How time flies! This is only the third chapter of my new FM22 series with Arsenal, and already we’re coming to the end of the 2021/2022 season!
Today’s installment is a bumper one, as we go through the January transfer window, meet my first youth intake, and recap the entire second half of the season. Can I lead Arsenal to a top-four finish and put us back in the Champions League? Can we lift the EFL Cup, or even the FA Cup? And most importantly of all… will we finish above Tottenham?
Obviously, if you haven’t read Part 2 yet, it might be a good idea to catch up on that first.
JANUARY TRANSFER WINDOW
Straight off the bat… I sold Granit Xhaka to Newcastle for £37.5million.
Don’t get me wrong, Xhaka was still putting in some decent shifts, but he lacked the positioning and discipline I want from a playmaker. The Swiss star was also pushing 30, so this was perhaps our last chance to move him on for big money… and Newcastle apparently have a lot to spend!
Newcastle have so much money, in fact, that they offered us another £30million to buy Emile Smith Rowe! Ha, ha – nice try, sportswashers.
With Xhaka gone, we needed a new vice-captain. Goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale got the nod, so he’ll lead the team out whenever Kieran Tierney is absent. Their leadership attributes aren’t exactly top-drawer, mind, so I’ve sent them both on leadership courses.
I also flogged off a couple of reserves who weren’t going to make the grade. Several youngsters were sent on loan, including playmaker Charlie Patino to Huddersfield and striker Mika Biereth to Swansea. Midfielder Miguel Azeez and wide attackers Marcelo Flores and Omari Hutchinson were among those being sent to League One clubs.
And these are the players I’ve brought in. Transfer values for superstar players are massively inflated mid-season, so as much as I’d like to sign a Declan Rice or a Dominic Calvert-Lewin right now, it’s probably wiser to wait until the summer. Instead, I decided to focus more on the future.
My first signing was Aberdeen’s homegrown right-back Calvin Ramsay, who has just joined Liverpool in real-life, but is apparently a boyhood Arsenal fan. Ramsay has very good technique and pace, and is adept with either foot. He went back to Pittodrie on loan for the rest of this season.
Ramsay was soon joined by another Scotland Under-21s international, as central midfielder Chris Mochrie arrived from Dundee United. Mochrie signed on deadline day, as did the young Spanish left-back Hugo Montañana, who was recruited from Valencia for just under £1million.
My biggest purchase of the window, though, was Lewis Cook – yes, THE England one-cap wonder – from Championship high-flyers Bournemouth. Why the heck have I signed this guy for Arsenal, you’re probably wondering?
Part of me says he’s a reasonably good DLP with a ‘Resolute’ personality, who can be a solid squad player for a few years while mentoring our younger prospects. Another part of me says that he was a panic signing after I sold Xhaka and lost a couple of other midfielders during the Africa Cup of Nations. This transfer might actually make sense in hindsight, but we’ll see…
RESULTS: JANUARY TO MAY 2022
EFL CUP
We entered the new year with a real chance of bringing the EFL Cup back to Arsenal for the first time since 1993. But before we find out how we got on against Chelsea in the Semi Finals, let’s meet their new manager…
Remember when we used to joke that John Terry was secretly calling the shots at Stamford Bridge? Well, now he actually is – being promoted from Under-19s coach to interim manager after Thomas Tuchel’s dismissal. Terry’s first game in charge was the first leg of our EFL Cup Semi Final.
Our second-string was just no match for a practically full-strength Chelsea team. While our finishing woes continued to haunt us, Andreas Christensen’s header gave the Blues a 1-0 win at the Emirates.
Chelsea won the return leg at home too, but this was much more one-sided than the 2-0 score suggests. They were brilliant, we were rubbish, and our backup left-back Nuno Tavares posted a 5.9 rating! It wasn’t quite “sub him off after 34 minutes at Nottingham Forest” dreadful, but Nuno’s defensive abilities must improve if he’s got a long-term future at Arsenal.
Incidentally, Chelsea went on to beat Manchester United 2-1 in the Final. Tuchel congratulated Terry on leading his former club to glory, though I suspect he was saying those words through gritted teeth!
FA CUP
The less said about our FA Cup run, the better. Barnsley almost knocked us out in Round 3, as a strong Arsenal team took them far too lightly and fell behind – twice! Frankly, we were lucky to escape Oakwell with a 3-3 draw.
I really didn’t want a replay in such a packed January schedule, but at least we got the job done at the second attempt. We ruthlessly hit three goals without reply from a Tykes side who had a first-half red card and failed to get any shots on target.
That win earned us a return trip to South Yorkshire, where we struggled against another Championship club in Round 4… but Sheffield United did NOT let us off the hook. The Blades cut our defence open twice in the first period, and Eddie Nketiah‘s second-half strike proved too little, too late to save us.
