A career revisited (showing Wenger how to do it)

[waynethickett]

Hello all, I had an Arsenal story going titled 'third time lucky' but unfortunately I got carried away playing and got behind on the story. The summer holidays haven't helped either but the kids return to school this week and I should have a little more time for regular updates so instead of starting a completely new story I am going to continue my last one.

I will start with a recap of the four seasons prior to this start (feel free to read third time lucky for a more in depth look at the first two or three seasons), I will also give an in depth look at my large first team squad. If anyone has any suggestions for what they would, in an ideal world, like from this save it would be considered and greatly appreciated.

I hope I can keep you all suitably entertained. Posts to come in the coming week.

 

[waynethickett]

So here is how it has gone so far in my first four seasons:

13/14 season

Premiership 1st won 25 drew 8 lost 5 scored 86 conceded 45 points 83

FA Cup lost in the fourth round 3-0 to Manchester City

Capital One Cup lost in the Quarter Final to Manchester United on penalties

Champions League lost in the first knockout round 4-1 on aggregate to Real Madrid.

14/15

Premiership 1st won 24 drew 9 lost 5 scored 78 conceded 41 points 81

FA Cup lost in the semi final to Chelsea 1-0

Capital One Cup lost in the fourth round to Tottenham 5-2 after extra time

Champions League lost in the quarter final to Barcelona 6-3

15/16

Premiership 1st won 28 drew 7 lost 3 scored 83 conceded 28 points 91

FA Cup lost in the semi final to Manchester City 2-0

Capital One Cup lost in the quarter final to Chelsea 3-1

Champions League lost in the quarter finals to Real Madrid 5-2

16/17

Premiership 3rd won 22 drew 9 lost 7 scored 73 conceded 41

FA Cup lost in the semi final to Chelsea 1-0

Capital One Cup winners beating Everton 2-0

Champions League winners beating Chelsea 1-0

So that brings us up to date for the beginning of the 17/18 season. Squad list up next.

 

[waynethickett]

Goalkeeper:

Maxym Koval: Apps 46 Conceded 44 Clean Sheets 19 Avg. 6.93

Jack Butland: Signed on a free transfer from Stoke

Defenders:

Nathaniel Clyne: Apps 38 (3) Goals 2 Asst 2 MOM 2 Avg. 7.11

Luke Shaw: Apps 118 (12) Goals 2 Asst 10 MOM 4 Avg. 7.00

Thomas Vermaelen: Apps 135 (6) Goals 12 Asst 4 MOM 9 Avg. 7.05

Laurent Koscielny: Apps 172 (5) Goals 10 Asst 5 MOM 9 Avg. 7.09

Eder Alvarez Balanta: Apps 15 (8) Goals 1 Asst 1 MOM 0 Avg. 6.90

Matija Nastasic: Apps 73 (8) Goals 9 Asst 3 MOM 6 Avg. 7.14

Raphael Varane: Apps 81 (20) Goals 2 Asst 4 MOM 3 Avg. 6.92

Emre Can: Apps 57 (21) Goals 2 Asst 2 MOM 0 Avg. 6.93

Midfielders

Aaron Ramsey: Apps 121 (61) Goals 9 Asst 12 MOM 0 Avg. 6.86

Jack Wilshere: Apps 152 (24) Goals 29 Asst 26 MOM 6 Avg. 7.00

Nick Powell: Signed for £23M from Manchester United

Rodrigo Gomez: Apps 36 (6) Goals 16 Asst 13 MOM 4 Avg. 7.20

Lorenzon Insigne: Apps 40 (26) Goals 16 Asst 14 MOM 5 Avg. 7.00

Santi Cazorla: Apps 139 (38) Goals 45 Asst 53 MOM 16 Avg. 7.12

Adnan Januzaj: Apps 29 (12) Goals 10 Asst 11 MOM 2 Avg. 6.97

Otavio: Apps 11 (14) Goals 5 Asst 4 MOM 1 Avg. 6.80

Ravel Morrison: Signed for £8.25M from Norwich

Serge Gnabry: Apps 34 (25) Goals 9 Asst 10 MOM 3 Avg. 6.84

Lucas Evangelista: Signed for £6.75M from America (MEX)

Mesut Ozil: Apps 84 (60) Goals 21 Asst 50 MOM 7 Avg. 7.00

Attackers

Jese: Apps 88 (5) Goals 36 Asst 22 MOM 14 Avg. 7.22

Angelo Henriquez: Apps 20 (5) Goals 11 Asst 7 MOM 3 Avg. 7.09

These are my players from my senior squad, all that are missing are the regens who I have signed and promoted from my youth academy, I will show them in a little more detail next.

 

[waynethickett]

Andreas Holzinger

View attachment 337751Signed from AKA Austria Wien for £6.25K. With four and a half star potential and the ability to play on both flanks he could prove to be a useful squad member. He has made 12 appearances so far scoring once in his first season with an average of 7.33.

