Career Arsenal Strikers Peak

[AdamNufc]

                Arsenal Strikers Peak + 1KC

Well I've decided to go a bit long term and test my self out with TWO Vibe Challenges at the Emirates! 

The challenges I will be attempting will be both of @Foxy Strikers Peak and the 1KC 

The player I have chosen to help me achieve the strikers peak challenge is 24 old Nicolas Pepe and being only 24 means he will still be improving as the challenge goes on! 

This is Pepe at the start of the save , with excellent attributes in Pace , Movement and Finishing Ideal attributes for the Poacher Role he will be taking up for the next Five Seasons 

 

Now for the 1KC challenge I'm going to use a player I have admittedly never heard of before ( turns out he's actually played 14 games for Arsenal and done well , shows how much I pay attention to the real world ) but my scouts have him as the next wonder kid , so I might have the new Thierry Henry on my hand all be it a Brazilian one , let me introduce to you Gabriel Martinelli 

Quite an average set of stats their but apparently turns out into a 4.5 star potential so as Pepe as a mentor I'm hoping he can thrive and help me smash the 1k goals scored 

Both of these players will be leading the line for the Gunners in the search of a successful next few years 

Tactic:

Focusing all my attention on Pepe and Martinelli I nearly forget we have the real good threat of Auba and Lacazette who I've decided to play as IFs giving us an abundance of talent in and around the final third that will hopefully give opposition defences a few problems , we signed Bonucci who if you've read the other two challenges I have done so far is a personal favourite of mine and brought in Eric Dier from fierce rivals Spurs 

I don't think we will bring in anymore signings and will be focusing a lot on bringing in up and coming talent already at the club into the first team over the years.

So that's all for my first write up and I will update you all at some point on how the two players I'm focusing on get on!

Edited July 31, 2020 by AdamNufc

[Ian]

Nice couple of players.

Pepe I know obviously but haven’t used before and should be great for the peak strikers challenge. Martinelli I’ve used on one of my other careers and he seems great to me so could be a great pick.

Good luck.

[Woody]

Best of luck mate andvi love that you've never heard of Martinelli 😂😂

[Scratch]

Good luck mate - going to be good to watch. Never used either of the two lads, but I often keep an eye on Martinelli and tried to sign him (unsuccessfully) a few times... Will be interesting to see how he develops.

I always go with a 1 striker tactic (even when I was trying to get two strikers to score) so interested to see how it goes with 2 on the pitch at once. That's a really attacking tactic! I definitely need to experiment more, I always end up with exactly the same tactic...

Anyway good luck! 

[AdamNufc]

8 hours ago, Woody said:

Best of luck mate andvi love that you've never heard of Martinelli 😂😂

I don't really watch football unless it's Newcastle playing or I'm in the pub , get bored if it's neither of those , most of my knowledge of football is through playing FM or teams Newcastle have faced 😂 So yeah yous probably all know of Martinelli but I did not until a quick look on YouTube ahaha and cheers mate gonna smash the first season out today 

[AdamNufc]

2 hours ago, Scratch said:

Good luck mate - going to be good to watch. Never used either of the two lads, but I often keep an eye on Martinelli and tried to sign him (unsuccessfully) a few times... Will be interesting to see how he develops.

I always go with a 1 striker tactic (even when I was trying to get two strikers to score) so interested to see how it goes with 2 on the pitch at once. That's a really attacking tactic! I definitely need to experiment more, I always end up with exactly the same tactic...

Anyway good luck! 

I used to always use just the one tactic too a while back but I get bored of it so mess around , that's not even my most attacking tactic , I've got some ridiculous ones like , I was going to use Martinelli as a Shadow Striker to be fair , but I chop and change throughout a season so might end up using a few tactics 

Yeah the tactic does need some tweaking , scores goals but concedes too , see tonight whether I'm a success or and up sacked aha 

[AdamNufc]

8 hours ago, Ian said:

Nice couple of players.

