Unofficial Arsenal Team Guide [FIFA 09]

[the_d]

Hi all I'm new here and thought i would share my ideas on how to get a successful Arsenal side in FIFA 09.

First Team choice.

As the title says this section will be on who you could put on your First Team. Arsenal Tend to operate well in the default set-up in a custom 4-4-2 formation, and the default players are:

GK: Manuel Almunia
RB: Bacary Sagna
CB: Kolo Toure
CB: William Gallas
LB: Gael Clichy
RM: Thomas Rosicky
CM: Francesc Fabregas
CM: Denilson
LM: Samir Nasri
LS: Robin Van Persie
RS: Emmanuel Adebayor

This does tend to work well with Denilson sitting slightly behind Fabregas as default. But I prefer to find a replacement for Denilson and a good CM is Luis Oscar Gonzalez from FC Porto who has an Overall of 84, he is also an older player at the age of 27 but he does have good leadership skills and would be a good captain when Toure or Fabregas aren't playing.

In game Substitutions

I find a good substitution for your first team is Theo Walcott, for Thomas Rosicky, my reason being that he will certainly inject a quick pace into your game and offer lots of counter attacking options. Other substitutions will be made when the situations arise, so keep a strong bench open if an injurys or fatigue become a problem.

Second Team choice

When playing against sides in either the League Cup (Carling Cup) or FA Cup entering a second team is advisable. This diverts fatigue away from your first team and will offer your youngsters game time, and ultimately a chance in becoming part of the first team in future. Below is a team sheet of Arsenal youngsters i would play:

GK: Lukasz Fabianski
RB: Gavin Hoyte
CB: Johan Djourou
CB: Abou Diaby
LB: Alexandre Song (See below in bold)
RM: Theo Walcott
CM: Aaron Ramsey
CM: Mike Randall or Amaury Bischoff
LM: Jack Wilshere
LS: Carlos Vela
RS: Nicholas Bendtner

** I look for a cheep young left back with an overall of 65-70 and then move Song to Center Back. You could remove Randall or Bischoff and put Diaby in place but if you want a very young side don't put Diaby in

I also advise looking at a player called Mario Balotelli Barwuah from Inter Milan, he's 18 and has an overall of 79, a great buy in my opinion!

Tactics

I Don't use special tactics per-say, but it doesn't hurt trying! Have a Fiddle Around and use your playing style to your advantage and maximize your teams potential.

Added 15:27pm 3rd December

Keeping Costs Down

To have more cash to spend in the transfer market is always a plus so why not sell some players. Selling players you do not use free's up room in your squad and decreases players wages. If you want to do this i suggest you sell:

Emmanuel Eboue (RM, CB, RB) can get about £1,700,000.
Thomas Rosicky (CAM, RM, LM) can get about £5,000,000.
Henri Lansbury (RM, CM, CDM) you won't get much £140,000

Selling Eboue and Rosicky will alow Theo Walcott to get a place in the squad, i only sold Eboue and Rosicky in the Jan sales as Walcott had an overall of 80. You could Loan out Lansbury and then recall him at the end of the season, but i have never used him so i sold him.

Transfers

Adding players to a squad can have its advantages, for example buying another midfielder to add depth to your squad. I personally bought these players:

Pablo Aimar (CAM, *RM*, LM) for £10,950,000 playing in RM his Overall is 86.
Armand Traore (LB, CB, RB) for £300,000 also featured above as a second Left back.
Luis Gonzalez (CM, RM, LM) for £6,000,000 to replace Denilson, he is very Durable and can play anywhere in midfield.
Mario Barwuah (ST, CF, LF) for £3,500,000 as a player in my second team, he is also mentioned above under Second Team Choice.

I find that transfers are only needed if you are filling in a gap in your side, adding depth or for future use.

So don't Buy Kaka or Messi for the sake of buying them!


