1 advantage in the first leg. They put together perhaps one of the finest all round performances away from home, considering the circumstance and opponent.

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Although Akinfeev added some veteran stability between the posts in the previous campaign, starting most of the games in the dominant Premier League and Champions League runs (over the promising but streaky Areola), the team was allowing way too many goals for my liking and I made a midseason switch back to the youngster. Although arguably the goals conceded were more as a result of poor defending, one costly mistake by the veteran was the straw that broke my back and out of frustration I made Igor the scapegoat. It would be the move that possibly saved the season however, as young Areola was apparently not discouraged by the team bringing in a more established goalkeeper after his scintillating performance against Chelsea in our first Champions League win. He kept at it, and when given the chance seized it hungrily and made the absolute most out of it, culminating in a ridiculous game where he earned a 9.6 rating against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League Quarter Finals (away leg).

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Today, he made all the saves once more for another good rating of 7.2. Although Man City had 10 more shots on goal, and the same amount of shots on target (7), Areola’s 7 saves proved to be the crucial difference in the victory.

For the season now he is averaging a rating of 7+. While this could be indicative of poor defending giving him more shots to block, it has to be noted that the defending was similarly poor for Akinfeev and he did not make the same type of impossible stops that Areola has. Further, it appears that perhaps Areola’s presence has given the defence a newfound confidence, as centre back Nordtveit and right back Azpilicueta had ratings of 8+ in the victory.

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And so, after much consternation, Arsenal have responded to adversity beautifully and like true champions, thumping Man City 6-1 on aggregate, and clinching a spot in the finals for a third straight time, looking for a truly historic threepeat.

Facing us will be AS Roma, who defeated FC Bayern on away goals. Roma features two former Arsenal midfield studs: the great Abou Diaby, and the man he was sold to make room for and former jewel of the Arsenal youth system Jonjo Shelvey. Both were sold to clear up playing time (not to mention to net us some good hard ca$h) as we had a glut of top class midfielders (Cesc, Marchisio, Aaron Ramsey, and attacking mids such as Nasri and an even more promising youth prospect in Paul Nash).

Rounding out the squad for Roma are GK Gianluca Curci, centre back Phillipe Mexes, midfielders Daniele de Rossi and Moussa Sissoko, and striker Mirko Vucinic.

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After this rousing performance to get to the finals yet again, I have decided that I will at the very least honour my contract and play out the remaining year on my contract (that is, next season), before making any decision. My frustration, and frankly, disgust, over this team’s complacency lead me to want to resign DURING the season many times after a frustrating result, and that anything short of a champions league victory would lead me to resign and pursue greener pastures, perhaps in Spain or Germany. However, Arsenal is now my adopted team (both in FM and in real life) and I should stick with them for better or for worse. The past few months have been the “worse”. Hopefully, the emphatic victory over Man City will be the beginning of the “better”.
 
Premier League season wrap-up

After the lack of fight shown throughout the season, I was willing to concede the Premier League to Man City and move on with preparations for the FA Cup and Champions League finals. However, a slumping Jozy Altidore showed tremendous leadership skills in rallying the troops and then backing up his words with two dominant performances.

Arsenal found themselves needing to win the last 3 games, and a lot of luck to win out. 5 points back with 3 to play. The first of the 3 games was against a mediocre Sunderland squad. However, we have been prone to drawing or losing such games against similarly mediocre squads so far this year so I was taking nothing for granted. A scoreless 0-0 draw going into the half further stoked these fears. However, at 49 minutes Jozy Altidore found goal, before fellow striker scored again at 57 minutes for a comfortable lead. However, in a textbook display of our defensive faults so far this year, Sunderland scored in the 75th minute after a streaking Michael Turner blitzed the left flank and lobbed a beautiful cross to Darren Bent who headed the ball emphatically, giving them hope and causing our collective sphincters to tighten. We played out the rest of the game, wary of an equaliser which would effectively end our title hopes before Jozy again found the net in the 90th minute to ice the game.

