retired_mnmccoy

Arsenal Football Club (also known as Arsenal, The Arsenal or The Gunners) are an English professional football club based in Holloway, North London. They play in the Premier League and are one of the most successful clubs in English football, having won thirteen First Division and Premier League titles and ten FA Cups.

Arsenal were founded in 1886, though the club's first period of major success came in the 1930s, where they dominated English football for a decade. After a lean period in the post-war years they became only the second club of the 20th century to win the Double in 1970–71, and during the past twenty years they have been one of the most successful clubs in English football — in this time Arsenal won two further Doubles, the Premier League in 2003–04 unbeaten, and in 2005–06 became the first London club to reach the UEFA Champions League final.

The club's colours have traditionally been red and white, although these have evolved through history. Similarly, the club have changed location over time; the team were initially founded in Woolwich, south-east London, but in 1913 they moved north across the city to Arsenal Stadium, Highbury. In 2006 they made a less drastic move to their current home, the Emirates Stadium in nearby Holloway.

Arsenal have a large and diverse fanbase, who hold a string of long-standing rivalries with several other clubs; the most notable of these is with neighbours Tottenham Hotspur, with whom they regularly contest the North London derby. Arsenal are one of the richest clubs in English football (worth over £600m as of 2007), and thanks to their stature, have regularly featured in portrayals of football in British culture.

Club Information
Name: Arsenal FC
Founded: 1886
Ground: Emirates Stadium, London (capacity 60432 all seated)
Chairman: Peter Hill-Wood
League: English Premier League
Rivals: Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool, Manchester United
Value: 352 million Euros (377 million Euros debt)
Training Facilities: Top training facilities
Youth Facilities: Excellent youth facilities + academy
Media Prediction: 4th
Transfer Budget: Ranging from 30 to 45 million Euros depending on squad targets.

First Team Squad

The numbers in brackets are to quote the game help system "each player will receive a star rating based on their expected standard within the team. This can range from 1 to 7 stars, with 7 exceeding expectations and 1 falling well below. Youth players are compared to similar players in their own age group".

GK - Jens Lehmann (4/4), Lukasz Fabianski (2/3)
DL - Gael Clichy (4/4), Armand Traore (3/5)
DC - Wiliam Gallas (6/6), Kolo Toure (5/5), Philippe Senderos (3/4), Havard Nordveit (3yth/3)
DR - Emmanuel Eboue (4/4), Bakay Sagna (5/5)
DM - Gilberto Silva (5/5), Lassana Diarra (3/4)
MC - Francesc Fabregas (5/7), Abou Diaby (4/4)
AMR - Aliaksandr Hleb (4/4), Robin Van Persie (4/5), Theo Walcott (3/4)
AML - Tomas Rosicky (4/4), Francisco Merida (4yth/4)
ST/FC - Eduardo (5/5), Emmanuel Adebayor (4/4), Nicklas Bendtner (4yth/4)

Reserves Squad
GK - Manuel Almunia (3/3), Vito Mannone (1/1)
DR - Justin Hoyte (2/3)
DM - Mathieu Flamini (3/4)
MC - Denilson (3/4), Alexandre Song (4/4)
AMR - Vencent Van Den Berg (1/1)

Highly rated U-18 squad members
ST - Rhys Murphy (3yth/4)
MC - Henri Lansbury (3yth/4)
AMC - Nacer Barazite (4yth/3)

Importantl players out on loan
DC - Johan Djourou (Birmingham)
D/WB L AMLC - Pedro (Salamanca)
AM/FC - Carlos Vela (Osasuna)

Analysis
The while the cream of the team, players such as Fabregas, Gallas, Toure and Van Persie have all maintained a similarly high standard to their last incantations in 07 the real difference to Arsenals squad this time round has been the improvement of squad players like Diaby, Denilson, Song, Adebayor and Almunia to the point that they are very useful rotation/squad players rather than the trade bait they were in FM2007. Ill analyze the squad assuming you're using a vanilla 4-4-2

Goalkeeper - Lehmann seems to have been slightly strengthened in 08, i played a full half season with him and he was very very solid and didnt make the gaff's that he is prone to in real life and in 07. This spot will become a problem after a season or two in the game as Almunia and Fabianski, while solid arnt going to keep many clean sheets if you're consistently playing top level football.
I'd start looking for a suitable replacement after a season. Old favorites Akinfeev, Ustari and Ochao are all rated very highly again and will likely be available for around 15 million euros.

Defense - Toure, Gallas, Senderos and Nordveit are the first team center backs, Eboue and Sagna play the right while Clichy and Traore are on the left. Arsenal again have a very very exciting back starting back four Sanga - Gallas - Toure - Clichy is one of the best in Europe and barring serious injury problems you shouldn't have any problems with that line.
You might look to sign someone short term to cover for Clichy until Traore is able to take over. Djourou returns from his loan at Birmingham at in January to strengthen the center back position.

Midfield - Again a very strong line of four Rosicky(AML) - Gilberto(DM) - Fabregas(MC) - Hleb(AMR) with strong cover from Diaby(MC), Diarra(DM), Flamini(DM), Song(MC) or Denilson(MC) with the potential to rotate any of Walcott(AMR), Eduardo(AML) and Van Persie(AMR/L) through if you're in a crisis. The center of the park is incredibly deep, potentially look at quicker wingers on both sides to cover for Hleb and Rosicky.
Marcelo is available early on and has a release clause of 8 million so he's a definite possibility, other potential targets are the super cheap Luka Modric, Van Der Vaart is able to be picked up for about 15 as well.