Baptiste Bianchi
View attachment 337750Came through the youth setup, his stats are starting to look good but has so far made one appearance prior to this season for us, having spent last season on loan at Lorient.

Jorge Vivas
View attachment 337749Another player with 4 and a half star potential, I have a few of those at the moment. Signed for £3.75M from Boca yet made only 5 appearances in two years. This will be his make or break season.

Liam McNeil
View attachment 337748Signed in my second season in charge from Middlesbrough for £1.3M he made ten appearances for us over two seasons before spending seasons at Tranmere and Birmingham in their first teams. Another make or break season in my opinion despite his four and half star potential.

Lino Romero
View attachment 337747Signed for £4.3M from River, Lino is the third strongest defensive midfielder in the squad but only time will tell as to whether there is a place in the team for him.

Tibe Decock


View attachment 337746Signed on a free from Club Brugge, Decock has lost some potential recently, may not be an Arsenal player much longer.

Tom Kironde


View attachment 337745He plays in a position which we have a lot of options at our disposal, he has been on loan for the past two seasons at Forest and Blackburn but as a product of our youth system it would be nice if he could become a squad player as pickings have been a little thin recently.

 

[waynethickett]

17/18 season:

Friendlies:

Bragantino 0 Arsenal 3
McNeil (2), Morrison

Cruzeiro 0 Arsenal 3
Balanta, Cazorla, Own Goal

Grecal 0 Arsenal 3
Jese, Henriquez, Ozil

Arsenal 6 Arsenal Under 18s 0
Jese (2), Wilshere (2), Kironde, Gomez

Bournemouth 1 Arsenal 6
Balanta, McNeil (3), Jese, Cazorla

ASA Tirgu Mures 0 Arsenal 3
Wilshere, McNeil (2)

Whilst the opposition was somewhat of an inferior quality (although Bournemouth are in the Premiership) we can be happy with our pre season, conceding only 1 and scoring 24 goals. Confidence is at a high.

 

[waynethickett]

Premiership

West Ham 0 Arsenal 4
Nastasic, Vivas (3)
Varane Injured

Wigan 2 Arsenal 4
Balanta, Evangelista, Henriquez (2)

Arsenal 1 Man City 1
Jese
Clyne Injured

View attachment 337744
European Super Cup

Tottenham 1 Arsenal 2
McNeil, Januzaj
Balanta Injured

View attachment 337743I dislike it when these cups are competed between teams of the same nation, it even more annoying when it is your local rivals but we see another trophy heading home after a win against the run of play. Januzaj sealing the victory in injury time.

Fulham 1 Arsenal 1
McNeil

Champions League

Arsenal 3 Zenit 1
Nastasic (3)
A hat trick for my centre back a rare occurence but a good start to the campaign as defending champions.

 

[waynethickett]

Arsenal 2 Liverpool 1
Gomez, Jese
View attachment 337659The unbeaten start to the season continues, it is looking promising.

Capital One Cup

Norwich 1 Arsenal 1 Win 5-4 on penalties
Balanta

QPR 3 Arsenal 0
Januzaj Injured

View attachment 337658An awful first defeat of the season, the least said about this the better.

Champions League

Dortmund 2 Arsenal 0
Jese Injured


Arsenal 1 Southampton 0
Insigne

Bournemouth 1 Arsenal 2
McNeil (2)

A blip in the middle of this selection of matches, scoring 0 goals and conceding 5 in two matches. Dortmund away is maybe understandable, but results like that against QPR are what will likely cost me the league.

 

[waynethickett]

Champions League

Arsenal 3 Club Brugge 0
Powell, Gomez, McNeil
Wilshere Injured


Arsenal 2 Stoke City 0
Nastasic, Jese

Capital One Cup Fourth Round

Manchester City 4 Arsenal 2
Powell, McNeil
View attachment 337629This was a devastating result after being 2-0 up, although only the capital one cup it is never good to lose in such a manner.

Newcastle 5 Arsenal 1
Own Goal,
Powell Injured
View attachment 337628
This was another inexplicable result, we were well and truly humiliated by the toon army.

Champions League

Club Brugge 2 Arsenal 4
Ramsey, Ozil, Insigne, Jese

 

[waynethickett]

View attachment 337624A couple of good results against United and Tottenham, two draws in the Champions League and we won the Club World Championship easily, however we finished the year with a 3-1 home defeat to Cardiff. We aren't looking like having an overly successful campaign despite the two cup wins already this season. One thing that has been noticed is the fact that our goals have come from various sources and we don't have an emphatic out and out goalscorer. So the next post will show who we decided to bring in to try and remedy that.

 

[waynethickett]

View attachment 337621We signed Correa from Real Sociedad for £4.7M. Hopefully he can do a job now but he also has outstanding potential.

I also signed M'Baye Niang from Liverpool for £14M, but for some reason I can't get a screenshot of him, hopefully both can contribute.

