Hello everyone, I am really excited to be starting my first-ever story on FM Base! I've played Football Manager for a long time now and I've been reading manager stories for years at this point. I have a lot of free time from now and over the summer, I figured I'd dip my toes in the water and try writing something out for you guys!
I decided to go with Arsenal for a couple of reasons. I like that they're not in continental competition in the first season and I believe their squad is really young! It's going to be interesting to see if I can develop a really good team at Arsenal as there's so many talented young players from one end of the field to the other. As the title says, I'm going to take them to Infinity and Beyond and I hope that we'll eventually win the title that has eluded Arsenal for so long. The Champions League!
Arsenal are blessed with a perfect goalkeeper combination. Ramsdale has room to grow and will start in the Premier League, while Leno is established and has International experience an will play in the cups. Leno isn't too old either and I think both could fill in for the other in case of injuries. The defence meanwhile isn't the best. I think not having a single player in the back-line other than Leno who doesn't have the experience and the mental stats to lead is really worrying. It's going to be a recipe for disaster if we pick up an injury or two, especially in the wide areas as Cedric and Nuno Tavares are not strong options whatsoever.
When it comes to the midfield, this is where Arsenal shine. They have four really incredible, young offensive midfielders who should turn into genuine world class talents. While their central midfielders aren't amazing, they bring something that we lack in most other areas on the pitch, experience! Xhaka and Partey are top-half level in my opinion. But it's really what'll happen in front of them where Arsenal will do well. Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli and Smith-Rowe are so exciting and they will all need to develop nicely should we want to be competing on the front foot this season. I think Arsenal are lacking a really amazing striker, someone who can be the person Odegaard, Saka and co. play through. Lacazette is good, but not great and while Nketiah could be great some day, he's far from his peak. We can't buy anybody in the transfer window but in the second season this is an area we will target.
Taking all of this into consideration, we will play something like this. The plan really is to operate in two-halves of the field, being conservative until the ball is within Odegaard, Saka and Smith-Rowe's possession and going wild with it. 4-2-3-1 is super offensive, and I think it plays to our strengths. I'm not expecting clean sheets, but I am expecting to score a lot of goals and hopefully out score our opposition! If anything it will be entertaining, and I'm hopeful that our offensive quartet I marked out earlier will get some good ratings, good offensive contributions and improve!
Pre-season went very well! I wanted to make friendlies that would be competitive but comfortable. Conceding three goals against Guangzhou isn't ideal. But, some of our players were still on their holidays for this game, including the trio of Ramsdale, White and Saka. I'm happy with the goal scoring, Nketiah and Charlie Patino especially had good pre-seasons which is nice to see. In our first month of matches we have all games that should be winnable, so the hope is we'll get off to an exciting start.
Our campaign begins with a visit to Leeds. We had a good pre-season and morale was high, so it was important to keep the good times going with a win against lesser opposition. This could have been a draw, we were good on the attack but looked inadequate on the defense. Kieran Tierney and Gabriel Martinelli, playing as a striker due to Nketiah picking up a small knock the day before, were the goal scorers. Our attacking fluidity was promising and this was a good start to our season.
Such an emphatic win against historic rivals is the kind of thing written on Christmas wish lists. Manchester United had a strong first-half to the match but collapsed following the interval. Eddie Nketiah poked home an equalizer after Bruno Fernandes had given the away side an early lead. Gabriel Martinelli and apparent goal-scorer Kieran Tierney then grabbed us a comfortable advantage. Martinelli would then add two more, taking him to a hat-trick of goals and his team to a dominant and pleasant win. I don't know what happened to United's width during the second half, but Martinelli and Saka ran riot. This was rather unexpected but it shows how dangerous our attacking can be when we turn up.
I won't spend too much time speaking on a domestic cup game against Cheltenham. We fielded a somewhat rotated side for this match but still remained dominant for large spells. Martinelli scored in the first-half to send us into the break with a lead. But it wasn't until the final minutes of the game, with two Cheltenham dismissals helping our cause, that a second Martinelli goal and one from Alexandre Lacazette would turn a close scoreline into one that was comfortable.