So no joy in either of the domestic cups. Perhaps we’d have better luck in the league?
PREMIER LEAGUE
2022 got off a disappointing start, as despite a valiant defensive display against Manchester City, an 86th-minute stunner from Bernardo Silva gave us a first home defeat. We then filled our boots by putting a combined 13 goals past Watford, Norwich (against whom we nearly lost a 3-0 lead!) and Burnley. Cook also scored on his league debut, which maybe proves I was right to buy him after all!
Another loss to Chelsea was followed by an emphatic dismantling of Everton. We then dominated Aston Villa, but only won by a single goal because Emiliano Martínez – a former Arsenal goalkeeper, no less – was almost unstoppable.
We played just two league matches in March, but neither went well. After falling behind to an early penalty at Wolves, we served up one of our most pathetic finishing displays this season! 17 shots, 5 on target, ONE goal – and Bukayo Saka almost messed even that one up!
We got away with a draw there… but there was no such luck against Liverpool, who had two shots on target at the Emirates, and converted them both to win 2-1. Despite that, we were still looking pretty solid in the top four, so securing a Champions League place should’ve been a doddle, right?
If you’re a regular Fuller FM reader, you’ll know exactly where this is heading. My teams often fade badly at the end of a league season, especially when a major prize is at stake, and this was no different. It started well enough with a comfortable win at Leicester, but then we basically forgot how to score from open play.
The home draw against lowly Brentford (on my 32nd birthday too!) was especially frustrating. We had about a dozen shots on target before finally taking the lead in the 70th minute – with a penalty. Smith Rowe then limped off injured, reducing us to 10 men for the closing stages, in which Brentford bagged a 92nd-minute equaliser.
We twice fell behind to Newcastle before saving a 2-2 draw, then went down 1-0 to Southampton… and naturally followed that up by beating Manchester United 2-0! Right-back Cédric opened the scoring with his first goal of the season before Nketiah sealed victory with his 20th. I think we’ve found our new star striker, folks!
As April turned into May, we were still looking good to finish in the top four… until city rivals Tottenham and West Ham made it three straight away defeats. We also went 1-0 down at home to Brighton, but two goals from a fit-again Smith Rowe helped us to a nervy 2-1 win.
So, with one week to go, it wasn’t quite job done. If Chelsea defeated both Tottenham and Burnley by big scores, and we lost heavily to a Crystal Palace who were already relegated, the Blues still had a chance to leapfrog us. For once in our lives, we hoped Spurs would do us a favour…
…and for once, they obliged! For the first time since 2017, Arsenal will be back in the Champions League!
Our last match therefore didn’t matter, though I was still frustrated we failed to beat Palace. Not least because Manchester United won their final game, which meant they beat us into 3rd place. Still, coming 4th in my debut season wasn’t too bad, eh?
Yes, that is Manchester City completing an unbeaten Premier League season – emulating Arsene Wenger’s legendary Arsenal team of 2003/2004! Indeed, City look so imperious that they could make more history next season – and break our record of 49 league games without losing. [Gulp]
Brentford, Crystal Palace and Watford all went down to the Championship, with Leicester and Burnley both narrowly surviving on goal difference. They’ll be replaced in next season’s top flight by Fulham (duh), Luton (huh?!), and play-off winners Bournemouth (meh).
Liverpool regained the Champions League title, winning a heated Final in Paris against Manchester United. The Red Devils also lost in the FA Cup Final, going down 4-0 to Jesse Marsch’s Leeds, who just missed out on the top six! Getting rid of Marcelo Bielsa and his bucket suddenly makes a whole lot more sense!
YOUTH UPDATE
At least our Under-23s managed to bring some silverware to the Emirates, doing the league and cup double! The Under-18s also had a great Premier League U18 season, winning the South division before suffering a late 1-0 defeat to Manchester United in the overall Final.
Here are some of the Under-23 prospects who I’ve been paying close attention to over the past year:
I recalled right-back Brooke Norton-Cuffy from his loan at Lincoln in January, as he wasn’t playing enough for them. Since rejoining our Under-23s, he’s put in some consistently good performances and made steady improvements to this mental and physical attributes. He’s also made a couple of first-team appearances from the bench.
Centre-back Taylor Foran didn’t particularly stand out when I first arrived at Arsenal, but I’ve been amazed by his rapid improvements. After rising from the Under-18s to the Under-23s, he finished the campaign in Northern Ireland, helping Linfield to win the NIFL Premiership title. At just 18, Foran already looks like he could do a job for a lower-league EFL side.
I love a hard-working ball-winner, and Jack Henry-Francis has impressed me enough to give him four cup appearances. I’m not yet convinced he’ll have the technical ability to be a first-team regular – and that ‘Dwells on Ball’ trait is a possible red flag – but maybe he’ll prove me wrong.
