FM19 - Returning Everton to Glory

[Joey Numbaz]

OK. So scratch those last two posts. I decided to just go to the basics.

To backtrack a second, one thing about me - I am not opposed to just dropping a completely unpracticed tactic in if I get inspiration. Especially for a big game that I might not win anyway. And I am also very prone to the shiny new toy - I see some cool new tactic somewhere that looks fun and try to fit it to my players or my players to it - even mid-season.

So after working for two weeks on those alternative tactics, I started to realize I have no clue how good they are for this team. But you know what is reasonably stable and probably won't steer you too far wrong? The presets!!! These are decent. Especially if you find one that fits your team and the situation. So work through the presets, look at the formations and suggested roles and find a set that fits your players. You probably won't go too far wrong.

So I bunkered down with my spreadsheet, which tells me the best players on the team are Bernard as a Winger-Support and Gueye as a Ball Winning Midfielder. I want Richarlison playing, he's the future. He's probably best as an Advanced Forward - attack (though there are several that are close, including Shadow Striker).

For the game against United at Old Trafford, I figure I need to go no higher mentality than cautious. Have I also mentioned that I love the old Dutch 433 and I love Liberos and Italy?

So I have added two presets to the tactic list. I am going with Fluid Counter-Attack 4141DM Wide (which is what everyone else calls a 433 when it has AML/AMR) and the Catenaccio, 541WB Wide.

Here's what they look like:

Maybe this will be a new challenge. You can only use the presets. That would actually be fun. I can't say I'll stick to it. And yeah, maybe I'll try Gana as a libero. I probably won't though I will probably be Zouma until I can find a real one.

For this game, I went with the Fluid Counter Attack.

So how did it work?

\

I can live with that. We hung right in there with them to the bitter end. Actually put more shots on target and held them without a clear cut chance.

Maybe this will be my thing against really good teams. Maybe I'll just use it full time, with the Catenaccio to close out leads.

The Merseyside Derby is up next!

 

[Joey Numbaz]

Ok, so I went fully preset. I tweaked my original tactic to the "Wing Play" preset with the 4141 DM Wide formation (433).

It's not the primary tactic anymore. I am going with the Fluid Counter-Attack (same formation) as the primary.

I used all 3 during the Merseyside Derby at Goodison Park.

Started with Fluid Counter-Attack. At halftime, 0-0, outshooting them, but getting tired, I went with the Catenaccio because of the low intensity. I felt that would help recharge the batteries for a late push. We actually got a great chance but it wasn't to be. I flipped to the Wing Play for a bit, back to the Fluid Counter-Attack and then finished with Wing Play.

We played better and deserved the win. Unfortunately we had to settle for another scoreless draw.

It's a bummer, 2 CCC, 4 half chances, 0/0 for Liverpool. The ref had his hands full, 9 yellow cards with a 5/4 split. Fluid Counter-Attack has "Get Stuck In" - I'll have to keep an eye on this. Seamus Coleman picked up his 5th yellow in 8 appearances. Luckily he's suspended for the League Cup game against Portsmouth, which he wasn't going to play in anyway. But I am probably going to have to give him the PI for easing off tackles at some point.

After ten games we are in 9th place with 15 points and 40% of our schedule has been against the Big Six (normal is 31.5% for those scoring at home) including 3 of those 4 on the road. So I am content with where we are at (6 points outside of 4th).

Newcastle is in 3rd place, I don't think that can last, but I guess we'll see. They have a win over Tottenham at home, a loss to City at home and haven't played anyone else. City, Chelsea, United are the clear top 3. After Newcastle, no one has a goal differential better than +5 and we are +3. We've got a shot at 4th. Making the Champions League would be incredible, as it opens up the transfer market exponentially over not being there. I assume I am going to have some money to play with come January.

This is what I want for Christmas:

[Joey Numbaz]

If this scorelessiness continues, I am going to have to add back a 2 striker formation. I almost went with the 4-2-4 for the Wing Play. I still might. For fans of the 433, we'd better light up Portsmouth Tuesday.

[Joey Numbaz]

Against Portsmouth, currently in 7th place seeking promotion from League One to the Championship, we started a few familiar faces with some kids. I needed to see what these tactics can do. Not that a game against a League One side is a huge indicator, but knowing we smoked them would show we are on the right track. Portsmouth's top players are 2-2.5 stars so no slouches either. I couldn't just run the U18s or young U23s out there and win.

For awhile it looked as though it was going to be one of those days. Outshot them 16-1 in the first half, but it was scoreless. Then Ollie Hawkins scores off a corner for Portsmouth at 46' and visions of being "FM'd"* danced through my head.

But 3 minutes later Ademola Lookman heads in Theo Walcott's cross and we have our equalizer.

That was how the game stayed through 90 minutes. I brought on Leighton Baines (18 penalties attribute) and Oumar Niasse (13) late in case penalties were needed. Here are the final stats:

We outshot them 34-5, had 8 chances, 3 clear cut, dominated possession. All in all what you'd expect, especially considering we started some kids and only one of our first team starters (Lucas Digne coming back from injury).

At 89' Cenk Tosun was possibly fouled on a long pass into the box. Referee Keith Stroud goes to VAR ... and the penalty is awarded! Leighton Baines put it in the back of the net. We had our 2-1 lead and were able to switch to the Catenaccio for the last 5 minutes to close it out. And we scored again! Schneiderlin's shot was blocked and Walcott knocked the loose ball in the corner of the net.

So a 3-1 win. Which is kind of what the stats would indicate. But there was a lot more sweating than you'd expect.

We're off to Chelsea Saturday! Which will mean 5 of our 11 matches will have been against the Big Six - 4 away. Then the schedule eases up some thankfully. This is as good a spot as any to summarize the season so far:

EDIT late - the Gods are smiling upon us for the draw yet again. Reading, Watford, Portsmouth and now Championship squad - Sheffield Wednesday. Nice!

I know it's only the League Cup - but winning a trophy in my first year would be pretty outstanding. And it would guarantee European football for 2019-20.

*note - I think getting FM'd happens just as often in real life. I say this with love, as a euphemism for losing on crap luck - not as a knock against FM. 

[Joey Numbaz]

Ugh. We lost 2-0 to Chelsea we didn't play half bad, especially after Hazard picked up his second yellow with about 35 minutes left. But just couldn't finish.

Then disaster strikes against Huddersfield. Another game where we couldn't find the net. They score off of a corner and bag another and we lose 2-0 again. Things are not going well.

We have an international break now - I am going to completely overhaul the tactics. Enough of this. We have scored one goal in our last 5 Premier League games, 0 in our last four EPL games. Granted those games were against City, United, Liverpool, Chelsea, and now Huddersfield - the first four are four of the top five teams in the league. But we need to be scoring. Something isn't right here.

[Orangedale]

Interest in this mate. Love the detail.

I've decided to have a crack at spreadsheet FM this year too. Keen to see if it can produce any results.

Have you considered individually weighting each attribute as you see fit for each role in your tactic? This is the approach I'm starting with though struggling to determine a good weighting range. I'll definitely look to apply the harmonic mean to my calculations though, very good idea.

I have a tab for each position in my formation. Sortable by each column, colour coded to make comparison of each player in that role easier, and also to spot major holes in their game. Orange attributes are team DNA, green important, blue minor.

In this example looking at my BWM - D sheet, you can see that by attributes, Sam Cox on average seems a better player than Lee Noble, but his low aggression means he will just not do for the role. While that's easy to spot in game, when I'm trying to assess my youth, it saves me a lot of time.

Have you found spreadsheets have helped your results, or do you find the time investment to give a marginal return?

I've attached my spreadsheet if anyone wants to have a look. Just delete the squad list data and fill it with your own. Don't delete the rows, delete the actual content of the cells. Deleting the rows ruins the formula calculations on the other sheets. Then you just need to refresh the name filter on each sheet. It's in .ods format but should work fine on excel I think. I use libreoffice calc.

 

 

FM Positions.ods

[Joey Numbaz]

1 hour ago, Orangedale said:

Interest in this mate. Love the detail.

Thanks!

1 hour ago, Orangedale said:

Have you considered individually weighting each attribute as you see fit for each role in your tactic?

I have considered it, but I figure I trust the game more than my instincts for the most part. I will do things like add in finishing for pressing forwards, especially if they are a lone forward, stuff like that sometimes. Or Cleon or someone will talk about the attributes most important for a libero, so I'll make a column for that. That being said, it's just a guide that tells me what the game things is important. I am not a slave to numbers. They are a starting point.

1 hour ago, Orangedale said:

In this example looking at my BWM - D sheet, you can see that by attributes, Sam Cox on average seems a better player than Lee Noble, but his low aggression means he will just not do for the role. While that's easy to spot in game, when I'm trying to assess my youth, it saves me a lot of time.

For my system, I typically consider guys that are at least 13 playable on the senior team - ideally 14+ but I haven't had years of transfers and academy grads to work with yet in this save.