Added 5th December

More on Second Team

As i have said before your second team will be invaluable for future title success, there are many different set-ups for your second team and i suggest these:

4-4-2
Plain and simple, using a balanced formation which offers strong defense and attacking options, i suggest this team.
GK: Lucazs Fabianski or Vitto Mannone
RB: Gavin Hoyte
CB: Johan Djourou
CB: Alexandre Song
LB: Armand Traore
RM: Theo Walcott
CM: Aaron Ramsey
CM: Mike Randall
LM: Jack Wilshere
LS: Carlos Vela
RS: Mario Balotelli Barwuah

Traore will only be in the squad if you buy him back from Portsmouth (in real life he is on loan).
And Mario Barwuah is in my recommended Transfers.

4-3-3
Obvious for the attacking minded player, utilizing Walcott's full potential on the wing:
GK: Lucazs Fabianski or Vitto Mannone
RB: Gavin Hoyte
CB: Johan Djourou
CB: Alexandre Song
LB: Armand Traore
RCM: Aaron Ramsay
CM: Abou Diaby
LCM: Mike Randall
RW: Theo Walcott
ST: Mario Barwuah
LW: Carlos Vela

3-5-2
Flooding the midfield and keeping attacking options at the expense of a strong defense:

GK: Lucazs Fabianski or Vitto Mannone
RCB: Gavin Hoyte
CB: Johan Djourou
LCB: Armand Traore
RM: Theo Walcott
RDM: Abou Diaby
LDM: Alexandre Song
LM: Jack Wilshere
CAM: Aaron Ramsay
RS: Carlos Vela
LS: Mario Barwuah

Nickolas Who?
Many of you would be thinking 'Why leave out Bendter?'. In my opinion he lacks pace to keep up with Vela and Walcott, I may be wrong, so if you think differently post a comment! Prove me wrong!

These are mere suggestions which work for me, if you have any suggestions to share leave me a private message and I will happily include them!.

More on Transfers!
I find generally trimming down on squad size and loaning players out, really does help. Find the players you rarely or even never play and loan them out, if after the season you don't think they would fit in the squad then sell them on.

I will be venturing into other team guides now, so if you have any requests E-mail me or Private message me!


Thanks All and more will come! Any Questions please don't hesitate to Post or e-mail me on [email protected]!

Happy Gaming!


PSN: Turkleton1923 add me if you want!

[southernbelle]

what about their 4-3-3 formation with Adabayor, RVP, and Bendter? how do you run that?

[the_d]

Quote: Originally Posted by southernbelle

what about their 4-3-3 formation with Adabayor, RVP, and Bendter? how do you run that?

Well firstly i would lose Bendtner and put in walcott, so the team would be:

GK: Almunia
RB: Sagna
CB: Gallas
CB: Toure
LB: Clichy
RCM: Rosicky
CM: Fabregas
LCM: Nasri
RW: Walcott (Overall 79)
ST: Adebayor (84 or 85 cant remember)
LW: Van Persie (85)

Walcott is overall 79 when playing in RW position, but thats my opinion

[the_d]

Quote:

** I look for a cheep young left back with an overall of 65-70 and then move Song to Center Back. You could remove Randall or Bischoff and put Diaby in place but if you want a very young side don't put Diaby in

I now would recommend Armand Traore (Portsmouth) for LB as he's 19 and costs about £300,000.

[southernbelle]

i disagree with having diaby on the back line. he gives a strong midfield presence when in relief.

also, what about the 4-5-1 they ran a few games back?

[the_d]

Quote: Originally Posted by southernbelle

i disagree with having diaby on the back line. he gives a strong midfield presence when in relief. also, what about the 4-5-1 they ran a few games back?

Sorry about that, i meant to say that the back four for the second team would be;

Hoyte.
Djourou.
Song.
Traore.(When i bought him)


About 4-5-1, i personally would not use it unless:

1. I was out of Strikers.
2. The other team flooded their midfield.

But if it works for you then use it, i advise the Default Defence and then:

RM: Walcott
RCM: Diaby
CM: Fabregas
LCM: Denilson
LM: Nasri

With the cover provided by Diaby and Fabregas, walcott can attack the back four providing support for Adebayor/Van persie (Who ever you choose).

[the_d]

BUMP on the 3rd December

[VanillaEps]

Great thread. Keep it up. I use Arsenal in my MM. I actually created a GK to replace Alumnia.