Patrick Vieira - from Midfielder to Manager

Bad new !

Hey man , this bad new means you're going to find an another striker , the question is , will it be a loan or a transfert ?
 
papinades said:
Hey man , this bad new means you're going to find an another striker , the question is , will it be a loan or a transfert ?
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I doubt I'd find anyone good enough who'd come on loan so I'll probably be looking for a full transfer :)
 
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So, here it is ... after a long pre-season and a very up and down transfer window so far, we welcome newly promoted Watford to the Emirates.

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We line up with the same formation as I showed you earlier with the only change being that Juan Mata coming in for Santi Cazorla.

We're playing a system which should give us a lot of possession with us playing a very high line in an attacking system..
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Well we got the job done without being brilliant today.

The first half was a bit frustrating with us having 10 efforts on goal but only 2 on target. We played well all game but just couldn't find the final pass and on far too many occasions the effort on goal was poor.

Alexis Sanchez scored the only goal of the game with a brilliant finish after Aaron Ramsey played a through ball to the winger from just outside the penalty area.

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Sanchez took a touch and was free of the defender, he then finished brilliantly into the far top corner.


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MAN OF THE MATCH - Aaron Ramsey

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A really good performance from him today, he set up countless attacks including the assist for Sanchez to score.

Goals - 0
Assists - 1
Rating - 8.2​
 
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After beating Watford in the opening game of the season, we then came up against Norwich who had only survived relegation by 3 points last season.

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After beating Watford in the first game I didn't really see any reason to change the side so we lined up with the same 11.

Norwich line up with a 4-2-3-1 formation with my old midfielder at Milan, Nigel De Jong being one of the holding midfielders. Former Liverpool player, Fabio Borini led the line as the only striker.
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If I didn't think we were great in the previous game, then we were really poor today against a fairly poor Norwich side.

We had enough chances to win the game but our problem was, so did Norwich. We gave them far too much space as they really could have scored a couple here.

We had a lot of possession but didn't really do anything with it! Carlos Tevez was pretty poor today which just reminds me how important it is to bring in a new striker.
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MAN OF THE MATCH - Héctor Moreno

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He kept a clean sheet against us today and led the back line well.

He only joined Norwich in the summer and can be very happy with the way he's started the season.​
 
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After playing the first 2 games of the season, it brought about the end of August which meant we learned who we'd be facing in this years Europa League and also the 3rd round of the League Cup ...

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I'm still not sure how much importance I'm going to give the Europa League but after looking at this group, we should be qualifying fairly easily really.

Stuttgart and Athletico could potentially cause us issues but they're still game we should be winning.

Both Stuttgart and Athletico had good league finishes last season with Stuttgart finishing 3rd and Athletico finishing 4th. This meant they both qualified for the Champions League but both lost in their qualifying rounds. Stuttgart losing to Dynamo Kiev and Athletico losing to Porto.
​

We also saw the draw for the League Cup 3rd round ...

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You really couldn't make this up!

An away tie against North London rivals Tottenham. It's a great tie for the fans but I'd have preferred it to be in one of the latter rounds.


It's Transfer Deadline Day tomorrow which means all my attention is on bringing in another striker before the window slams shut.​
 
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TRANSFER DEADLINE DAY

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This is a huge day for us this here, I'm desperate to add a striker with Carlos Tevez coming towards the end of this career and Anthony Martial injured until the new year.

We've got £60 million left to spend but with less than a day to make it happen, whoever we go for will be difficult. These are my main targets ...

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I've put offers in for all 5!

Lets see what happens ...

​


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Well, this just left one option ...


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Bayern weren't playing ball so we had no option but to match his buy out clause which stood at £52 million.

It's a huge fee and will be huge wages as well but he really could make all the difference to us this season.

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We went ahead with it and the deal was confirmed with just an hour to go!

I had some concerns over this signing, mainly due to his age as he won't have a sale on value and also demanded £200k per week in wages.

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He really could be the game changer after scoring 70 goals for Bayern in the last 4 seasons. He's an out an out goal scorer which is exactly what we need.

I'd go as far as saying that my job depends on this transfer, if he hits the ground running then we should easily be top 4, if he flops then I'll probably be looking at the sack for a second time!

​
 
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After the drama of Deadline day, our attentions turned back to league action with a home game against newly promoted Brighton.

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New man, Robert Lewandowski makes his first start despite only being at the club less than 24 hours. Other than that we go with the same side that drew 0-0 against Norwich.

Brighton were only promoted last season, through the play offs, so this will be one we're expected to win with relative ease.
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What a totally dominating performance.