Harmonic mean helps a lot with this - the one off terrible attribute at a position - assuming FM picks up that attribute as important.

Idrissa Gueye rates as a 15.3 as a BWM (D or S). That's pretty good. I think it might be the highest for any player at any position in my squad. Checks ... yeah Bernard as a Winger (S or A) is a 15.2.

Gueye has 14 for aggression. If I take just this one attribute and drop it to a 4 - out of the 13 attributes associated with a BWM, he falls all the way to 11.9. That's like a decent U23 player. A simple average would not pick up on that - his overall would drop 1.05 points - even double weighting aggression (along with a few other attributes) - here it drops 3.4 points. That's what harmonic mean does (overweights low attributes), which is why it's great for you if you do believe certain attributes are deal breakers and you like well rounded players.

1 hour ago, Orangedale said:

Have you found spreadsheets have helped your results, or do you find the time investment to give a marginal return?

I think they have. But it's how you use it that's important. It's kind of just how my mind works, I am very numbers oriented. I think the biggest thing it probably does is help me spot really good roles for a specific player. Then you can create a (or find someone else's) tactic that matches up well for your best players' strengths.

I've started using the spider web comparisons in the game too - those are a great visualization tool as well.

I've used the sheet to track player progress, it's good to help spot if a player's development is stalling maybe faster than I'd notice on my own.

As for the effort it's kind of like researching a new drug. Building the spreadsheet over time was took the most effort. Now that it's in place, the effort isn't all that much. Export the ratings, format the csv to match, copy/paste look at the numbers. But I learned a lot building it, just through osmosis - had to review/input the ratings for every role/duty, etc. You learn a lot doing that.

1 hour ago, Orangedale said:

I've attached my spreadsheet if anyone wants to have a look.

Thanks!

[Joey Numbaz]

A little housekeeping. Several players have complained about playing time. Schneiderlin, Baines, and McCarthy. They are correct, we have too many players. Some will be sold come January.

I usually ask the captain to deal with such things first. Coleman hasn't really been able to resolve anyone's issues though. So then I talk to them about it, they have been happy that I asked them what was wrong and dropped their concerns.

That wasn't good enough for McCarthy though. He wants to play. I asked him to be patient it's a long season. He said it's going to kill his career. So I agreed to sell him.

Finances aren't great right now. We took out a £50 million loan July 1. Even with that, we have -£27 million in the bank. I cannot function like this. I want state of the art facilities, etc. So players will be sold come January. Hopefully enough that I'll be able to bring in some players too. Very curious to see what I get for a transfer budget. But the facilities, youth recruitment, etc. are top priorities.

Oh yeah, back to the field!

We needed a tactical shake up. Over the international break I installed an entirely new system. No more wingers! At least not in the main tactic. But now we have a Libero!

It's a 5-2-1-2 WB formation. We are back to two strikers. And a Libero! I love the idea of a libero. And as luck would have it Rashidi recently released a new video (it is still patreon only, I think it goes public in a few days - so no screen shots yet). There is also a 4141 DM Wide (433) and an asymmetric 433 (3 CM) in the toolkit too. But I am planning the libero one as the main formation.

How did the U23s do with it?

Not to shabby! Considering those first two games were with basically no practice. The U18s lost games 1-0 and 2-0. The 2-0 was despite outshooting Blackburn's U18s 23-5. In front of 42 fans in Blackburn. So not even most family bothered to show up for that one. But I digress.

I have decided to try this as my tactical set up - he's got a few versions in there of some of the tactics, but I went with the ones that look best suited to my guys.

We practiced hard during the break. Lots of tactical practice to learn this. Three separate Match Practice sessions.

For now, I am going to attempt to train Tom Davies and André Gomes to be the Liberos. But both were tired after coming back from international duty so Lucas Digne got the nod today. His PPMs of Gets Into Opposition Area and Gets Forward Whenever Possible are great for the role. And it allowed Baines to start as the left wingback too. I am not opposed to Digne in this role going forward. He's got the ratings. But I am not sure about Baines as the everyday left wingback.

Digne is the green, Davies the blue. They are pretty similar. Digne a little more physical/faster; Davies has better vision. Davies is, of course, 5 years younger and should get better. Both will be fine in the role, until I get Sergej Milinkovic-Savic or someone similar to come be the Libero. Assuming I stick with this plan for more than a few weeks.

Bernard is the advanced forward, Richarlison the target man, for now. Some guys will need to be retrained and/or sold. I'll figure that out later. I may take a winger and make him a wing back. Ooh Ademola Lookman as the left wing back, with Digne as the Libero? That just might work ...

Results to follow. We played Leicester. But I have to work some and don't want to lose this post ... stay tuned!

 

[The Rogue Lego Piece]

Quality thread this. Very enjoyable.

Especially like how you use it know which players to retrain to what position. Something I always struggled with. 

 

3 hours ago, Orangedale said:

I've attached my spreadsheet if anyone wants to have a look. Just delete the squad list data and fill it with your own. Don't delete the rows, delete the actual content of the cells. Deleting the rows ruins the formula calculations on the other sheets. Then you just need to refresh the name filter on each sheet. It's in .ods format but should work fine on excel I think. I use libreoffice calc.

 

FM Positions.ods

The link doesn't seem to work? Like the look of it!

[Joey Numbaz]

November 25, 2018. Everton have not scored a goal in the league since October 6! I guess the switch from the 442 Diamond Wide was ill advised. Looking back, I should maybe add that one back as an optional tactic. But it didn't feel right, especially against good teams. it was an FM18 tactic that I hadn't got working properly in FM19 yet. Anyway ...

We arrive in Leicester ready to play. I tell them that this is the day this run of bad form ends. They nod their heads, but don't get too fired up. Really guys? I have 20 motivating and determination. You should be inspired any time I open my mouth.

Early on Leicester gets an insane chance on a ball over the top. It was a goofy play, and Michael Keane the DCL was caught off guard as a ball bounced around midfield and flew forward. We are playing with a much higher defensive line so I got pretty scared that this was going to get ugly. But the shot was missed over the cross bar. Bullet dodged.

Then it happens. 20' Schneiderlin, who has been complaining about playing time (only 4 league appearances in the first 12 games before today) plays a key part with a couple of nice passes to push the ball up the field in build up, then a rebound comes to him at the top of the box and BOOM!!!

Past a diving Schmeichel! We are on the board! Our first lead in an EPL game since September 30 when we beat West Ham 3-0. That's what I am talkin' about!

36' in transition Gylfi launches one from the circle into space deep for a running Bernard ...

Who buries it. 2-0!

Leicester claws one back. Zouma misses a chance to head away a short cross and James Maddison - who Everton lost out to Leicester for in the transfer market - blasts it home. The crowd is fired up. I start to worry.

Around 74' Leicester is camping. I'm on key highlights, and vey nervous that they are going to tie the game here as they pass it around looking for an opening. Just like the last goal. Then Captain Coleman intercepts terrible pass across the box, progressive pass to Richarlison who bombs it into space in the left corner, Bernard runs onto it, Richarlison who never stopped running receives the cross at the 6-yard box and volleys it past Schmeichel to ice the game!

Woo hoo! This was a good solid 3-1 road victory. Our first away victory in 7 games (0-4, 2 draws previous to this - we'd been outscored 10-2 away).

Thanks Rashidi! This is a fun libero tactic. I hope I can build a team around it. Just 36 days until the transfer window opens. I am considering recalling everyone from loan. Then doing some serious selling. My transfer philosophy is typically bring in a bunch of relatively cheap kids, and only buy one or two real first team stars (relative to my budget) per window (or year). I rarely sign anyone over the age of 24. I go more for Elvis than The Beatles for 1st team players. Even though I love The Beatles, of course.

Up next, Spurs.

We will be working on nothing but learning this tactic this week. And a little bit of set pieces.

[Joey Numbaz]

One of the great things Cleon said was talking about how he makes adjustments. With the first thing being subs. Need to increase the attack? Don't change your tactic necessarily. Bring on a more attacking player for a role where you have a more defensive player currently. This is probably the single most important FM tip I've read in the last year. It changed how I approach squad management, in game adjustments, etc.

For example after Richarlison scored to put us up 3-1 - I brought on Yerry Mina as a sub for Leighton Baines. Zouma moved to Libero, Digne moved out to WBL.

So my back line went from:

To this:

Which is a helluva lot more solid/defensive to close out the game.

With that being said. Check out this spider graph:

Blue is Mason Holgate, who my AssMan says has 4* potential. In past FM versions he hasn't developed great for me, but maybe this time he does. He's mostly been playing with the U23s, but training with the seniors.

Green is Lucas Digne.

So Digne is much more attacking, technical and has better mentals. Holgate is much better defending and aerially.

These two can complement each other really well as Liberos! Holgate is more suited to Libero support (mainly because his long shot attribute is a 5) than attack (which my tactic uses).

