To be honest I won't be viewing it again anyway. Neither will many people I imagine. Firstly it's just pointless and disrespectful to those who try to play the game fairly and be as successful as they can by spending time learning the game and what works best for them.
Secondly it's hardly a great story to read someone winning every trophy in the first season and not dropping a point in the league. Sometimes coming back from failure is what makes a career interesting. Where do you go from here? Maybe you should take over the bottom team in the prem but I imagine you'll soon get bored or constantly reloading and playing each game till you win.
I will praise you on having the patience to construct such a season knowing that you didn't really earn it just to earn the respect and applause of others. That takes dedication.
Oh and good luck winning the world cup with Fleetwood town next season. I'm sure if anyone can do it it's you
 


Fanzone

Znik said:
Impressive job! Have managed unbeaten seasons in the PL on this FM, but never a perfect score! So kudos.

Thanks, it might look like a trifle but those words actually mean a lot (bad publicity might still be pubilicty but it doesn't make it any less painful at the end of the day).
So you have my gratitude for the support.

Potg23 if you've got the time to keep disrespecting another users you should better spend it on working on your very own story. Enjoy your report, you definitely earned it.
 
Just read all of this and its been a real good read so far, you have done really well to win every league game in the first season never managed to do that! Best i have got is around 34 wins and 4 draws with Barcelona, although i am undefeated in 18 games with Athletic so far this season so watch this space! Keep it up im sure your not cheating to win as the excitement of winning games would soon fade! I would have loved to have reloaded my final game of last season with Athletic were if Real Madrid had drawn or lost we would have won the league but these are the sorts of results that get me even more motivated,
 
To be honest I won't be viewing it again anyway. Neither will many people I imagine. Firstly it's just pointless and disrespectful to those who try to play the game fairly and be as successful as they can by spending time learning the game and what works best for them.
Secondly it's hardly a great story to read someone winning every trophy in the first season and not dropping a point in the league. Sometimes coming back from failure is what makes a career interesting. Where do you go from here? Maybe you should take over the bottom team in the prem but I imagine you'll soon get bored or constantly reloading and playing each game till you win.
I will praise you on having the patience to construct such a season knowing that you didn't really earn it just to earn the respect and applause of others. That takes dedication.
Oh and good luck winning the world cup with Fleetwood town next season. I'm sure if anyone can do it it's you

So basically, because the story doesn't do what you want, you call him a cheat and throw your toys out the pram? For that, I'll quite merrily boycott your story. I'm not interested in people on the forum that try and insinuate foul play at every turn.
 


Fanzone



Thanks, it might look like a trifle but those words actually mean a lot (bad publicity might still be pubilicty but it doesn't make it any less painful at the end of the day).
So you have my gratitude for the support.

Potg23 if you've got the time to keep disrespecting another users you should better spend it on working on your very own story. Enjoy your report, you definitely earned it.

Keep plugging away mate, now you've got to try and repeat the feat, so good luck with that!
 



Squad Analysis

Goalkeepers
View attachment 159331
Overall: We have the goal really well covered, Cech was the best goallie in the whole Premier last year and Timo Horn's season in Germany didn't go unnoticed as he was a key factory in Köln's extraordinary league campaign.
We'll have quite a headache in distributing game time between them.
as for Luka Pavic, he'll be mainly in the Under 21 squad and only will be promoted to the first squad when necessary.
Academy: We've gone from having no decent prospects in this area to have three of them, the most oustanding of them being the already mentioned Luka Pavic, a young keeper hailing from Hajduk Split's academy and with the potential of being better than Cech.
The other two are Danny Owen, young American keeper who his country's media compare with Tim Howard and Minervino Peixoto, the current Portguese U19's squad starter keeper. Both of them have the potential to become a good Premier League keeper in the future.

Defenders
View attachment 159325
Overall: The right back is once again perfectly covered with Bellerín as its started and it has Jenkisnon (who came back after an impressive season at West Ham and both Chambers and John Stones are able to play there in case of necessity.
On the center we got stronger compared to last year as we still got Mertesacker and Koscielny, but we also signed one of the best young defenders England has to offer: John Stones. To all this add Calum Chambers and we have a solidly covered zone.
The left flank is the zone it worries me the most as Gibbs is extremely injury prone and Monreal is already on his 30s, this season will be last one for one of them (as their replacement is already signed but he won't be coming until the end of the season)...The one leaving? It will depend on both of their performances.
Academy: Our best prospect in this area is clearly Emmanuel Mammana, who's currently on loan at Napoli where he's regarded as first team member for the Partonopei. Needless to say we expect great things of him once he returns.
Other notable mentions are Al Clark, a huge English-American centerback who reminds me of a young Mertesacker, Krystian Bielik (despite being able to play as a defensive midfielder), Màrio Andrade, a young Portuguese left back who could end up a good Premier League player should he develop properly and the interesting case of Jack Deal, a prospect we got from Leicester's academy. He's a right midfielder but if we retrain him as a right back, we might have competition for Bellerín for a decade or more.