The next game was the pivotal head to head against league leaders Man City. After again rallying the troops, Jozy put his money where his mouth is and came away with a brilliant hat trick, along with goals from Mario Ballotelli (penalty) and a scorcher from a suddenly rejuvenated Arturo Chaves, to overpower a similarly powerful Man City squad 5-2.

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So there we were, entering the final game of the season, 2 points apart. If Man City drew and we took care of business at home against a Liverpool squad struggling away from home, we would come out on top on goal difference.

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We took a 1-0 lead after halftime on a Theo strike, and by the 80th minute, with the score remaining as it was, I was beginning to look ahead to Hull-Man City, hoping for the draw or loss. However, former Gunner Mohammed Sissoko scored off a corner in the 82nd minute to equalise. Cursing, I thought it rather befitting that we would go down this way – reflective of our poor defending at critical situations throughout the year. However, Theo decided he didn’t quite want to concede the title just yet and scored the perceived winner at the 85th minute! Jubilation! Heart of a champion!
However, this game would have me flip flopping yet again as Sissoko struck yet again, scoring an almost IDENTICAL goal off another corner 4 minutes into injury time to end the game as a draw.

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After the game however, the result was deemed irrelevant though as Man City cruised to a comfortable 2-0 win over Hull.

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To recap, Ballotelli, Fabregas, Altidore and Azpilicueta earned spots on the Premier League Team-of-the-Year First XI


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Ballotelli finished behind young Newcastle striker Yaya Sanogo as runner up English footballer of the year and top goalscorer


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And Jozy Altidore won the players’ player of the year award.



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Meanwhile, Claudio Marchisio’s desperation shot from almost 35 yards out against Hull City to equalise in the 90th minute won goal of the year (a bittersweet honour considering the result of the game)

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So there it is. Fittingly, the pivotal final 3 games of the season was a perfect microcosm of this Premier league season as a whole. Two stirring results to build up hope and momentum, followed by a disappointing result from conceding two backbreaking goals. Sure, we wouldn’t have won the title anyway regardless of the outcome of the Liverpool game. But to finish as we did, collapsing down the stretch, downed by two super late goals by a former team-mate…. Well it was just what we deserved.

Preparing for the two finals’ now, and scouting some centre backs for next year. Looking at either Juventus’ Giorgio Chiellini or Man City’s Danny Wilson. Chiellini is the superior player, but 7 years older and significantly more expensive. Decisions decisions….
 
Very good detail, and a great choice of team ;)
 
The turning point tactically for the team's offensive awakening seems to be the Theo/Jozy pairing up front at striker. Both are set as poachers (which I'm told is quite odd) but it has been working well, as the team has put up 20 goals over 6 matches, with Theo and Jozy showing great chemistry in setting each other up for goals (the two are averaging 8.18 and 8.9 ratings respectively with a combined 13 goals between them over the last 5 games - tops on the team).

This is with the team playing in a 4-2-4 with 2 central mids (either Ramsey/Cesc/Marchisio - one set to advanced playmaker support and the other as box-to-box) 2 attacking mids at wing (Messi/Nash/Mario/Nasri) set to advanced playmaker attack, and the 2 strikers at poacher. Usually play with a defensive mid (Song or youngster Adonai Vila) but with Song injured and reluctant to start the 18 year old Vila full time, I switched to a more attacking formation to try and win in a shootout. While it worked superbly in the first 5 games, the Liverpool game perhaps showed how even more weaker we are in the centre of the field defensively as Sissoko parked himself in front of goal and received 2 ordinary crosses and was completely unmarked, easily slotting in the goal.

While Song has just resumed full training, as this formation had dominated Man City so far (aggregate score of 13-3 in 3 games), I am sticking to it in the FA cup finals, and will evaluate what to do for the Champions League final after that.