This is also a good example of where you need to see what the spreadsheet *isn't* telling you. As a Libero-S, Digne shows up as a 12.6, Holgate a 12.4. But they bring very different things to the role. Also my interpretation of Cleon's important Libero attributes (as opposed to SI's) shows Digne as a 14.0, Holgate as an 11.4. Cleon's obviously thinks of it (in my interpretation) as much more of a CD/DM/MC/AMC than a CD who helps out in the midfield sometimes. But closing out a game, it can be more important to have a different type of player there. Having players who compliment each other and are versatile is super important to me when building a squad. Especially because I can change tactics on a whim.

 

[Joey Numbaz]

Sandro is killing it over in La Liga for Real Sociedad. Player of the Month!

He's played 516 minutes (a little less than 6 full games) and he's got 5 goals, 20 shots, 65% on target. Rating is 7.53. Four key passes as well. They moved him from Complete Forward to Advanced Forward a few games back and he's scored 4 goals in 3 games.

There's a real chance I might be recalling him January 1. I hope Sociedad understand if I do.

[Joey Numbaz]

Big game at home with Tottenham on December 1, 2018.

First minute Pickford saves a weak shot and attempts to distribute to the Libero André Gomes. Kane presses him so Gomes goes back to Pickford, who launches one deep and to the left, past the center line. Digne wins the second ball, heading it down and forward to Theo Walcott (playing advanced forward since we no longer use wingers). Walcott launches a beautiful diagonal into space, towards a running Coleman who receives it at the top of the box on the right a couple of dribbles and a slight cut in to the left, I scream to pass it across to Bernard, but Coleman finishes it himself. A thing of beauty. What great free flowing, attacking play. Damn.

Spurs went on a run of possession and shots, but most didn't amount to anything. We went to halftime 1-0. Not a minute into the 2nd half, Coleman's throw in towards the box is intercepted by Mousa Dembélé. But Dembélé makes a horrific pass across his own box, and despite being outnumbered in the box 5:1, Walcott comes up with the ball and rips it past Lloris, 2-0 good guys!

Two minutes later Coleman wins a header outside our box, and Bernard comes up with it. He dribbles halfway to the goal, plays a great ball into space at the top of the box, Walcott runs onto it uncontested an Lloris never had a chance, great finish to the side of the net.

Idrissa Gueye (subbed after 13 minutes) AND James McCarthy (in and then out at 71) both got hurt as the Ball Winning Midfielder today, so Mason Holgate was playing there up 3-0, Lookman was getting some time in as the apprentice WBL with a nice lead, Digne was liberoing.

Holgate steals the ball from Winks deep in Tottenham's midfield, Walcott comes up with it, passes to a running Bernard and 4-0! The drub is complete.

All of that with only 42% possession, and we were outshot 23-19. But we had 5 clear cut chances, to zero for Spurs. To say I am in love with this tactic so far is the understatement of the year.

 

Theo Walcott has played pretty well, when I've let him play. 2 goals in his first league start today. Cenk Tosun continues to play terribly. He missed a penalty today and had a 6.0 rating in the first half. He's my best target man (I think) but I am thinking I just play Richarlison (who sat out today) there and sell Cenk in January. He's worth £19.5 million. He's 27 years old. I might be time to move on.

Gana will only be out 1-2 days, McCarthy 1-3. Whew. Also Gylfi got hurt in training this week, so he's going to miss another 1-6 games after missing this one. Matches start coming fast and furious now. Newcastle Wednesday, Brighton Saturday, Palace, Sheffield Wednesday (League Cup quarterfinal), Fulham the following Sat/Tues/Sat, then Bournemouth the next Wednesday for Boxing Day, Burnley Saturday after that, Watford Tuesday (NYD) and then our 3rd round FA Cup game.

That's 9 games in 32 days we should be favored in nearly all of them (maybe not at Newcastle who are in 5th place at this writing). The depth of the club will be tested. Everyone is going to get a chance to see if they'll be around for the long haul. This can be a fun month.

[Joey Numbaz]

Here is our current familiarity:

So we'll have to work on the Pressing Intensity and width during the times where we can squeak in a practice the next few weeks.

Shadow Play (Attack/Defend) works on Width familiarity (along with Mentality and Roles); Defending Engaged/Disengaged/Wide works on pressing/marking familiarity. Attacking Wings/Direct/Patient will get them working on Passing Style and Creative Freedom. The match prep ones will cover everything, but those will fine tune it.

********

Table as of December 2, 2018 - we are just 5 points out of 4th place, with a relatively easy patch of the schedule coming. I have not given up on Champions League qualification yet!

EDIT:

FA Cup Draw complete. We get Birmingham (22nd in the Championship) at home.

EPL v. EPL games:

Cardiff City v. Bournemouth
Huddersfield v. Manchester United
Southampton v. West Ham
Brighton & Hove Albion v. Tottenham
Leicester v. Burnley

David hosting Goliath:

Chesterfield (VNL) v. Wolves
Barnet (VNL) v. Chelsea

[Joey Numbaz]

I played through to New Year's Day. Happy 2019 everyone!

Results were up and down.

Away losses to Newcastle 2-1, Fulham 1-0, and Bournemouth 1-0. It was frustrating, we outshot those teams 22-10, 21-11 and 22-9.

We won away games at Palace and the League Cup QF at Sheffield Wednesday, both 2-1. We got lucky and drew Wolves for the semifinal tie. Arsenal will play Manchester United as well.

Home we beat Brighton 5-1 and Burnley 4-0.

So we sit in 9th place with 30 points through 20 games. Meh. Sixth is Arsenal at 32, but they have a game in hand. Newcastle are 5th with 36.

At home we are 6th, with 22 points in 9 games. We are more 4th - Newcastle and Southampton are ahead but have played 11 and 10 games and only have 23 points.

Away we are 12th with just 8 points in 11 games. And it's more like 13th since Spurs also have 8 points but have only played 10 road games.

So we are playing terrible away from home. Not sure of what I can do about that. Maybe play more conservative. But I've never really done that ever in FM.

***********

But this was the kick in the teeth. We are hemorrhaging money. We now have -£38.7 million in the bank.

Which resulted in this:

£400k? Really? Thanks Bill! WTF?!

This is new to me. I usually get £20-30M this time of year. And I can sell some expensive guys to really pump it up.

Oumar Niasse is going to China for £8M and another £500k in installments.

I wanted to get £25M for McCarthy, but the best I've been offered is a non-negotiable £9.75M with another £2M in installments and £3.6M if he plays 50 games and £1.8M for 20 international games. Meh. He's actually playing in this new system some as the 3rd central midfielder in a 2 man system that needs a bunch of rotation since Gana gets a yellow card nearly every game it seems like.

I can't sell anyone on loan because none of them have recall clauses. Bolasie is worth £16M, Mirallas is worth £11.5M, Besic £11.5M, Martina £7.5M. £46.5M would be pretty awesome right now. Heck even if could only sell them for £30M I'd take it.

So I can't improve the facilities, the youth recruitment, etc. Oh well. I'll figure it out. But I'm not getting a Sergej Milinkovic-Savic for Christmas, which makes me weep. I love that guy.

[Joey Numbaz]

Well at least we are playing well at home. Remember when we had trouble with Watford? We just beat them 3-0 and out shot them 32-6. I'll take that. Happy New Year!

But Ademola Lookman - who been playing very well as the left wing-back while Digne Liberos it up is injured now. He's going to be out 4-5 weeks with torn wrist ligaments.

Richarlison and André Gomes both picked up minor knee injuries and are questionable for the FA Cup match against Birmingham in 4 days.

Also McCarthy scored a goal and was the player of the match. Maybe his price will go up? Or he'll decide to stay since he's finally playing?

EDIT - I guess I really don't want him to stay. While he's useful, I need some transfer funds to start rebuilding the youth system. So I can make lemons out of lemonade assuming he has to go.

[Joey Numbaz]

Oh no, this isn't happening. Arsenal just made a £62M (potential £91M) for Sergej. This is tragic.

OK Barcelona offered £88M for him. So at least he may stay out of the EPL.

[Joey Numbaz]

Oh wow. Bayern offered me £15M (potential for £28.5M) for Lucas Digne.

I really like him as the Libero. Especially if I can't sign Sergej. And with Lookman out for a month, Digne will be needed at his natural WBL too.

Plus, we just bought him for £18M this year. He's been here 6 months. I rejected the offer. Digne was not thrilled. I asked Morgan Schneiderlin to talk to him about it and that didn't work.

Digne wants to go to Bayern so he can play in the Champions League. I said, "You're part of a very tightly-knit social group here, you don't want to leave that behind and start against somewhere else, do you?"

He responded, "That's a good point, we're a really close bunch here, I'd be daft to risk losing that."

Whew!

[Joey Numbaz]

Big Sam is back at Crystal Palace. They are in 19th place through 21 games with just 11 points. 1-12 with 8 draws - yikes. Wonder if his magic works in FM.

17th place is West Ham with 18 points. 16th is Wolves with 22. So he's got some serious work to do.

[Joey Numbaz]

I have told all of the scouts to get out there and start looking for players 18 and under who are EU nationals. I think that's how I'm going to have to approach this first transfer window. This might take a little longer than expected.