Pepe I know obviously but haven’t used before and should be great for the peak strikers challenge. Martinelli I’ve used on one of my other careers and he seems great to me so could be a great pick.

Good luck.

Thank You! I've never used Pepe either but his attributes will only improve I reckon so could get a good few points 

Yeah I'm hoping the hype around Martinelli turns out well , he's got his best years ahead of him , haven't turn a long term save in ages so should be interesting 

[FuddledFox]

Ballsy shout going for two up top but then we like that kind of thing round here.

Martinelli turns out great so I’m sure it will all go well, good luck.

[AdamNufc]

3 minutes ago, Foxy said:

Ballsy shout going for two up top but then we like that kind of thing round here.

Martinelli turns out great so I’m sure it will all go well, good luck.

Thank you! 

10 year ago 2 up top was the Norm , I'm sure it will go fine , the 1 up top has came into fashion recently due to two ways , Tika Taka under Guardiola ( which was often actually a 4-6-0 ) as you needed one less striker to play a high brand of keep ball and under teams that park the bus therefore using a target man and having an extra midfielder or defender 

4-4-2 is a dying breed but I'm sure I can make a success out of it! 

[broodje kip]

Nice choice there. Interested to see how Pepe would perform as I’ve never use him before.

Martinelli were highly hyped by the Gunners fan when they beat Chelsea 2-2. Yes 2-2 😂.

[AdamNufc]

5 minutes ago, broodje kip said:

Nice choice there. Interested to see how Pepe would perform as I’ve never use him before.

Martinelli were highly hyped by the Gunners fan when they beat Chelsea 2-2. Yes 2-2 😂.

Honestly my head must be in the sand , I'm sure I will know all about him at the end of the save 

[Kanegan]

Pepe is very good whenever I have used him and Martinelli can develop into a beast. 

Good luck. 

[AdamNufc]

End Of Season One

I've just finished my first season of this challenge and it was definitely a mixed bag of results

Premier League 

The Objective was to qualify for the Champions League which we managed but I would have definitely wanted more points on the board and losing 9 games isn't good enough for me. 

It was a difficult season tactically - I'd went

4-4-2 most of the season to play both Pepe and Martinelli in as advanced a role up the pitch as possible hoping to get them to score for fun but we struggled to keep hold of the ball and make chances count as shown by only scoring 62 League goals this season 

Whenever either Pepe or Martinelli needed resting I did change to a 4-2-3-1 which seemed to get better results so that is maybe some thought for going forward by playing one of them just off the main striker 

Cup Competitions

In the Europa League we won all of our group games however we knocked out of the competition at the quarter final stages after a late extra time goal conceded against Benfica 

We played Liverpool SIX times this season drawing 1 and losing 5 

Lost both premier League games , lost both legs of the League Cup Semi Final , drew in the FA Cup 4th Round before losing the replay , this is surely the definition of a bogey team! 

Nicolas Pepe ( Strikers Peak First Season ) 

Before

After 

I retrained Pepe as a out and out striker throughout the season and as you can see he's improved quite well with increases in Dribbling , passing , shooting and movement 

Goals and Assists 

Pepe had quite an average season scoring an okay 28 goals while assisting 12 , leaving him with a first season score of 40 Points , which is an okay start but must improve in the next season if I'm wanting to score highly in this challenge 

Gabriel Martinelli (1KC Challenge) 

Before 

After 

As you can see Martinelli has improved through the season with more green attributes than he started with , a improved shooting attribute by +4 , an improvement also in Dribbling and pace and he's also improved his strength , the only way is up for this striker! 

Goals

Martinelli had an okay first season scoring 9 goals , leaving only 991 more needed to complete the challenge 😂

It's going to be a long slog to get him up to the 1000 goal mark but I'm sure with some perseverance I can do it! 

Thanks for Reading and season two update will be in next couple days 😀

[Woody]

A tough 1st season but i'm sure with some tinkering you'll find a work around that will get the goals you need. Sometimes it takes a few seasons to get something that works but even then you still end up tweeking.