Midfielders/Wingers

View attachment 159324
Overall: On the midfielder it's pretty much the same we had last year but with some new additions here and there, Coquelin will still be our starter as defensive/ball winning midfielder and Ajer will be his back up anything happened to him. Arteta's role this season will diminish greatly I'm afraid but his physical conditon is plummeting really quickly, his retirement might be closer than we think...
As Coquelin's partner in the midfield we have Aaron Ramsey with will have as back up quite a few Jacks of all trades: Jack Wilshere, Lewis Cook and Serge Gnabry who earned a chance to prove themselves after their performances at Leeds and West Brom respectively.
As attacking midfielder our starter will be Mesut Özil with Cazorla and the already mentioned Gnabry as his back ups should something happen to him or his performance level dropped for some reason.

The left wing once again has Alexis Sánchez as his owner, his performances last year served to name him as World's best player and when he plays well the rest of the team pretty much does it aswell.
His replacement will be Jack Grealish, who last year proved to be a reliable option for the left flank and his progression seems to have no end.
On the right flank the starter will be for another year Walcott, who this season will focus mainly on this role (instead of switching between winger and striker like last season). As his back up we'll have Andrija Zivkovic, who will have to seriously level up this season and Baldé Keita, who has come all the way from Rome to cover the good ol' Ox's gap in the squad.
Academy: Plenty of talented prospects in this area like Rich Collin, one of our last homegrown kids, Andy Leigh, talented midfielder hailing from Crewe's academy, Krystian Bielik, Vlad Dragomir, Stefan Büchler and Alberto Mas among plenty of others.

For the wings our best prospect is Paul Kim hands down, the German-American winger already made his senior debut last season and I can't wait to see him become a first squad regular.
We've got plenty of other interesting prospects like Jeff Reine-Adelaide, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Neil Kitching, a promising left winger who came from Newcastle's academy and Davor Lovren, Dejan Lovren's younger brother, among plenty of others.

Strikers
View attachment 159323
Overall: We're extremely fortunate to have at our disposal both the Premier (and Europe to boot) and Champions League's golden boots. It will be a tough choice to determine the starter for this season, Aboubakar has a slight lead but I'll be relying on Giroud aswell, specially by the time Aboubakar forcefully misses a month of competition thanks to the African Cup of Nations.
Charlie Austin will have the same role as last season: trusty back up player and solid choice as our #12 player.
Richairo Zivkovic will be used in the same way Welbeck was last season: back up striker and jack of all trades... Do we need a deep lying forward? Richy's on it. Do we have a winger injury crisis? Richy's got it covered.
Academy: Our best prospect is probably Ryan Wright, a versatile lad we got from the Saints Academy... after they snatched him away from Guincamp's (An English player emerging in a French academy? I've seen it all now), he could develop into an impressive deep lying forward.
Then we have some homegrown talent like Kaylen Hinds, who keeps doing impressive performances in Scotland and Keith Blake.
And we also have some good foreign talent like Donyell Malen, Przemyslaw Macierzynski, a promising Polish striker hailing from Lechia Gdansk, and Mohamed Houbaine... who's a peculiar case, a striker who can also play as attacking midfielder and midfielder... I'm having a hard time to determine how to develop him...
 
apologies

I apologise if I have gone over the top I just can't believe it can be done! And of all the stories it is done on its the one with the in game editor? Maybe you could screen shot the screen that let's us know how many editor changes have been made then explain them and I will bow down and accept that you are honest and if that's the case I will salute an amazing achievement. And could we see what these amazing re-gens look like without the new face pics. I prefer the crazy looks they have
 
positive note

On the plus side, your layout and story writing is top notch
 
(OoC-> These kits were made by New York State of Mind, be sure to go and check his awesome stuff in the kits subforum ^^ )
______________



Arsenal unveils its new kits

Starting this season Arsenal has signed a deal with Adidas, the German sportswear multinational will be dressing the North London club for the next five years.
The first kit, which the gunners will be wearing for the first time on August 6th is pretty faithful to the traditional kits and it will not show any great changes: it's your average red shirt with your white sleeves.

The radical changes come on the other two, the away kit, which will be shown for the first time during August 9th, breaks the tradition Arsenal had with its yellow/golden kits as Arsenal will be wearing a white shirt with a red cross on it, in other words: the gunners will be wearing St. George's cross as their away kit.
It was quite a controrversial choice as there are some detractors who question why a team like Arsenal with so little English players on its senior squad gets to played with England's flag as its away colour scheme... While Arsenal fans are delighted by this choice and quickly came with the "Patriotic Gunners" monicker.

And finally the third kit, who still doesn't have a debut choice, is a royal blue navy shirt with a cobalt blue diagonal stripe crossing it. A simple yet visually pleasing design that got quite the positive feedback... specially compared with last season's thrid kit.

View attachment 1043353View attachment 1043354View attachment 1043355
Arsenal's new look for the upcoming 2016/17 season.
 


Fanzone

coolmcool said:
Just read all of this and its been a real good read so far, you have done really well to win every league game in the first season never managed to do that! Best i have got is around 34 wins and 4 draws with Barcelona, although i am undefeated in 18 games with Athletic so far this season so watch this space! Keep it up im sure your not cheating to win as the excitement of winning games would soon fade! I would have loved to have reloaded my final game of last season with Athletic were if Real Madrid had drawn or lost we would have won the league but these are the sorts of results that get me even more motivated,

Welcome to the story and thanks for dropping by.
What I managed to pull off pretty much left me speechless, the closest I got to that before was 30 wins, 5 draws and 3 losses (2 against Barcelona and one of them FMed ¬¬) with your current club rivals: Real Sociedad (when Griezmann was still there).
You've been doing an amazing work with Bilbao so far (like you did with Barcelona before), I could learn a couple of things from you... specially when it comes to handling academy prospects.
Thanks for the support and save a seat for me at San Mamés will you ^^

Godfish93 said:
So basically, because the story doesn't do what you want, you call him a cheat and throw your toys out the pram? For that, I'll quite merrily boycott your story. I'm not interested in people on the forum that try and insinuate foul play at every turn.

