SatournFan
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2019 - Pre-season and August
2019 - Pre-season and August
We are finally back from our Summer break! And we are ready to take on the next season, with the board giving us two obvious objectives - finish Top-4 in the league and get out of the Champions League group. With the squad at hand and my transfers made, I feel that we should easily achieve these goals, but I intend to go at least a bit further in the Champions League and get to Quarter-Finals to really make a decent claim for seasons to come.
Transfers
But first of all, of course, let's deal with the transfers. Quite a lot has occurred so let me take you through them.
OUT
As you can see, many players have been sold during the Summer, most notably, of course, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang went to our league rival Manchester City for 80 million pounds, rising up to 95 mil. I had an internal debate with myself on whether I should sell him or not, considering his shaky form especially towards the end of the season, but in the end decided to sell him as he's getting old, although strenghening my direct rival may be a mistake later down the line. We'll see.
Besides him we managed to get money for quite a lot of deadwood and backups. Kolasinac, who spent most of the last season in the hospital, went to Celtic for 20 mil, which is a good profit since he was signed on a free. Granit Xhaka, who was unhappy by the end of the last season, went to newly-promoted Swansea for 19.25 mil. Two backup defenders, Koscielny and Mavropanos, were also let go for some cash, with Koscielny growing homesick and Mavropanos not developing well in his first season. We did make a slight loss on both, but it happens. Mohamed Elneny's deal happened some time during the last season after he played the needed amount of games for Roma. Ospina also remains in Italy after Napoli triggered his optional fee of 3.6 mil. Finally, we also managed to sell players like Asano, Nwakali, Macey and Gilmour for about 9.5 mil collectively, which is pretty good I say. Getting 8 million for Asano was actually the highlight of the transfer window. We've also let go of Tormey and Bramall on a free, and of course lost Ramsey because his deal with Juventus was pre-arranged.
IN
Disregarding the players highlighted in red, who were all bought to fill out my youth teams, 5 signings have been made.
Krzysztof Piatek - 24, POL, ST
One of the two new strikers for our side, the young Polish sensation Piatek was brought in as cover for Aubameyang while he was still at the club. Now that the Gabonese has left us, Piatek will still only be a rotation pick, but under a different player.
Andrea Belotti - 25, ITA, ST
Yup, another acquisition from Serie A, it's Andrea Belotti who will replace Aubameyang full-time as the more advanced striker. He played very well for Torino last season, so hopefully he can retain his form in the English Prem.
Adrien Rabiot - 24, FRA, CM
Rabiot, who is the go-to free signing for big teams this year, has indeed been brought in on a free from PSG to replace Aaron Ramsey (and, to an extent, Xhaka as well). Very good all around, it's his passing which will play a key role in our season.
Kostas Manolas - 28, GRE, CB
We've got another big Greek in our team now, with Manolas joining from Roma for a hefty amount to improve our defense. Impressive physical and mental stats should help him thrive in a partnership with either Mustafi or his Greek compatriot Sokratis.
Darren MacDonald - 16, SCO, CB
This young Scottish lad was shamelessly stolen by me from our new affiliate Hearts. Being only 16, he already looks quite good all around, save for a couple of mentals. Still, I feel that MacDonald has a bright future ahead of him.
Pre-season
6 games were played during the pre-season, most of them easy wins, although the games against Zenit and especially Norwich concerned me a tad bit.
Tactic
A tactical change has been made. Instead of a more attacking 4-2-4 I've gone with a fairly simple 4-4-2 for the upcoming season which will hopefully show its worth as soon as the season starts.
August 2019
So, we've played the first 4 games of my second season at Arsenal, and as you can see, results were mixed.
First off, we easily dispatched newly-promoted Leeds 4-0 at home, with 4 different goalscorers being Lacazette, Chiesa, Torreira and debutant Belotti. Next up we yet again unnecessarily drew with Leicester in an away game where their only chance came from a corner. Guess I need to adjust those set piece instructions huh. We went back to Emirates to host Southampton, and despite our total domination only managed to score one past Alex McCarthy. The month of August ended with a bitter result against Manchester United at Old Trafford, in a game where we didn't play particularly well, but I still feel we could've gotten a point from it.
League Table
Well, a shaky start led to 6th place after 4 games, although we could've easily been up there with Liverpool and Man City. But alas, our clinicality, or the lack of it rather, cost us yet again this season. Hopefully, it's not the sign of things to come. Chelsea and Man United complete the Top-4 for now, while Brighton are surprisingly sitting in 5th with 3 wins and a game in hand. Bournemouth had a very poor start after their last impressive campaign, and with the European games coming up they might be in a season of struggle this year.
Other news
We had our Champions League group stage draw, and I feel like we have a good chance of going through, with our opponents being Inter Milan, CSKA Moscow and Ajax.
I might as well include the segment about Russian national team here. We played two games in June, winning one against Sweden and losing to France yet again, although to be fair, I don't feel that France deserved this win.
This left us sitting quite comfortably in 2nd, still with a much more superior goal difference than anyone in the group besides France and 3 points ahead of our closest competitors Sweden and, surprisingly, Moldova who aren't going to let go this easy.
September
On the club level we'll have to play 3 league games, at home against Chelsea and away against Norwich and Everton. A trip to Amsterdam awaits us, as well as the home game against Liverpool in the 3rd Round of the Carabao Cup.
For Russia, it's two more games in the EURO Qualifiers against Moldova and Estonia. Both are winnable so I'm hoping to get 6 more points.