That being said, the board has given me:

Upgraded youth recruitment - now extensive

Upgraded junior coaching budget - now excellent

One extra physio - we will now have 5 + the head physio

Three extra scouts! This brings us to 16 total, plus the chief scout

 

[Joey Numbaz]

Also, James McCarthy has decided he's getting enough playing time now and wants to stay after all. I am torn. I could buy a bunch of people with what Wolves are offering. £11.75M guaranteed plus some possible incentives that could push it to £17M.

I guess I will hold off for now. Rejecting the offer.

[Joey Numbaz]

Apologies for the radio silence. I took a break from the save while waiting for a bug to work out that was holding me up regarding Oumar Niasse's transfer to China. It has been confirmed that there is a bug, so I am going to fix this in the editor and then roll on!

[Joey Numbaz]

Finally an update!

I had to go all the way back to 1-1-2019 to get the Niasse move to go through. And then it still didn't. Somehow the game would only see it as being accepted by me if I was on holiday. I am now at January 27.

I am delighted to say my contract has been extended. I saw that I was 'untouchable' and had to strike as my contract was up at the end of the season. The board has agreed to upgrade the training, youth, and data analysis facilities, despite our overall balance being -£44M. We'll get £1.8M worth of computers installed by March 10. The training and youth facilities upgrades will be completed in October.

We are in the League Cup Final, where we'll play Arsenal February 24. After a 4-1 first leg win at home, we drew 4-4 in an insane game in Wolverhampton. We get a scheduling break, as they play a Europa League tie the Thursday before. We play City at home that Wednesday. I seriously might play scrubs that game and focus entirely on winning the League Cup. That would guarantee getting us into Europe.

Here's the table:

Newcastle has to stop winning at some point, right? But unless we get hot I can't see us getting higher than 5th or 6th. Champions League is probably not going to happen.

What about business? We did some business!!

McCarthy, Niasse and Tosun are gone. Lazio is going to give us £22.5M at the end of the season as a mandatory fee. Between that and the prize money, we'll be in the black, even before we sell off some of the players currently loaned out.

I am trying to sell Theo Walcott, worth £23.5M. No one is interested. Even at £15M no one is interested. Ugh. He's kind of pissed off, but he's agreed to try to make a move happen. Nothing yet though. Adamola Lookman supports him, which stink, as I love that guy. But no one else does, so it shouldn't be an issue.

Also we spent some money! Just one player.

Kasper Dolberg joins the squad!

£18M up front. Ajax also gets £2.5 million after 30 goals, 40 goals, 50 goals, 50 appearances, and 10 international caps. They will get 15% of the profit on the next deal too. They get £333K every January through 2022 also. I know he's injury prone, but we have to Roll the Bones (I'm a Rush fan). He can play and he should get better. I need a guy who can score who isn't named Richarlison. Pietro Pellegri was my first choice, but Monaco won't sell him.

Dolberg picked up a goal in his debut against League One Scunthorpe in the FA Cup 4th round. Yay me.

Sad news. Matthijs de Ligt is now a Gunner. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic is now in Barcelona. Christian Pulisic (I'm from the US) is now at hated Liverpool.

As part of the contract extension, I they bumped up the transfer budget about £1M to £5.3M left after the Dolberg deal. The wage budget as been bumped from £1.84M/week to £2.04M/week - which is good, since we are spending £1.93M/week 

We have 4 days until the transfer window closes. I'd love to sell Theo Walcott, but unlikely. Short of that I may try to bring in a U23 or U18 if possible, but no one wants to sell good ones right now. We'll see. I am excited for the youth intake. As well as other teams youth intakes, which I might be able to raid.

I can't wait until June, when we'll be in the black, and I'll have a lot more flexibility for upgrading the youth squads.

I have messed around with Yerry Mina as a Target Man. Just as a big guy in a pinch. Especially if I get rid of Theo (who has been playing Advanced Forward). He scored on a header in one of the games. He has an orange dot for striker, so why not try it. In 1.25 games, 40-for-48 passing, 1 key pass, 10-for-14 on headers, 1 key header, 2 shots, 1 goal, and drew 2 fouls. It's a work in progress.

Since Lookman got hurt, I've also been looking at Bernard as a WBL, since Digne is now the Libero. Along with André Gomes. But Gomes probably has to go back to Barcelona at the end of the year (an inquiry is in though). Also Zouma is probably going back to Chelsea.

The current tactic/depth chart:

Digne has been pretty fun as a Libero:

I have also added a long throw routine with him (15 LT attritubte).

I think that brings us up to date. We still suck away from Goodison. We are great at home. 3rd best home points in the league (28 through 11 games). We are 9-1-1 at home in the EPL.

Away we are 13th. 2-7, 3 draws. Just 9 points. Technically 12th, but one of the teams we are tied with has played one fewer game. Oh - Arsenal is 0-3 away with 9 draws! Crazy. They are 11-0-0 at home. It will be an interesting League Cup Final when we are both away from home!

Once the youth intake comes in, I will update the spreadsheet with all of the ratings by position/role, etc. About another month in game time. It will be interesting to see how players have developed.

 

[Joey Numbaz]

Barcelona want £40M for André Gomes. He's worth £14.75M. I probably should just terminate the loan now. He's a nice player and all, but for that kind of money I could do better I think. I guess I need him to do better this year, but bummer I can't keep him.

And ... Pickford is going to be out for 2 weeks. Martin Stekelenburg gets the call for Arsenal at home next week. Ugh. If he gets hurt there's nothing there.

Also ... 5th round of the FA Cup we end up at Anfield. That's a bummer. City, United, Liverpool were the only big guns left out of 16 teams. Only 9 EPL teams even. So of course we end up playing one of the big guns away. But after the League Cup draw, I guess I can't complain.

[Steel Eagle]

I enquired about Gomes in my Everton save and they came back with 40m around January, after the widow I enquired again and they wanted 30m, I offered 14m, they agreed on 15m, so don't be afraid to lowball them, it worked for me, he is definitely worth 15, ive been playing him as an attacking mid and he's been killing it, a little bit more speed than siggy there seems to have helped me turn a corner.

[Joey Numbaz]

7 hours ago, Steel Eagle said:

I enquired about Gomes in my Everton save and they came back with 40m around January, after the widow I enquired again and they wanted 30m, I offered 14m, they agreed on 15m, so don't be afraid to lowball them, it worked for me, he is definitely worth 15, ive been playing him as an attacking mid and he's been killing it, a little bit more speed than siggy there seems to have helped me turn a corner.

Thanks! That is great to hear. I'd love to keep Zouma too if possible.

[Joey Numbaz]

Seriously? C'mon. He's been here 5 days. All we even trained today was match tactics and match preview.

[Joey Numbaz]

Theo Walcott is off to Ajax. I wish him well. It's a loan right now. I had them include a future fee after 10 games for £12.75M but they couldn't agree to a contract. So that's now an optional fee. Ajax are paying £200K per month and 20% of his £100K per week salary in the meantime. I guess we'll all reassess come June.

I brought in a #3 keeper too. Nothing special, but with Pickford hurt, if something happens to Stekelenburg we'd be down to João Virginia who is 19 and only projects to be a 1.5-2.5* player at his peak.

Welcome Francesco Bardi to the club. Cost £850K. He's similar to Stekelenburg, and 9 years younger. Bardi is green, Stekelenburg is blue.

We are also beginning the rebuild of the youth. Nothing special here. These guys may just end up being 'organizational players' as we call them in baseball. But they've got a shot at surprising.

First in Michalis Ioannou. A Cypriot from Anorthosi, for £650K. He's an attacking midfielder that works hard, has flair, a nice long shot, great technique and passing. He's kind of quick too for an 18 year old. He's only 70% scouted, but he's cheap and we need to move quickly with 8.5 hours left on deadline day. We'll pay him £2700 per week through June 2022.

Next up, with 6.25 hours to go, Pedro Justiniano. A fairly professional 18-year old Italian center-back coming from Porto. 6'3". Only 75% scouted, I need to plan ahead better. He cost £3.5M, and gets £3,000 per week, also through 2022. I agreed to a 10% yearly wage rise, because his agent was a jerk and my GM didn't suggest a good enough initial offer.

He's already got playable (13+) marking, positioning, teamwork, determination, anticipation, jumping reach, natural fitness and stamina. His heading, tackling, concentration, work rate, strength and pace are all close at 12, and his acceleration is 11. I'll take that from an 18-year. He's a well rounded, tall CB, who should develop enough pace/acceleration (I shoot for at least 15).

A little over 6 hours to go and I still have £5.8M to spend. Let's try to find one more for the youth squad.

I found a pretty good 20 year old goalie from Venezuela who would qualify for a work permit. His minimum release clause is £700K. He won't sign right now, because he just signed a new contract, but I'll file him away for an offer in a few months.