Arsenal then secured a tense win against Norwich, to end the month of August. This is a game where the stats reflected how things went. Norwich were perhaps the better team but weren't able to finish the chances they created, a difference in skill ensuring we would walk from this match as the winners. Smith-Rowe gave us the lead with a curling shot, with a Gabriel header from a free-kick doubling the scoreline. It's nice to come from an affair like this with a clean sheet.
Gabriel Martinelli would be at the brace at home against Burnley. This was a match where we didn't look good but won through individual class. Both of Martinelli's goals came from outside of the box here. The match took place following the international break so there was some rotation and I think that showed in the lack of creativity. Still, Burnley were not good at all and this resulted in the second two-to-nil scoreline for us.
There must be something in the food when it comes to the Arsenal squad because we cannot stop winning by this score and Gabriel Martinelli cannot stop putting chances in the back of the net. Martin Odegaard shone in this match and most of our efforts came from him pinging balls forward for Martinelli, Bukayo Saka and Smith-Rowe to pounce on. I was really pleased with this result as we looked great and creative going forward and were poised at the back.
Manchester United would get their revenge on us following our earlier demolition job of them through beating us at home and knocking us out of the cup. This was a quiet affair following Lacazette's goal in single-digit minutes and wouldn't pick up again until the second-half of the match. It'd be our turn to have a collapse late on with Jesse Lingard and Cristiano Ronaldo scoring. I'm disappointed, given a lack of European competition. I wanted to win the cup this season while aspiring for the top-four places in the league. But we fell asleep towards the end and Manchester United capitalized on that. Our attacking wasn't so good against them and we perhaps could have conceded another against them in the second-half so it was a deserved win for them.
While we faltered against Manchester United, our league form was still incredible as we overcame Tottenham without difficulties. Spurs are a club that can either be incredible or atrocious in football manager, I believe we received the latter of those options in this match. Bukayo Saka was at the double in this game and we could have had even more, with Martinelli and even Charlie Patino going close. It's our fourth league clean sheet in a row and a notable win against our most fierce rivals!
Things were going so well, it was bound to end soon and a loss against Newcastle validated that. We were not bad in this game more-so Newcastle played out of their skin. Joelinton truthfully could have scored more than one time in this game, he was a huge threat throughout. Saint-Maximin scored an outrageous free-kick goal also to double Newcastle's lead. Gabriel secured a consolation goal for us but we were flat in this match and Newcastle had the lion's share of notable highlights.
Gabriel Martinelli scored his second hat-trick of the season as we swept aside Everton. This match saw some rotation from our end with a big game against Chelsea coming up. However we never looked uncomfortable with most of Everton's chances being scuffed wide from their strikers. Martinelli struck twice in the first-half and then scored a screamer to secure his hat-trick. We admittedly never really got out of first-gear following Martinelli's early double, but we didn't need to.
Chelsea were up next, this was one of those matches that was a wild ride. Both teams were horrid in defense and in spite of what the XG shows this game could have doubled its scoreline without issues. I'm never going to complain about a draw away from home against a team of Chelsea's caliber, so this was a stress-free viewing for me. Odegaard and Saka were electric for us, the Norwegian grabbing both of our goals whereas Mason Mount and Romelu Lukaku would score for the hosts. This was just a really fun match. Thomas Partey has unfortunately picked up a big injury, while Xhaka is picking up the occasional knocks so Albert Sambi Lokonga has been featuring fairly frequently for us. Considering that, this was a great draw.
The final game we'll cover is our home match against West Ham. From one whistle to the other we dominated, with Kieran Tierney and Martin Odegaard having amazing performances. Odegaard scored twice, Tierney assisting both from out wide while Tierney grabbed the other goal, and another clean sheet with the team on top of that. I can't tell if we were amazing or if West Ham were just really, really poor. But we never looked uneasy and had things controlled all throughout the game.
We sit second in the league beneath Manchester City following this set of matches; while we were knocked out of the cup in our close game against Manchester United. A six-point gap exists between us and fifth place, though it's worth noting we have not faced off against who I'd consider the two best teams in the league, Liverpool and Manchester City. There's nothing too extreme about this table, aside from Chelsea, who sit in the relegation zone without a single win following ten games. West Ham and Wolves are also having bad seasons, while Brentford and Leeds are arguably performing above expectations. So far so good and we're well on track of surpassing our expectations for this season.
