Gunning For A New Dawn: An Arsenal Exposé

[alexdesouza]

First go at one of these - please feel free to suggest anything to improve the blog!

04/06/2012
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For Immediate Release
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Contact

Ivan Gazidis
+44 (020) 5555 5555
[email protected]


Arsenal Football Club announces that current manager Arsene Wenger has decided to resign effectively immediately. The club is deeply saddened by the loss of a such an influential figurehead within it's ranks however we do fully support the manager in this decision.

Arsene Wenger has been manager of the club for 16 years and since then the club has won three Premier League titles, four FA Cup titles and four Community Shield titles. Along with those achievements Arsene Wenger brought both style and substance to the team that of which we as a club we will look to uphold this tradition for the years to come. We wish Arsene all the best in his future endeavors.

The club will now look forward to the future and will continue to progress.

Current training sessions and matches will be held by Assistant Manager Steve Bould. Boro Primovic and Martin Keown.

We will soon announce who will take over the role as Arsene Wenger's successor. We expect this to be in the next 24 to 48 hours.

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[alexdesouza]

Arsenal Inside Right
Arsene Leaves, possible replacements.

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Manager Arsene Wenger has quit! So we here at Arsenal Insider decided to put together a shortlist of possible candidates to take over Arsene's role for you guys! We hope you share your opinions on who you think should be appointed the new manager and also click on the subscribe button to keep in touch with future updates.



Jose Mourinho - Currently with Real Madrid the feisty Portugese manager has made it clear in recent times of his desire to come back to England to manage. Will it be on the Red side of London?

__________________________ 2.25


Marcelo Bielsa - Known for his unique managing style and highly personal training methods Marcelo is a perfect candidate for the Arsenal but could his explosiveness clash with the Arsenal board?

____d______________________7.00


Michael Laudrup - Having only just joined Swansea the much lauded Dane is not only tactically astute but he is one that the players all look up to. Could his leadership take the Gunners to new heights?

____d______________________9.00

Wikki Wakka - Currently the Under 18s head coach after replacing Pat Holland earlier in the year. An unknown, however due to being the only internal choice that's available, we have to assess it as an option.

____d______________________21.00

Who will you be putting your money on?



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[alexdesouza]

06/06/2012
​

For Immediate Release
​

Contact

Ivan Gazidis
+44 (020) 5555 5555
[email protected]


Arsenal Football Club would like to announce that manager Sarhar Makamack has successfully signed for the club. He will be taking over first team duties immediately and the backroom staff will remain as it is. We are delighted to welcome the former U18 coach to the first-team and wish him all the successes possible.

We also wish the the team the best luck for the upcoming year and hope all fans will support the team to the best of their abilities. We are striving to make our team stronger than ever and will persevere to make the viewing experience more enjoyable for you, the fan, also! We're working to lower season ticket prices for youths as well as embarking on a new quest to upgrade the facilities available to both the senior and U21s squad.

We expect there to be extensive work to both the defensive and attacking elements to our team as well as building a strong British core that can represent the club in years to come. Arsene has left an array of young talent both in and around the first team and it is expected of everyone involved with the club to behave in a professional manor. We also would like to take this time to thank everyone involved in helping make Hislop welcome at his new club.

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[alexdesouza]

So this is my first day! Not really, I've been in the bosses ear for quite some time now and the pieces have slowly been put together over a 24-month period that began with the break-in of potentially one of the greatest players of our generation. But I'll get to that later. More on the boss. Arsene. Mr Wenger. Chief. An enigma to some but to me he was my best friend and confidant. He taught me so much about the beautiful game that I really owe him everything.

Then one day he comes into my office and drops the bomb. He's going to retire. Not take up another club but leave the game entirely. Naturally I tried to talk him out of it. But before long he begun to lay out his plans for the future which involved me taking his place after he'd managed to bring in a few players of which I can base my future with the club on.

And these players were Theo Walcott, Alexandre Oxlade-Chamberlain, Aaron Ramsey, Wojciech Szczesny, Serge Gnabry, Carl Jenkinson and Kieran Gibbs. I was to build my squad around these players and with that a new Arsenal dynasty was about to let unleash. The leader of this group? Jack Wilshere. A young, enigmatic midfielder had it in him to become one of the true greats. And it wasn't like I was getting a group of kids either. There was already talent in the squad and a hierarchy already established.