I am also buying a lottery ticket for £10,000. Stefan Tsonev a Bulgarian DR who showed up in FC Dallas's (MLS) youth intake this year it looks like (he's a newgen). They want £10K. He hit my filter of at least 10 for determination, work rate, natural fitness, stamina, and decisions. He's eligible for the U18 squad next year too.

Completely unscouted, and he's the only player who is eligible for the U18s next year that hit the filter and didn't need a work permit. We'll see what we get after he signs! The suspense is killing me too! I'll pay £1K per week for the next two and a half years (through June 2021).

Oh bummer - he cannot join until 1/1/2020. I should have read the fine print. I guess he'll only play for the U18s the second half of next season. At least after he signs I get up to date ratings.

Meh, what'd you expect for £10K? And with that the January 2019 transfer window slams shut.

[Joey Numbaz]

So some on field news. I mentioned that we've been awful away from Goodison. For the game away to Wolves after the FA Cup 4th round, I decided to roll with another Rashidi tactic from his Lyon series. We rocked a 4-3-3 with a DM and attacking wingers for this one. What we'd been doing wasn't working away, maybe it was a little too aggressive. Still positive here, but no Libero, a half-back instead. Richarlison and Bernard more naturally positioned as attacking wingers. Dolberg as the advanced forward up top.

I'd say it worked. We won 5-1. Maybe we were a little lucky, as the shots were 18-17 and they actually outshot us on goal 11-9. Stay tuned, I'll probably continue to use this on the road unless it doesn't work.

Just a few days later a huge game at home against Arsenal, February 2, 2019. A preview of the upcoming League Cup Final as well.

We dominated early. Jumped up 2-0 early in the second half. Both goals were off set pieces, but we worked on set pieces and were outshooting them 21-7. I decided to move to a more defensive lineup. Moved Zouma to the middle CD, and changed it from a Libero to a DC-cover. Digne moved to WBL. Bernard came off. André Gomes playing WBR for a tired Coleman came off, for Coleman.

The disaster strikes. Arsenal scores at 61' and again at 69'. I decide to go back to what got me there, Digne back to Libero, Mina off, and Lookman on a WBL. There was no magic. A 2-2 draw. Ugh. I really thought we were going to break through at beat one of these teams. Without Pickford too. So bummed. We would have been 1 point behind Arsenal and 3 behind Newcastle for 5th place if we'd hung on. Instead we are 5 points behind both, in 7th.

The upcoming schedule is tough. After playing at West Ham Feb. 9, we go to Anfield for the FA Cup 5th round Feb. 16, then we host Manchester City in the league Feb. 20, Arsenal at Wembley for a trip to the Europa League 2019-20 on Feb. 24 then home against United Feb. 27 and back to Anfield for the Merseyside Derby March 2. March 9 Chelsea comes to Goodison.

So basically our whole season gets decided over the next 5 weeks. Wish us luck!

 

[Joey Numbaz]

We hammered the Hammers, 3-0 in London, playing the 433 away again.

Now the real fun begins. I am probably going to play the same tactic away to Liverpool in the FA Cup game.

Here's my training for the next two weeks:

Nothing but set pieces and match prep - aside for a little bit of physical work at the beginning of this week. Going all out to win get as many points from these big games as possible.

[Colonel Getafe]

This is a superb thread! I was looking forward to FM19 and taking over a good, underrated squad at EFC, see if I could make them top 4 regulars. Not sure what tactics I want to use yet, but as soon as I have time to play the game I will read this thread in full. Look forward to following in the mean time!

[Joey Numbaz]

Some ugly stats at Liverpool for the FA Cup 5th round game.

Outshot 33-9, 16-5 on target. Liverpool 4 chances, 2 clear cut, zero for the good guys. Only 6 of their 33 shots were from outside the box. 19 corners to 5! And Gana picked up his 9th and 10th yellow cards of the season, getting sent off in the 64th minute. And I even turned off the Get Stuck In instruction before the game. I told him at halftime to watch his step too. He's just been a card machine. He was playing halfback this game, not BWM. 

But guess what, we hung tough! And managed a scoreless draw, to send it back to Goodison in a week and a half. Yippie Ki Ay m......!!

Seriously the squad played their hearts out. Worked their butts off. When Gana was sent off, I switched back to the Libero tactic, but I toned the WBR down to support. I removed the AMC, but made the Carrilero a Box-to-Box. Time wasting maxed out. It did the job. Pickford with 15 saves! The post had one too :-)

Afterwards, I fined Gana (the vice-captain) 2 weeks salary. He wasn't thrilled, but doesn't seem to be an issue. I also took him aside and said his conduct needs to improve and he agreed. in the press conference I even explained that I'd have to talk with him before he gets back into the first team and that he really let us down.

Because of the replay, the United game has been pushed back to after the Chelsea game, meaning between February 16 and March 13, I play:

@ Liverpool (FA Cup)
Manchester City (EPL)
Arsenal (League Cup final at Wembley)
Liverpool (FA Cup replay)
@ Liverpool (EPL)
Chelsea (EPL)
Manchester United (EPL)

That's one heckuva 25 days.

As if we didn't need more incentive ... the winner of the replay gets Brentford at home in the FA Cup Quarterfinal. Watford/Preston is another quarterfinal, which means there will be at least one beatable team in the semi finals.

[Joey Numbaz]

Ah the midweek City match. We've been great at home. A win would really make a statement. But I cannot risk it with the League Cup final on Sunday. So I start a few non-regulars:

The plan is to bring Richarlison in no later than 60' for Dolberg. Baines is going to play the whole game. Ideally, 18-year old Lewis Gibson makes is Everton debut and Beni Baningime gets into the game also. I really just want to keep this one close. We've got bigger fish to fry and are extremely unlikely to make the top 4 anyway.

11' Bernardo Silva rips a long shot for a goal. Bummer.

But we hang tough. And on 63' , 8 minutes after Richarlison enters, we get our miracle.

Coleman blocks a cross that rebounds up the right line. Baningime outruns David Silva and dribble about 15 yards with it ...

... then launches a bomb over the back line, leading to this ... he is not close to offsides either.

Richarlison blasts it home and we have our equalizer!

However, part of this was bringing Lewis Gibson on (to keep Digne fresh for Sunday) which meant Leighton Baines ended up at half back.

This would bite us, as Baines gave up a penalty in the 78th minute, that was really pretty ticky-tacky if you ask me. Agüero didn't miss and we ended up losing 2-1. A heckuva game against the best team in the league, without our best squad at all. This ended our 7-game unbeaten run in the league.

They outshot us 16-7, but just 4-3 on target. We each had 2 clear cut chances and one half chance. They did get 11 corners to our 1 and passed at an 87% clip. But they only completed 9 of 55 crosses and we won 26-of-41 contested headers 63%, dominating them in the air. I calculated our contested headers % as headers they missed, divided by all headers missed. I don't really see the point of counting uncontested headers.

On to Wembley! With a hopefully well rested team. We are practicing penalties in training before the final ...

[Joey Numbaz]

It's the League Cup Final at Wembley. February 24, 2019. Which is a drizzly 50 US degree day. That's 10 England degrees at current exchange rates.

A slow start, only a few shots in the first half hour, but this save from Pickford at 30' kept the dream alive. Welbeck received a deep bomb and almost made us pay for the high line. He blew right by Yerry Mina.

Then we get a stroke of luck in the 40th minute. Digne tries a long throw that doesn't quite make it to the box before it's intercepted ... Lichtsteiner clears it, but it drills Gana in the head. The back of his head:

It rebounds towards the middle of the box, where Gylfi runs onto it and ...

... fires it into the back of the net! 1-0 good guys!

We played very well in the first half. Outshot the Gunners 8-3. Completing 84% of our passes, winning 2/3 of the contested headers (10-of-15). 4 corners to 1.

Halftime shot chart:

I passionately tell them at halftime, "prove to everyone you are winners!". A couple of them react positively. Really - don't you guys realize I am a 20 rated motivationer?

I tell the defense I am very happy with their solid work. This makes them happy. Everyone besides Gylfi (who is already motivated) gets the you weren't that bad but you can still improve. I have 20 motivationer faith! They are all rated 6.5-6.6 so far. That motivates them! The squad are ready to walk through walls!

Bernard, Keane and Davies are ready to come on as subs when needed. Everyone is at 85-88%, except for Coleman, who is a key to how all of this works at DR, and is still 81% at least. Gana hasn't picked up a card yet either!

Simming on key highlights, nothing until 60'. No news is good news. It's a Gylfi wide free kick that is caught by Bernd Leno. Yes, Arsenal doesn't think this game is worth Petr Cech's time. After a weak push downfield, Pickford launches one to the right wing, Coleman dribbles from behind midfield all the way to the edge of the box where he finds Richarlison who makes a bad to decision to shoot it right into Leno's gut instead of passing across to the runner. A clear cut chance is wasted.

Nothing else until 73' when I pause. Arsenal have used their 3 subs. I need to think about mine.

If I give up a goal this could go to penalties. But Leighton Baines and his 18 penalties attribute is on the bench. I need to get him in late if it's a one goal game.