Arsenal head to Villa Park looking to keep their pursuit of the Premier League intact. The match itself had a hot start with both teams scoring inside of the first ten minutes. Gabriel Martinelli would put the visiting side ahead once again, before Granit Xhaka scored from close range to seal things up. Both teams dropped off following that third goal, the latter half of the match itself not having a singular highlight. Bukayo Saka walked from the game as the Man of the Match having assisted Arsenal’s second-and-third goals. Overall this was a strong performance for “The Gunners” and kept the heat on at the top of the table.
Some light rotation was in order with a home game against Brentford on the cards. Arsenal were dubbed as favorites for this match and for good reason. Eddie Nketiah, who has found a vein of fitness for the first time this season, got things off to a good start before Emile Smith-Rowe doubled their lead heading into the break. Nicolas Pépé and Ivan Toney scored within sixty seconds of one-another following the break, with Gabriel Martinelli then striking to continue his red-hot form. Brentford scored late on, but the match was well-and-truly over from a competitive standpoint. Arsenal dominated from whistle-to-whistle and secured another three points in the bag.
You can perhaps gauge how this match went from the image above. Mistakes galore as Watford and Arsenal’s match ended as a draw. The reds were not at the races for this one whatsoever. Be it issues with little knocks here-and-there meaning further rotation, or mistakes from the likes of Bukayo Saka and Omar Rekik. Watford weren’t incredible either, mind. All the goals in this game were so preventable, but that’s football. Regardless of the on-pitch antics and who performed better than who, we drop points off of the pitch and lose ground in the race for the Premier League against Manchester City.
Liverpool would come to the Emirates Stadium hoping to keep their chances of chasing down the top spot in the Premier League alive. Unfortunately for Liverpool, they were outclassed for most of the game and left London with nothing to show for their efforts. Gabriel Martinelli, who seemingly doesn’t know what not scoring is, put Arsenal in front close to the end of the first-half before Mohamed Salah would equalize for the visiting side. Odegaard’s edge-of-the-box rocket would restore Arsenal’s lead before Gabriel scored with one of the final touches of the game. In spite of the tense scoreline prior to Gabriel’s finishing blow, Arsenal made Liverpool look like a Championship side and had all-but-one of the highlights in this game.
How do you follow up a statement-making, dominant win over one of the best teams on the planet? A lackluster loss at home to Brighton, of course. This was an atrocious game from us when it comes to offense. We didn’t create a single chance that was substantial or looked like it’d ever find the back of the net. Brighton’s chances weren’t even clear-cut, two goals from far out that truthfully should’ve been saved. It was just one of those boring, brittle games which was destined to end with no goals prior to Brighton’s individual flair finding them two fortunate goals. I believe this was the first game in a long time that we haven’t found the back of the net, which sucks. But this was an easily-winnable game, so for us to lose here is a big blow.
The game against Wolves was reminiscent of what occurred at Villa Park. We scored a trio of goals in the first-half and then things calmed down and time ticked on. Smith-Rowe and Saka grabbed one goal apiece while Martinelli slotted home from the spot. Wolves didn’t have chances that’d threaten us and we managed to walk from this game with a clean sheet. Bernd Leno actually started this match, in place of Aaron Ramsdale. Our defense is inexperienced with the likes of Tomiyasu, White and Tavares having frequent rotation. So having someone of Leno’s experience behind them was something I wanted to test given Ramsdale’s drop-off in form. On this occasion it worked, however Wolves aren’t noted for their threatening attacks. This was overall a nice, comfortable, stress-free win.
Arsenal had comfortable and clean-sheet including victories on the bounce for the first time in a while as Leicester came to London and left without leaving their mark. This was a game for our wide-players as Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka grabbed the headlines, it was like we didn’t have central players for most of the game. Things were going swimmingly, that was until Takehiro Tomiyasu got sent-off well into added time for literally no reason whatsoever. It’s one of those bizarre incidents that made me wish Hector Bellerin wasn’t out on loan. But yes, back-to-back great games, six goals scored and six points gained. Leicester didn’t have a sniff although I suspect their European games may have played a part in their lacking attack here.
