Wenger's La Masia: A Gunners Home Grown Challenge

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seanhrfc

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Wenger Resigns as Arsenal Manager...


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Breaking news hits North London as legendary manager Arsene Wenger resigns as Arsenal's manager after many years in the job. However, he will remain at the club as the Head of Youth Development and was heavily involved in the appointment of a fresh, young manager Seanhrfc. Wenger had one final dream of Arsenal becoming a talent factory greater than that of La Masia and has set the following rules for the new manager to help achieve this:

  1. You may not play any player that is not HG at the club or is future eligible (i.e. will become in 2015) in any competitive match.
  2. You may sign any player that is home grown at the club.
  3. You can sign U18 players, as they will be able to become eligible (for extra difficulty, limit yourself to players of your clubs nationality only)


So there is my challenge! I am aiming to win the Premier League and Champions League fielding a side containing only home grown at club players, a philosophy I will impose from the onset. A total squad revamp will be needed and I am also going to play football in the way Arsenal played in the Early 2000s.


Next Update will be end of Pre-season, going over the tactics used and the transfers!
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Oh boy...that seems impossible because Wenger always love to go with the French/African players... :eek:
 
Offloading some of the players in the team for a reasonable price is proving to be a hard challenge! First update to come at some point today, had a busy Friday/Saturday but going to get in a good FM session today :)
 
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August Update

Transfers
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As expected, it was an insanely busy transfer window for us. I had to try and offload as much as possible in order to gain funds to get my targets in. Vermaelen and Koscielny were for some reason unsaleable, whereas other players went for low fees. I was happy with how much I got for Cazorla though. Ozil will be sold in January - as he is a new signing no one else will sign him at the moment. My primary targets were Fabregas, Song and Vela. I soon realised Cesc had no interest in re-joining (yet) but I was delighted that I could get Alex and Carlos in, particularly getting Vela in so cheaply due to a clause. I also opted to bring back experienced centre back Philippe Sendoros, he will be an adequate tutor and cover man. I spent big on youth, all of whom will feature in the first team right away. I expect it to be a difficult task gelling in so many players, particularly as they are all so young!
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For me getting the right staff in is as important as getting in the right players. My u18s will received top class coaching, and the first team has an abundance of 4.5+ coaches now.
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Squad
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As you can see, my squad is now filled with youngsters. Looking at my best 11, I expect big things from my front 5, Walcott and Chamberlain will provide a pacey threat cutting in from the wings with tricky Vela pulling the strings from his False 9 position.I expect Wilshere and Ramsey to be able to control most games in midfield. The back line is where I expect it to take a while to gel, the majority of the players in there are still in their teens, with the exception of Alex Song who will be given the opportunity to lead the back line.
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August Results
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I have to say, I am overjoyed with our start to the season! We were very lucky in our first game, Man Utd controlled the match and had the better of the chances. I was all set to take the draw when young Schrijvers popped up in the box to grab a very late winner - what a debut for the lad! We conceded just 12 seconds in to Salzburg and looked very shaky at times, but we came away with a good win in the end. However, against both Newcastle and the Salzburg return tie we showed sheer dominance with relentless possession and goal threat. Our squad is far from gelled and our strategy not fluid but we start with a 100% record, something to be very proud of.
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Player of the Month
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Jack Wilshere
Playing in an unfamiliar wide right position due to Chamberlain being injured, club captain Wilshere has banged in 4 goals in as many games.
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Hope you've enjoyed reading so far, I will be providing monthly/bi-monthly updates so stay tuned :)

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I'm sorry, Senderos? Really? Him? You sell the fine stock in our team and buy SENDEROS?! He's inadequate, he's terrible. He left for a reason and he still hasn't proven himself at Fulham. *tut tut*
 
StephenAFC said:
I'm sorry, Senderos? Really? Him? You sell the fine stock in our team and buy SENDEROS?! He's inadequate, he's terrible. He left for a reason and he still hasn't proven himself at Fulham. *tut tut*
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Please name me any other decent centre back that is home grown at Arsenal? The other option was Matthew Connolly.

I also think Senderos is gash, but he was the best of a bad bunch.
 
Really love your screenshots. Are you cropping them? They look so clean
 
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September / October Update

Results
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Its been a rather mixed couple of months for us. The Champions League has been full of surprises including defeats at the hands of Anderlecht and Zenit. An embarrassing campaign was spared by an injury time victory against Juve. We've drawn far too many games but at least we are still unbeaten in the league and we got one over Spurs. I've been doing some tactical tinkering recently as I'm not 100% happy with the way we are playing, I hope I can rectify it. Its tight in the league, I forgot to take a screen shot and have since played games in November, so I will upload the table in the next update.
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Player of the Month(s)
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For me he's been a bargain re-signing. Over the course of September and October he's banged in 9 goals, including all 4 against Norwich in an outstanding performance and the winners against Juve and Spurs.
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Next Update will be at the end of December - I'm looking forward to the transfer window already!


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Also, I messed up in the Sheff Wed game, I let the assistant pick a rotated team and of course he picked Sanogo who is not eligible to be HG and I didn't check before submitting team. Lesson learned there!
 
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November / December Update

Results
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A good couple of months with results. We managed to finish top of our Champions League group despite our early losses to Zenit and Anderlecht, mainly due to our impressive double over Juventus. We've been pretty solid at the back, but sometimes far from prolific in front of goal. Could really do with Henry and Bergkamp like my tactic is set out to use!
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Table
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At the half way point we are top of the table, not bad for a bunch of youngsters! Its very tight though and I expect twists and turns along the way.
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January / February Update

Transfers
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I've found it near impossible to shift some top class players, including Vermaelen, Koscielny and the wizard of Ozil. Its a joke that no clubs want these players at reasonable prices! A few have been shipped out on loan in the hope that they perform there and generate interest. Bendtner and I developed a hateful relationship as he was a moany *******, so he was sold despite being a home grown player. Only transfer in was Mats Daehli from Molde, another creative midfield prospect that may become a good first team player.
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Results
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Again over the past couple of months we have shown we can compete with the big boys with narrow wins over Man Utd, Chelsea and most recently PSG. A 6-0 thrashing over West Brom enabled me to field a youth team in the return leg, maybe I was a bit ambitious as to how many 16/17 year olds to include as West Brom were ruthless against my teens. I have however been frustrated with the drawn games, struggling to finish off chances against Norwich and Cardiff despite dominating and letting a 2 goal lead slip versus Newcastle.
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Table
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Well we are still top and it is still tight. I am very happy with the points we have picked up against our closest contenders grabbing a win and draw against Chelsea and the double over Utd. Man City are the only team that have been able to beat us so far. If we can put finishes on our dominance, a lot of the draws would be wins but that's football I guess.
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Next Update will include March / April and of course the all important youth intake.
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Last edited:
seanhrfc said:
Please name me any other decent centre back that is home grown at Arsenal? The other option was Matthew Connolly.

I also think Senderos is gash, but he was the best of a bad bunch.
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Fair enough there
 
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