I appreciate the support, but let's not get things out of hand if possible.
Everyone is entitled to have their own opinion, and the idea of boycotting another people's work because of that isn't right either.

Godfish93 said:
Keep plugging away mate, now you've got to try and repeat the feat, so good luck with that!

I'll try... But I'm afraid the one who'll pull it off this time around is Liverpool! The reds have gone and signed Harry Kane and Douglas Costa, I'll cover it a bit more in depth when the transfer window comes...

Potg... Yes, it could have been done in a more civil manner or even via PM.
And yes, I know it's hard to believe... I've been playing FM since the 2006 edition and it's the first time I actually got it... During the run I was thinking "next month sure comes the defeat" so my surprise was as big as yours.

As for proof I can show you exactly what I touched so far, if that helps somehow.

View attachment 159314
Giving Continental reputation to a manager gives international caps aswell, the manager is based after me and the idea of a crippled lad that never played football getting caps...x_X Best way of get rid of them? Editor.
View attachment 159313
The real name fix I had when I started the save didn't fixed Netherland national team manager's name, I used the editor to change Jan Jansen into Dirk Franciscus "Danny" Blind.
View attachment 159312View attachment 159311View attachment 159310
I added me as a favourite employee on those three clubs for the sake of background building, and as far as I know in game editor is the only way to add a playable character as a favourite employee without having to stay in such club (until SI pulls off something to port info from saves of previous installments into current ones...).

View attachment 159308View attachment 159307
All those people you see in the screens (with the exception of Grealish and Aboubakar, they got there after scoring a hat trick against Chelsea) have been added with the editor as my character's favourite (and disliked) people for a lil' bit more of background building.
Pretty much everyone there (but for Aperribay due to being chairman) has me as favourite people for the same reason.


In game editor can be quite a quite handy tool for story making if used responsibly (for instance if I get to stay five or more seasons at Arsenal, I'll use the editor to make it one my favourite clubs).
Also I don't expect you to bow down or anything, what I would like seeing this issue come to an end.
What matters most at story writing aren't the results (I can enjoy reading or playing saves where a team struggles to avoid relegation or a long term save trying to rescue teams from the deepest bottoms of football... One of my favourites saves is one where I won the Champions League with Badalona, I spent 15 seasons getting them there and I cried tears of joy at the end of the save), is sharing your love for FM with other people who loves it as much as you do or even more... Or that's the way I see it.

Thanks for the compliments on story writing and the custom faces stay (as regens in FM2k16 give me the creeps and it would be a disrespect for the people who made them).
 
proper apology

OK I will take your word for it and apologise for the rash remarks and I take them back. I will continue to read your story and hope you can be as successful in the coming seasons
Good luck
 
(OoC-> Time to retake normal activity one more time ^^))
___________

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August

Fixture

View attachment 159160
I seriously wonder what's the point of this match... We made a double last year... Countries like Azerbaijan or Moldavia don't have a super cup when a team wins league and cup... But oh well...
The script was the same as the last games with City: the citizens put the football, we put the goals... We took the win in the end, but I don't like this one bit as we're playing with fire here. City knows how to handle us and luck can't last forever... I'll give one **** of an earful to the lads.

View attachment 159159
We faced Man U for the European Super Cup and what a thrilling game it was, we dominated them in the first half and grabbed a deserved 2 goals advantage, but in the second half it was the other way around as the red devils leveled up and managed to corner us but thankfully for us Giroud's second goal of the match was too much for them to overcome.

View attachment 159158
We started the league season on the always tricky Britannia Stadium, the potters are always a compluicated team to deal with specially at home and despite the final result this time was no different as the main difference at the end was our lads' accuracy over theirs.

View attachment 159157
Hey look at that, my earful seemed to worked! Truth to be told it's quite a relief as clashes with City always tend to shorten my lifespan considerably... But this time around? It was surprisingly comfortable for us as we dominated from minute 1 and not even their late goal jeopardized the victory.

View attachment 159156
The last match of the month was at the Emirates against Crystal Palace, much to my surprise this was a match that was way more comfortable as I had anticipated as the Eagles are quite an unpleasant team to deal with (really solid defense and good at counterattacking) but this time around seemed unable to stop a Giroud that started the season on fire.

League Table

View attachment 159155
The season starts with a tight North London clash at the top of the league.

Player of the Month

View attachment 159154
Giroud startes the season in the same way he finished the previous one: on fire.


Other News

-Arsenal will play against Newcastle in the Capital One Cup's third round, the match will be held at the Emirates Stadium.
-Arsenal starts its Champions League's campaign placed on Group B. Their opposition: FC Schalke 04 (GER), AC Milan (ITA) and RSC Anderlecht (BEL)
-Óliver Gil claims the Manager of the Month award after a tight clash with Tottenham's gaffer Roberto Mancini as they both ended with three wins each, Ronald Koeman (Southampton) ends up third.
-Baldé Keita ends up as the third best young player of the month only beaten by Raheem Sterling (Man City) and Mario Pasalic (On loan at Norwich from Chelsea)
-Dan Crowley is starting to impress in Scotland as he finished as the second best young player of the month in the Ladbrokes Premier starting his loan spell at Rangers of the best way possible.