We weren’t even close to grazing Manchester City in this game. The less said about it the better. Our team was strong for this one, but overall we just do not have the depth or the quality to compete with them on the football field. They could’ve and probably should’ve had more goals than they eventually scored. But aside from one highlight which was sent skyward we didn’t achieve anything of note in this match-up. I think we can probably forget about challenging for the Premier League this season, City are a class above. But we still look good to ease into the Champions League places.
Bouncing back from the less-than-entertaining loss to the current league leaders, we came out of a ten-goal thriller with three points intact. This was an odd, odd game, in which we were dominant but still managed to concede four goals. Smith Rowe, Odegaard and Martinelli were on fine-form in this clash, at one point we were four goals up and I’d have taken that with a smile. But Southampton started to come back, each highlight ended with a goal for them and if it wasn’t for Rob Holding and a late, late Eddie Nketiah goal, then we might’ve witnessed one of the biggest self-implosions ever seen in all of football.
The last game is right before the turn of the year and features a trip to Goodison Park. This was a bit of a tense match-up with two goals scored early on. We had our fair few opportunities to give us an advantage here, with Bukayo Saka going close and Charlie Patino, off the bench at half-time even hitting the post. But it’d be former Arsenal man Alex Iwobi who put the game to bed as we continued our rocky form heading into the new year. I wouldn’t even argue that we were bad in this match-up, just unfortunate. There’s times we’ve been outplayed and have deserved to drop points, but this wasn’t one of them.
As I touched on following the City - Arsenal game, we can forget the Premier League this season. Our form has been a little too wobbly to be serious contenders, but we still have a healthy margin between ourselves and Manchester United, who sit fifth and are eight points behind us. When it comes to the other end of the table, a gap has formed between the bottom four and the mid-table pack. Chelsea have brought in Zidane to mop up their early-season woes with Thomas Tuchel being shown the door. I don’t believe there’s anything too wild about this table aside from Chelsea’s woes, maybe all the promoted teams doing really well and Brentford competing for a spot in Europe? Although they do have Christian Eriksen now, who I assume is the driving force behind that push. Truth be told, I think we’re doing really well. I wanted top-four and a cup run at the start of the season, depending how things go with the FA Cup we’re on track to achieve our goals so I’m happy.
The new year kicks-off in emphatic style as Arsenal pummel Newcastle United and score six goals against them, avenging their loss earlier in the season. There isn’t all too much of note that occurred in this one, aside from the mere six goals. We scored once from a corner and twice from free-kick situations, which either says a lot about our recent set-piece work or more of Newcastle’s poor defending of set-pieces. Bukayo Saka getting on the score sheet twice was nice to see. Arsenal exceeded their expected goals and actually kept a clean sheet too, which is always a good bonus given how frail we can be at times at the back.
With the FA Cup came slight rotation for a simple-and-sound win against Fulham. Gabriel and Gabriel (Martinelli) scored the goals in this match. There really wasn’t anything incredible about this fixture. We scored our clear-cut chances, Fulham didn’t threaten aside from a couple of long shots and we scored a routine victory to send us into the next round of the FA Cup.
According to Football Manager, Arsenal and West Ham are in a rivalry. I actually didn’t know this, I know that they’re from the same city, but I didn’t know it was a rivalry. West Ham’s players probably didn’t know this either, going off of how often they made mistakes and had woeful passages of play, resulting in Arsenal having chances. Gabriel Martinelli grabbed two goals, before West Ham’s Martin Braithwaite was played over the top for a consolation. Saka would add a third into the mix and we sat back and sealed out a nice, well-fought away win from there.
Chelsea have been poor this season, that much was clear in this match. They didn’t have a sniff at goal and we were near-perfect throughout this game. Bukayo Saka continued his rich vein of form to score our first, Ben White doubling Arsenal’s lead before half-time. A Trevor Chalobah own-goal and then Nicholas Pepe scoring a screamer were the notable happenings in the latter portion of the game. This felt good, we’re in great form, four-from-four thus far.
