Arsenal Career - Entry #3

Season 3 (2015-2016)

Opening Thoughts

I've just finished watching Arsenal demolish Aston Villa in the FA Cup. It was some of the best football I've see Arsenal play in a while, and it was certainly a less nerve-racking experience than last year's final against Hull City. It's also interesting to see how the real team looks different than the virtual version under my care. Nacho Monreal had a great game today and a great season overall, but I shipped him off immediately in season one. Santi Cazorla was arguably the best player on the pitch today, but due to the game's player aging mechanics, I opted to sell him sooner rather than later. In hindsight, I wish I had just hung on to him and let him retire with the club. I would have also liked to have done the same with Arteta and Rosicky, especially now that I have a better grasp of how the game's economy works (hint: there's too much money).

I finished season three and began season four around Christmas 2014. I moved onto my Grasshopper career shortly thereafter, but I haven't played much FIFA between then and now. Fortunately, I still have a save file from the end of season three, so I'm going post all the in-game information and offer some commentary at the end.

Results and Final Standings

EPL Table
Arsenal 93  (29-6-3) GF: 65 GA: 13 GD:52
Chelsea 91
Mac City 86
Man Utd 82
Liverpool 73

Community Shield:  Arsenal 2-0 Chelsea

FA Cup Final:  Arsenal 1-0 Manchester City
Semi-final: 2-0 win vs. Chelsea
Quarter-final: 3-2 penalty shootout vs. Swansea
Round of Sixteen: 5-0 win vs. Blackpool

League Cup Final:  Arsenal 2-0 Everton
Semi-final: 4-1 win vs. Huddersfield Town
Quater-final: 4-2 penalty shootout vs. Blackpool
Round of Sixteen: 2-1 win vs Bolton

Copa Europe: Arsenal 2-0 Roma

Champions Cup Final: Arsenal 3-0 Real Madrid
Semi-final: 5-1 Barcalona
Quarter-final: 1-0 Roma
Round of Sixteen: 2-1 Sevilla

Group F
1st - Arsenal w/12 points 5 GD
2nd - CSKA Moskva w/12 pts 2 GD
3rd - Borussia Dortmund 7
4th - Bordeaux 4

Europa League Final: Bayern Munich 2 vs 0 AC Milan

Transfer History

Record Transfer Fee Paid: James Rodriguez - 79.0 M
Record Transfer Fee Received: Michael Bradley - 30.0 M

OUT
Koscielny - PSG 15M (4.5 value) - Over 30 plus PSG made a great offer
Sanogo - Southampton 5M - Not going to make the cut, preferred to trade to EPL team
Podolski - Athletico Bilbao 9.5M (6 value) - Aged out (30, 78 ovr) plus booted in real life
Giroud - Lille OSC 18.1M (7.5 value) - Wanted to upgrade striker (29, 79 ovr) plus good offer
Bradley - Real Madrid 30M - Surprise mega-bid from RM, didn't plan on selling for another year or two (28) but way too much money to pass up
Johannsson - Calcio Catania 5.5M - Never going to make the cut, languishing on bench despite a few strong cup matches, TEAM USA approach abandoned after disappointing second season

IN
Reus - 19M (12.5 value), 180k for 4 yrs; 26, 85 ovr
Rodriguez - 79M (55.5 value), 220k for 4 yrs; 24, 88 ovr
Cavani - 55M (39.5 value); 29, 88 ovr

Season Loans
Bellerin to Milwall - currently 3rd choice RB

Short Loans
Zelalem - MK Dons
Green - Aston Villa

Free Transfer (secured for season four)
Mandzukic - Free (14M value), 160k for 3 yrs; 30, 83
Sneijder - Free (17.5M value), 190k for 3 yrs; 31, 85
Lewandowski - Free (36.5M value), 240k for 3 yrs; 27, 87