View attachment 159153View attachment 159152View attachment 159151
Champions League groups for this season.
 



Transfers

View attachment 157967View attachment 157966

Overall: Pretty hectic transfer window as there has been way more movements that I had already anticipated before the start of it.
In the out department let's start by saying that in the Etihad they must know us as "Arsemart" by now since they seem comfortable enough to buy from us that they're a regular costumer. They did us a favor with Gabriel Paulista and Danny Welbeck splashing 56 millions on them, but with the Ox the story wasn't different... City came up asking for him and I rejected the idea of selling him at first since I counted on his versatilty for this season but it ended up poorly as he got upset for not letting him go... In the end I was forced to accept a really hefty sum (50 millions up front, the whole offer up to 62 depending on clauses) for him, it's a shame to let him go but 62 millions for a backup player? It's too good to pass on, besides I got a few prospects (A.Zivkovic, Kim, Pauly...) that can end up being better than him, so good bye Alex, enjoy being the third choice behind Sterling and De Bruyne.
Finally we managed to get rid of Debuchy, it wasn't easy since the "interested" teams considered his demands extremely high and the lad was too interesting in keep leeching our money and patience away to actually try to leave... But in the end we managed to get rid of such a leech, his new home? Barcelona.
Joel Campbell and David Ospina go all the way to Italy, the first will go to Bergamo as Atalanta offered us 10 millions (up front) in what was the most expensive transfer in the Dea's history. On the other hand Ospina will make the same path I did but on reverse, my beloved Fiorentina offered us 11 millions up front (13 depending on clauses) for him, Ospina is a player that earned my respect but with Horn's arrival he wouldn't have had any game time most likely so it was the best choice (even if it was the saddest).
The rest were youngster loans and some releases that players that didn't make the cut so to speak.
It's also worth mentioning that Elneny and Sczesny extended their loans for one more season to Lorient and AS Roma respectively.

In the ins, mostly signings for the academy squads and only a few for covering the gaps in the first squad but let's cover them in bit more in depth, shall we?

View attachment 157952
Lewis Cook joins us from Leeds Utd for 11 millions (8,5 up front) and a loan spell (was signed in January), he made an extraordinary campaign at Leeds he earned the chance to prove himself on the first squad. Arteta's decline and Wilshere's injury proness will grant him quite the amount of minutes.

View attachment 157951
Neil Kitching (regen), comes from Newcastle's academy for 1,9 million. Neil is a decent prospect with the potential of becoming a good left winger for Premier League standards (specially if he gets some pace).

View attachment 157950
Ryan Wright (Regen) is one of those cases where the early bird catches the worm... Southampton managed to ****** him up from Guincamp academy before we could even react and managed to make us pay almost 5 millions for him... But I think that if the lad develops properly it'll be more than worthy as I can see him as a top deep lying forward in a not so far future... Will we have another Theo Walcott in the making?

View attachment 157949
We definitely lucked out with this lad, Andy Leigh (regen) is yet another product of Crewe's excellent academy and we managed to get him for 100k and before the big squads noticed him. My U21 staff is thrilled with this lad's potential and so do I (I expect him to make it all the way into the first squad some day).

View attachment 157947
First of all I have to say that I'm proud of how we managed to close the deal as Everton wanted 70 millions (50 up front) but we reduced it to 32 (15 up front), with Mertesacker and Koscielny being on their 30s we needed someone young yet ready enough to replace them at short term (and by short I mean almost immediate) and Johnny is one of the best choices: young, solid, experienced and national product... I expect him to lead our defense for the next 10 years.

View attachment 157944
We made one heck of a deal with Jack Deal (regen), Jack comes from Leicester's academy and he's already a regular on England's U19 squad, he's more comfortable as right midfielder but we're keen on retrain him as a right back since we believe he can be the perfect competition for Bellerín. Also he's got bonus points for being an Arsenal supporter.

View attachment 157943
American media compares Danny Owen (Regen) with Tim Howard, despite hailing from New York Red Bull's academy Danny is part of our "nationalization" project as the lad despite being born in America has English citizenship and chose to play for England making his first U19 cap already.

View attachment 157941
Al Clark (regen) might be one of the favourite prospects I've ever trained (alongisde Paul Kim maybe). Let's start saying that he's an American born in England and he chose to play for England (he's still waiting for the call up though).
The kid is huge, solid defensively speaking, has decent heading... he reminds me of a "Mertesacker Jr.", Dallas doesn't know what has done by letting him go as he can become an excellent Premier League centerback in a not so far future.
My only gripe about him? He's a Tottenham supporter, but nobody's perfect.

View attachment 157940
Rey is a decent prospect that comes from Italian side Cremonese for free, he could become a good Premier League striker so we'll keep an eye to his development.

View attachment 157938
Calling Jhon a bargain is one heck of an understatement as he was signed by only 5k, the lad might be a tad too green but Colombian media has a lot of faith in him as they call him the new "Carlos Valderrama" (Crotch guards will be mandatory in the future in the Premier if he's around) so we'll keep an eye on him definitely.