What could possibly go wrong?

Well, while I'm here on my first day, I may as well set out the two tactics (and one defensive variation) we're going to be using this season. It may not make sense to the vast majority of supporters to begin with but rest assured if we get those results they will be behind us one hundred percent.


Main Tactic:

This is the main tactic I want to use for this club for the players that's available. I believe in creating a strong, workman like atmosphere till we get the wins on the board while players can adjust and take on board my style and ethics. It's actually a higher press than my other tactics and involves keeping possession, interchanging between short passing and utilising the wings and finally a strong presence in set pieces both defensively and offensively. I will adapt a more fluent style as the season progresses and adapt the tactic as the matches see fit. I have often enjoyed changing to a more controlling tactic once we're in the lead but this specific counter-attacking tactic should keep me solid at the back and allow for players to have a bit of creativity up front.

Secondary Tactic:
The point of this was to have a deeper press from our defenders but the striker is actually pushing their defenders as far back as possible. This should allow us time and space to work with the ball and spot a few low crosses in as well as take advantage of our pacey striker Theo Walcott and attempt through-balls regularly.

Experimental Tactic:
I'm going to try and adopt this as my experimental tactic to begin with. I'll be changing quite a bit but not using it just yet. Most of my findings and statistics from the first two tactics will go into making this third one a little stronger. I decided to stick with the current tactic that was in use at the club which incorporates the use of a defensive midfielder which might be of some use. We will see how if ever this tactic actually becomes useful.

Tomorrow I will go through the players currently at the club that are in my plans and possible transfers for the first window. Also results from my friendlies and the first match of the 2012 / 2013 season for our club.

 

[alexdesouza]

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I'm quite positive about the squad. We have a strong base but there are improvements to be made there. But more important than the improvements themselves is the ORDER because there is a bunch of potential in the team but that won't help with the here and now. Also, as an Arsenal fan myself, I will try and remain impartial however I do not think that some of the senior players there are fit to wear the jersey. These are the players I would like to get rid of as soon as possible as I believe in having players who want to play for the shirt and who want to play for the fans.

Goalkeepers:
Wojciech Szczesny, Lukasz Fabianski, Vito Mannone and Damian Martinez

Defenders:
Thomas Vermaelen, Laurent Koscielny, Per Mertersacker, Johan Djourou, Sebastien Squillaci, Bacary Sagna, Carl Jenkinson, Kieran Gibbs, Andre Santos and Ignasi Miquel.

Midfielders:
Abou Diaby, Tomas Rosicky, Mikel Arteta, Jack Wilshere, Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain, Aaron Ramsey, Santi Cazorla, Francis Coquelin, Emmanuel Frimpong and Craig Eastmond.

Forwards:
Oliver Giroud, Theo Walcott, Gervinho, Lukas Podolski, Andre Arshavin and Marouane Chamakh.

Best Youth:
Chuba Akpom, Serge Gnabry and Kristoffer Olsson.


There are also a heap of players on loan that will need to be addressed next season. Now the players that I've decided don't have a future at the club and will be sold or loaned out who are currently with the first team are the following players:

Lukasz Fabianski - Would like someone more consistent and could push Szczesny.
Sebastien Squillaci - I don't see a future for him at the club.
Ignasi Miquel - Loan to get some match experience.
Emmanuel Frimpong - Loan to get some match experience.
Gervinho - Isn't good enough to push for first team and too good to sit on the bench every week.
Andre Arshavin - I don't see a future for him at the club.
Marouane Chamakh - Keeping him will block youngsters from developing.
Craig Eastmond - I don't see a future for him at the club.

Positions we need to address for first team: Defensive midfielder and striker.
Positions we need " " " for rotation: Goalkeeper, left-sided defender and winger.
Positions we need " " " for youth: Both fullbacks, central defender, defensive midfielders, winger, striker.

Next entry will be the transfers and fixtures!

 

[jukilo]

Nice introduction mate.. Following!

 

[alexdesouza]

TRANSFERS IN :

Left to right:

Marouane Fellaini: Brought in from Everton to play as my main ball winner in midfield. He'll play alongside Jack Wilshere in the centre of midfield. I've been looking him for a long time and truly believe he will be a success at this club.