Thanks for the kind words, and again, feel free to leave comments/tips/advice/anecdotes etc :)
 
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FA Cup Finals recap

The team came out fired up and for the first hour put on an absolutely clinical display in attacking football. Our skill advantages were clear to see as the players were slick, quick and decisive in moving the ball and constantly threatening the City defence. After two attempts at goal by Theo that were saved by keeper Joe Hart, the third time Theo received the ball just outside the box he was swarmed by three City defenders. The young striker shrugged his shoulders and with an incredible display of athleticism split the defenders right through the middle for the first goal of the game.

The second goal came 2 minutes after that, as a bam-bam-bam sequence from Messi to Theo to Messi again who continued his run into the box was rewarded with another goal.

After the break, Theo delivered an absolutely delicious through ball to Jozy in the box who quickly smashed in goal number 3 for Arsenal, with the team looking unbeatable. To complement the attacking verve was a desperate defence which was looking to win the ball back at every opportunity, and big Isaac Vorsah at centre back anchored the middle and headed away any forays into the box. In the few times that the sloppy and disjointed City team did manage to get in threatening situations, Areola again bailed out the team with some insane keeping, finishing with a 7.1 rating.

To their credit though, even as nothing was working offensively, City kept at it and clawed their way back into the game with 2 ugly goals by Lukaku and Tevez – the second of which came after Nigel de Jong’s red card left them with just ten men.

However, despite Arsenal’s repeated failings in closing out games, this one never felt in doubt as our boys controlled the ball the rest of the game to bleed the clock and clinch the second of back to back FA cup wins.


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Champions League Final recap and season evaluation

The Gunners’ second time Champions League defence (going for their third in a row) took a heavy blow when a few days prior to the match Mario Ballotelli was injured in training, forced to watch the game from the stands. This after another world-class season where he was arguably the most consistently great player on the team this year with 39 goals 16 assists and 12 MoM in 55 appearances, and a 8/4/2 with a 7.8 rating in 12 Champions League games.

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Already without Lionel Messi due to his ineligibility, we were to make do with two second-choice guys on the wings: young starlet Paul Nash and the reliable Samir Nasri. This to go with Theo and Jozy up front, and Ramsey and Cesc in the middle. This was after a long hard debate whether to go with Claudio Marchisio or Ramsey as the box to box midfielder. Marchisio was the veteran and was in slightly better form over the last 5, but Ramsey had been sensational in the Champions League. I thought giving the spot to the hungry young Ramsey would give us a spark, without losing in quality. After that the big choice was at centreback – who to pair up with Isaac Vorsah? Nordveit had literally just returned to training the day of the game, and wasn’t fit. So it was down to veteran Sorbon who had been solid but unspectacular, or former hot prospect Arturo Chaves. Chaves had a miserable outing in the FA cup final, but he had been terrific in the premier division game vs. Man City a week or so ago, showing glimmers of the Chaves of old. Hoping my faith in him in the big game would ignite the still young defender, I swung for the fences and gave him the nod.

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The game started off with a predictably defensive Roma squad leading to a stalemate over the first half hour. However, young Paul Nash converted a gorgeous floating cross from Nasri to volley home the first goal of the game at 31 minutes. In what would be the story of the game however, Roma quickly struck back with a Vucinic hitting back on the counter attack to equalise 4 minutes later, and then defender Nelson Rivas heading home a pretty corner kick by de Rossi another 4 minutes later to take a 2-1 lead into halftime.

After probing the defence for the first 10 plus minutes of the second half turned fruitless, things looked bleak against a seemingly sturdy Roma defence. But the team’s patient passing was rewarded as Nash found the previously quiet Jozy Altidore with a killer ball in the box and the clutch American striker smashed home the equaliser.

The scoring was far from over however, as young Greek regen striker Giannis Manikas converted a foolish penalty conceded by right back Cesar Azpilicueta. This was the story of the game as our defenders were sloppy and at times downright abused by the strong and skilled Roma forwards (Cesar, Vorsah and Chaves – who was quickly substituted at halftime, all submitted ratings in the 5’s).