 

[waynethickett]

View attachment 3376158 matches in January and I only conceded 5 goals, however that still meant a 3-0 defeat to Liverpool in and a 1-0 home defeat to Chelsea. Not looking likely that we are going to win the league. However a 9-0 home victory against Championship side Plymouth was an outstanding start to the month. A 3-0 away win to Manchester City was also a happy moment.
View attachment 337614A truly awful month with a few excellent results. A 7-0 victory against the usually tricky QPR in the league, followed by a 1-0 defeat to Wigan, draws with Bournemouth and Stoke in the League and losing in the FA Cup to Cardiff in a replay after failing to beat them in the first match. A glimmer of hope in the Champions League however as we beat Real Madrid 1-0 at home.

 

[waynethickett]

View attachment 337613A cracking month in the Premier League, 3 games, 10 goals scored and 0 conceded which when you look at the calibre of the opposition it was highly impressive. Unfortunately a big defeat to Real Madrid (again!) sees us knocked out in the first knockout round.

View attachment 337612Another four good wins in the Premier League sees us pick up 21 points from the last 21 possible points. Unfortunately Chelsea have won the league by a long margin and it is a battle for second between us and Manchester United with three games to go, including matches away to Manchester United and at home to our bogey team Cardiff who we haven't beaten in three matches this season.

 

[waynethickett]

View attachment 337354The wins against Huddersfield and Manchester United saw us seal second place with Chelsea winning the league with a record points total and United taking the third place slot.

View attachment 337353Not an awful season from us but 8 defeats is not good enough. I have however, in this save, won the league with fewer points than I got this season, Chelsea were simply too good. !7 goals conceded in 38 league matches is rather unbeatable.

Cardiff were the team I feared the most played 4, won 0, drew 1 and lost 3.

Nick Powell made his signing a good call by winning the young player of the year award. The fans and board were unhappy with his signing but he proved me right which is always nice. He also came second in the goal of the season.

Our first choice goalkeeper Maxym Koval came third in the golden glove competition, behind Courtois of Chelsea and Hugo Lloris.

I finished third in manager of the season behind Mourinho and Cardiff's Michael Appleton.

 

[waynethickett]

Top Goalscorers
View attachment 337352
Top Assists
View attachment 337351
Top Player of the Match Awards
View attachment 337350
Highest Average Ratings
View attachment 337349

The goals and assists were certainly spread amongst several players in the team, Januzaj was probably the standout player especially considering the lower number of appearances he had made. Nastasic was the surprise package on the goalscoring front finishing second in the scoring tables. We do need a clinical striker.

 

[waynethickett]

Manchester United beat Chelsea in the Champions League Final

 

[waynethickett]

Players Out:

Theo Walcott: After loaning Theo out last season to Everton he ends up signing for them on a free transfer. A lot of injuries meant he never really hit his peak for me.

Ravel Morrison: Signed him at the start of last season for £8.25M, he featured only 4 times and became understandably unhappy, he was never going to force the likes of Jese, Gomez and Januzaj out of the team so ended up selling him to Chelsea (risky) for £9.5M.

Thomas Vermaelen: The former skipper left on a free transfer after spending the last season unregistered when nobody would sign him last summer.A quality player who became too long in the tooth to stake a claim for the first team.

Serge Gnabry: Left on a free transfer, he got some first team football but he had the second lowest potential in my squad, refused my contract offer which was a little way below what he wanted, left for HSV.

Otavio: One of my first four and a half star potential signings, just could not find his way into the first team and when he did he was poor, sold him to Bari for the exact figure I bought him four years ago £13.5M.

Lorenzo Insigne: Played on occasion and had his moments for me, I would have liked to keep him but he was dropped from Italy which made his mind up, sold him for a healthy £6M profit as he left for Udinese for £23M.

 

[waynethickett]

Signings IN:

Florian Thauvin: Signed from Real Madrid for the bargain price of £4.9M. Has the ability to play almost any midfield position, pretty much reached his potential already at the age of 25 but could be a good squad player.
View attachment 337155
Alberto Cerri: The striker from Parma seemed like a good option to fill the hole which hasn't been filled since Giroud left. For only £15M he was considerably cheaper than Fierro who was my first choice but shh don't tell Alberto that.
View attachment 337154
Tin Jedvaj: Signed on a free after his contract expired, he isn't going to be a regular starter but as a replacement for Vermaelen he ticks the boxes for a free signing.
View attachment 337153
Marko Pavlovski: The marquee signing of the summer, bought for the princely sum of £26M from Hoffenheim. His purchase is a little risky to the harmony of the squad as he plays in the same positions as some of my strongest players, but when United, Chelsea, City, Real and Barca all go for a player you really should consider a purchase.

View attachment 337152

 

[waynethickett]

Pre season friendlies:
View attachment 337151
Nothing amazing to write home about but a good pre-season nevertheless.

I received three job offers prior to the beginning of the season proper, Spain, Italy and England all offered me the national positions. I accepted the England post as I believe I need an additional challenge to the Arsenal job which I am sticking with.

 

[waynethickett]

I thought it may be an idea to hold a press conference so I you have any questions please feel free to ask them, I will aim to respond to all questions asked.