Of course, that good form wasn’t meant to last. We came against Southampton in the league and weren’t able to finish our chances for most of the game. We got off to a good start, Eddie Nketiah scoring in single-digit minutes. But then Southampton equalized and following that, we didn’t shift into the gear needed to make something prominent of this game. It’s upsetting, given Manchester City have begun to slip here-and-there off of their pedestal. But I guess it shows our lack of experience and the room for growth our young squad has.
Another game in the FA Cup now, a competition which I’ve stated I’d like to win. We came against Luton Town and the difference in class and talent was evident across the game. We pulled them apart from end-to-end, although they did score an impressive goal to make the scoreline not utterly one-sided. Things ended up well, though. We dominated, had four different goal-scorers and advanced in the cup. This was exactly the kind of clinical performance I wanted to see following what could be described as a slip-up against Southampton.
I’m not even fussed about losing this game. This was something, a match, that reminds you how fun and exciting this game can be. Things got off to a good start, when Gabriel Martinelli slotted home a penalty to give us a really early lead. Harry Maguire equalized from a corner, then Jadon Sancho rifled in a cross to put Manchester United ahead before half-time. Individual brilliance from Martin Odegaard found us back in the game, but late-off we somewhat capitulated in search of a winner, with Hannibal and Marcus Rashford scoring. I don’t think a victory looked ever on the cards, United have had a good year and we struggle in away matches especially against big teams. But yeah, this was exciting! We played well but sometimes it’s not meant to be.
Arsenal bounce back from the loss to Manchester United, with a win against Leeds! We’re becoming incredible at blowing teams out of the water in the opening portions of the match. Saka and Martinelli have been nothing short of world-class in the last month-or-two. The scoreline was closer than it had a right to be, but we recovered three points in this match.
This was a match that, should we have lost, the season could’ve been all but over, in terms of domestic league competition. Manchester City have been near-perfect in the league as I’ve touched upon a couple of times. Brighton aside, our home form has been oh-so wonderful and that continued here. On the defence we were insane, playing out of our skins. On the offense we were equally as good, with our tendency to dominate from the off showing again, as ten minutes into the match we were two-goals to the good. Gabriel, who scored against Liverpool earlier on in an important game, did so here. Just like real life, he’s crucial in big matches. But this was a dominant display against the league leaders. With the loss to United and a draw to Southampton we needed this, and we got it!
Into the fifth round of the FA Cup, our good fixtures resume. We’ve fought against both Fulham and Luton Town at home, now we’re at home facing-off against Leeds. Considering we just played and beat Leeds in the league, I was confident. But I felt it imperative to play a full-strength side, as this is a competition we want to do well in. Thomas Partey had been eased back into the first team following his big injury earlier on in the season and he got on the score sheet in this game. Smith Rowe was the first-and-last scorer aside of Thomas Partey’s goal as well as Gabriel Martinelli continuing his amazing run of form. We’re into the quarter-finals and a top-four finish and an FA Cup win is looking increasingly possible for us with each game in the tournament.
Semi-rotated side at the King Power Stadium in a match with Leicester. In truth we weren’t all-so amazing in this game. Bukayo Saka and Cedric scored to ensure a comfortable lead but Patson Daka scored late-on to make the final ten-or-so minutes of the match uncomfortable. Leicester were dominant in the second-half and we were fortunate to walk with three points given the calibre of players we fielded. But I suppose that’s what separates the good from the great is being to hang-on and win these away matches when not at full-strength.
Wolves have been in all-sorts of bother this season, marauding around the relegation zone. This was just a wonderful game for us, a dozen highlights, three goals from our three-of-four musketeers we highlighted at the beginning of the season. We were solid on the defence although that’s due to Wolves having a woeful attack. Yeah, this is the type-of game we want to see where we dominate possession, create a lot of chances and win through a comfortable scoreline.
And then Wolves would knock us out of the FA Cup, all-but ending our chances at winning something this season. I just don’t understand how this happened. We didn’t play too badly but it's like Wolves took something in between the league game and this affair. We just tend to struggle so-so much when we’re not at home, even when I tinker with the tactics, even when I rotate frequently. I think it’s down to general inexperience, not having that maturity and those mental attributes to go to a game of importance like this and do what’s needed. I’m a little annoyed but more-so sad. Because I feel like our level of play deserves something from this season but I’m increasingly unsure that we’re going to get anything to show for all our hard work this season.