With the score 3-2, Roma held the lead for the next 10 minutes as the clock kept ticking on our season. But at 75 minutes, CAPTAIN CESC FABREGAS again came to the rescue with more late game heroics. Reminiscent of the semi finals vs. Barcelona two years ago, where Cesc flashed into the box to drive home the winning goal in extra time, Cesc again streaked into the box and converted to equalise.

With most experts predicting a draw and penalty shootout before the game, I was also preparing for this contingency as the clock hit the 80’s, and began considering substitutes and potential penalty takers. However, as he has done many times before, Jozy Altidore made a tremendous play to score the winner!!!!!!!!!!

Or so I thought.

Jozy pounced on a sloppy take by a Roma defender to strip the ball and drive home the goal at 84 minutes on a tremendous individual effort to put us ahead 4-3 in what was quickly turning into an absolute classic.

Surely, this must be the winner!

However, the Roma forwards simply shrugged their shoulders and with two fabulous goals, the first was a result of Manikas absolutely skinning our centre backs and **** near snapping Isaac Vorash to get through to goal at 87 minutes to equalise, and the winner by Vucinic was an absolute screamer from outside the area which left a stunned Arsenal squad to try and comprehend what had just happened.

A brave and resilient Arsenal squad did everything you would ask for from a title defender – they kept fighting when they went down, equalised, and eventually took the lead late in the game showing composure in the clutch. However, it could not overcome the performance of their lives by Roma’s forwards Vucinic and Manikas who were undoubtedly fired up to upset the heavy favourites, combined with poor performances by the defence and myself.

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In hindsight, of course Chaves was not ready for this. But my desire for Chaves to bounce back and resurrect himself made me lose sight of the best interests of the team – and besides what was probably a fluke game against Man City, he had been in terrible form all year. Sorbon or Vermaelen would have been better choices.
Also, instead of debating whether to start Marchisio or Ramsey, I should have probably changed formations and played them both, with 4 midfield players. Mario’s injury badly hurt our depth in terms of attackers, and there was no explosive attacker to call on in the waning minutes to take the lead and ice the game for us. My intent to stick with what was working (extremely well) conflicted with the need to be flexible and adapt to the injury – something I admittedly did not even consider before the game.

However, while I personally consider the season a failure, it is of course not as black and white as that. Yes, we should have won the premier division, if not for letting poor sides deny us our 3 points. But a team, no matter how talented, cannot win every single year. Sometimes the team on paper does not translate onto the pitch – this is why we play the games! Considering this, second place is if not acceptable, then at least not a complete failure – the cash will come in handy in bolstering the backline, and while we take this for granted now, we have again qualified for Europe and a chance to extend our fledging European dynasty.

We also won the FA cup for the second year in a row – so not a completely lost cause in terms of silverware (combined with the minor trophies we won throughout the year).

As for the Champions League, the result was disappointing – especially the stunning way we lost, but indeed Roma were the best team on the day. They took our best effort and still came out on top. And two CL trophies in a row were unprecedented in and of itself – a third would simply have been a cherry on top. To mount a title defence as we did has me proud of our team.

To wrap up, Altidore completed another terrific Continental campaign, winning the Golden Boot and Best Player of the competition honours with 14 goals 8 assists and 3 MoM in 14 games and an 8.2 rating. For the year, he set a team record for goals scored with 40 goals 20 assists, 13 MoM and a 7.78 average rating.

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Meanwhile, youngsters Ramsey and left back Dean Owen joined Jozy in the Champions League Dream Team First XI

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And that signals the end of the 2015-2016 season. Leading up to the CL final, I had put in a bid for young Kiwi defender Shaun Fallon (a regen – no relation to the real Rory Fallon) a 22 year old who averaged a 7.6 rating in 30 games for Bordeaux.
Joining him will be veteran French centre back Adil Rami. The accomplished (7.1 avg rating) 30 year old was disgruntled with his team (Lazio) and was offered at a bargain 5.5 million Euro.