End of Season Finances:
134. 6 M
293.5K in wages

Commentary and Analysis

After a sluggish second season, Arsenal started season three strong by winning both the domestic Community Shield and the continental Copa Europe. These wins set a positive tone for the rest of the season, and we finished the campaign by winning every possible trophy in dominant fashion. In terms of our new found success, there were a few key areas of improvement. First, the Hummels-Varane partnership was solidly in place. We were miserly on defense, giving Gibbs and Jenkinson more opportunities to push forward safely. Second, we had plenty of options in midfield, but most importantly, the line was now being led by a world-class striker in Edinson Cavani. I've always scored plenty of goals with Arsenal (usually with wingers), but this was the first time that the majority of my goals came through a single player. Cavani was dominant in the air, strong on the ball, could poach from anywhere inside the box, and could hit the back of the net from several yards out. He was the complete package and a consistent performer during the entire campaign. Long gone were the days of grinding out victories in the final ten minutes. Most of our matches were decided by half-time, allowing me to sub off both Cavani and Mesut Özil, his favorite supplier. As a result, my two best players were fresh for almost every match of the season, which leads me to my third point.

During the previous season, I spent too much time trying to develop squad and utility players. Although fun against lower opposition, it was too risky in the long-run. Another downside to player development is that player growth is often unreliable. I could score a hundred goals with Sanogo, but it might not make a difference. Without consistently improving stats, I was stuck with bench players that couldn't make an impact on tight games or close out 1-0 victories. To solve this problem, I brought in two world-class midfielders: Marco Reus and James Rodriguez. Reus was brought in to secure the left flank, but he didn't get too many minutes because I was really happy with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Antonie Griezmann (who I must have purchased during season two). Rodriguez, on the other hand, was my go-to sub for tough games. He often replaced Ozil in the middle. The plan is to eventually replace the aging German for the younger Colombian, but this transition is a couple of seasons away at best.

On a final note, although I was sad to see Michael Bradley leave the team, it didn't seem right to me to prevent him from joining Los Blancos. To be honest, however, the 30 million dollar valuation went a long way toward helping ease the pain. Without Bradley, I didn't have much cover for Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsay in the holding midfield position, so I relied on John Brooks and Oxlade-Chamberlain for occasional support. After the amazing season Francis Coquelin has had for Arsenal this past year, I imagine I will be picking him up real soon (even though his FIFA 14 stats aren't so great).

As for next season, I will have to invent new ways to keep the game interesting because not only is my current team completely stacked with talent and trophies, but I'm also getting three great players on free transfer for next year: Mario Mandzukic, Wesley Sneijder, and Robert Lewandowski.

Arsenal Career - Entry #2

Season 2 (2014-2015)

With the school year coming to close, I decided to pick up FIFA again. It has become something of a summer ritual at this point. I started playing with my Grasshopper Zurich career, which I must have started some time around Christmas 2014, but as usual, I eventually found myself returning to my Arsenal career. My last save picked up in September or October of my fourth season with the team. I had several new high-quality players, so I decided to check out the blog and see if I had taken any notes. I was pleased to discover that I had published a detailed write-up of my first season, including a brief discussion of how I never finish any of my career modes. What luck!

I also checked my unpublished drafts, and I found a mid-season update on year one, which I've posted at the end of this entry. It offers an interesting glimpse into my thought process and future plans for the team. It's really fascinating to read these old video game entries, so I'm going to keep writing them for future me to enjoy.

As for my second season, I no longer have access to my save file. However, I have been able to piece together a few bits of information:

Record Transfer Fee Paid: Mats Hummels - 40.5 M 
Record Transfer Fee Received: Mathieu Debuchy - 9.0 M

I believe that this was also the season that I purchased Raphael Varane in order to fully revamp my aging back line of Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny. I picked up Debuchy in season one because Arsenal purchased him in real life, but he was a flop for me as well as for the real life Arsenal. I believe that I stuck with Jenkinson (and probably Bellerin) for most of this season. It also wouldn't surprise me if I ended up playing Campbell in the RB spot for a few games.