View attachment 157936
Richairo came from Ajax for 6,5 millions as a replacement for Welbeck and the staff considers him to have potential to be better than Aboubakar and Giroud...COMBINED. I like the kid's versitality as he can play well as a striker and a winger, we're thrilled with his potential and we'll be more than keen on his development.

View attachment 157934
Ali wasn't a primary objecitve of ours but he can cover a lot of areas effectively and has plenty of room to grow into a fine Premier League player for us in the future... Besides, we stole a Tottenham's transfer target which is one **** of a plus if you ask me.

View attachment 157932
Luka Pavic (regen) is a signing made by Andries Jonkers on his own and I gotta hand it to him, this kid looks amazing and according to both staff and scouters can be way better than both Cech and Horn if he develops properly... We've got a diamond with this kid, so our job is to make him shine like he should.

View attachment 157930
Timo Horn made a magnificent campaign last season at Köln and he seems more than ready to attempt to steal Cech's starter position, 8,5 millions for a player like him seem an absolute bargain.

View attachment 157929
Màrio Andrade (Regen) is one of the players my scouting staff discovered during the U19 European Championship, the young Portuguese leftback wasn't a priority but a player with potential to be a good leftback for only 700k? We couldn't say no to that.

View attachment 157927
I didn't expect to spend that much on this lad... But I didn't expect to compete with Bayern, Real Madrid and PSG for him... We had to spend half of what we got for good ol' Ox but we get a great replacement for him as he can cover all the areas Ox could AND can also play effectively as a striker if needed... We'lll be relying on him A LOT.

View attachment 157925
Minervino Peixoto (Regen) is another lad we discovered thanks to the U19 European Championship. The lad is decent for his age, has plenty of potential and a lot of commitment as he stated he wanted to come here since he first learnt of our interest and even turned down offers from Liverpool and Manchester United to come here.

View attachment 157923
Mohamed Houbaine (Regen) is a strange case, is a Danish kid with Moroccan descent that can play well as striker, attacking midfiielder and midfielder... We're unsure about how to develop this kid but we're sure that he can become an incredible player regardless on what path he takes.

View attachment 157920
This kid is another surprise as he was brought by Jonkers on his own (the man seems to have a fixation for Croatian football), the kid could be an asset for small teams playing on top flight divisions despite his short age so I'm impressed so far (and we haven't seen anything yet!).
It's also worth mentioning that he's Dejan Lovren's younger brother.

View attachment 157918
I've been chasing this kid since January and it wasn't easy to sign him as Lechia Gdansk wasn't specially keen on letting him go, but thanks to the the kid's own pressure we managed to ****** him up for only 2 millions (he showed a lot of commitment and that made his move possible in the end), I expect great things from him in the future.

View attachment 157916
Roger Pauly (Regen) is a product of Gent's excellent academy, he wasn't a primary target for us but after his manager offered him we got convinced with his potential and decided to give him a try and go after him... He's a bit of a gamble, but in order to gain you have to risk sometimes...

View attachment 157914
Pol Zacarés (regen) is another player we discovered thanks to the U19 European Championship and quite frankly I'm surprised nobody noticed him... Villarreal refused to negotiate for the lad but thankfully he had a relatively low release clause. He could turn into a defensive monster and even surpass Coquelin if he develops properly... I can hardly wait to see that.



Future Transfers

View attachment 157910

Overall:
We keep building our future with the addition of a young centerback from Betis' academy that will join us on January, once he's 16...
...But also we keep improving our present as we signed the replacement for the leftback postion, it wasn't easy nor cheap as Valencia refused to negotiate but José Luís Gayà will be ours starting next season. With both Bellerín and Gayà will have the flanks extremely well covered for the next decade.


Staff

View attachment 157906

Overall:
We had to cover a few holes in the squad as some scouts retired at the end of the season, it was unfortunate but oh well... what can we do.
The rest of the signings were for the academy... Some club legends came back home and Rosicky decided to join us as a youth coach once he hanged up his boots.

View attachment 157905
Welcome back, Thierry. This has always been your home.
 
1024043d1455914667t-gunning-greatness-arsenal-banner.jpg


September

Fixture

View attachment 157528
We start the month with my first visit to Loftus Road, the match started pretty comfortable with a solid offensive display that allowed us to take the advantage but on the second half our lads became a tad too complacent and it could have cost us at the very least two points... If it wasn't for Timo Horn who was superb.
Al Clark and Rich Colin made their debut with the senior squad.

View attachment 157524
We started our Champions League's campaign against Anderlecht at home and it couldn't be any better, as we managed to neutralize the Belgian champions in only 45 minutes.
Our title defense started with a 5 star triumph no doubt.

View attachment 157523
Unexpected to say the least... Everton is one of the teams that give us the most headaches yet this time we brushed them aside with almost no effort. The lads cornered the Toffees from minute 1 to 90 in a brilliant offensive display led by a plethoric Bellerín who was a nightmare for Everton's defense.

View attachment 157521
We had to work extra hard in our Capital One Cup 3rd round match, Newcastle showed its usual offensive style that made me earn their respect in the past but with more luck this time around as the magpies fought evenly against us and forced us into a stalemate at the end of the 90 minutes. Gnabry managed to score the winning goal shortly after the extra time start.
Keith Blake made his debut with the senior squad.