Steven Jovetic: A young striker who can play either up front, behind the striker or on the wing. Very well balanced with great technique and physical attributes. Looking to rotate him with Giroud and to offer some rest time to my midfielders. Will come in use against tougher opponents as it will allow Cazorla to play on the wings and keep possession and not lose quality going through the middle.

Wilfried Zaha: Come in take the place of Gervinho but won't demand as much game time especially the first season or two. Will be very important against weaker teams and some Champions League games with the high levels of training involved which we will go through later on.

David Ospina: My number two keeper. Will rotate with Szczesny despite me not enjoying rotations I'll try bide my time till Szczesny is of at least Premier League quality. I really like the fact that he has really balanced stats and asks for low wages.

Vegard Forren: Fourth choice defender who can help also on the left side. Will be third choice left back as I already have a 3rd choice right back (Koscielny) so that we have even more increased depth. I think all these players are quality so long as they're playing near 100% of their capabilities/conditioning.

Paul Pogba: When I first walked in the doors at Arsenal I received a call from Alex Ferguson. He laughed at me and said that he's enjoying watching Robin bash them in at training and the train-wreck that Arsene left me with. The smug ba5t@r!] who does he think he is?! I knew I needed another midfielder as I was looking to loan Coquelin after signing Forren for cover in defense so I decided to give his agent Paul Cope a call. Little did I know he was mislead on his transfer to Juventus and was told he'd see little first team action if at all and that he might be loaned to Genoa. So after a few more phone calls we agreed with Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli to take Paul on loan for 12 months with a 10.5m sign on clause.

Youth team signings:

Mason Bennett: Young English striker who can also play on the wings or the #10 role.
Sergi Samper:: Barcelona prodigy, deep lying playmaker who can play in central midfield, great passer.
Jamaal Lascelles: Young English defender who looks to have a good future.
Zakaria Bakkali: Belgian striker from PSG... setting the pavement for an even bigger signing next season...
Joel Pohjanpalo: Finish midfielder, recently scored a hat-trick in 3minutes, has cool hair.


TRANSFERS OUT :

Gervinho - 9.75m (CSKA)
Andre Arshavin - 4m (PSG)
Marouane Chamakh - 4m (Napoli)
Sebastien Squillaci - 750k (Malaga)
Johan Djourou - Exchange (Fiorentina)

+ a lot of loans including some of the new youth arrivals like Bakkali, Pohjanpalo, Samper, Akpom, Fabianski, Lascelles, Yennaris, Mannone, Frimpong, Miquel, Gnabry, Olsson, Bellerin and more! If you're interested in the exact list please don't hesitate to ask and I'll fax them right over!

 

[alexdesouza]

Time for some current squad analysis then before the years fixture list hits us. Now that we've got what seemed like before like an entirely new squad it seems a whole lot more balanced now with the youngsters going out on loan for first team action. There was a lot of ins and outs lately but the squad mentality is good, not great, but good and they're all enjoying the first few weeks of training which will be listed below the list of players. This is the final list and won't be changed again till January.

Goalkeepers:
(1) Wojciech Szczesny, (21) David Ospina and (30) Damian Martinez

Defenders:
(5) Thomas Vermaelen, (6.) Laurent Koscielny, (4) Per Mertersacker, (24) Vegard Forren, (3) Bacary Sagna, (25) Carl Jenkinson, (28) Kieran Gibbs and (11) Andre Santos.

Midfielders:
(2) Abou Diaby, (7) Tomas Rosicky, (8) Mikel Arteta, (10) Jack Wilshere, (15) Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain, (16) Aaron Ramsey, (19) Santi Cazorla, (26) Marouane Fellaini and (44) Paul Pogba.

Forwards:
(12) Oliver Giroud, (14) Theo Walcott, (17) Wilfried Zaha, (9) Lukas Podolski and (18) Stevan Jovetic.