Final Standings:
EPL: 5th
FA Cup: Winner
Capital One Cup: Winner 
Champions League: Winner 

I lost six matches during the entire campaign, and I had sixteen draws. If I remember correctly, I just didn't have the squad depth to crank out victory after victory during league play. Instead, I focused my efforts on cup competitions, a gamble that obviously paid off. Had I not won the Champions League, I would've spent the next season toiling in the Europa League. Although it would have been a nice change of pace, it's definitely not Arsenal's style to play in the junior tournament. And, of course, this is working under the assumption that the board would not have fired me on the spot for breaking Arsenal's Champions League streak.

During my first season with the team, I sold some quality players, but the problem was that I only brought in youth players and future prospects to replace them. This was part of my TEAM USA project, but despite my noble intentions, I just didn't have enough quality on the field to compete in both the league and in the tournaments. I still had Koscielny at this point, so my defense was solid. Both Brooks and Zimmerman performed admirably, although not always reliably against strong opposition. Without a doubt, defense is a major asset when it comes to progressing through tournaments. You can always grind out a game into extra time or penalties in order to decide a winner, but strong defense with a toothless offense leads to far too many dropped points over the course of a campaign.

Fortunately, I snapped a picture of my Champions League progress with my cell phone. The results were as follows:

Champions League:
Final: Arsenal 0-0 Inter Milan (5-4 pen.)
Semi-finals: Arsenal 2-0 Bayern Munich
Quarter-finals: Arsenal 3 - 2 Real Madrid
Round of 16: Arsenal 3 - 1 Athletic Madrid

A lackluster season in the league combined with a grueling defensive stalemate during the Champions League final convinced me that I needed to bring some big guns to the Emirates in order to compete next season.


And last but not least, here is my original post from about a year ago:

Season 1 (2013-2014)

Winter Transfer Window:

OUT
Nacho Monreal - Norwich - 4.0 M
Ryo Miyaichi - Aston Villa - 1.5 M
Thomas Eisfeld - Charlton Athletic - 375K
Mathieu Flamini - Swap (for Gonzalez)
 
IN
Alexis Sanchez -21.0 M
Javier Pastore - 16.0 M
Joel Campbell - 11.0 M
Omar Gonzalez - Flamini + 2.0 M


I probably should have held on to some of these guys for one more window because I haven't had a chance to fill out my roster with recruits from the youth academy. My roster's a bit thin, which makes it tough when I have back to back to back matches against strong opponents. I tried to sell Nacho last window, but their weren't any takers. I sold him for above value to Norwich. I wasn't super excited about selling Miyaichi because he's always been good to me, but he's too far down the pecking order. Eisfeld was never going to happen, so I let him go. I was running low on funds, so I used Flamini as a counter-weight. Like I said, I wish I had hung on to them a little longer, but I was operating under the philosophy of out with the old and in with the new. Hopefully, these guys will get some decent playing time.

Joel Campbell is already an Arsenal player, but he starts out at Olympiakos in the game. He had a monster World Cup, so I added him to the team. I finally paid the extra million dollars and picked up Pastore. He's an improvement on Podolski, but I still use both players. I tend to pair Pastore with Ox and Podolski with Walcott to even things out. I wanted a stronger CB...

Arsenal Career - Entry #1

Opening Thoughts

It's to difficult to watch the World Cup without playing some serious FIFA, so I've decided to keep a journal of my new career mode. Since I tend to play FIFA in cycles, the idea is to keep a written record of my exploits so that I can pick the game back up without missing a beat (and starting completely over). I've yet to finish a single career mode since 2008.