View attachment 157520
I hate visiting the Stadium of Light... Sunderland is one of the most tricky visits in the whole Premier as matches against them always become wars of attrition... And this time wasn't different as their rocky defense, an inspired Pantilimon and a card spamming referee almost made us lose two points this time, luckily we could grab two vital goals in the final stages of the game.

View attachment 157519
We closed the month visiting a stadium that will always be treasured deeply in the heart and memory of every Arsenal supporter around the globe: San Siro.
We visited the stadium where we won the Champions League to play against a Milan that had a unlucky start as the rossoneros scored and own goal barely after the start of the game, Pepe's blunder seemed to upset the Italian giants way too much and they weren't able to feel comfortable on the pitch and the lads took full advantage of that to take control of a surprsingly one sided match.

League Table

View attachment 157512
Arsenal and Tottenham still clash at the top of the table after two months of competiton.

View attachment 157508
Brilliant start for the gunners, who got a comfortable lead after its first two matches.

Player of the Month

View attachment 157507
Bellerín has been impressive during the whole month, being key in both the offensive and defensive game for the Gunners.

Other News

-Benevolent draw for Arsenal in the Capital One Cup as they will play against Crystal Palace in the fourth round, the match will be held at the Emirates.
-Héctor Bellerín ends up as the third best young player of the month only beaten by Luke Shaw and Raheem Sterling.
-Good start for Donyell Malen's loan spell at Oldham as he ends up as second best young player of the month in the League 1.
-Kaylen Hinds keeps impressing on Kilmarnock and he ends up as the second best Ladbrokes Premiership youngster this month.
-Triple draw in the manager of the month award as Roberto Mancini (Tottenham), David Moyes (Man Uted) and Óliver Gil (Arsenal) won all their matches this month. Mancini ended up claiming the award followed by Gil and Moyes.
 
(OoC: First of all I should start by saying that despite this long period of inactivity this story isn't dead,I've had a bit of a hard time in order to find some time for FM during the last few weeks that led to this "hiatus". Accept my apologies for such inconvenience and I'll try to update more frequently from now on).
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October

Fixture

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We started the month playing against Cardiff in a somewhat tricky match as the bluebirds managed to take the advantage thanks to an inspired Torres and when we thought we finally overcame them Torres made the equaliser for the Welsh squad.
However Cardiff accused the extra effort made in the first half and was unable to stop a brilliant Giroud that scored a hat trick.

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We visited St.Mary's before heading to our mid-week trip to Germany, despite the final result the match was incredibly even and the Saints made us sweat extra hard in order to take something positive against Koeman's pupils, where the only difference in the end was our lads' accuracy.
In the end we claimed an important win against a brave Southampton that deserved more.

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Back to Cahmpions to play against Schalke in the VELTINS Arena in a match that could have easily been this edition's best Champions League match so far.
The miners managed to overcome our initial advantage and later they could even get an equaliser after we managed to get the advantage back from them... The last minutes were downright frantic but we managed to claim a vital victory thanks to Giroud who scored a hat trick despite coming from the bench!
We managed to ****** a win in a match that shortened the lifespan of whoever took part on it or even watched it... What a match!

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Back to the league, where we visited Viccarage Road in a match where we had to use a heavy rotated team and we almost regretted it.
The Hornets took advantage of our fatigue and got an important advantage that almost lasted for a full hour until Austin managed to get a lucky goal... But Watford considered the draw as a good result too and kept the bus parked in front of their goal and almost worked for them... until Andrija Zivkovic scored a goal that should have been disallowed as he was in offside... but hey you won't hear me complain.
I'm not proud of this game but... in the end a win is a win, let's leave it at that.

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Time for the Capital One Cup as the Eagles visited the Emirates for the 4th round. Crystal Palace tried to dry our offensive force with a rocky and violent football but didn't work well enough for them as they left the Emirates with a sound 3-0 defeat.
Luka Pavic, Jack Deal and Ryan Wright made their debuts with the senior squad.

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We closed the month playing against Norwich... on my birthday. The lads were extra focused on this match maybe becuase of the poor image given in Viccarage Road, maybe because they wanted to dedicate me a win for my birthday or maybe to take advantage of Tottenham's slip, whatever the cause might be what truly matters is that the canaries didn't stand a chance as Gnabry lead the team to an impressive 4-0 victory.


League Table

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We finally got a bit of a gap in the league table that give us a relatively nice margin and some calmness in order to face an absurdly hard month of November (Man U, Chelsea AND Tottenham).

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We're virtually qualified for the first knock out round thanks to an extremely good European campaign.


Player of the Month

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Giroud has been impressive this month and scored two hat tricks that give us important wins.

Other News

-Arsenal will play against Manchester City in the quarter finals of the Capital One Cup, the match will be held (once again) at the Emirates Stadium.
-One of Aboubakar's two goals against Norwich was named as second best goal of the month.
-Arsenal's youth academy gets its well deserved recognition as Krystian Bielik (on loan at Huddersfield) claims the best young player of the month award on the Championship and Gedion Zelaem (on loan at Brentford) ends up third.
-Tie in the Manager of the month award as both Óliver Gil (Arsenal) and David Moyes (Man.Utd) have won all their matches this month, the award went to Moyes mainly because of... goal difference, Frank De Boer (Chelsea) ended up third.
-West Ham United sacked up Slaven Bilic after the hammers' poor start, Fernando Hierro sound as his most likely replacement.
 