Week 1-4
General training:

Focus: Fitness
Intensity: Very High

Match training:
Teamwork


Week 5
General training:

Focus: Tactics
Intensity: Very High

Match training:
Varied (attacking movement and attacking set pieces)


Week 6-7
General training:

Focus: Tactics
Intensity: High

Match training:
Tactics

Week 8
General training:

Focus: Tactics
Intensity: Average

Match training:
Varied (defensive positioning, defensive set pieces, team work and tactics)




I'll carry on running similar training drills and keep you all up to date on what's happening with the squad in terms reactions and improvements. I also keep a very close eye on individual training and the coaches involved in all areas of the club very early on. I'll go through the list of coaches I've appointed to help me on this great journey a little later on. But firstly a little about my approach on individual training. Whilst I think it is imperative to have your squad train together the individual training, along with mentoring, will help both young and older players develop different parts of their game. I will focus on strengthening certain players to be all-rounders whilst others I will be focusing on certain parts of their game if I don't see a point in attempting to make them into something that they are not.

Now as for the backroom staff? You asked for it here it is:

Gianpiero Ventrone - Coach
Marc Overmars - Director Of Football
Martin Keown - Coach
Dave Parnaby - Coach
Warren Joyce - Coach
Andy Renshaw - Fitness Coach
Phil Cannon - U18s coach
Lievan Maesschalck - Head Physio
Rodolfo Borrel - Coach
Valter Di Salvo - Coach
Grant Downie - Physio
Pete Friar - Physio
Aurelio Pereira - Scout
Stephen Pears - Coach
Anselmo Sbraglia - Coach
Jose Segura - Coach
Nick Worth - Physio

Added to that the ones currently already at the club.

We've unfortunately had to part way with the following however:

Pat Holland - U18s coach
Lew Colin - Head Physio


Will go through the early fixtures next time as well as attempting to do some analysis of a couple fixtures.

 

[alexdesouza]

So here are some of the match day fixtures for the first couple months. So far as you can see we've started pretty well with a few big'ish hiccups early on and a defense that's letting goals in! Also hopefully will be able to show that my midfield isn't doing a good job of limiting their chances despite having majority of the possession at times with great albeit "loose" passing. I call it loose passing myself, not sure if others do, and I don't mean passes that aren't completed. I mean just passing in areas sometimes players "shouldn't be" but that's because of the fluid system employed that they're given a little more creative license. Also, I forgot to mention, it will be hard to keep track of which statistics are valid to which tactic because I can change it as often as five or six times throughout a game depending on how the game is going and who my opponent is. If it's a straight-forward game I shouldn't need to change it.


(Friendly) Huracan @away:________________________________________________Won 1-0
(Friendly) Ajax CT @away: ________________________________________________Won 3-0
(Friendly) New England @away:____________________________________________Won 3-1
(Friendly Cup Semi Final) FC Sochaux-Montbe @home:________________________Won 3-1
(Friendly Cup Final) Galatasaray @home: ____________________________________Won 3-1
(Friendly) Levadeiakos @away: ____________________________________________Won 4-2


So that went well. Won all our preseason games and no major injuries. Going into the season we will be missing Tomas for two months as well as Giroud who got a little niggle in the last game which might rule him out of the next game IF he doesn't recover. However I would like to start with what is essentially "my perfect 11" if I have all my players fit which I seemingly do. The first three games of the season is West Ham at the Emirates, Wigan at the DW and Swansea back at the Emirates o n the 1st of September which is also the end of the transfer window. After that we have a decent break before games against Chelsea at home and our first European Cup tie against Dynamo Kyiv.

By the way our Champions League group is already drawn.

The group includes:

Galatasaray
Basel
Dynamo Kyiv
Arsenal

Pretty kind group if you ask me but I'm sure the players won't enjoy travelling to Kiev or Istanbul!

 

[Logorex]

This looks like it's gonna be good.

 

[alexdesouza]

Barclays Premier League




Our first Premier League game of the year was against West Ham. This is how it finished:

That's right. A fantastic win for our first game of the season. We controlled the game from start to finish and little could be done to stop us from winning though they did get scarily close on occasion. The key moments of this game was down to the pressure we put on their defense. Only one defender was able to get above 80% passing the rest were really low so we were making them make simple errors on the right end of the pitch for us. However I am not happy with the amount of cutting in my full backs did. My wingers should be the ones cutting in with the fullbacks tucking in to the outside when in attacking positions and vice versa when defending. I will definitely have to take a closer look at why they're going in whether it's to receive a ball or during a run.