Arsenal Career Mode [July 1, 2013 - September 1, 2013] 

Starting Stats:
79 Atk / 81 Mid / 80 Def

Transfer Budget: 39.5 M
Total Wage Budget: 3,171,000
Remaining Wage Budget: 325,000

Settings:
Download latest squads, Professional difficulty, 4 minute halves

Champions League Group:

Real Madrid

PSG

Arsenal

Galatasaray

Scout:

10 Stars from Northern Ireland (11.88 M); Netherlands, 9 months, Technically Gifted

Summer Transfer Window:

OUT
Tomáš Rosický - Stade Rennais 10.0 M
Thomas Vermaelen  - Sunderland - 7.5 M
Abu Diaby - U.C. Sampdoria - 6.5 M
Bacary Sagna - Manchester City - 6.0 M
Mikel Arteta - Villarreal CF - 5.5 M
Nicklas Bendtner - West Bromwich Albion - 5.0 M
Łukasz Fabiański - UD Almería - 2.5 M
Zak Ansah - Crewe Alexandra 140K
Chuba Akpom - Swap
Jon Toral - Swap

IN
Aron Jóhannsson - 3.2 M
John Anthony Brooks - 2.4 M
DeAndre Yedlin - 1.75 M
Walker Zimmerman - 450K
Bone - Free agent

My original plan was to keep Arteta, Diaby, Rosický, and Vermaelen, but I received generous offers.  Bendtner, Fabiański, and Sagna left in real life, so there was no reason to retain their services. I didn't have any use for Ansah, so I offloaded him as quickly as possible. I used Akpom and Toral as part of the Brooks and Zimmerman deals. I tried to sell Nacho Monreal, but there were no takers.

I brought in Jóhannsson to compete with Sanogo as Giroud's understudy. Brooks has some serious potential, so I decided to bring him in as my 3rd choice CB. Zimmerman is my 4th choice CB, and his inclusion on my team is a nod to FC Dallas (and Lawrenceville, GA).  Yedlin had a strong World Cup, so I brought him in as back up for Jenkinson and Gibbs. I needed a backup keeper, so I convinced Bone to sit on the bench for the rest of the season.

I bid 15 M for Javier Pastore, but PSG wanted 19.5 M. He was valued at 9.0 M, so I backed off (for now).  I thought about picking up Donovan and Wondolowski as legacy selections, but I had other priorities for this transfer window. I decided to pass on two of my favorite center backs, Schär and Papadopoulos, to mix it up a little.

The plan is to bid for Julian Green in the winter window. Anthony Martial and Jonathan Tah are also options.

Concluding Stats:

Transfer Budget: 53.3 M
Remaining Wage Budget: 997,000

The Iron Cage

Reason, that highest faculty of man, essential to his life, which gives him...the means of existence and enjoyment: this same faculty poisons his life.

FIFA 13 - Feels So Good

Part 1: Reflections

There's no telling how many hours of my life I've handed over to Career Mode on FIFA.  If I had instead spent that time to something else, maybe brushing up on my German or working out at the gym, there's no doubt I would be much better off.  I've been playing it like a madman recently, partly because I'm trying to squeeze the last bit of idle fun out of the summer and partly because I just recently purchased the latest edition, FIFA 13.  I debated on buying it for a long time, but when the FIFA 11 disc started to crack, it was only a matter of time.  On the bright side, I snagged it for a cool $35.  I'd say I've gotten my money's worth out of it.

I have many fond memories of creating great teams on career mode.  I'm especially fond of my Northampton Town, Sunderland (they were the worst team in the BPL at the time), and numerous Arsenal careers.  Some of the memories are very clear. I remember my two favorite strikers from NHT: Gyan and McManus.  I remember how excited I was when I made my first signing: Brian McBride.  I remember putting together a Sunderland team with Klose, Podolski Lampard, Ballack, Raul, van Nistelrooy and, of course, Del Piero.  I remember when I first started getting interested in Arsenal (FIFA 04 on the GameCube): the Invincibles! They were right under my nose, but I didn't even know it.  I just thought the Henry/Bergkamp comb was beast mode (which it definitely was).  I must've been 14 or 15 years old at the time. 

It was difficult to watch soccer back then.  There was only the World Cup every fourth summer.


