Wenger announces retirement, Ancelotti to takeover

Arsene Wenger has announce his retirement as Arsenal manager after almost 20 years at the club, he has stated that he felt he had played his part Arsenal over the years and is now at an age in which the rigours of management are difficult to cope with.
Wenger has announced that he will however be staying on with club, albeit in a different capacity as a director of football.
Ancelotti was quickly announced as his replacement with Wenger supposedly having handpicked his replacement due to his great admiration for him from his years at Chelsea.



In his first press conference as Arsenal manager Ancelotti spoke of his desire to improve upon the current squad by bringing in a few players of his own, he mentioned that he was specifically interested in adding to the current strikeforce, which is currently weakened by a long term setback to Danny Welbeck who is out for up to 8 months with a severely damaged knee.
It is rumoured that he has a number of transfer targets in mind including Karim Benzema, Gonzalo Higuain, John Stones, Ignacio Camacho and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
He has declared that he believes Arsenal will be genuine title contenders this year if they can bring in a few of the names he has in mind.

Now that is a surprising appointment! Good luck, man!

Thanks mate, if you think that's surprising wait for the shocking news in my next update

Good luck with Arsenal! From my experience with them in FM14 they're a fairly fun team to manage + now you have the great Alexis Sanchez. What kind of shocking news is it, I wonder? Perhaps a move for a Chelsea player?

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Arsenal break bank for French striker

Arsenal have announced the signing of Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette for an initial fee of 40 million pounds, however it could eventually rise to 52 million due to add ons included in the deal.
Lacazette has drawn comparisons with Arsenal legend Thierry Henry due to his pace, dribbling and predatory goal scoring instinct particularly from within the box.
When asked about these comparisons at Lacazettes unveiling as an Arsenal player Ancelotti responded saying, ‘Fans should be wary of comparing him to a legend like Thierry due to the pressure which it can put on him, I do however expect him to make a name for himself with his goalscoring impact and I believe he will justify his fee.’
Another impressive feature of his game is his ability to holdup the ball and lay it off to a teammate despite his small stature, this will definitely suit Arsenals style of play.
Lacazette has spent his entire career up till now at Lyon making his debut in the 2009/10 season and becoming a regular in the side by by the 11/12 season, however he really began to become noticed in in the 13/14 season where he made the move from right wing to centre forward and responded with 15 goals in 36 appearances, he then followed this up by scoring 27 last season, winning the Ligue 1 golden boot and attracting interest from a number of top clubs.
Although some may consider it an overspend Lacazette does seem like the kind of natural finisher who could take the premier league by storm, however if he doesn’t deliver the goods early on he may be written off as another one of footballs big money flops.

Great signing, even if it's a little expensive, and nice start. Interesting choice of manager.

Arsenals pre-season in summary

Transfer Business:

After quickly asserting himself in the transfer window with the big money signing of Alexandre Lacazette, Ancelotti understandably was only going to be making calculated bargain deals if any.
He eventually decided on adding some young talent to his squad with the signing of 18 year old Leeds midfielder Lewis Cook and 17 year old CD Tenerife attacker Cristo Gonzales for respective fees of 10 and 1.5 million pounds.
The sale of Mathieu Flamimi was also made to French side Stade Rennais for a fee of 1 million pound with Ancelotti stating he did not see him playing an important part in the first team squad especially after the signing of talented Cook who can play in the same role.

Scout Analysis:

Lewis Cook is a talented midfielder who’s preferred position is sitting in the hole between midfield and defence where he can make use of his impressive tackling as well as his calmness on the ball and passing ability.
He appeared in 37 of Leeds games last season in his debut year, catching the eye of fans and pundits alike with a kind of
footballing intelligence and calmness which belies his age.



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One area he will have to work on if he hopes to make it as a Premier League anchor is his strength as he is currently easily forced of the ball by bigger players.
Despite his size if he can live up to his promise he could become an efficient robust if small defensive midfielder in the Claude Makelele Mould.

Christo Gonzales on the other hand is a man many in England will not have heard of however this is not due to a lack of ability on his part but rather due to the fact that he has not yet asserted himself as a regular in the Spanish second division.
Gonzalez is a playmaker who can play in the hole as well as on the wing or even upfront as a centre forward.
His strongest attributes are his dribbling and creative ability.
He does however need work on his decision making and composure, however it is understandable that a young player is not as well developed in the mental side of his game then the rest of his skill sets.