Arsenal's misplaced passes / passes that were intercepted

West Ham's misplaced passes / passes that were intercepted

I might try tinkering with Szczesny's distribution too and I'll try make him go for the shorter options and see if that makes a difference. Retaining possession is paramount for the team otherwise they suffer physically as it's a very demanding tactic for a very demanding league. It's still early days yet as mentioned and we have much tougher opponents coming up and also there's still the bonus of what comes from players getting used to the tactic and formation to come as they're still not 100% fluent and a lot of emphasis gets put on whether or not Cazorla can find space. For the third goal Walcott cut right in and gave a nice through-ball to Cazorla which won't happen all the time and the fourth goal was scored because a defender made a mistake and the ball fell to Giroud's feet. This also won't happen every time. But with those two variables aside we still managed to score 2 clean goals and I'm happy about that. I'd just like to cut out the mistakes in passing and get a bit more fluent! Sometimes managers are allowed to be more impatient than players! (6)

 

[alexdesouza]

And also thanks for the kind words so far guys!
As mentioned please feel free to suggest anything that I should be doing or that I'm doing wrong.

I'd just like this to be fun for both me as a writer/gamer and you as the reader/gamer

- I tried to upload a video of the goals from the West Ham game but the quality wasn't that good.

Should I put it up anyway?! Suggestions, comments... all welcomed!

 

[Logorex]

I want pics of beautiful women in Arsenal jerseys.

 

[alexdesouza]

I give my fans what they want!

Please keep it on topic and clean guys - I'll throw in the "Arsenal Girl of the Week" as an incentive to keep reading* (K)





*if moderators have an issue with this please PM me and I'll remove it immediately! i couldn't find a list of rules.

 

[alexdesouza]

Barclays Premier League

I couldn't sleep so I thought I'd do a few lists... still anxious for the city game IRL XD

So last time out we played the Hammers at home and we... hammered them!

This time around we're playing at the DW Stadium for our first away game of the season against Wigan Athletic. Their manager as you know is Roberto Martinez and he's very good at motivating his team even after they lose emphatically. So lets make sure his team is well motivated then, yeah?

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So a good 3-0 win away with some more stellar play from my midfelders. Santi Cazorla especially is the player I've been most looking forward to working with. He's just a beast in midfield and both score and create goals so I'll use him exclusively in the AMC role and rotate between the players who get to play second fiddle to him. We played a very counter-attacking game and decided not to stray forward too many times. Here is some evidence to show that we only won a single interception past the half way line:

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Because we were controlling the game our opponents were able to get more interceptions AND tackles up the pitch than we did even though we won. Here is a graph of what their interceptions looked like:

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The differences are small but show more in intercepted passes. The main suspect for me was Wojceich Szczesny with a 56.7% pass rate whereas the rest of the team all featured high ratings. Whereas the average of the Wigan team was much lower this enabled my team to play their counter attack more effectively earning them more time on the ball without committing too many players forward. Or something like that! I'd still like to improve the tactic but don't want to start tinkering with it till the squad gets used to it first.

Here are a couple more reports regarding the game and why I managed to win so comfortably:

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That's their passes that were intercepted. The defenders were usually guarded by the midfield when they let those long balls go but there is little to stop us when their midfield are the one who are also losing possession a lot. Main suspects there are Figueroa (31) and Ivan Ramis (21) who lost it in some key areas. Also my passing really worked in this game and as you can see it's not as if my team sat back despite the tactics employed:

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That central area was left vacant most of the game because of their 5-3-2 tactic with wing backs and a holding midfielder Cazorla drifted much more out to the left and was much more effective with Kieran Gibbs naturally pushing up and Stevan Jovetic offering his support on the left wing. We outnumbered them on the flanks.

Like Arsene I do believe we should be playing a passing/ball playing midfielder in the wing positions. It certainly worked with Pires and it worked with Nasri to some degree for approximately 12 months. I know watching Ramsey wasn't fun back when the older gaffa was about but it was never to do with being more defensive in regards to Ramsey himself. What that means is that when the team naturally pushes back as it will against better teams it enables us to have a passer out on the wings as well as centre forward.