Brighton never caused a problem all game, they only had 2 shots all game with neither being on target. We totally dictated the game and had a whopping 71% of the ball.

Despite all this dominance it was a goalless until the half hour mark in an early performance which reminded me very much of the last game against Norwich.

After half an hour though, new signing Robert Lewandowski was brought down in the area with the referee pointing straight to the spot. Lewandowski was desperate to take it but Juan Mata was having none of it as he stepped up and slotted the ball home to make it 1-0.

Lewandowski would be able to celebrate a debut goal though with less than 20 minutes to play. Juan Mata but in a cross to the far post which Lewandowski got his head on it after running backwards, his header looped over the 'keeper and found the net at the far post. I'm not sure if he meant it but it certainly looked spectacular.

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This goal put an end to the game with us seeing out the last 20 minutes without drama.

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MAN OF THE MATCH - Juan Mata

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A great performance today from the new boy. He scored the penalty and supplied the cross for Lewandowski . He was a constant threat though and was always the 'go to' man when we were attacking.

Goals - 1
Assists - 1
Rating - 9.0​
 
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After beating Brighton we then travelled to take on Southampton.

But before the match, we learned of some injury news ...

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Left back, Jetro Willems was ruled out for 3 weeks with a strained stomach muscle. He's been decent so far Willems, I wasn't sure about him when I first came in but he's done well so far.
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We make one change for this match up against Southampton which was forced due to Jetro Willems injury. He's been ruled out for a couple of weeks now so Kieran Gibbs comes in as a like for like replacement.

This is probably the sternest test of the season so far after a pretty comfortable start to the season. The Saints finished 10th last season but have only picked up 4 points from their opening 3 games this term.
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What a rollercoaster of a game.

Southampton proved to be step up in opposition as they took an early lead after just 5 minutes when Thorgan Hazard opened the scoring. Gerónimo Rulli was definitely at fault here as the header was in the middle of the goal, Rulli got his hands on it but just pushed it into the corner of the goal.

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We weren't behind for long though as we equalised less than 10 minutes later. The goal has gone down as a Loret Sadiku own goal but Robert Lewandowski can take the credit. It was his effort which was saved by the 'keeper, the re-bound then hit Sadiku without him knowing and rolled in.

Just after half time Lewandowski was in the thick of the action again as he won a penalty, for the 2nd time in 2 games. Once again Juan Mata took it but this time it was saved as his effort was straight down the middle.

From the resulting corner however Per Mertesacker headed home to put us 2-1 up.

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We weren't great after this and allowed Southampton to create far too many chances for my liking. We subbed Lewandowski though for Tevez as he's not yet hit full fitness and took Mata off for Francis Coquelin to try and tighten things up.

Less than a minute of making these changes and Southampton pulled level again. Alexandru Tudorie levelled in a good move for Southampton which really highlighted our lack of pace at central defence.

Without Robert Lewandowski on the pitch the attention turned to Carlos Tevez to dig us out of a hole, and he did. A mix up at the back for Southampton allowed him through on goal as stuck the ball in the back of the net with his first touch after coming on.

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With less than 10 minutes to go Southampton didn't really look like equalising again.
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MAN OF THE MATCH - Hector Bellerin

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I'm a little surprised that Bellerin won match on the match. He played very well, don't get me wrong, but he looked a little fragile defensively. But he was a constant threat going forward and set up the play which won us the penalty.​
 
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After a good start to the league campaign, our attentions now turn to the Europa League as we take on Athletic in the first group stage game ...

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We had further trouble at left back for this game as we couldn't select either Gibbs nor Willems.

Because I'm an idiot, I didn't select Gibbs in the squad for the Europa League which meant Emre Can dropped back to fill in, because of this we push both fulls back a bit deeper so it was a little more familiar for him.
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Once again we get off to a bad start, conceding in the first 5 minutes for the second game in a row. Borja Viguera finished off a decent move which once again highlighted our deficiencies at the back.

Robert Lewandowski fired us level before half time with a brilliant strike, he had his back to goal but turned and finished really well.

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We weren't at our best today but I have never seen possession stats like that before, especially for an away team. What concerns me is that we had 85% of the ball but only created 7 shots all game. I think we probably need to sacrifice some of the ball to attack a little more.
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MAN OF THE MATCH - Robert Lewandowski

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Another good game from the new lad. His goal was pure quality and got us back into the game when we didn't look very good.

Fortunately for us, the other game in our group also finished a draw ...