Baines can come on for Digne (6) very late. Dowell could similarly come in for Coleman (7), with Gomes (APs/AMR) dropping back to DR for the last minute or three. Bernard could come on for Gana (8) with Schneiderlin dropping to HB and Dowell moving to MCR if needed too. Not sure I need to worry about going 8 deep on penalties, but you never know.

I am going to hold off on the subs for now. At 80' I will start wasting time. Coleman is at 73%. The rest of the team is 75-81%. Arsenal is a lot fresher with their subs, the two DMs and the AML. I might need to switch Coleman to WB-S. I don't.

81' still no highlights. Pickford looks nervous. Nearly everyone else is motivated. I demand more from Mina, Gana, and Gomes - they are only composed. Get motivated! Time wasting is cranked up!

90' only 2 minutes of extra time coming! I can taste the 2019-20 Europa League! And a trophy in the first season.

I must be ready for penalties. But I can make those changes if Arsenal scores.

Michael Keane is coming in for Yerry Mina who has a yellow card and is tired. A fresh defender never hurts.

92:32, still no triple whistle! Come on Roger East. Did you swallow it? It's an Arsenal throw deep in our territory. Özil can't do anything with as Gana is on him like a glove they pass it around, no openings! Back to Lichtsteiner  near the sideline. His cross is blocked out of bounds by Gana. Three whistles blow! The trophy is ours.

I almost missed the picture. Pause (spacebar) doesn't work once they are on the trophy stand. Yikes! So it's greyed out a little. I'm a coach, not a photographer.

I congratulate the lads and they all visibly gain confidence. Our leader and captain, Seamus Coleman is the Player of the Match. Very fitting.

I know it's only the League Cup. And Arsenal didn't even play Cech. But we have qualified for the Europa League and won a trophy in our first season. I have won the Europa League and Champions League qualification that comes with it before, and having that as a potential safety net should we not be ready for the top 4 next season is going to be helpful. Hopefully we can use this to get better players in too.

Emery apologizes to his fans for letting them down. I explain to the press that while this is nice we need to work even harder now.

I said nothing at all that would cause offense pre-match. Emery praised me and I said that is nice but I am focusing on the game.

Really? I will not sink to his level.

Uh, we received £100K for winning the trophy. Total £2.75M in bonuses paid out to 30+ players, for reaching the group stage of the Europa League. Including several who have been loaned out all year. I guess someone likes putting that in contracts.

As a reward we get back to back games with Liverpool (that's 3 Merseyside Derby's in 15 days for those scoring at home), then Chelsea and Manchester United. All over 15 days after 2 days off.

 

[Joey Numbaz]

Wednesday February 27, 2019 - FA Cup 5th Round Replay, Everton v. Liverpool at Goodison Park. Another wet day, 51 US degrees.

Our first two games this year were both scoreless draws. One back in October at Goodison where the Toffees outshot Liverpool 20-14. The other a week and a half ago where Liverpool dominated but couldn't score.

There is a very real chance this thing could go 120 minutes. So I am not starting Seamus Coleman (91%) or Morgan Schneiderlin (94%). André Gomes will be the FB and Tom Davies the Carrilero. Lucas Digne is also on fumes (92%) but will start. I'd rather have Baines come in late where he can play against tired players and also be around for penalties if necessary. Same with Schneiderlin.

Sticking with the 433. Even though we are at home. The Libero is in my back pocket though, ready if needed.

João Pedro Sousa, my assistant always says to not cloud the players' minds. Don't say anything. I disagree. "The media have given you a lot of credit lately, so go out there and put on a worthy display!" They eat this stuff up. All but Gomes and Bernard seem motivated. I tell them I have faith, get out there and make a difference. Gomes looks to gain confidence. Bernard looks happy. The positive atmosphere is tangible.

We are going to have to be at our very best to get something today though. Liverpool are as good as they come and will certainly be able to cause us one or two problems.

The first highlight is a corner at 11'. Siggy takes it short. Digne is immediately closed down, but gets in a cross for Dolberg.

The header is deflected by Alisson ... the rebound right back to Dolberg and in the far side of the net. The flag stays down! We are off and running early! Dolberg does a cartwheel! Don't sprain your wrist you injury prone potential superstar. 

The shot chart at 29'. Need you to make one of those Richarlison!

Digne has picked up a foot injury. He is not going to be able to finish the game, but I'm keeping him in for now. He at least makes it to halftime. As do we, holding onto a 1-0 lead.

Liverpool turned it on a little the last few minutes. But we had the only real chances (1 CCC, 1 HC). Shots are 8-5 Everton, 6-3 on target.

Digne is up to 78%, but I don't see him finishing this one out. He's staying in for now. An OK halftime talk, but nothing special. Three motivated, three happy. Apparently that looks like they are willing to walk through walls though!

No highlights through to 69' when I paused. 9-10 players have been motivated the entire second half. No shouts needed. Digne, Gomes and Zouma all down to 69%. Liverpool's players are all in the 74-78 range with Lovren at 82%. He's anxious though. As are two others. Wijnaldum is downright nervous. Mané is furious.

We have had 4 shots in the 2nd half, all on target one HC. They've had 2 shots (1 on target) and still no real chances. I want to sub. But I don't want to mess with this team right now. It's going so well.

I push further. Liverpool subs in Lallana for Keïta at 71' and before I can pause to counter, we get our first 2nd half highlight. Ruh-roh.

But upon further looking, Digne (15 LT) is attempting a long throw in. When this is over, Coleman is coming in whether we are ahead or tied. But I digress, back to the throw in. It's headed out to Zouma - why isn't he in the box - crap ... ah Keane is in the box since the throw was from the right side I leave the DCR back. Anyway, we keep passing short and backwards, scaring the bejesus out of me waiting for a Liverpudlian to steal the ball and launch it forward. But instead that's what Gana does! He finds Richarlison in the left channel, streaking towards the goal! But it's too deep, Richarlison doesn't get a good angle for the shot and it's out for a corner.

Gomes, despite being a good penalty taker and being the best player on the pitch (7.5) has to come out. He's at 67%. And he isn't even a real DR. Bernard is also playing well at the AMR/APs, and is at 78% so I keep him there instead of moving Gomes up. On comes the captain, Seamus Coleman. More defense, Morgan Scheiderlin comes on for Tom Davies. For now Digne stays in the game.

Bummer, the actual corner doesn't even merit a highlight. 75' we start wasting time sometimes. Still nothing highlight wise at 83'. Now we are wasting time frequently.

85' the recently signed (£51M) and recently subbed in Christian Pulisic (who I get in almost every FM, not this year I guess) comes on for a deep free kick. It's a scary header but it sails wide of the net. Whew.

88' Coleman for a throw deep in Liverpool territory. Dolberg receives and crosses it into the box where it is cleared to a running Pulisic. He's untouched past midfield. Many Liverpool players are running as well. Fewer Everton players are with them.

This is suboptimal. Pulisic launches it to the left for Salah, he cuts into the box, but Zouma is there to close him down and all the Egyptian can muster is a weak shot right into the hands of Pickford. Crisis averted. I have told Leighton Baines to warm up, he's heading in.

There are 4 minutes of extra time. Scheiderlin looks nervous. Relax dude, no pressure here.

94:18 ... and it's a Liverpool corner. It's like deja vu all over again. My heart can't take this.

Salah curls it into the box ... and ... past the box, over everyone. Coleman chases it down and clears it. The whistle blows. Three times. It's all over Everton win! Bring on Brentford in the Elite Eight!

Liverpool turned it on late. They had 8 of the last 9 shots. But that Pulisic/Salah breakaway was the only real threat. 11 out of 13 shots on target for my Toffees.

Digne only has a bruised ankle. He might be able to play Saturday, we'll see.

Well done lads. Another good win for us. Against hated Liverpool.

Klopp is annoyed with how I handled myself before the match too. I really don't know what I said that was offensive. These reporters like to stir stuff up.

Three games so far, and the aggregate is 1-0. Two days off and then we'll play the fourth at Anfield. We are free rolling in that one though.

 

 

[Joey Numbaz]

Still basking in the glow of our back-to-back 1-0 cup triumphs, I decided to look at the tactical analysis of the formations. It sure feels like this 4-3-3 has been better than the Libero formation, but has it?

Over the last 20 matches:

4-3-3: 493 minutes used, 8 chances for, 7 against. One created every 61 minutes, one allowed every 70 minutes

5-2-1-2 WB: 1320 minutes, 24 chances for, 9 against. One created every 55 minutes, one allowed every 146 minutes.

But, as always, the devil is in the details.

Chances created (Everton-Opponent)

Opponent          4-3-3       5-2-1-2      
higher rated        4-4            1-3
similar rated        2-1            9-3
lower rated          2-2          14-3

So I think what I intended seems to be happening. The 4-3-3 is better than the 5-2-1-2 with this group of players in tough games, either against better teams anywhere and all teams away. The Libero seems to be good for beating up on average or worse teams at home.

********

The bank balance is down to -£55M. That's not so good. They'd better not cancel my training, youth, and data analysis facilities renovations. They are still letting me keep 75% of transfer revenue. And there will be a bunch coming in, between prize money, already agreed to transfers and the players on loan who I will sell in June (I hope). I have £5.8M in the transfer budget still and £29K p/w in budget. So I could still sign a decent youngster or two if I find one cheap. 15 of my 16 scouts are looking for players 18 or younger now. The other and the Director of Football are 'cross-checkers' who give me the final word and double check the lesser scouts.

Typically once I get a team's finances settled, I try not to spend into the red if I can help it. Even if I have the transfer budget, I like to wait until I have the cash to match. We'll see if I can do that here.

 

 

[Joey Numbaz]

It is March 1, 2019 and the youth intake has arrived!

Meh. Nothing special in here at all. Maybe they'll develop better than I expect. Here are the best few of them, one 2.5-3.5* and three 2-3* guys. And my team isn't even great yet and they are being judged against that.

The Head of Youth Development is supposed to influence personality? My Model Citizen Head of Youth Development brought in:

3 unambitious
2 tempermental
2 low determination
1 low self belief

Also three outspoken, one who is outspoken, volatile, AND confrontational (and temperamental) all rolled into one. Three that are volatile, media-friendly, and confrontational. Ick. This is probably the worst youth intake I've had in any FM.

Now the hard work begins. I need to update the spreadsheet, and see if there are some hidden gems, check progress since June, and most importantly, figure out the 2019-2020 depth chart for all 3 levels, to see who gets released, who gets extended, and where we'll have to fill holes in the transfer market, especially for the youth teams. Stay tuned ...

[Joey Numbaz]

First thing when creating the spreadsheet ... we have 106 players in this organization (including the youth intake). That is nearly double what I want. Ideally I'd have 18-20 at each level, with some overlap between the first team and U23s. Something like 22-18-18 for Senior-U23-U18.

The numbers are in.

Some interesting things. Not much the way of personality changes, other than Davies becoming Resolute. Mason Holgate went from Amibitious to Fairly Ambitious which is not good.

Several U23s went from Leader, Technical, or Intelligent style to Physical. I guess that means I'm either training physical too much or I'm beefing these guys up.

A bunch of youth went from level-headed to media friendly.

Recommended best position changes still seem pretty rare. Mason Holgate has gone from D(R) to D(C) and Kevin Mirallas (on loan) has gone from AM(R) to AM(L).

Here's another way to look at the youth intake. Purely in current ratings. No potential here:

These are how the players score in my system, color coded. Red is bad (under 7.0). White is ok for the youth team, but really organizational filler (7.0-10.0). That light orange is where players are viable for the U23 squad (10.0-13.0). U18 players in here are potential prospects worth noting. Not shown here since my U18s kind of stink, but 13.0-14.0 is yellow. Those are senior level players. 14.0-15.0 will be teal. Those are really good players. 15.0-16.0  is blue, they are stars. 16.0+ will be green. The best players in the world.

I bolded any positions players are competent or better at. Bold italic is less than competent, but rated at least awkward. Or if the role is an AML and the player is competent or better and ML, for example.

Some explanations.

Best is the best rating for ANY role/duty. Not just mine. Tactic Best is the best rating for roles/duties used in my two tactics.

I call the difference here "Fit" which is how good of a fit the player is for my system. Take Pedro Neves. He's my best U18 prospect. As an 11.8 he'd be a solid starter on the U23 team as a Winger-Support. But I don't use wingers. In my system he's best as an Advanced Forward-Attack, or as an IF-A or even a Mezzala-Attack (all 10.4-10.5).

But he's giving up 1.3 rating points from his best position there. That's a pretty huge gap. He's a terrible fit. Which is a bummer. I am retraining him as an Advanced Forward, which is going well, he's already competent there. But he's really a winger, and at some point he's probably going to be more valuable to someone else as a winger than he'll be to me as a striker or IF. I could try to make him a Libero which leads into ...

Lib is taken from the article Cleon wrote on the Libero for FM18. It combines (using Harmonic mean of course, all of these use that) what he thinks is important for the Libero - Dribbling (3x), Heading, Long Shots (2x), Marking, Passing (3x), Tackling, Technique (3x), Off the Ball (3x), Work Rate (2x), Stamina (3x), Natural Fitness (2x), Pace (3x) and Acceleration (3x).

CD higher line is concentration, acceleration, pace, positioning and work rate. The things required if you are going to play a high line. Which I do!

BBooD - Brings ball out of defense. Dribbling (2x), First Touch, Passing and Composure. If you are a defender and rated high here, I may try to train the BBooD PPM.

Det/Lead is the harmonic mean of determination (3x) and leadership. Determination is no longer a part of the recommended attributes for any role/duty. So this captures that, assuming it is still important on the field and not just for development.The four players with slightly darker grey background for their names are holdovers from this year's U18 team. They will still be eligible next year. Age is as of September 1, 2019.

BPD is not truly ball playing defender. It's delta for a ball playing defender vs. a regular defender, the ball playing stuff only. That helps it stand out more. It's the harmonic mean of passing (twice), first touch, technique, composure and vision. Composure is needed for the central defender role, but it goes from preferred to important for a ball playing defender. So it counts once here.

The others should be obvious. Role/Duty. I've got some specific goalkeeper ratings too:

Stop Penalties - Reflexes, Anticipation, Decisions

Shot Stopping - 1v1, Reflexes, Agility, Positioning, Anticipation

Handling - Handling, Aerial Reach, Concentration, Balance

1v1 - 1v1, Rushing Out, Anticipation, Decisions, Acceleration

Distribution - First Touch, Kicking, Passing, Throwing, Composure, Vision

I didn't make those up. That's what is trained by each of the goalkeeper training regimens. Helps me target which training sessions will be most beneficial. Pickford's bad one on one rating is because of his acceleration. I need to work on quickness, for example.

 

[WillHoward42]

I really do enjoy the detail that you go into when assessing your players and any future stars. Do you take any notice of reports and potential ability with the in game star rating? I have always wanted to go as in depth as you are doing here, but I end up just going by staff recommendations and hope they are correct when searching for a future star.

[Joey Numbaz]

Hey sorry I've been away for awhile. Holidays, some work stuff, etc. Barely played the last few weeks.

On 20/12/2018 at 15:01, WillHoward42 said:

I really do enjoy the detail that you go into when assessing your players and any future stars. Do you take any notice of reports and potential ability with the in game star rating? I have always wanted to go as in depth as you are doing here, but I end up just going by staff recommendations and hope they are correct when searching for a future star.

I use the star ratings as a way to sort - especially once I have an AssMan with excellent JPA/JPP. I use the detailed ratings for figuring out what positions to train players at and to try to optimize who should be playing where. I try to figure out the 11 players I want on the field, then the ratings help with figuring out which one should be the CAR and which should be the MEZ. Or the TM and the AM, etc. I guess I kind of use it all.

I use the reports especially for dealbreakers - like if the player isn't good in big matches, is injury prone, etc.

We picked up a new guy! Only £150K and my U18s need anyone who can play for next year. I like his versatility too. Nothing special, but he's basically free and is an upgrade over what we have.

I have played through Hell Month, I'll post the results next.

[Joey Numbaz]

So here we go ... things went incredibly well!

We won the League Cup. We are through the semifinal of the FA Cup - where we will play Wolves for the 5th time this season. The other semifinal is Watford/Bournemouth. We have a realistic shot at winning the double with the cups! Wolves beat City 1-1 (9-8). It went to 10 penalties.

Notice we destroyed Chelsea. Their goal was on a horrible mistake. Then we scored 3 in the second half. The United game, we gave up a late goal on a direct free kick, ugh. Brentford got a goal in stoppage time, but had some chances. We did play a rotated squad though. The Liverpool loss with with an exhausted squad - we put everything into the FA Cup replay, so I wasn't concerned about losing that one.

I am torn on sticking with the 4-3-3 for all games. I really want the Libero formation to work - it's more attacking, but needs some defensive tweaks. Plus I love Liberos.

So things are good right now. Newcastle is also falling apart, so we have a real shot at 6th. 5th would take a miracle.

Dolberg has been great. Four goals in seven league games, 7.23 rating. He and Richarlison are a nice combination up top when I play with 2 strikers and also working out well in the 4-3-3 with Richarlison on the left as an IFa.

[Joey Numbaz]

Look what we found! For £24K. That's not missing a decimal point. He's also nothing special, but basically free and maybe I get lucky. I essentially want every player on the U18 or U23 to have at least 3-3.5 star potential. Usually takes a year or two, but I'm always on the lookout for good 'organizational players' as we baseballers call them. Probably won't ever play for the senior squad, but you need guys like that to go deep in things like the EUFA Youth League, etc.

[Joey Numbaz]

So things are continuing to play out well.

Since the Brentford game, we drew 1-1 home v. Leicester - outplayed them but gave up an early goal. Digne assisted Dolberg 78' for us to equalize.