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November

Fixture

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We started the month with a Champions League game against Schalke, despite having the same amount of goals as the previous match with the miners, this time around we managed to steamroll a team that was completely overwhelmed by our lads' constant attacks, specially Giroud who scored yet another hat trick.
We sealed our qualification with a goal fest in front of our fans.

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Back to the Premier where Man U visited the Emirates, unlike the previous match against them (European Super Cup back in August) this time around we managed to exorcise the red devils, who despite reacting almost immediately to Kos' early goal were unable to keep up and went back to Manchester with a battered ego.
Solid slam to the league with a brilliant performance.

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Chelsea visited the Emirates in a game that promised to be quite difficult but thankfully for us Keita managed to get an early goal that made things more comfortable for us and Özil expanded said advantage with a penalty kick against a Chelsea that seemed more satisfied by having the ball than actually doing something with it.
In the end we got a vital yet somewhat dull win.

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We made a little trip to Belgium to play against Anderlecht with a somewhat rotated team, the Belgians took advantage of that and made us break quite a sweat to the point of getting an equaliser seconds before the first half's finish but were unable to take advantage of a situation that could have paid a mental toll on the lads but the effort made in the first 45 minutes was too much for them and got overwhelmed at the end.

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Hectic, frantic and nerve wracking to its finest... It was truly a North London Derby to remember. We had a good start thanks to Andrija Zivkovic but it last shortly as Ayozé Pérez got an equaliser almost immediately, from that point onwards the game became an all out war and Zivkovic managed to get us the advantage once again.
In the second half we went from a hypothetical 1-3 (since the referee disallowed a completely legal goal to Charlie Austin) to a 2-2 (as the referee allowed the second goal for Ayozé despite him being off side), we didn't give up and got 2 more goals that seemed to solve the game... But Tottenham refused to give up and got a third goal... and could even score a late game equaliser... If it wasn't for the referee who prevented Ayozé's hat trick.
In the end we managed to get out alive from White Hart Lane and with an important win to boot.

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We closed the month by closing the group stage against Milan, the match didn't have any relevance as both squads were already qualified and Milan couldn't steal the first place no matter what, but the lads seemed to motivated and determined to end the group stage without giving up a single point (something we couldn't do last year) and the rossoneros couldn't do anything to stop us.
Solid yet somehow really short win in the end.


League Table

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We survived the so called "Black November" and get a gap big enough to go to the World Club Championship without the concern of losing the first place.

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Flawless performance of our lads as we managed to not only survive in a tough group but also secure the pass to the next round without giving up any points.

Player of the Month

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Giroud seems to be on fire as the lad not only is the Champions League's top goal scorer but also managed to almost get as many goals as last year in only 6 games.


Other News

-Yet another tie in the Manager of the Month Award as Óliver Gil (Arsenal) and Mauricio Pochettino (Watford) got the same amount of wins, this time around Gil reclaims the award thanks to goal difference. Brendan Rodgers (Leicester) ends up third.
-Alan Pardew was hired as West Ham's manager.
 
Still incredible that you haven't lost a match! :O And you don't even draw either! What's your career record now of Wins, Draws and Losses? I can't remember everything, is it perfect?
 
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Fanzone

Still incredible that you haven't lost a match! :O And you don't even draw either! What's your career record now of Wins, Draws and Losses? I can't remember everything, is it perfect?

First of all, a pleasure to have you around (like always).

When it comes to this season, we're still unbeaten in all fronts but in general there were a couple of teams that managed to get something from us: Juventus (1-1 in last years' Champions League group stage, a match where they deserved to win by a 4 or 5 goal margin to be honest) and Atlético Madrid (1-1 in last years' Champions League 1st knockout round (2nd leg) thanks to a magnificent thunderbastard scored by Saúl Ñíguez).
I'm unable to remember the exact amount of wins as of now but I've got no losses so far and two draws, if you want I can attach a screenshot of my current record by the next time I execute FM.

However I'm sure that we will blunder sooner than later like this season has somewhat proved so far: Southampton, Watford, Tottenham and Schalke (in Germany only though) were extremely close of getting good results from us and Newcastle was on the verge of knocking us out of the Capital One Cup.
Nevertheless I'm extremely proud of the team's performance so far, specially in Champions League where we managed to get a flawless campaing so far in a quite tricky group (and more considering that teams like Manchester City, Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund were knocked down to Europa League and Chelsea ended up 4th in its group).

Thank you for dropping by and your continued support like always ^^

.P.S.: I might dedicate a whole post to Champions League's big surprises... I could be a quite interesting article to write.
 


European Meteor Shower

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This season's Champions League group stage has left quite a few surprises.

As expected some of the bigger teams in the continent have done what it was expected of them and sealed the qualification for the knock out round like the current Europa League holders Manchester United, Spain, Germany, France and Italy titans like Barcelona, Bayern München, PSG (who will try to improve last year's campaign when they got knocked out in the first round by Borussia Mönchegladbach) or Juventus, and the current Champions League holders Arsenal who showed that last year's performance wasn't just sheer luck.