Part 2: Nerdgasm [Read No Further]

I've been telling myself for a while that I need to write more things down.  It's generally a good habit, and it's a great way to preserve memories.  You can re-live the little moments that would have otherwise faded away.  I have the feeling that my FIFA playing days are numbered, so I'm going to record the trials and tribulations of my current exploits so that I can enjoy them forever.  Given the amount of time I spend fiddling with this game, I might was well write some of it down.  You are, of course, welcome to read it if you like, but only a FIFA nerd will truly appreciate it.


Arsenal
Season 1:

The first thing I did was to switch all the teams from the Rest of the World category (and Celtic) into Leagues 1 and 2.  This included teams like Galatasaray, Orlando Pirates, Kaiser Chiefs, and Olympiakos.  It's made the cup tournaments much more interesting to say the least. 

I generally stuck with the default 4-2-3-1, but I did also use an attacking 4-3-3 when I wanted to mix it up and get some more width on the pitch.  My back four were Gibbs, Koscielny, Mertesacker, and Jenkinson with Vermaelen filling in as necessary.  I didn't really use Monreal that often.  I started Arteta and Wilshere in the double pivot; Ramsay and Diaby were the understudies.  For the attack, I had Santi Carzola/Rosicky in the middle, Podolski on the left, and Walcott/Ox on the right.  Giroud/Gervinho was up top, and Szczesny was in goal.  I loaned out most of the youngsters, I sold Sagna for double his value in the summer window, and I picked up Eriksen in the winter window for 18.5 M.  If I'm not mistaken, it was also during January that I got Luke Shaw for around 3.5 M.  Solid purchases if I do say so myself.

Although I won the domestic triple, I stumbled at the finish line and lost to Juventus in the Champions League final.  The group stage of the tournament started out simple enough: Valencia, Marseilles, and Kobenhavn.  I ended up playing Valencia again later on, but I also had to get through PSG and Barca.  The two games with PSG were very close, but I beat Barca pretty convincingly in the semi-finals.  I was feeling confident going into the final game, but it wasn't meant to be.  Tevez scored a ridiculous goal early on, Ramsay got a straight red in the second half, and I couldn't stop hitting the post throughout the entire game.  Luckily, I managed to score with a few minutes to spare, but Tevez hit another one in extra time to seal the deal.  What a bummer.  2-1 to the Old Lady.

George Smiley sure knows how to rip a man to pieces:

While Control was no man's child, Percy Alleline was a lowland Scot and a son of the Manse; his father was a Presbyterian hammer, and if Percy did not have his faith, he had surely inherited the faculty of bullish persuasion.  He missed the way by a year or two and joined the Circus from a City company.  At Cambridge he had been a bit of a politician (somewhat to the right of Genghis Khan, said Haydon, who was himself, Lord knows, no milk-and-water liberal) and a bit of an athlete.

from Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (p.130, ch. 16)


So subtle, so understated. It's little flourishes like this that really stand out to me in a book. I also scribbled down a few phrases that I found especially delightful -- lugubrious inevitability, an air of need prevailing over wealth, with a speed which had no place in time.

This guy.

Flashback: Emirates Stadium; or, the Pilgrimage of a Gunner

When it comes to sports, I generally pull for the home team - Bulldawgs, Braves, Falcons, etc. Sure, I've had a few other favorites in the past, the Packers in the 90s, the Steelers until recently. As embarrassing as it is to admit, I also used to really like the Nets, but let's be honest. It was pretty much just Jason Kidd. As it stands today, there is only one team that I hold dear to my heart: Arsenal F.C.

I don't remember the first time I watched an Arsenal game. It must have been sometime around my sophomore or junior year of high school. There was Pires, Vieira, Bergkamp, and, of course, the French maestro up top, Thierry Henry. There's a new crop of Gunners these days, and they play beautiful football. Absolutely wonderful football. Last summer, I was fortunate enough to visit Emirates Stadium. It was as close to a religious pilgrimage as I had ever come. I spent around two hours exploring the grounds, and I raided the gift shop without shame. Although I wasn't able to watch a game, I am happy to have seen Ashburton Grove in person, and this, I think, in some strange way, makes watching home games on television that much more special for me.








The man who started it all: