My Arsenal adventure on Football Manager 2022 continues – and this chapter could be a very important one, as we attempt to lift our first trophy since I became manager.
The Gunners are heading into 2023 sitting just inside the top four of the Premier League, but we also have some defensive issues that need addressing. You can catch up on the season so far by revisiting Part 2.
As far as this chapter is concerned, we’ll kick things off with the January transfer window, where we say farewell to one of our longest-serving players. We also take on RB Leipzig in the Champions League knockout rounds, welcome a new youth intake… and attempt to win the EFL Cup for the first time since 1993.
JANUARY TRANSFER WINDOW
Just like last year, there is one sale that stands out straight away. After over 11 years in north London, I sent Héctor Bellerín back home to Real Betis – this time on a permanent basis.
Unfortunately, the right-backs contract demands were just as unreasonable as Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ were in the summer, and when talks broke down completely, so did our relationship. I decided it made more sense to cash in on Bellerín now than lose him on a free transfer in six months.
That left Takehiro Tomiyasu as our only natural right-back, but I decided not to sign a replacement immediately – mainly because top-class British players are too expensive mid-season, and neither Calvin Ramsay nor Brooke Norton-Cuffy is quite ready to step up to the first-team. Also, the gaffe-prone Benjamin White had shown himself to be a surprisingly competent right-back who can fill in for Tomiyasu if required.
Betis also agreed to give us £14million for Lewis Cook – exactly a year after we signed the midfielder from Bournemouth for just £6million. Cooky had a few big moments at Arsenal, most notably scoring at Roma in the Champions League. But let’s be honest – he was only ever going to be a stop-gap signing, and we’ve actually done well to make a healthy profit out of this deal.
The sale of another midfielder to Milan for £35million left us with a gap to fill. This felt like the perfect time to recall Charlie Patino, who had been in consistently steady form for Middlesbrough in the Championship. With his Technique and Vision both climbing up to 16, and his other mental attributes on the rise, the 19-year-old now looked capable of playing in the Premier League.
A few more hot prospects went on loan, including Miguel Azeez, who stepped up to the Championship with Wigan. Inverted right-winger Omari Hutchinson would enjoy another half-season in League One with Oxford, while Norton-Cuffy was joined at Bolton by defender Taylor Foran and forward Marcelo Flores.
In terms of signings, I brought in a couple of 18-year-olds from abroad. The first of these was Issahaku Abdul Fatawu – a pacey and technical Ghanaian forward with a sweet left foot. I initially tried to sign him in August, but Sporting CP’s transfer demands were too steep. This angered Fatawu so much that he requested a transfer in the new year, and was available for just £240,000!
If Fatawu was a cheap signing, then Breno Bidon was an absolute steal! The energetic box-to-box midfielder popped on my radar in March, shortly after he was released by Corinthians. Breno might not have the flair and creativity you’d expect from a Brazilian starlet, but he could still be a fantastic free transfer if he lives up to that potential.
RESULTS: DECEMBER 2022 TO MARCH 2023
PREMIER LEAGUE
Well… this is a disaster. In our last 14 Premier League games, we’ve picked up 17 points and just four wins. That’s mid-table form at best.
Indeed, our only shutout wins both came against newly-promoted teams. Our holy trinity of Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe and Eddie Nketiah all scored in a 3-0 home win over Bournemouth. We then put FOUR past Luton, who have looked completely out of their depth and will probably post the lowest points total in Premier League history.
Elsewhere, we struggled in high-pressure games against our top-six rivals, losing twice to Manchester City, while also suffering narrow away defeats at Wolves and Liverpool. However, there is simply no excuse for losing at home to mid-table Aston Villa. Douglas Luiz scored a screamer in the 8th minute, and we created nothing but garbage for the next 82.
Our biggest headache, though, is that we’re drawing a lot of games that we should have won – and probably would have won last season. We ran out of steam at Fulham and conceded a 91st-minute equaliser. We surrendered two equalisers to Norwich. And then there was the goalless away draw at Bournemouth, where we had 12 shots on goal (including quite a few high-quality chances) but only got two on target!
Here’s where that sorry run of form leaves us. Chelsea knocked us out of the top four in late January thanks to another ‘new manager bounce’, sacking the unpopular Diego Simeone after just six months and appointing Neil Bath as caretaker. Wolves leapfrogged us into 5th a month later, as they finally started to fulfil their potential under Bruno Lage.
With nine games to go, we’re NINE points adrift of the Champions League places – and we’ve played more matches than everyone else above us. Even a top-six finish isn’t a guarantee if the likes of Leeds and Newcastle hit top form in the run-in.
Perhaps the only positive to take out of this diabolical season is that Tottenham are somehow doing even worse – and may miss out on Europe altogether! Antonio Conte’s successor Ernesto Valverde has just been given his marching orders, so there’ll soon be yet another new manager at Spurs.
In a way, it’s a blessing that Silent Stan is much less ambitious or trigger-happy compared to his counterpart across North London. Remember, he’s only expecting a top-half finish, so my job is safe… for now.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
So, it looks like we will have to win the Champions League to qualify for it next season… and we might actually have a chance of pulling it off, you know!
The first leg of our Last 16 clash with RB Leipzig started well, with Albert Sambi Lokonga dribbling through the home defence to score his first ever Arsenal goal after just 14 minutes. The Bundesliga side then used all their energy drinks to try and force an equaliser, which André Silva eventually got in the 69th minute. In the end, we were rather lucky to cling onto a 1-1 draw.
We then clipped RB’s wings in the second leg, smashing our way to a 3-0 win! Top scorer Gabriel Martinelli led the line superbly with an assist and a goal before White sealed the win.