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Now I have two more centre backs (one young, one old) joining us next year. This is in addition to Vermaelen, Nordtveit, Vorsah, Chaves, Sorbon and 19 year old German Tim Reich - a promising prospect. This means that I currently have 8 defenders on the roster heading into next year. Hopefully a consistent and dependable rotation will shake out from that group, and I can sell the rest if playing time becomes an issue.
 
UPDATE:

I spoke prematurely. Fallon rejected Arsenal; set for Juventus instead :S
 
Euro 2016

Spaniards Cesc Fabregas and Cesar Azpilicueta played vital roles on the winning Spain team (who got a dramatic extra time goal from Jesus Navas in the 110th minute to win 1-0)

Gunners Paul Nash (England) and Mario Ballotelli (Italy) made the European Championship Dream Team First XI while Cesc Fabregas made it as a reserve

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In other news, the managerial position for the France national team just opened up as Domenech is dismissed after a disappointing showing at Euro 2016. The France job is one that I have coveted for a long time, and I doubt it will come around again anytime soon. And yet I had committed myself to at least one more year in London, and I really genuinely do want to take one last crack at it with this group of guys.

Ahhh what to do, what to do....
 
******* ****,. Best story of forum by an acutal mile.

Brilliant.
 
UPDATE:

I have decided to take the France national team managerial post alongside my Arsenal job.
Twice the workload, but I think I'm up for it!

The Arsenal board however seems to be tiring of my wandering eye... they have just withdrawn their 4 year contract extension offer "in light of recent events"
 
this is far one of my faviorate storys and a great choice of team!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Spotlight on youth


I decided there are smarter and more efficient ways of using my relative financial advantages rather than just buying up whichever player will best fill my needs at that particular time. Of course, there are times when a splash is needed and this straightforward approach is taken, but otherwise, here is my strategy.

Is it really good business to pay, for example, 16 million Euro for a 3 star player in his prime, or is it better to buy 4 young players for 4 million Euro each with 3 star potential? Or even still, perhaps buying two young players with 3.5 star potential for 8 million euro? Looking at it from a cost benefit standpoint, we could go the conventional route, buy the player we need, and improve our squad for the short term. But how many wins will that one player be worth, and will it add up to more than 16 million euro, and thus make it a profitable transaction for the club? Also, we must consider depreciation of value if we want to sell the player later on.
On the other hand, if we simply buy up the best young players available, regardless of price or position of need, what we are doing is piling up assets, and giving us flexibility. For example, if a young stud is valued at 4 million euro, I as a rich club can offer 6.5 million euro and a better salary, along with the prestige of being a top club. This is a more efficient use of resources than buying a veteran player with your transfer budget, as now you have multiple young players who you can develop, then loan out to gain experience. Loaning them out is important as it raises their profile in front of other teams’ scouts, and soon you will be flooded with offers for them.

Now you are in an advantageous spot of sitting on your youngster and seeing his value go up and up and up (generating more potential profit than buying a single veteran would have), or you can sell off your established players, plug in the young gun who may have a higher ceiling, and continue to generate revenue by selling 28-30 year old guys – admittedly more or less in their prime, but with only a few peak years left. This means we are selling them at maximum value, before they start to depreciate, and you have a young, hungry and able talent ready to step in and produce at least 80% of the departed player’s production at a cheaper salary which gives you more financial flexibility. This also means that you are constantly generating profit from transfers, while not having to spend for need as your needs will always be able to be filled by a young player. This also means you can sit on a growing transfer budget until you are ready to strike on a top player who may seem like a luxury (for me, Mario Ballotelli and Lionel Messi were bought this way).

In the end, the 8 million you spent on that 16 year old attacking midfielder and 17 year old centre back can turn into 50 million euro as they mature into blue chip players, or you can keep the two players, and sell maybe a 28 year old guy and get 28 million, basically for free (as you are losing nothing in terms of production or depth on the pitch)

Of course, this has a possibility of backfiring. As a young squad, you will find it difficult to be consistent away from home, and struggle to contend with the big guns on a consistent basis. But if you can hit a blue chipper in each area of the field (defense, midfield, forwards and GK) then you will have a chance.
Also, it is always a gamble as to when to sell a veteran, taking into consideration peak value, how many quality years they have left, and how much of their production will be able to be filled right away by the youngster.