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Therefore all 4 teams in our group finish gameweek 1 with 1 point and leaves it all to play for.​
 
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We now revert back to league action to take on last seasons champions, Chelsea.

If we thought the Southampton and Athletico Bilbao game were tough tests, they'd be nothing compared to this. Chelsea won the league by 7 points last season and have started this season just as well, staying unbeaten in all competitions so far.

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Kieran Gibbs made a return to starting line up following him missing the tie against Athletico Bilbao.

I felt Francis Coquelin wasn't fit enough to start so with Jack Wilshere still injured, Santi Cazorla came into the side to partner Aaron Ramsey in central midfield.

When you look at the Chelsea side here, there's just quality and potential match winners everywhere. I really feel we can target John Terry though who's 37 now but still starting every game for Chelsea.
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A draw was probably a fair result here as neither side did quite enough to claim the win.

Robert Lewandowski won an early penalty within 10 minutes after being brought down by ex Arsenal defender Callum Chambers, this is the 3rd penalty he's won this season.

With Juan Mata missing his last attempt it was the turn of Santi Cazorla to step up and slot home.

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The game seemed to settle down after we took the lead with us having plenty of the ball but without really threatening the Chelsea goal.

The score remained 1-0 right up until the 85th minutes when Victor Lindelöf levelled late on. Nemanja Matic won the flick on from an in swinging corner which Lindelöf flicked into the net from just a few yards out.

On the whole I think Chelsea probably deserved a point here after threatening late on.
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MAN OF THE MATCH - Kurt Zouma

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Zouma handled Robert Lewandowski very well as he was pretty quiet today. A very mature performance from the 24 year old who is now a regular in a dominating Chelsea team.

Goals - 0
Assists - 0
Rating - 7.2​
 
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We now turn our attention to the big North London Derby as we take on Spurs in the League Cup 3rd round.

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We make a couple of changes for this cup game as Serge Gnabry and Iuri Medeiros came into the side to replace Alex Oxlaid-Chamberlain and Alexis Sanchez. Emre Can and Chris Smalling also come into the side for Per Mertesacker and Santi Cazorla.


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This was so disappointing, my worst day in charge of Arsenal. You never want to lose against your rival but to lose with a performance like this makes it even worse.

Christian Erikson opened the scoring on the stroke of half time after Kieran Gibbs clearance fell at Erikson's feet who finished well from 12 yards out, it was quite close to the 'keeper but I guess he saw it late.

It then got even worse when Harry Kane doubled the lead just before the hour mark. Harry Kane played on the shoulder on the defence and found himself 1 on 1 with the 'keeper. He then hit a really tame effort into the middle of the goal, Gerónimo Rulli just watched it roll past him though and into the back of net. I make him at fault for 3 goals already this season!

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Robert Lewandowski got one back straight from the kick off though to give us some hope. Fazio miscontrolled the ball at the back which Lewandowski latched onto and fired home well.

To make things even worse, Emre Can saw red late on after catching Christian Erikson on the edge of the box. This means he'll miss the next league game against Leicester.

Gerónimo Rulli made an even bigger mistake late on but was thankfully saved by Chris Smalling on the line. Rulli really has proved to me today that he isn't good enough.
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MAN OF THE MATCH - Christian Erikson

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A good performance from the Dane who opened the scoring in the first half.

Goals - 1
Assists - 0
Rating - 7.5​
 
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After the Tottenham game I was furious, even more furious with Gerónimo Rulli as he's been at fault for a few goals recently.

After the Spurs defeat I called him into my office to tell him his performance haven't been good enough.

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Patrick Vieira - Hi Gerónimo, take a seat.

Gerónimo Rulli - Everything okay?

Patrick Vieira - Not really mate, I've asked you here to tell you that Petr Cech will be starting the next game, against Leicester. Your performances just haven't been good enough.

Gerónimo Rulli - What! I'm a much better than Cech! How old is Cech anyway? About 40?

Patrick Vieira - Look, you'll get another chance this season but you've been at fault for 3 goals already this season and we've only played 7 games.

Gerónimo Rulli - I'm really not happy with this, I'll be phoning my agent right now and look for a move.

Patrick Vieira - That probably suits us both then! Sooner the better!

​

So, that looks to have settled that!

Ruli has been terrible since I've arrived so I'm not going to lose any sleep if he demands a move away.