Let’s now look at our first youth intake. Arsenal start off with ‘Excellent’ youth facilities, ‘Excellent’ youth recruitment and ‘Exceptional’ academy coaching – and former captain Per Mertesacker is a quality Head of Youth Development with a strong personality. All those things should point towards a good intake, but there are never any guarantees.
When the intake preview arrived in December, Per said there was a potential “golden generation”, and that we had top prospects at centre-back, attacking midfield, and striker. Three months later, it was time to meet our class of 2022…
Erm… okay. Those star ratings may not look amazing, but it’s important to remember that these are relative to your team, so a player with 3* potential at Arsenal could potentially be Premier League quality. There are a couple in particular who look like genuine prospects.
Alan Wilding is the AMC that Per was so excited about back in December. He’s not even 16 yet, but already has good passing and teamwork, and has a bit of flair to his game. There’s a lot of potential for growth here.
The highest-rated player from this intake is Sean Fallon, who can play at centre-half but looks much better as a left-back. High Teamwork and Work Rate are always a plus for me, and 9 Crossing is actually pretty good for a youth intake full-back on FM. Give him five years, and Sean could be the next Ashley Cole… or at least another Kieran Gibbs.
I’ve also got high hopes for a couple more talents. Jeremie Labuthie is a pacey and resilient winger who I think can be retrained as a right-back. In midfield, Kieran McEvoy-McNulty has some very good technical skills and could be the next DLP to come out of Hale End.
2021/2022 SEASON REVIEW & STATS
| Fans’ Player of the Season | Martin Ødegaard |
| Young Player of the Season | Martin Ødegaard |
| Signing of the Season | Lewis Cook |
| Goal of the Season | Martin Ødegaard (vs Everton, 14 August) |
| Top Goalscorer | Eddie Nketiah (21) |
| Most Assists | Martin Ødegaard (14) |
| Most Player of the Match Awards | Bukayo Saka (5) |
| Highest Average Rating | Martin Ødegaard (7.27) |
A decent first season for us all told, but there are a few areas for concern.
Our only league defeats at the Emirates this season came against the runaway top two, though we also dropped points to both Brentford and Palace. Indeed, we only scored 33 goals in our home games – the same number we managed on the road. We’ve certainly found it difficult to break down low-block defences (not the first time I’ve struggled with this in my FM career either).
For starters, we need to create higher-quality chances instead of firing blindly at defenders, and we need to test the opposition goalkeepers more. A 10% shot conversion rate is bang-average, and getting only 43% of our shots on target just won’t do for a team of our calibre.
So far, I’ve experimented with pushing up the wing-backs, and with switching our left Inside Forward and our right Inverted Winger between ‘Support’ and ‘Attack’ duties. Changing Martin Ødegaard from a Mezzala to an attacking Central Midfielder has had some positives when we use the 4-3-3, though I’m worried that he doesn’t drift wide to exploit the half-spaces as often now.
On the plus side, we only conceded 32 goals from an xGA of 43.57, and Ramsdale kept a league-high 15 clean sheets. Of course, having an xGA of over 1 per game is not great if you want to challenge for major honours. We’ve also had more than a few narrow escapes where our opponents failed to convert easy chances.
Signing a top-class defensive midfielder to protect the back four should hopefully reduce both the quantity and quality of any chances we give away in the first place. Mohamed Elneny has been reliable enough to justify giving him a new contract, but the Egyptian is almost 30 and is clearly not a long-term solution.
Nketiah has enjoyed an impressive first season as a regular starter, bagging 31 goal contributions in 41 games. Worryingly, he only scored four goals in the final four months of the season and has made a worrying habit of missing easy chances. He’ll need some stiff competition up front next term, especially with Alexandre Lacazette saying goodbye.
Saka’s form also tailed off in the closing stages, reducing his average rating to a flat 7. For a player with supposedly excellent dribbling, he tends to be quite loose in possession. On a more positive note, Smith Rowe has actually improved in 2022, hitting the target more regularly.
Lastly, here’s a look at how some of our loanees have got on. Winger Reiss Nelson has had an excellent season in the Netherlands and will be part of our first-team next season, along with the highly-rated French centre-back William Saliba.
Right-backs Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Héctor Bellerín are also returning. The plan is to bring one of them back into the first-team as Tomiyasu’s backup and sell the other.
Patino and Flores have made steady progress during their half-season loans, and will probably go back out on loan again next term. Centre-back Daniel Ballard and striker Folarin Balogun are also not quite first-team ready, so I’ll be looking to farm them out to top-flight teams next season.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading through the first season of this series. I’ll be back next week with the 2022/2023 season preview, where I’ll unveil a couple of major new signings at the Emirates!
Fuller FM 
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