Anyone tried out Arsenal?

(Cross-posting this from another forum, in case you've seen it already.)

Just finished the second season and retained the Premier League crown! I've finally taken the time to get some screenshots together and share some thoughts.

SEASON 2012-2013

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View attachment 280780


Transfers

In:
Marouane Fellaini (Everton): £23.5M
Wellington Nem (Fluminense): £3.5M
Zakaria Bakkali (PSV): £600K
Leighton Baines (Everton): £18.5M (January)

Out:
Andrey Arshavin (to Juventus): £1.8M
Sanchez Watt (to Crystal Palace): £150K
Conor Henderson (to Hibernian): £525K
Sebastian Squillaci (to Olympique de Marseille): £1.2M

Thoughts

I feel too many people are succumbing to the temptations of the transfer market. Big changes really aren't necessary; the squad starts in very good condition, needing only a couple areas addressed. Fellaini has been a vital purchase, and Baines has been crucial as well. Demba Ba is a good player but overrated and completely unnecessary; re-signing Walcott is a much higher priority. If anything, I somewhat regret signing Wellington Nem, who is good and promising but has played too little to warrant even his modest sum. (So little, in fact, that he's demanded a transfer in the second season. We'll see.) Winning the league over Sp*rs on goal difference was deeply satisfying.

SEASON 2013-2014

View attachment 280781
View attachment 280782

Transfers

In:
Fernando Llorente (from Athletic): Free
Iñigo Martínez (from Real Sociedad): £18.5M
André Schürrle (from Leverkusen): £14.5M
Javi Varas (from Sevilla): £1.8M
Lisandro Ezequiel López (from Fiorentina): £6.25M (player originally from Arsenal de Sarandi)
Stevan Jovetic (from Fiorentina): £18.5M (January)
James Ward-Prowse (from Southampton): £375K (January)
plus regens

Out:
Johan Djourou (to AS Monaco): £15.5M (!)
Craig Eastmond (Charlton): £500K
Chuks Aneke (to Huddersfield): £350K
Nicklas Bendtner (to Juventus): £6.25M
Vito Mannone (to West Brom): £1M
Lukasz Fabianski (to West Ham): £1.5M
Park Chu-Young (to Fulham): £11M (!!)
Tomas Rosicky (to Sparta Prague): £1M
Denilson (to Wolves): £1.5M
Gervinho (to Fenerbahce): £10.75M (January)

Thoughts

Much tougher season, owing to a vastly improved league all around. (Note the 20 points between 6th and 17th, compared to 36 in the first season.) Still, it was a success, thanks to Llorente finding his feet relatively quickly (at least, once I finally sorted out my tactics properly). Martinez was a luxury purchase for the future, Schurrle and Jovetic were finally too cheap to pass up after months of unsettling them, and Lisandro Lopez (the other one, not the Lyon player) was brought in hurriedly on deadline day after Koscielny went down for 4 months. Huge thanks to Monaco and Fulham for the insane amounts of money they offered for Djourou and Park respectively.

Highlighting the importance of keeping Walcott, he won English Footballer of the Year in 2013-2014 after a devastating season. For his part, Llorente won English Players' Player of the Year. Special mention to Olivier Giroud for his fantastic stats despite me benching him for nearly the entire second half of the campaign.

Going forward

My main transfer target this summer is a successor to Sagna. Assuming I don't chicken out over his steep wage demands, I'll probably get Danilo from FC Porto. Martin Kelly is cheap, home-grown, and tempting, but his injury history is worrying. After RB is sorted, I'll probably focus on a LB to take over after Baines; I may well raid Porto a second time for Alex Sandro.

Two full seasons finished, 120 hours played, and the game isn't even properly out yet. Absolutely loving this year's edition.
 
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What formation/role did you use to get the best out of Llorente?

Getting him on a free for Chelsea. Maybe didn't really need him as Neymar has been amazing for me, but couldn't pass up on a free transfer.
 
Formation: Primarily a 4-2-3-1 with CMs and wingers, sometimes a 4-5-1 (or 4-1-2-2-1) with a DM, two CMs, and wingers. Very rarely a flat 4-3-3 with a couple poachers beside him.

Role: Primarily Target Man - Attack, with his Creative Freedom turned down to about five clicks from the left. (Haven't experimented enough with exactly where to place that to say for sure, though.) Often, though, I like having him set to Advanced Forward in the 4-2-3-1 if I want to keep the ball on the ground.

We did struggle for a little while at the beginning of the season, and I thought my usual struggles of playing with a Target Man would make him a bad signing, but he became class after a short time.
 
Did you set him as a target man in team settings?

I've been playing a 4-2-3-1 with CMs and inside forwards cutting in from the wing, with Neymar as advanced forward and team set to drill crosses.

Have been wondering how I might need to tweak things for Llorente and whether he had the pace to operate in the same way, or whether to try and adapt to take advantage of his height and aerial ability.
 
Yes, set him to Target Man in settings, and you absolutely have to Float Crosses to him as his pace is an issue otherwise. In fact, his speed is worrying enough that I've taken to increasing his mentality nearly all the way to attacking, and generally tweaking him so he doesn't try to roam everywhere.

He wins every header, though, so he's fantastic at knocking it down to Inside Forwards, whether they're coming in from the flanks or through the center. In fact, I'm dropping my flat 4-3-3 this year in favor of a narrow 4-2-3-1 with 3 AMCs, which will give Llorente more targets to choose.

I have to say, I've played speedy tactics for years so using Float Crosses with a slower TM feels awkward to me, but he's so good that I can't complain. If you have Neymar, I'd recommend having separate tactics (one quick for Neymar, and one slower for Llorente) to choose between based on opposition. That said, Neymar cutting in from the left wing with an imposing TM up front would be superb, I'm sure. (A similar tactic worked brilliantly for me in the second half of the second season, with Jovetic instead of Neymar.)
 
really good read mate, but im having a stinker in my first season, cant beat the likes of stoke away, reading and norwich at home!!

what tactics and formation did your use, do you have screen shots? many thanks
 
I take it those of you are selling Gervinho, Chamakh, Arshavin and so on are just telling them to shut up when they say they don't want to leave.
 
I've fallen victim to the age-old issue of signing too many strikers in your first main attempt at any new FM game...

I play a 4-2-3-1 and Giroud tends to lead the line and he's been doing alright in his debut season.

But I splurged on signing Jovetic for £18m (spread over 48 months)
I've just confirmed the free transfer for Llorente (joins in the summer but kind of planned on selling him ASAP for profit anyway)
And I've had a £28.5m bid for Falcao accepted too... delayed for a week as I juggle what to do with so many strikers and only 1 place. I'll probably confirm just because I can really...
Then theres Cavani who is transfer listed for £20m... bought him in previous FM so I've witnessed first hand how incredible he is.
I've also got Podolski, Walcott and Insigne who are all rotating either upfront or on the wings. Ademilson has been shipped out on loan to Udinese but he seems to be struggling there.
 
dlau88 said:
I've fallen victim to the age-old issue of signing too many strikers in your first main attempt at any new FM game...

I play a 4-2-3-1 and Giroud tends to lead the line and he's been doing alright in his debut season.

But I splurged on signing Jovetic for £18m (spread over 48 months)
I've just confirmed the free transfer for Llorente (joins in the summer but kind of planned on selling him ASAP for profit anyway)
And I've had a £28.5m bid for Falcao accepted too... delayed for a week as I juggle what to do with so many strikers and only 1 place. I'll probably confirm just because I can really...
Then theres Cavani who is transfer listed for £20m... bought him in previous FM so I've witnessed first hand how incredible he is.
I've also got Podolski, Walcott and Insigne who are all rotating either upfront or on the wings. Ademilson has been shipped out on loan to Udinese but he seems to be struggling there.
Click to expand...

How did you manage to get Atlético to accept such a low bid for Falcao?
 
Initially transfer listed at £42.5m... no club stumped up the cash so the price got lowered to £33.5 and I bid £28m non-negotiable. They rejected. 2 weeks later I bid £28.5m negotiable and they accepted... not quite sure how that happened, but it did!

He wants insane money mind.... requested £165pw, £6.5m signing on fee, agent wanted £5m but I haggled and got him to accept £130pw, £5m signing on fee and agent £4.5m. I am however, absolutely skint if I confirm the transfer.

EDIT: Giroud got injured for 4 months so I took that as fate to confirm the signing of Falcao
 
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that is a ridiculous set of strikers.

David Alaba is a fantastic buy for roughly $28m (US).

First season, top by 7 points at new years.

In:
Alaba 27US
Fellaini 34US
Ricardo Rodgriguez 17.5US

Out:
Squillaci 1
Djourou 9
Chamakh 9
Denilson 9
Santos 7
Mannone 2

I loaned Rodriguez out to Southampton and he's been playing above 7.0 in the PL. Alaba and Fellaini start most games and have been consistently fantastic.
 
in absolute dreamland.... 2nd season pre-season and because Park Chu-Young was on fire during his loan spell, I've managed to flog him for £20m upfront to Porto.

Bendtner rejected Juventus initial bid-invoking £4.3m offer... but when I offered him round afterwards, he agrees to join them for £11.25m.

Transfer targets for this season are all aslo transfer listed, although the prices are a bit extreme...

- £21m for Corchia
- £37m for Neymar
- £21m for a relegated Yann M'Vila
 
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