Strikers - You start with a great set of five strikers - Eduardo, Van Persie, Adebayor, Walcott, Bendtner and in a season Carlos Vela returns from loan. You can very well go for 10 years without needing to purchase anyone else for this position as every single one of these players is either currently top shelf or will develop to a high level. Of the five i've been most impressed by Walcott, the game engine has a much higher appreciation for speedy players than 07 had and young Theo is one of the quickest in the game, his finishing is a bit low but he makes up for it by running past defenders like they arnt there and getting lots of shots on goal.
Potential targets early on if you're looking to strengthen this area could be Adriano who is listed as "back up" at Inter and able to be purchased for a bargain price of about 10 million and Julio Baptista (i know, sucks in real life, great in the game) who can be picked up for about 15.

Anyway, that's a pretty basic analysis of the squad, I hope it helps some people get a good start at an Arsenal game. You've got a great squad to play with and a massive kitty to strengthen if you need to. Dont hesitate to disagree with any of my analysis or post your own formations, transfers advice, tips and results.

Good luck and Go Gunners!

retired_maryc

I don't know. I went out and bought both Maxi Rodriguez and Obafami Martins (both 16 mil), and i'm constantly rotating them in and out. Playing them on the wings, etc. Pretty solid team this year. Rosicky and Toure got into a fight in mine and they hate each other, heh. But yeah, that's all really.

retired_koltkalebkris

Hi to all Arsenal fans! I started my FM08 Arsenal game with a big success. I play 4-5-1 attacking and I have a good record up to now - 12 wins, a draw and a lose. Newcastle and Man Utd are second and third in Premiership - both 11 points behind me. Here are my first 11:
GK - Lehmann
DL - Clichy (nearly equal with Traore)
DC - Gallas
DC - Toure
DR - Sagna (great in FM08)
DMC - Gilberto
MC - Fabregas
MC - Rosicky
ML - RVP
MR - Hleb
ST - Eduardo ( also very good player in FM08)

The only new player is Belluschi (typo?), the only sold - Almunia (great in FM08, but Man City's 8mil euro offer was too good for a reserve GK). Now I'm looking for a new GK.

Ustari seems great, but is very expensive and have no intention (which is dumb, because if IRL he will die to go to Emirates with 3 timer bigger wages and bonuses)!!! Akinfeev has better GK stats but less PA, I think.

Good luck to all Arsenal fans and let us beat the **** out of Sunderland today!!!

retired_mnmccoy

Yeah I know what you mean, it's just a preliminary analysis. I'm just looking at the squad and not seeing any massively glaring holes in the list.

Lehmann will need to be replaced in the summer. I actually just started a new game and brought Akinfeev for 20 million just to see what he's like. he promptly got injured for three weeks so i'm no more informed than i was before. Will report back with results some time soon.

I agree with you though, another winger is probably a must for the first season. Jeremy Menez (14 million aprox) is rated incredibly highly by all my scouts, might give him a go.
Marcelo has an 8 million release clause and Gio Dos Santos has a 30 million release clause might try out both of them, scouts say they're definite purchases.

retired_jaclynnew1212

How about Guardado? He's brilliant in FM07. In the original version, he's probably the biggest bargain of the game (you can get him for 2M). In the Weegie transfer deadline update, he costs almost 20M. But an amazing player none-the-less. I suppose he'd be just as good in FM08?? Also, try out Angel Di Maria. He was actually heavily linked to Arsenal in the summer (infact, it was rumored that he's already signed). I bought him in FM07 and although he's on loan to Colorado (WP issues), he's been doing great there. He cost me a few pennies only (like 150K or something) and in half a season, he's already worth 4M. I dont have FM08 so dont really know, but just some suggestions!! :cool:

retired_mnmccoy

No definitely, they're both top shelf. Problem with both Guardado and Di Maria is that due to their recent transfers to new clubs - Di Maria to Benfica and Guardado to Deporo that neither of them are interested in a move to a new club and as far as i've tried all inquiry's and even testing the waters, silly money bids get rejected.

So, transfer deadline just passed.

In
Henri Saivet AM RLC FC, Bordeaux 625k(5 star potential)
Igor Akinfeev GK, CSKA Moscow 20million (5 star)
Mamadou Sakho DLC, PSG 700k (4 star)
Ever Banega DM, Boca 4.9million (4 star)
Marcelo D/WB/AM L, Real Madrid 8 million release clause (5 star)
Jeremy Menez AM RLC FC, AS Monaco 15.4 million (5 star)

Out
Gilberto Silva DMC, Inter 14.25 million
Alex Song MC Aston Villa 5.25 million

Seems with transfers that it's allot easier to offload deadwood.

retired_jaclynnew1212

How come you decided to sell Bert?? Just looking for some cash to buy and try new players out??

retired_mnmccoy

Pretty much, the good thing about the demo is it run's like a dream if you've got a half decent rig because you're only loading a small database.

Im pretty much running this game as a bit of a test to find some players who are quality/potential quality for when the full release drops. Gilberto is great, i know he's going to produce quality performances so im just testing out how Diarra and Banega go in his role. Both are rated quite highly by my coaching staff.

The DM position seems to be much more pivotal in 08 at the moment, every game i've run it seems to be both wing backs and the dm getting the most of the ball, even if im running Fabregas as a playmaker the wingbacks and dm are getting lots of possession.

I'm considering dropping Fabregas back into that position and seeing what kind of distribution he can give me, ill be sacrificing defense though. Possibly play a defensive mid in the MC position and Fab in the DMC, see if i can get some cover further up the field and allow Fabregas to stay back and distribute from deep. ahhh possibilities....

retired_fouadhanein

Selling Song?! On my game the coaches say he is going to be world class!

retired_velko

good opening post, but you forgot to credit whatever website you took that from.

and mo money mo problems?? come on.... could've done something simpler and better than that tbh.