However this season's group stage also had quite a few surprises, as there were a surprisingly high amount of "shooting stars".
Current runner up Real Madrid will be forced to keep its European campaign in the Europa League as they fell one point short to qualification in a group where PSG and Bayer Leverkusen ended up ahead of the Merengues, same fate awaits to Manchester City who will be heading to Europa League by goal difference which is a massive blow for Guardiola's lads.
The same path will follow teams like Borussia Dortmund, Schalke 04 and the current French Ligue 1 holders Olympique Marseille.

Harsher luck will have teams like AS Roma and Chelsea that ended up last in their respective groups against all odds, specially the blues that were expected to end up first in a group that had no real opposition for them.

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This time around the flop is REAL
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.P.S. As requested by Pat I'll be leaving a screen showing my manager's profile and current win ratio.

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I'm not actually fond of such low domestic player percentage but I'm sure that it will rise in a not so long future with players like Maitland-Niles, Cook, Stones, Hinds, Grealish and regens like Colin, Blake, Leigh, Wright and Owen and Clark (that are considered English now).
 
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December

Fixture

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Our monthly run starts with an always difficult visit to Anfield, I expected the match to be quite tricky and pretty much was like that as both teams were pretty much even on everything but with one tiny difference though: Harry Kane's accuracy was off while Aboubakar's on the other hand wasn't.


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Newcastle came to pay us a little visit for our last league match before departing to Japan, the team displayed a terrific offensive performance... but on the other hand the defense seemed to be already on holiday as Newcastle managed to take advantage of the very few chances they had.
In the end we left the islands after a pretty entertaining goalfest.

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We started our Club World Cup run against CONCACAF Champions League's winners Tigres de UANL, people expected an easy win from us... but it was surprisingly tough match for us.
We were the better team but also inexperienced in this competition, thing that the Mexican squad took advantage of and managed to drag the match to the extra time, however our individual quality was key on the extra 30 minutes and we could advance to the finals thanks to Oliver Giroud and Jack Grealish who were superb.

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Unacceptable, simply unacceptable. Before the start of the match several of our key players like Cech, Monreal and Koscielny showed and voiced their worries about this match for no reason, which left me with no other choice but letting them out since unsettling the team's morale before a final is simply UNACCEPTABLE.

As for the match itself... once again UNACCEPTABLE. With no means of disrespecting Gremio, but I don't think that they're superior to teams like Juventus, Barcelona, Milan or Real Madrid, heck I don't even think that they're any better than teams like Man U, Man City or Liverpool...
...However the Copa Libertadores' champions were able to best us at everything, they toyed with us from minute one, but unfortunately for them that costed them dearly as their unability to strike us down ended up dragging the match to the penalty shoot out where Timo Horn became a hero.
In the end we went back to England with yet another piece of silverware but with an incredibly poor image aswell.


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Now that's more like it! Back to England in order to face City in the Capital One Cup quarter finals, City managed to get an early advantage thanks to a penalty scored by Touré but the lads refused to give up and grabbed and almost immediate equaliser. From that point onward we dominated the match against a City that was unable to stop us and should consider itself lucky to come back to Manchester with only a 2-1 defeat.
Stefan Büchler made his debut with the senior squad in this match.

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Back to the league but out of England as this time around we had to do a short trip to Wales in order to play against Swansea. The swans were only able to defend themselves and try to break our rhythm with fouls... I still wonder how Swansea managed to end the game with eleven players on the field though... They were brutal!
In the end we claimed a somehow insufficient 0-2 win and the relief of having no players injured from such a war.

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We closed the month (and the year) with a match against Burnley, the clarets tried their hardest to get something positive from the Emirates but in the end they were unable to withstand the offensive football our lads, who only needed 45 minutes to secure a comfortable win.


League Table

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We close the year still on top of the league and with a pretty comfortable margin.

Player of the Month

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Grealish has proved why he's regarded as the best youngster in Europe, the former Aston Villa trainee has been superb during the whole month.

Other News

-Arsenal will play against Watford in the Capital One Cup semifinals, the other semifinal will be West Bromwich Albion-Sheffield Wednesday.
-Arsenal will play against Cardiff City in the FA Cup 3rd round, the match will be held at the Emirates Stadium.
-Benevolent Champions League draw for Arsenal as the gunners will play against Galatasaray in the first knockout round.
-Jack Grealish claims the Club World Cup's best player award.
-Oliver Giroud ends up as the Club World Cup's top goal scorer.
-Lionel Messi (Barcelona) claims this year's Ballon d'Or, Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) and Alexis Sánchez (Arsenal) end up 2nd and 3rd respectively.
-Lionel Messi claims the World Player of the Year award narrowly beating both Alexis Sánchez and Mesut Özil.
-Alexis Sánchez, Mesut Özil and Theo Walcott were selected in the World of the Year's starting eleven.
-Jack Grealish claim this year's Golden Boy award.
-Olivier Giroud named as best French Player of the Year, Raphaël Varane (Real Madrid) and Paul Pogba (Juventus) end up 2nd and 3rd respectively and with a surprisingly huge margin from Arsenal's towering striker.
-Frank De Boer (Chelsea) finally claims the Best Manager of the Month award after spending so many month stuck in the top 3, Pep Guardiola (Manchester City) and David Moyes (Manchester United) complete this month podium.
-Nigel Pearson appointed as Crystal Palace's manager.
 
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