How that works with Jovetic now with his decent pace and great midfield stats as you saw the passing interchange between Cazorla and Wilshere was just out of this world and meant I could attack without necessarily attacking! I created 2 clear cut chances in this game as well as 3 in the previous one so it's just about making chances and hoping we have the depth up front to take advantage of them! Well that's what I'm hoping for anyway and it seems to have worked up until now.

Because I have Swansea then Chelsea both at home which will definitely be interesting an entirely new challenge altogether. I will stick with pretty much the same lineups though hopefully as that is the strongest team I can put out to win a game without trying to risk handing the match to them. Lets hope we can put in a performance that our fans will enjoy and that our players stay injury free till Chelsea! More importantly when are we going to concede? Did I jinx it?

I will put up further play analysis and both the Swansea and Chelsea games next.

Not every update will be this in depth -- I'm just showing the early seeds of a football dynasty!

 

[Logorex]

I'm sorry about being improper. xD
But maybe you could put an "Arsenal Goal of the Month." Just something maybe?

 

[alexdesouza]

Player Analysis ​

In Player Analysis I'm going to profile players from the first team squad. I'm going to go through what is my current first 11 and see how that changes throughout the year. This initial one is just to get warm and cozy with what each players role within my club is. Squad depth and squad harmony are two keys to my success as a young manager so far. After winning the U18 title last year with the same group of players that finished second from bottom the year before we instilled in the players a winning mentality and that's what I'm hoping to replicate with this team.

So I will go through my entire first 11 including the back up keeper also and then all the other rotation/backup players.

First off the keepers.

1. Wojciech Szczesny

Joined the club in 2006 from Legia in the Polish First Division. A young, highly confident shot stopper is highly adapt at taking in corners and also rushing out when your defenders are left stranded. With amazing, world-class potential he has the ability to be one of the true talismans of the club.

He will be deployed as my main keeper for this season too and Ospina will see little action unfortunately. There is usually two positions that can allow for slightly weaker players and I've chosen the goalkeeper to be one of them. I expect there to be a much greater number of clean sheets next season with the youngster only likely to improve so we're going to give him as much exposure as possible without having to give up the title before the season has even begun.

21. David Ospina


The young Colombian international has 15 caps for his country and was signed from the club OGC Nice in Ligue 1. Although shorter in stature he has great all-around abilities to be a successful backup keeper and an equally good fill-in for when, or if, Szczesny is injured for a longer period. He was signed with only one year remaining on his contract so he was easier to convince than a lot of other keepers in his wage and experience range and within our own financial limitations.




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[alexdesouza]

I'm sorry about being improper. xD
But maybe you could put an "Arsenal Goal of the Month." Just something maybe?

Don't apologise! I even sent a message to the moderators to see if it was okay to do so and wasn't sexist or whatever else (there could be youngin's here who don't appreciate it? I mean it is a football forum! ha ha) but if it's all in good fun to keep you guys reading and interested I'm happy to oblige to make things a little more interesting. I'm definitely already doing a goal of the year and hopefully performance of the year too. I uploaded goals from my first game to YouTube but it only ripped it at 360p or whatever so it was really blurry. If this is okay guys please say so and I will upload them in one of my posts.

Also if you haven't noticed I'm using pictures like the clipboard for team updates, ball for match day and time out for idle chat to help make it easier to read and browse through each individual post. I will continue to write this blog for quite some time I think as I do want to improve myself both as a manager on FM and as a writer which I think I need!

More player analysis of the first eleven defense and also Swansea and Chelsea games to come up!

 

[Logorex]

You can set the detail of the highlights in the "Preferences."

 

[alexdesouza]

You can set the detail of the highlights in the "Preferences."

Thanks dude! I just changed it then. I've been playing the game forever but I never really used the online functions AND this is the first time I'm running it on a PC in 5-10 years. I've had a a Mac for the longest time and I've finally got a nice enough laptop to run about 140,000-160,000 players which includes most players in Europe, Africa, South America, America and Australia. Also most of the national icons from the Middle Eastern leagues too. It's worked out really well and I want to keep this save and see how far I can get it before I go off venturing to new games / new approaches (I'm sick of going small teams and making them bigger because it's SO hard without buying the "bullshit" players like Wellington Nem, etc all the time!).

More updates to be posted soon once I finish dinner and stuff