Then we went on a tear ... 2-0 at Huddersfield, 3-0 v. Wolves in the FA Cup semi at Wembley! We are in the final against Bournemouth. All 3 goals in the 2nd half. That's 4-0 with a draw v. Wolves this year. And the draw was in the 2nd leg of the League Cup semi where I was up 4-1 after one leg.

Then a 3-1 win at home vs. Spurs. Spurs played 3 strikers. A flat 3-4-3 (no DM or AM) I was nervous, so I tweaked the Libero tactic to this:

Essentially dropped the AMa to a DLPs and switched the Libero to a CDc. It worked pretty well. Also switched the mentality to cautious and more direct passing. Heavy rotation, no Digne or Coleman due to fatigue. Siggy and Richarlison both injured (forgot to mention that).

Finally we get to the big game with Newcastle for 6th place. They've been fading. We entered this game up 55-54 in the table, 5 games left.

Kenny Tete scored a most unfortunate goal on 21' - he was trying to pass from inside the box, and somehow the pass went into the net. Ugh.

Around 75' or so I switch out of the libero to the 4-3-3. Instant dividends! Lookman scores from inside the box twice! 79' and 86'. What a comeback. It was nothing less than we deserved, we hadn't given up any decent shots in the 2nd half. I switched to the cautious tactic above and closed the game out without issue.

Lookman is really coming into his own. He's learning WBL pretty well, he's an exciting player who can put it in the net.

One thing that is great with the libero tactic - a lot of WBL assisting WBR and vice-versa it seems.

Tactic analysis:

Here's the thing though - that 5-2-1-2 Libero formation sure doesn't feel that strong defensively. And the 4-3-3 was played against most of the best teams and several tough road games.

Calling Tottenham a higher rated team than me is silly. Here's the table. The ratings haven't caught up to the reality yet.

We need two of United, Arsenal and Chelsea to collapse for us to make top 4. While we don't drop any points (70 is our ceiling). It is unlikely. But getting 5th would be great.

5 games left. @Brighton, Palace, @Burnley, Bournemouth and then Bournemouth again in the FA Cup Final. Back on Boxing Day, Bournemouth beat us 1-0 at Vitality Stadium. They played a 4-4-2 and we played the Libero tactic. We did outshoot them 22-9. But they had 2 CCC, 3 HC and we were 0/1. So we'll see how it goes this time.

I am trying to blow through the rest of the season to get to sell all of the players on loan and get the finances in order. We have -£60M in the bank right now. I was able to get the André Gomes loan to become a permanent transfer, £10M now, £5.5 more potentially (thanks Steel Eagle!). But to get the money, I had to reduce the payroll allowed to the point that we can't even pay a youngster £2K per week. So the transfers are done for now. They also reduced me to 55% of transfer revenue being made available. The wage budget is £1.74M/week and I am currently paying £1.9M/week.

I really want Zouma to stay and he does too, Chelsea does not want this. Maybe I can extend the loan a year.

[Joey Numbaz]

We did catch a break on the AssMan though, I almost forgot.

Silva took the West Ham job, so he stole his assistant back from me. Which was great! He's not that good:

And we were paying him £9K per week.

Now I have Brian Klug, who is much better:

Only making £3.5K per week.

And there's more, West Ham paid me £1M in compensation!

Sousa was a 4-star attacking tactical/technical and possession tactical coach. Klug is 4-stars everywhere, which gives me a lot more flexibility. Klug is also 16/16 JPA/JPP, Sousa was 14/14. Klug 15 tactical knowledge, Silva 12. Silva 13/13 Youth/Man, Klug 20/15. Pretty awesome. Thanks FM!

[Joey Numbaz]

Hey there, back again. Sorry for the slowness, too much real life stuff getting in the way.

Anyway, we finished the season. The board is ecstatic! We finished 6th, and it was a strong sixth.

Big Sam was not able to keep Palace from relegation a legend he is no more.

Even better we completed the double! We won the FA Cup, beating Bournemouth 4-0 in the final at Wembley! We can put that trophy alongside our League Cup one in the trophy case.

This is how you train for a final, by the way:

It was a great end to the season. We were locked into 6th place with two games to go, so I experimented a little in the losses to Burnley and Bournemouth.

But there's more!

The Kasper Dolberg signing made a huge difference. We have a big offseason coming up. I am targeting a few players, none of them crazy superstars. My favorite US based podcast, The Double Pivot came out with a non-Big-6 all-star team last week. I am going to try to pull as many of those guys in as possible.

However ... we are still £40M in the hole, even after getting our prize money. We still have £2.1M in the transfer budget, but the payroll is limited at £1.74M/week ... and we are committed to paying £1.87M/week. That's ... suboptimal.

We will be cleaning house, hopefully I can sell a lot of the dead weight:

Cenk Tosun is already leaving, £22.65M mandatory future fee.
Theo Walcott £12.75M optional fee from Ajax 🤞🏼

I'd sell them in a second for value:
Morgan Schneiderlin £18.25M
Yannick Bolasie £13.75M
Mo Besic £10.5M
Kevin Mirallas £8M
Cuco Martina £7M
Dominic Calvert-Lewin £3.2M
Joe Williams £3.1M

Would consider selling if someone comes with a big offer:

Mason Holgate £11.5M value (might even sell him for that)
Henry Onyekuru £12M value (maybe someone doubles that?)
Bernard £31.5M he's good but is he that good?
Gylfi £26.5M he's great on set pieces we were 3rd in the league in goals from corners (11) but selling high seems reasonable

Anyway, it's going to be a very busy June at Goodison Park.

[Joey Numbaz]

And one more thing, I will be culling the heck out of the U23s and U18s. In FM19 I think I need a few more bodies there, but not many more. Ideally I'll have 20-22 players at each level, that is it. And 22-25 with the senior team. The fewer the better. Really curious to see what they are going to give me for a transfer budget.

The board also just gave 2 more senior coaches, a physio and 4(!) more scouts, upping the total to 20. Excellent.

[Colonel Getafe]

I've just half-started a EFC save myself, and still getting to grips with the non-Touch version of the game. Any chance you could post a shot/list of your coaches/scouts you assembled to start the season with? I'm finding some decent ones but it doesn't seem balanced and can't seem to find many above-average staff. Cheers.

[Joey Numbaz]

3 hours ago, Colonel Getafe said:

I've just half-started a EFC save myself, and still getting to grips with the non-Touch version of the game. Any chance you could post a shot/list of your coaches/scouts you assembled to start the season with? I'm finding some decent ones but it doesn't seem balanced and can't seem to find many above-average staff. Cheers.

Yeah sure ... I can't right this second, but I will later tonight I'll load in a save from a week or two into the season. One thing though ... I think there is some randomization on each save, so my guys probably won't have the same ratings in your save.

I just did my hiring and I guess I was one continue short, because now I have my budgets. And bummer, we just got hit with a £7.5M tax bill because despite being £40M in the hole, we actually turned a £34.69M profit this year.

So here goes ...

Commercial summary: £8.5M in new sponsorship deals

Additional Kit Sponsor: 6 year deal for £45.5M. Our previous deal was £6M. Sweet.

We sold £3.04M in merchandise, with just £304K non-domestic. That seems low. Gotta get a US player I guess.

Most popular jerseys: 30 Richarlison; 8 André Gomes (yay we signed him long term), 10 Gylfi, 20 Bernard, 1 Pickford

Hah, we now have a £494K surplus! Maybe the TV or prize money hadn't been sent in yet? Awesome! We are Back Inthe Black!

The wage budget has been bumped to £2M/week and the transfer budget is £52.21M ... I can work with that! But I want to try to have us run a surplus forever now. So that might mean that I raise the payroll more and lower the transfer budget if I can't sell guys. Now I need to get my percentage of revenue retained bumped from 55% to 100%. Not an option for me to ask for yet.

Looks like the facilities won't be completed until January 2020. Was supposed to be October 2019. But I'll take it. Glad they didn't cancel it.

The board agrees to improve junior coaching budget (to exceptional) and youth recruitment (to extensive). Excellent.

[Joey Numbaz]

Hmmn ... I didn't have to ask for a % of transfer increase. They just bumped it from 55% to 80%, I must have missed that email. I can work with that too.

Ah I see what happened - maybe? Did they pay that £45.5 million for jersey sponsorship all up front? If so, pretty sweet.

The other reason to keep the budget positive - I need to get this stadium expanded. I assume I'll get another 10K seats up to 50K. That's what I've gotten in older FMs. I don't ever want to get rid of Goodison, but I'd love to keep expanding it forever.

[Joey Numbaz]

Here's the full staff as of August 31, 2018. Reminder, I play with no initial transfer budgets, so in the beginning, I basically have to choose from guys that were previously unemployed, except for when I get some money because Lukaku scores goals or plays in 10 games or something. I could not pay any buyouts that early in the season. So I signed several guys to one or two year deals, knowing I should be able to improve them later on.