Oreki's Gunners: From Fourth to First

Ji-Sung Park, what a legend
Forever in PSV fan's hearts!

Anyways, some great signings besides Park like Bender and Asamoah. And great first season! Good luck in the second season!

Jason: He's not that bad as a backup, honestly

Zed: Thanks Zed!

Pre-season was a natural breeze for us as we took on sides with relatively low quality squad-wise. We traveled to South Korea on our annual pre-season tour this year and faced off against Suwon, Gyeongnam and Jeju United, before flying to Thailand and then Mexico to play against Muangthong United and Ballenas Galeana respectively. Our last friendly would be against Austrian Bundesliga team Red Bull Salzburg at the Emirates Stadium.

Oreki's Thoughts

A bad draw against Suwon as well as a narrow 1-0 win against Jeju United were the only blemishes as we dominated against every other team in pre-season. On the plus side, I fielded a starting eleven of mostly inexperienced youth players for every game, so the future looks pretty bright.

Gnabry has been especially impressive and I'll be trying to slot him into the first team this season, as well as Ademilson. Our defenders have also been fantastic as always with Gael Clichy even getting himself 2 goals in pre-season. On the midfield side, Asamoah and Cazorla are both being beasts as usual.

Looking forward to a brand new season ahead. Time to defend that Premier League title.

good preseason, with some encouraging performances! good luck for this season!

Some good signings, and a pretty strong pre-season too!
Looking forward to the PL season, I am sure you will win that title again

Thanks guys

HOW IN THE NAME OF EMILE HESKEY DID I MISS THIS!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Oreki will be better than David Beckham! COME ON!

We had a great start to 2014/15 life as we won our first three Premier League fixtures, winning against West Ham, Cardiff, and more importantly, Manchester City. We also beat Chelsea to get our hands on the Community Shield, something Arsenal haven't won since 2004.

Arsenal Player of the Month

Gael Clichy was the unsung hero this month. Despite having contributed no goals or assists, his defending has been top notch and my decision to bring him back to Arsenal is looking more and more like a shrewd transfer decision. He has been consistent at his left-back position, and it is largely thanks to him that we still have no goals conceded in three games. If Clichy's form continues, it'll be very hard for Kieran Gibbs to find a way back into the first team.

Oreki's Thoughts

A great month to kick off our campaign with the wins against West Ham, Cardiff and Manchester City. Not forgetting the win against Chelsea as well - it's always good to add another trophy to our collection. Our first team has overall performed amazing this month as we've been getting goals yet at the same time keeping clean sheets, with Wojciech Szczesny yet to concede a goal. If we can keep up our form, there's no question that a second consecutive Premier League win will be on the cards.

New Trophy: Community Shield

Excellent month Glenn, always good to get some silverware early on, and to beat City away from home was also very impressive.
Enjoyed reading the update again man, looking forward to more!

2014-09-05 19:23#193305 pompeyblue : Excellent month Glenn, always good to get some silverware early on, and to beat City away from home was also very impressive.
Enjoyed reading the update again man, looking forward to more!

Thanks man, always appreciate the comments

With the departures of former captains Thomas Vermaelen and Mikel Arteta, I've had to make a decision on their replacements in the squad.

Defending powerhouse Per Mertesacker will be handed the captain's armband for the season.

Mertesacker has shown plenty of leadership qualities last season and had already captained the side in the absences of Vermaelen and Arteta in the team. He has been a splendid player since joining Arsenal in 2011 and I think he's the perfect person to wield the legendary armband. At the age of 29, he may not be our long-term captain or anything of the sort, but he will hold on to the captaincy for now.

http://s1285.photobucket.com/user/Glenn_LFC/media/PerMertesacker_OverviewProfile-2_zpsc09892a4.png.html

The new vice-captain, replacing Arteta, is local boy Jack Wilshere.

Since he was introduced into the first team in 2011, Wilshere has gone from strength to strength at Arsenal. I made him my first-choice in central midfield immediately when I saw his skill with a football, and he has repaid my faith well with 58 appearances in all competitions last season.

Still at only 22 years old, Wilshere is already being valued at a remarkable price of £30 million. His quality is undeniable and so is his ability to keep the team in the game. The vice-captain position is his for now, but there's no doubt he will be my future captain.

Unfortunately, his injury problems has continued to persist, and despite having a great injury-free season before, he's been struck with a torn hamstring that will keep him out of contention for a couple of months. A huge loss for our squad, no doubt.



Under the new captains, I have a lot of confidence that we can repeat our Premier League glory from last season and perhaps even go a few steps further in winning other trophies like the Champions League and the FA Cup.

BFG as captain! Also love seeing Jacko as vice-captain, the boy is Arsenal through and through! COYG

Not particularly a bad month as we extend our unbeaten streak in the Premier League to 6 games, as well as a solid opening game against Real Sociedad in the Champions League group stages. However, the draws are getting repetitive and we'll need to work on better finishing to put away those goals and secure all three points in the future.

Arsenal Player of the Month

Santi Cazorla did well in the month of September, scoring a goal against Fulham as well as setting up other goals throughout the month. He has been looking fantastic, utilized on both the right and left of midfield this month and displayed a lot of skill and consistency in general. He's been an influential player for us and as one of the key members of our squad, his contributions will play a huge part in determining where we go this season.

Oreki's Thoughts

Not the best month but certainly not the worst either. We played well in every game and it was simply our finishing that let us down. We also only conceded 3 goals in 5 games played so that's another positive to look at. Ademilson has also been shining with his goals against Real Sociedad in the Champions League as well as against Norwich, and Olivier Giroud will need to step up his game to keep his place in the first team.

Just been flicking through the story you've gone through it very quickly mate

A really tough UCL group there but in my first season with the mighty MCFC I got PSG and Barca just got through it on matchday 6 and got to the Quarter Finals.
But it was on FM classic.