The league is a three-horse race at this point. Manchester City have a big advantage, but Arsenal and Liverpool have games in-hand. Manchester United, Brentford, Tottenham and Leeds United are in the running for a place in Europe next season, West Ham having an outside chance of getting there too. Despite their league woes, Chelsea actually won the Carabao Cup so they’ll have European competition next season, though I’m unsure if the competition in question will satisfy their squad. Wolves and Burnley look destined for the drop, with the four-or-five teams above them still in a relegation battle with that third spot looming.
I thought this was the case! I know they're both London based, but seeing them listed as rivals was surprising as you only really hear about Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham as Arsenal's rivals.
With our domestic cup dreams being put to the sword, our main focus now is clawing some ground back on Manchester City who are in the driving seat in the Premier League. We’re eight points behind, with a game in hand, so for our title hopes to become a reality, we would need some impressive bottle job from Pep Guardiola’s side. But stranger things have happened. We started off with a routine win over Watford, we dominated from whistle-to-whistle and the statistics reflect that. Emile Smith Rowe suffered an unfortunate injury which will see him probably miss the rest of the season.
Brighton were a side that beat us earlier on in the season. We couldn’t afford a repeat result and had an absolute stormer against them. While statistics would suggest it was an open-game, most of their shots were from well outside the box, penalty aside. Gabriel Martinelli grabbed two goals either side of a Benjamin White header from a free-kick, before Thomas Partey scored a really fabulous goal to wrap the win up for us.
Traveling to Brentford in this universe is a daunting prospect. They’re really over performing this season and have some of the best form in the league at the moment. This isn’t down to Christian Eriksen either, who has been in-and-out of things with injuries. This was an incredible game with Ivan Toney obliterating us, but we went back-and-forth with Brentford throughout. He scored a hat-trick, while two Gabriel Martinelli goals and a Charlie Patino strike meant this game finished as an even affair.
With a Liverpool game in-mind, we opted to rotate heavily for a home match against Aston Villa. I wanted our best side against Liverpool, if we lost that game we’d be all-but-out of the title picture. Our weak side was able to dispatch of Aston Villa without worries. Marcelo Flores, a Mexican winger starting in his debut match, scored after two minutes. Charlie Patino, two in two games for him now, doubled our lead before Benjamin White scored from a corner to put the game to bed. Truthfully? I’m just happy for the clean sheet. We’ve been woeful defensively at times so gaining one with a rotated side against Aston Villa is a nice achievement.
I was optimistic for this Liverpool game. We had a near full-strength side, barring Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka, and following a close first-half I was convinced we could get something out of this game and keep our fleeting title dreams alive. Step forward Takehiro Tomiyasu, who spat in my face, pushed me to the ground and stomped on my heart. He got sent off for a reckless foul and from that point on we got absolutely dominated. Bullied, we honestly should’ve conceded but we managed to hang on somehow. But yeah, I feel like either us or Liverpool needed a win to chase Manchester City, a draw knocks us out of the race, pretty much.
So it isn’t the end of the world. We’re comfortably situated in the top three and only six points off Manchester City, with a game in hand too. But the title isn’t in our hands and that’s never a good place to be. I’ll take second at this point, but we need to be super wary of Liverpool also, had Tomiyasu not gotten sent off I’d be confident of finishing ahead of them. There’s a four-way battle for the rest of the European places. At the other end of the table, Wolves and Crystal Palace look to be joining Burnley in the Championship next season. Wolves especially have some good players, so we could poach one-or-two from them. Overall this is a good and productive season, it’s a shame Smith Rowe and Saka aren’t around for the end of season, they really could have been difference makers against Brentford and Liverpool.
Aaron Ramsdale, why have you done this to me? Whatever small hopes we had of lifting the Premier League just went up in smoke. Things looked fine for us, Thomas Partey scoring in the second-half to give us the lead. From then on, we controlled possession and the clock kept on ticking while we defended well. The final minutes of the game saw Aaron Ramsdale fumble a backpass, and panic clear it to his right. Unfortunately for us, Dwight McNeil was sitting there and lying in wait. He punted the ball into an open net, allowing Burnley to draw level late on while killing our hopeful dreams dead in their tracks.