We are finally back from our Summer break! And we are ready to take on the next season, with the board giving us two obvious objectives - finish Top-4 in the league and get out of the Champions League group. With the squad at hand and my transfers made, I feel that we should easily achieve these goals, but I intend to go at least a bit further in the Champions League and get to Quarter-Finals to really make a decent claim for seasons to come.
Transfers
But first of all, of course, let's deal with the transfers. Quite a lot has occurred so let me take you through them.
OUT
As you can see, many players have been sold during the Summer, most notably, of course, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang went to our league rival Manchester City for 80 million pounds, rising up to 95 mil. I had an internal debate with myself on whether I should sell him or not, considering his shaky form especially towards the end of the season, but in the end decided to sell him as he's getting old, although strenghening my direct rival may be a mistake later down the line. We'll see.
Besides him we managed to get money for quite a lot of deadwood and backups. Kolasinac, who spent most of the last season in the hospital, went to Celtic for 20 mil, which is a good profit since he was signed on a free. Granit Xhaka, who was unhappy by the end of the last season, went to newly-promoted Swansea for 19.25 mil. Two backup defenders, Koscielny and Mavropanos, were also let go for some cash, with Koscielny growing homesick and Mavropanos not developing well in his first season. We did make a slight loss on both, but it happens. Mohamed Elneny's deal happened some time during the last season after he played the needed amount of games for Roma. Ospina also remains in Italy after Napoli triggered his optional fee of 3.6 mil. Finally, we also managed to sell players like Asano, Nwakali, Macey and Gilmour for about 9.5 mil collectively, which is pretty good I say. Getting 8 million for Asano was actually the highlight of the transfer window. We've also let go of Tormey and Bramall on a free, and of course lost Ramsey because his deal with Juventus was pre-arranged.
IN
Disregarding the players highlighted in red, who were all bought to fill out my youth teams, 5 signings have been made.
Krzysztof Piatek - 24, POL, ST
One of the two new strikers for our side, the young Polish sensation Piatek was brought in as cover for Aubameyang while he was still at the club. Now that the Gabonese has left us, Piatek will still only be a rotation pick, but under a different player.
Andrea Belotti - 25, ITA, ST
Yup, another acquisition from Serie A, it's Andrea Belotti who will replace Aubameyang full-time as the more advanced striker. He played very well for Torino last season, so hopefully he can retain his form in the English Prem.
Adrien Rabiot - 24, FRA, CM
Rabiot, who is the go-to free signing for big teams this year, has indeed been brought in on a free from PSG to replace Aaron Ramsey (and, to an extent, Xhaka as well). Very good all around, it's his passing which will play a key role in our season.
Kostas Manolas - 28, GRE, CB
We've got another big Greek in our team now, with Manolas joining from Roma for a hefty amount to improve our defense. Impressive physical and mental stats should help him thrive in a partnership with either Mustafi or his Greek compatriot Sokratis.
Darren MacDonald - 16, SCO, CB
This young Scottish lad was shamelessly stolen by me from our new affiliate Hearts. Being only 16, he already looks quite good all around, save for a couple of mentals. Still, I feel that MacDonald has a bright future ahead of him.
Pre-season
6 games were played during the pre-season, most of them easy wins, although the games against Zenit and especially Norwich concerned me a tad bit.
Tactic
A tactical change has been made. Instead of a more attacking 4-2-4 I've gone with a fairly simple 4-4-2 for the upcoming season which will hopefully show its worth as soon as the season starts.
August 2019
So, we've played the first 4 games of my second season at Arsenal, and as you can see, results were mixed.
First off, we easily dispatched newly-promoted Leeds 4-0 at home, with 4 different goalscorers being Lacazette, Chiesa, Torreira and debutant Belotti. Next up we yet again unnecessarily drew with Leicester in an away game where their only chance came from a corner. Guess I need to adjust those set piece instructions huh. We went back to Emirates to host Southampton, and despite our total domination only managed to score one past Alex McCarthy. The month of August ended with a bitter result against Manchester United at Old Trafford, in a game where we didn't play particularly well, but I still feel we could've gotten a point from it.
League Table
Well, a shaky start led to 6th place after 4 games, although we could've easily been up there with Liverpool and Man City. But alas, our clinicality, or the lack of it rather, cost us yet again this season. Hopefully, it's not the sign of things to come. Chelsea and Man United complete the Top-4 for now, while Brighton are surprisingly sitting in 5th with 3 wins and a game in hand. Bournemouth had a very poor start after their last impressive campaign, and with the European games coming up they might be in a season of struggle this year.
Other news
We had our Champions League group stage draw, and I feel like we have a good chance of going through, with our opponents being Inter Milan, CSKA Moscow and Ajax.
I might as well include the segment about Russian national team here. We played two games in June, winning one against Sweden and losing to France yet again, although to be fair, I don't feel that France deserved this win.
This left us sitting quite comfortably in 2nd, still with a much more superior goal difference than anyone in the group besides France and 3 points ahead of our closest competitors Sweden and, surprisingly, Moldova who aren't going to let go this easy.
September
On the club level we'll have to play 3 league games, at home against Chelsea and away against Norwich and Everton. A trip to Amsterdam awaits us, as well as the home game against Liverpool in the 3rd Round of the Carabao Cup.
For Russia, it's two more games in the EURO Qualifiers against Moldova and Estonia. Both are winnable so I'm hoping to get 6 more points.