We’ve been drawn to play Napoli in the Quarter Finals – and to be honest, I quite fancy our chances of beating them. Either Bayern München or Barcelona will await in the Semis if we can do just that.
FA CUP
We almost suffered an embarrassing Round 3 exit from the FA Cup – trailing 1-0 to League One Peterborough at half-time! Bottles might have been thrown, and I might have switched to a heavy counter-pressing system, but we turned it around in the second half to win 4-1. It was also a record-breaking day for one of our hottest prospects.
After a fairly easy win over Middlesbrough, we hosted Chelsea in Round 5. We had 2.48 xG from 28 shots and practically played the Blues off the park for two hours… but only managed a goalless draw before losing 5-4 on penalties. It was our second penalty that cost us, with Martinelli’s effort being saved by Kepa Arrizabalaga.
For the record, we’ve now played Chelsea seven times during this save and scored ONE goal against them. Kepa has played in five of those matches – and kept FIVE clean sheets. I’m not sure why we have so much trouble getting shots past him, but I must assume that Kepa Arrizabalaga is simply the greatest goalkeeper in world football!
EFL CUP
At least things went rather better in the EFL Cup. After cruising past Championship Watford in the Quarter Finals, we headed to Wembley for a one-legged Semi Final against Brighton. This was more of a battle, and it wasn’t until the 88th minute that Martinelli finally broke through the Albion defence to leave us 90 minutes from glory.
On 26 February, we were back at Wembley to face Manchester United – the only team who stood between us and the trophy. Interestingly, United’s manager Maurizio Sarri was serving a touchline ban after complaining about a refereeing decision in their last match…
…so wait? Who’s that bespectacled, chain-smoking Italian guy on the touchline?
I fielded a strong team for this match, though I decided to keep faith in our cup keeper Matt Turner instead of bringing in our regular number 1 Aaron Ramsdale. Turner proved me right by making a couple of important saves to frustrate United in a cagey first half.
Both teams struggled to create quality matches, and with some tired legs on the pitch, it looked like extra-time was on the cards. After 85 minutes, I brought on our long-serving defensive midfielder Mohamed Elneny as my final substitute. After 86 minutes… he did this.
Mo Elneny had won me my first major trophy as Arsenal manager! It was also Arsenal’s first EFL Cup win since 1993, when captain Tony Adams celebrated by lifting goalscorer Steve Morrow onto his shoulders. Tierney decided not to do the same trick with Elneny – probably a wise choice, given what happened last time.
After the match, Stan Kroenke marked our trimph by basically telling me to go easy on the champagne (not that I drink much anyway). On the other hand, he was delighted that we’d qualified for the Europa League a year ahead of schedule… even though winning the EFL Cup technically only qualifies us for the Europa Conference League. You’re a weird guy, Stanley.
YOUTH UPDATE
Unfortunately, neither of our development teams will be winning any silverware this season. The Under-18s did finish a respectable 2nd in the Premier League U18 South behind Chelsea – but the Under-23s barely put up any meaningful defences of their league and cup titles from last season.
As far as this Arsenal youth project is concerned, though, player development matters more than winning trophies… so let’s see how the hottest prospects from last year’s intake are progressing.
Sean Fallon was our brightest hope, and he’s making steady progress. Fallon has already improved several key attributes by 1 or 2 points, which leaves Dribbling as his only real weakness for a left-back. He’s earned a swift promotion to the Under-23s squad and also made his senior debut in the FA Cup Round 4 win over Middlesbrough.
I’ve been similarly impressed by attacking midfielder Alan Wilding, who became our youngest ever player in Round 3 against Peterborough. Wilding’s development hasn’t been quite as fast as Fallon’s, but our coaches already think he is playing at League One or League Two standard. He doesn’t turn 17 until July!
But there’s another young midfielder with a bright future. Victor Quintyne did not stand out when he first appeared in the intake; in terms of perceived potential, he was firmly in the bottom half. However, a quick glance at those attributes – 15 Technique, 14 Passing, 14 Flair, 14 First Touch – shows that he’s clearly got something about him, and that he might be next in line for a first-team debut.
Now let’s look at our new youth intake… which at first glance doesn’t look as exciting as the 2022 intake. Per Mertesacker even called it a ‘below average’ intake.
It’s important to stress that 3* potential in a Premier League intake is not bad. Several of our leading players – including Tierney and Martinelli – are rated at 3* current ability, which gives you a good idea of what these kids are being compared to. Unfortunately, a closer look at the class of 2023 shows that even the hottest prospects have some serious flaws that will be very difficult to rectify.
Lee Duke has some reasonable attributes for a goalkeeper, but annoyingly also has both the Eccentricity and the Composure of a hyperactive toddler. Terry Owens sounds like he should be an NFL running-back and looks like a decent talent at left-back, but we’ve already got much better prospects ahead of him (including Fallon).
Xhoi Haliti is an explosive wide attacker whose Mercenary personality could give me a headache if he fulfils his potential. The diminutive Joaquín Agüero is technically a little more developed, but maybe needs to be trained to play as an inverted winger on the right flank.
Mertesacker says that Barry Davidson is our best prospect. Sure, he’s a big guy who can grow into a powerful target man, but we don’t usually play with that kind of centre-forward – and his Finishing ability doesn’t look too promising. Maybe one of those lads will kick on and break through one day, but I’m sceptical.
On that somewhat underwhelming note, it’s time to bring this chapter to an end. At least we won the EFL Cup, eh?
I’ll be back early next week for the 2022/2023 season finale. Can Arsenal’s young Gunners pull off a miraculous recovery by returning to the top four? Can we even do the improbable – and win the Champions League at my first attempt?
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