Keep the faith.

[AdamNufc]

Just now, Woody said:

A tough 1st season but i'm sure with some tinkering you'll find a work around that will get the goals you need. Sometimes it takes a few seasons to get something that works but even then you still end up tweeking.

Keep the faith.

The first season is always just finding your feet and seeing what works and that , hopefully get a few transfers sorted and I have a few ideas how to improve next season 

Thanks mate 

[Scratch]

Yeah, that was a bit tougher than I expected, but Martinelli is only young and will get a lot better. I have you beat though, I once had an (abandoned) 1KC where the striker only scored 2 goals in season 1! 🤣

Obviously you need to find a tactic that will work for this. I had some success playing 1 upfront and an IF cutting in (which either could do), but it wasn't consistent. I think I need to branch out from my same old same old at some point and try to find a 2 up front tactic I can make work. Will be interested to see how you approach it.

And damn, that Liverpool! That's crazy! 

[broodje kip]

A very tough season you had. I’m surprised that Martinelli didn’t grow that much. I’ve used him and actually grow quite fast. Hope for a better season 2 

[AdamNufc]

43 minutes ago, Scratch said:

Yeah, that was a bit tougher than I expected, but Martinelli is only young and will get a lot better. I have you beat though, I once had an (abandoned) 1KC where the striker only scored 2 goals in season 1! 🤣

Obviously you need to find a tactic that will work for this. I had some success playing 1 upfront and an IF cutting in (which either could do), but it wasn't consistent. I think I need to branch out from my same old same old at some point and try to find a 2 up front tactic I can make work. Will be interested to see how you approach it.

And damn, that Liverpool! That's crazy! 

I'm going to be able to have a better second season , it ain't the best of starts BUT we qualified for the Champions League and that was the target so we can only improve 

Yeah I tweaked a bit with a lopsided 4-2-3-1 with Pepe IF at times and that seemed to work a lot a better in certain games in the first season 

added 0 minutes later

3 minutes ago, broodje kip said:

A very tough season you had. I’m surprised that Martinelli didn’t grow that much. I’ve used him and actually grow quite fast. Hope for a better season 2 

Couldn't really get him fitting into my system but I've made a couple big changes going into season 2 so it can only get better!

[gunnersaur]

Champions league football .... Sign the lad up 😂... Great start man Martinelli usually good on my saves so he'll come good 

[AdamNufc]

4 minutes ago, gunnersaur said:

Champions league football .... Sign the lad up 😂... Great start man Martinelli usually good on my saves so he'll come good 

Hopefully be getting some trophies in the Cabinet next season , yeah he looks he will come big next season , got a interesting new signing that might surprise a few when I next update 

[gunnersaur]

15 minutes ago, AdamNufc said:

Hopefully be getting some trophies in the Cabinet next season , yeah he looks he will come big next season , got a interesting new signing that might surprise a few when I next update 

Good to hear I was surprised with you signing Dier so if its more surprising than that should be a decent one 

[Rob]

Decent start. As soon as you finish the Peak Year Challenge I thoroughly recommend switching to a single striker tactic though! 

[AdamNufc]

Just now, Rob said:

Decent start. As soon as you finish the Peak Year Challenge I thoroughly recommend switching to a single striker tactic though! 

That is my aim , after 4 more years once the peak challenge is done play Martinelli on his own up top , I've been playing Saka and Nketiah often as wingers with Nelson and Willock often playing in midfield during cup games and off the bench , after the 5 years we will have a really good squad around with Martinelli settled to lead the line himself! 

[smoggy90]

Great players to use and a decent start. The way I approached two strikers last year when I did the bad boys from Brazil challenge and a Napoli DT was to play one as the central striker and the other just to the side of him. 
So it’d be a target man centrally then generally a poacher just to his left or just to his right (whatever seems to work best). It looks odd but I had some success with it. 

