The 2017 Football Manager adventure starts
(I’m playing catch up here with this adventure, so this story is a bit rushed and lacks some of the stuff I’d like to include. Starting with third season the posts will be spread out more)
On March 26th the new season commenced as I took the helm at Arsenal. My predecessor Arsene Wenger was “promoted” to Football Director. Why not? Keeping this brilliant mind with me could have its benefits.
I started the first season strong not losing a match until late September. I went through a rough patch there. The low point was the only match that counts, Spurs.
The loss was an insult. I gave the team a stern talking and what happened after that just brought a smile to my face. We picked Real and Man U apart and went on an unbeaten streak in all competitions for 38 matches. Pushing Spurs aside at home along the way with 4–1.
Halfway through the season I did opt to buy some players. I snapped up Josh Tymon from Hull for £11,25 million (will rise to 13,25), Ginaluigi Donnarumma from A.C. Milan for £29 million (will rise to 31,5) and Thomas Buitink from Vitesse for £4,2 million as investments for the future. Getting Andre Silva was a defensive move to prevent Man City from getting him. I was not happy spending £52 million on a striker I did not really need to as Welby (Danny Welbeck) was close to full health.
Because of that I sent Iwobi to Sevilla as I played Lucas more on the wing. Donnarumma took over Ospina’s place as I loaned him out to Dynamo Kyiv. He would be my GK for cup matches, that included the Champions League! I took a risk there.
I finished the season strong losing no game aside from the one against Hull. They really picked us apart there.
The Champions League final remained a tight game despite having more of the possession through the game.
I was not sure if I could get the record of most points in a season as I started giving my second string players some minutes and playing around with tactics once I was crowned champion. The top six were the usual suspects. I actually expected Spurs to finish second but they messed up a few matches before the end of the season.
Oli (Olivier Giroud) won the Golden Boot in the EPL as he scored 24 goals in less minutes on the field than Vardy.
Francis (Coquelin) came in second in Goal of the Season with this screamer.
Chech came in second with the Golden Glove despite having played a match more and conceding less. He was tied with de Gea at 20 clean sheets.
I was awarded Manager of the Year. Alexis won FWA and PFA of the year. He was also in the EPL team of the Year along side Oli and Kos (Koscielny).
Winning the FA Cup I reclaimed the title of winning the cup the most times for Arsenal, it belongs with us. I was living a bit on the edge there as Bristol City had beaten Man City 4–0 to get into the Final.
Six of my players were included in the CL (Champions League) Dream Team.
As the season winded down I started making plans to offload some of the older players and free up wage space. But also reduce the number of players in the squads, both experienced and youth that did not fit into my plans going forward.
Near the end of the season some of the players were getting restless because they weren’t getting enough matches. I used my captain extensively to subdue this but it got harder and harder. I needed my loanees back to make the decisions because I felt I had a future for Szczesny and Wilshire among others. But it all depended on who would go.