Gabriel Martinelli continued his breakout season in this match, scoring a hat-trick of goals as we breezed through Norwich. We could’ve scored more, while they probably shouldn’t have scored whatsoever. On the offence, we looked so fluid, validated through our goals. The highlight of this game aside from Martinelli’s heroics was a goal from David Waugh, a prospect from our academy. He became Arsenal and the Premier League’s youngest goal-scorer with his header from a corner. This was a good rebound from the woeful Burnley result.
We weren’t capable of bringing a trophy to Arsenal in our first season, but, a double over our most fierce rivals isn’t the worst substitute. This was a close, exciting affair. Martinelli put us ahead before Heung-Min Son equalized. The match winner would come through a returning Emile Smith Rowe who, around thirty seconds after coming off of the bench, volleyed home a really nice cross from Bukayo Saka. We’ve struggled away all season, dropping points and losing games to most of the big sides. So this was a really, really nice win. It also all but ensured we’d finish ahead of Liverpool, unless we bottled our final match of the season.
It would have been comical if we somehow managed to mess this one up. On the contrary we started off hot and were five goals up before half-time. Odegaard, Nketiah and Gabriel Martinelli were sensational in this game, the former grabbing a hat-trick of assists, while Martinelli secured the Golden Boot in this match over Manchester City’s Kevin de Bruyne. It’s a shame that Crystal Palace equalized late-on, but that’s been a big problem for us, conceding late-on when we’re in firm control of a game. Our attacking play this season has been near-flawless, though. This Arsenal side is such an exciting project and this result proves such!
The season as a whole I’d argue was a positive one. I’m disappointed we didn’t go far in either of the domestic cup competitions, that loss to Wolves is frustrating considering we beat them in the Premier League right before. I feel like we could’ve won the FA Cup, which ended up going to Liverpool. However, finishing second in the league is a great achievement, as both the media and our own board believed we’d finish fifth at best. We were able to push Manchester City to the end, and we finished above the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea. Defensively, we still need some improvements. Ramsdale and Tomiyasu were a little disappointing to me, while Partey’s injuries meant for most of the season, we had to field the likes of Sambi Lokonga and Charlie Patino. On the attack, we were superb. Gabriel Martienlli won the Golden Boot, while Martin Odegaard had the most assists and the third highest average rating in the league! Bukayo Saka, who missed the last two months through injury, even got over ten goals and ten assists.
With the right improvements, I think we’ll be able to challenge for the Premier League again. But given the World Cup takes place mid-season, atop of us now being in the Champions League, we’ll need a lot of talent in depth, which won’t be possible to get during one transfer window. I think we’ll need to sell a lot of deadwood and make a couple of key signings, and then maybe in our third season, if all things go well in the second, we’ll get more-and-more quality. My hope is to win a domestic cup and retain Champions League football. Anything more than that will be a bonus, and I think the third season is where we’ll pick up the Premier League and make a run at the Champions League, too. I’m really optimistic, though. We have great, great youth all across the board, so our potential is near limitless.
Let’s start with the departures, shall we? A good portion of players who left were out on loan in the first season, so we haven’t lost all too much with them departing. Names like Torreira, Mari and Ballard brought in sizable income, while fringe players such as Cedric, Holding and Nketiah also left the club. The two most notable sales are Tomiyasu and Xhaka. With Tomiyasu, he wasn’t the mold of full-back I want at the club. He isn’t offensive compared to the likes of Tierney, Tavaras and a returning Hector Bellerin and I think the money we got for him was really good. Xhaka meanwhile wanted to leave, he felt he had achieved everything at the club which makes no sense to me. But, he was on a sizable wage and was unhappy so I had little issue with seeing him join Rob Holding in France.
The other big departure was Alexandre Lacazette. I actually like Lacazette, when he started for us he usually had a good game. But, he’s not our starting striker with Martinelli’s emergence and on almost two-hundred thousand a week? I couldn’t justify renewing his contract. Other notable sales see Matt Turner leave two weeks after he signs, with Leno and Ramsdale? I don’t see the need to keep him around. We also loaned Omar Rekik and Marcelo Flores out, as I didn’t foresee them getting an abundance of game time.