This is how I personally implemented this strategy with Arsenal:
Here with just a combined 7.6 million Euro, I snagged 3 young players who would later go on to average 7+ ratings for the season.

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Chaves won the Player’s Young Player of the year award, and was a fixture on Spain and Arsenal’s best XI. He’s had 3 seasons of 7+ ratings, and one of 6.99, before suffering a serious injury and sadly falling off a cliff.

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Jonjo Shelvey was bought for 4.3 million, and after averaging 7+ ratings in every single season bar one (6.98), his value had increased to the point where I could cash in and sell him for 29 million Euro. I could do this as I had Marchisio, Fabregas and Ramsey as regulars, along with another 2 centre-mid prospects in Cengiz Karabacak and Julien Argobast ready to fill in afterwards. Basically, I ended up with a guy on my roster who was the odd man out, and yet worth 29 million Euro on the open market.

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I have already sung the praises of Goalkeeper Areola enough - he of Champions League Finals fame where he won Man of the Match as a 20 year old.



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Paul Nash was the biggest bargain of them all, coming over for 475k, and developing into a fine player and a fixture on the England squad. He has also averaged 7+ ratings when given regular playing time, and now has a world-class reputation and an estimated value of 21 million Euro. On my squad, he backs up Messi, which allows me to do what I had theorised earlier – I could cash in on Nash, or I could sell Messi for 100+ million Euro, plug Nash in and be better off financially (I will not actually sell Messi though).


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Here are the next three prospects who are in line to step in and make themselves known: the aforementioned Cengiz Karabacak, French striker Ourdy Mwanga and Italian winger Davide Capiello, who tore it up in Bundesliga on loan last year

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Finally, here is an overview of my youth prospects and their assistant reports:
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2016-2017 Season underway!

About to get things underway, with a Community Shield clash against Man City and our first premier division game at home vs. Sunderland.

We were quiet during the transfer window - bought experienced centre back Adil Rami for 5 million Euro, and two 15 year old French prospects Antonin Charbonnier (striker) and Alexandre Lerroux (winger) for 3.4 million each. Both are projected to be leading talents in the future according to my scouts, given 3 star grades.

In the backroom, we added two scouts in West Africa, and youth coaches Piero Bosaglia and Sean Parrish
 
Sorry for the lack of updates, but not much to report on so far this season.

After going down 1-0 to Sunderland at home in our Premier League opener, I facepalmed myself and cursed under my breath, bracing myself for another long season of frustrating underachievement. However, the squad rallied to win it 5-1, sparked by Captain Cesc's goal a minute into injury time before halftime, who is having a terrific season so far.

But then, we followed that up with a 3-3 draw with just recently promoted Crystal Palace, a 1-1 draw with West Ham, and a 3-3 draw with the also recently promoted Birmingham.

However, can't say that this season has been a complete repeat of last year. Despite those blemishes we recorded an impressive 3-2 victory over Chelsea which wasn't as close as the score may suggest, and remain in first place after 9 games - 3 points up from second, with a +14 goal difference and a premier league leading 26 goals scored - again showing an explosive offense that can cover up for the defense's off days.

As a result, I have gone to a much more conservative approach to games, especially away from home (regardless of the opponent - could be Chelsea or could be Notts County), hoping to keep our defensive form and hoping we have enough firepower to find enough goals to come away with the win.

Here's our season standings and game by game results. Big games in the next month and a half are premier league clashes against Man City and Liverpool, and two games vs. Monaco in the Champions League Group stages (for which by the way I am considered heavy favourites - how will the squad perform when they are now EXPECTED to win the European competition?)

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(OH and PS. Arsenal are again the youngest squad in the premier league, for what seems like every season that I have managed them. For some inexplicable reason I feel strangely proud of this fact haha)

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