I just hope Cech can still perform at this level, He's 36 now and due to retire at the end of the season. If he can't cut it then I'm stuffed really because I've burned my bridges with Rulli.​
 
Well I played Brad Friedel at age 42 in fm14 amd he didn't too bad... At age 36 gk's don't win the games for you but they don't(normally) make mistakes cause their experience. I don't get it why people keep young and promising 18-20 years old gk's sitting their bench... They don't grow like that but yes they have more time to grow but still I like experienced ones for my 2nd and 3rd gk's
 
Nnicod55 said:
Well I played Brad Friedel at age 42 in fm14 amd he didn't too bad... At age 36 gk's don't win the games for you but they don't(normally) make mistakes cause their experience. I don't get it why people keep young and promising 18-20 years old gk's sitting their bench... They don't grow like that but yes they have more time to grow but still I like experienced ones for my 2nd and 3rd gk's
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That's promising mate! I've gone from playing Donnarumma (18) to playing Cech (36) haha! Hopefully I can rely on him for this season and replace him then
 
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The final game of the month sees us up against Leicester who are doing well and find themselves in the top 6!

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We make a few changes for the final game of the month, some enforced, some optional. Both the central midfielders were ruled out, Emre Can suspended and Aaron Ramsey injured.

Santi Cazorla and Jack Wilshere come in, Wilshere with his first start of the season after only just coming back from injury himself. Per Mertesacker came back into the side to replace Smalling to give us some more experience at the back.
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Once again we were far too open, the formation we're using obviously isn't working in the games away from home.

Juan Mata opened after Lewandowski played a wonderful ball through to him with Mata finishing well 1v1 with the 'keeper. He looked offside but finished well nonetheless.

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Ricky Álvarez levelled things up on the stroke of half time though with a low effort from the edge of the box which went right into the bottom corner.

Lewandowski put us back infront with his 4th of the season when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain went on a brilliant run and put in a great cross. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was beginning to frustrate me as he run the full back ragged every game but his final cross or shot was always poor, not on this occasion though his cross meant the big Pole couldn't miss.

Riyad Mahrez drew Leicester level though after some awful defending from Kieran Gibbs. First he missed a header to intercept the ball, he then let Mahrez tie him in knots inside the penalty area as he struck the ball into the far corner. Gibbs really should have done better.

Santi Cazorla got the winner late on though from the penalty spot which once again, Robert Lewandowski won, that the 4th he's won already this season.

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We saw the game out well bringing Chris Smalling on to play holding midfield late on.
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MAN OF THE MATCH - Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

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The OX played really today and was a constant threat for Jordan Obita to handle, playing in an unfamiliar defensive role. He's started the season well so far but sometimes he can be so frustrating as his final ball lets him down quite frequently.

Goals - 0
Assists - 2
Rating 9.0​
 
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The victory over Leicester signaled the end of September for us ...

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We were in pretty good league form throughout September but struggled in the League Cup and Europa League.

We won 3 out of 4 league games as well as earning a very respectful draw against Chelsea.

My slight concern is the amount of goals we've been conceding of late which is something we need to address.
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We finish September in 4th place, 2 points off Man City who are top.

It's only early days but 14 points from 6 games is a decent return.​
 
loving this story, just caught up. I can't believe milan sacked you, was sure strootman would have been brilliant. best of luck with arsenal.
 
PaperClipFMer said:
This was really really disappointing! A second defeat in a row!
Lazio opened the scoring when Khouma Babacar headed home from 6 yards out after beating Romagnoli in the air too easily.
​
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Unlucky! Babacar is a beast, signed him for Sporting Lisbon story last year...insane!


PaperClipFMer said:

It was then Ayoze Perez who stole the headlines with his first goal back from a serious injury. He just hadn't been the same played since returning but this was certainly more like it after playing the last half an hour or so.
​
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Glad to see Perez back to his best! He was on fire before his injury.


PaperClipFMer said:

Chairman: I'm sorry Patrick, I just felt the players were no longer on your side and weren't putting 100% in for you. Anyway, I must go now. Good luck in the future! Bye.
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What a complete a$$hole!! haha. This story keeps getting more and more interesting..


PaperClipFMer said:

With the season starting in just a matter of days, we received some of the worst news we could have imagined ...

Anthony Martial out for 6 months

I'm absolutely gutted!

Tevez will have to be the main striker for now but with still another £60 million to spend I may look at bringing another striker in before the end of the window.​
Click to expand...

Ouch!! Thankfully you still have a deep war-chest to use..



FINALLY CAUGHT UP! haha


Great to see the Lewandowski transfer worked out; scoring on his debut and scoring consistently.

Have to admit, as a spurs fan, I was was secretly happy with the cup result ;)

Fantastic story, keep it up.​
 
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