Our first signing sees Alexis Sanchez return to the club. Sure, he’s super old. But he has good mental stats and can mentor the likes of Martinelli, Smith Rowe and a returning Florian Balogun. He can also play multiple positions for us, and while his physical skills aren’t the greatest we can start him against weaker opposition should the tie call for it. He’s on less-than half of what Lacazette would have been on and of course, he’s an Arsenal icon arguably. So making this one happen for a measly two million seemed like a no brainer. He’ll mostly be used as an impact substitute and for mentoring our young, offensive squad. But I’m super pleased with this one.
Houssem Aouar joins Arsenal, after about half-a-decade of being linked to the club. Obviously I’m thrilled with this. He cost us twenty-seven million, which is fairly cheap for someone of his age and his skill level! Yeah, Aouar is good and I think he helps fill the hole that Xhaka left, on a cheaper wage than Xhaka was on also. He can also play back-up to Odegaard in that attacking midfielder spot. I don’t know what more to say about this one, it’s just a great, logical and necessary signing and I think he’ll start a lot for us in the midfield spot.
Then we spent eighty-seven million on Max Aarons.
Granted, that sounds really silly on the surface. But, the thought process behind this signing somewhat justifies it, at least in my head. I just think given the player he can grow into and alongside the fact he’s an english talent, it makes sense. Yes, the price point is stupid. But who else could we have purchased for this position? We have Bellerin already, who is a capable full-back as is. I think Aarons will grow to be one of the best full-backs in football. And I think given Reece James and Trent Alexander-Arnold weren’t achievable, this is the best signing we could have made. I’m pleased with it, we still made a profit for this window, just don’t bully me too hard for this one please.
We’re in a better position on the defense than we were a season ago and that’s always going to be a positive. Aarons and Bellerin are a huge improvement on Tomiyasu and Cedric, while Saliba coming back from loan gives us three really solid central defenders in himself, White and Gabriel. The left-back and goalkeeper positions stay the same, which I’m fine with. Tierney is probably our best defender on the surface of things, while we have two great goalkeepers in Leno and Ramsdale. Maitland-Niles can also fill in for either full-back spot. Given this is the season with a World Cup planted in the middle, that could come in handy should we run into issues with fitness!
Our midfield is perhaps our weakest area on the pitch. We don’t necessarily have a bad midfield but we lack that one big signing who can carry that section of the squad. We tried to go for Neves, Tieliemans and Tchouameni over the Summer. But for different reasons, all of those deals fell apart. Still, Aouar is a good addition, Partey is a great player and Sambi Lokonga and Maitland-Niles can fill into both positions when needed. Charlie Patino is also around, but with him being so far down the pecking order, I might look to loan him out. Our attack is incredible, I don’t think too much needs to be said about it. We have three world-class players, sufficient back-up and a ton of versatility. Balogun aside, the likes of Saka, Odegaard, Smith Rowe, Sanchez and Martinelli can fill in three of the four positions on our offensive tactic as a minimum, so we shouldn’t have too many complaints relating to game time in this area of the pitch.
This is the tactic we’re going with for this upcoming season. Hyper offence, width-enthusiastic with the midfield pinging passes left, right and center. I really like it, the defensive trio of Ramsdale, Gabriel and White isn’t the strongest but should be acceptable for achieving our goals for this season. Our full-backs are strong, not the best in the league, but will certainly be in the conversation once Aarone improves a little. The midfield is more-than fine, while our attacking quartet of Saka, Odegaard, Smith Rowe and Martinelli is so exciting and should grab an abundance of goals for us. We’re hoping to achieve a top four finish while pushing to win a domestic cup. If our squad improves some, which it should given the average age, we’ll honestly be a signing or two off from being a huge force in the Premier League.
Pre-season was perfect. Six games, six wins and over forty goals scored. Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka looked especially sharp, while Max Aarons scoring in fourteen seconds against his former club was comical for me to witness. Yeah, this should be a good season. But as I briefly mentioned, fixtures will be extra tight with the World Cup slotted into the months of November and December, so a lot of our success will rely on who gets injured and how long they’re injured for. I’m expecting fitness issues, but everyone will be affected with fitness issues, so hopefully luck carries us to a trophy or two come the end of the season.
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