[AdamNufc]

Just now, smoggy90 said:

Great players to use and a decent start. The way I approached two strikers last year when I did the bad boys from Brazil challenge and a Napoli DT was to play one as the central striker and the other just to the side of him. 
So it’d be a target man centrally then generally a poacher just to his left or just to his right (whatever seems to work best). It looks odd but I had some success with it. 

Thank you! Yeah I've tried a Striker not centrally but with one up top to the left or right but not tried it with 2 or top I will give that a try at some point , I've totally changed the formation for the second season which so far seems good! 

 

[smoggy90]

5 minutes ago, AdamNufc said:

Thank you! Yeah I've tried a Striker not centrally but with one up top to the left or right but not tried it with 2 or top I will give that a try at some point , I've totally changed the formation for the second season which so far seems good! 

 

Good stuff, hope it works.
Dug out the formation I used and this is how it looked, although this was in Belgium so probably too attacking for the PL. The central striker seemed to get a similar number of goals as he would in a single striker tactic and the poacher to his side contributed plenty too. 
 

[AdamNufc]

4 minutes ago, smoggy90 said:

Good stuff, hope it works.
Dug out the formation I used and this is how it looked, although this was in Belgium so probably too attacking for the PL. The central striker seemed to get a similar number of goals as he would in a single striker tactic and the poacher to his side contributed plenty too. 
 

I'm using a tactic very similar to this actually , exact same shape apart from the strikers are in the normal left and right positions and a few different roles 

[Ian]

Nice season with Champions League football to look forward to next year. Pepe is doing well and Gabriel is still really young so has time on his side.

Good luck next season. 

[AdamNufc]

15 minutes ago, Ian said:

Nice season with Champions League football to look forward to next year. Pepe is doing well and Gabriel is still really young so has time on his side.

Good luck next season. 

Thanks Ian , hopefully we can do well In it! I'm used to managing in lower leagues and building legacies so managing a club expecting a lot in a shot space of time is a challenge I'm relishing , yeah we've got years with Martinelli to get him to his Peak , double figures the target for season two for him 

[AdamNufc]

                       SEASON 2 UPDATE

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS 2021

Well I may have ended up doing a José Mourinho style sprint around the living room but we won in the Champions League Final through new signing Memphis Depay scoring a winner! It was a game where we had hardly any of the ball but hit back on the break! 

Transfers:

In: 

Memphis Depay was our big signing alongside Ousmane Dembele and Marco Asensio , Son wanted to leave spurs and in true Sol Campbell fashion crossed the North London Divide 👀

Out:

Aubameyang with one year left on his deal had extortionate wage demands so we sold him to Madrid for a hefty £80m while sending a lot of the development squad out on loan 

Tactics: 

After dabbling about for the first few games with a 2-6-2 formation which brought mixed results I heeded some of the forums advice and went with a one up top formation which had us undefeated for the last 17 games we played , so hopefully if we continue with this formation more success awaits 

Premier League 

We finished one place and eight points better off than last season finishing in 2nd place , it's an improvement and the third season we will be aiming to go one better 

Nicolas Pepe ( Strikers Peak )

Nicolas was having an okay season and up until 5th of April had scored 16 goals and set up 9 

Disaster struck tho with Pepe pulling his hamstring setting him out for 2 months leaving him at the end of the season with a paltry 16 goals and 9 assists 

Edit:

I didn't realise before end of season we play one of our Club World Championship games which Pepe scored in meaning it's actually 17 goals and 9 assists 

This must improve and with the new tactic in place for a full season I'm sure it will so season two Pepe scores 26 Points 

Season One - 40 Points 

Season Two - 26 Points 

So Far - 66 Points 

                Gabriel Martinelli ( 1KC )

With the new one up tactic and Martinelli leading the line he scored an improved 15 goals which will hopefully be above 20 next season 

So Far:

Season One: 9 Goals 

Season Two: 15 Goals 

Total : 24 Goals 

Remaining to Score: 976 Goals 

Thanks for reading 😀

 

Edited July 18, 2020 by AdamNufc