The Results

Arsenal enjoyed a fairly good pre-season managing wins in all their games except against Chelsea in John Terry’s testimonial game in which Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and Eidur Gudjohnsen returned to honour their former Captain.
Alexis Sanchez and Hector Bellerin were the standout performers with Sanchez netting 3 and setting up 2 goals and Bellering creating 3 goals with his consistent crossing as well as making may important tackles when getting back.
Arsenal have a run of important games in the first Month of the Premier League season with a game against Chelsea in the Community Shield as well as coming up against Stoke Watford, Manchester United and Everton in their first BPL games.
When asked for his comments on the pre-season Ancellotti replied, ‘In all honesty I don’t think to much should be made of the pre-season as it is mainly an opportunity for the boys to get some match fitness before the real test comes.”

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awesome, start, was an expensive transfer but he is a class player, lets hope it pays off for you

No! You took Lewis Cook! He's the only thing Leeds have left! Only joking, but those signings are very, very strong, no matter what the price.

Jack and Villa fan Thanks for the suppport I do hope Lacazette delivers

Arsenal first monthly report.

Arsenal vs Stoke
A 3-0

Lineup:Cech Bellerin Mertesacker Koscielny Monreal Coquelin Cazorla(Ramsey) Walcott(Oxlade-Chamberlain) Ozil Sanchez Lacazette(Giroud)

Goalscorers:Koscielny(14),Lacazette(65),Ramsey(84)

Assists:Cech,Ozil



Arsenal vs Watford H 4-0

Lineup:Cech Bellerin Mertesacker Koscielny Monreal Coquelin(Ramsey) Cazorla Walcott Ozil(Oxlade-Chamberlain) Sanchez Lacazette

Goalscorers:Sanchez(57),Walcott(83,88),Ramsey(90)

Assists:Sanchez,Lacazette



Arsenal vs Man United A 0-0

Lineup:Cech Bellerin Mertesacker Koscielny Monreal Coquelin Ramsey Walcott Ozil(Cazorla) Sanchez(Oxlade Chamberlain) Lacazette(Giroud)

Goalscorers:None

Assists:None

Injuries:Sanchez(strained knee ligaments out for 6 weeks),Lacazette(puled hamstring out for 3 weeks)





Arsenal vs Everton H 2-1

Lineup:Cech Bellerin(Chambers) Mertesacker Koscielny Monreal Coquelin(Cook) Ramsey Walcott(Oxlade-Chamberlain) Ozil Cazorla Giroud

Goalscorers:Giroud(7),Walcott(25)

Assists:Walcott,Ozil

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Arsenal looked in red hot form as they began the season by going unbeaten in their first four games as well as only conceding one goal.
They got their season off to the perfect start against Stoke with captain Koscielny finishing off from a Mesut Ozil corner which was delivered in low to his feet.
In the 64th minute Lacazette doubled their lead and got off the mark for Arsenal getting on the end of a Petr Cech long ball, going past 2 defenders before putting a delightful chip over Jack Butlands Head.
Substitute Aaron Ramsey then made it 3-o with a brilliant strike from just outside the box.
In their next game against Watford Arsenal looked as though they might not be able to carry on their great form and were held by a solid Watford before Aaron Ramsey produced another piece of magic with a brilliant cross that Alexis was able to easily tap in to the back of the net.
Theo Walcott then compounded Watford’s misery with two good finish in the 83rd an 88th minute before Aaron Ramsey capped it off by knocking in a rebound from Alexis Sanchez’s shot which was parried by Heurehlo Gomez.

In the next game Arsenal faced their toughest challenge yet coming up against fellow title contenders Manchester United.
The first major chance of the game came when Anthony Martial got on the end of a Juan Mata free kick unleashing a shot which was well saved by Petr Cech but came on the rebound to Michel Carrick who’s shot was easily blocked by a Koscielny before being cleared.
Then in the 62nd minute Memhpis Depay Got on the end of a Mata corner which was parried by Cech before being cleared upfield.
On the break after the clearance Alex Oxlade Chamberlain went past 3 United men surging into the box before being stopped by a Matteo Darmian sliding tackle which may in the ground would argue should have been a penalty.
The in the 70th minute Anthony Martial was set free by a Juan Mata through ball before firing his shot marginally wide of the post.
No more chances came in the game with both teams content to sit back and play for a draw.

In their next game against Everton, Arsenal got off to a flyer by getting 2-0 up within 25 minutes.
The first goal came when Olivier Giroud headed home from Theo Walcott cross in the 7th minute.
18 minutes later provider turned scorer with Walcott getting on the end of a Mezut Ozil through ball before firing home from close range.
Steven Naismith pulled one back for Everton in the 83nd minute with a god finish from close range which beat Petr Cech for power.

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Some very impressive results there, well played!

great first month.