[FM23] Everton: It's the hope that kills you

[GrayMatter]

Welcome to the FM23 Everton thread

Supporting Everton much of my existence has brought a roller coaster of emotions: from the steady-eddy times under David Moyes to the turbulent dross that has succeeded the consistent Scot. As an Evertonian under 30 years of age, naturally, the aim of any save is to win a trophy. With 9 Premier League titles and 5 FA Cup victories, Everton are still considered one of the more successful sides in England. The red side of Merseyside is currently leaving the blue side in their wake, Everton are currently in a long-term relationship with mediocrity and under achievement. Looking ahead, Premier League survival an absolute necessity in order to fulfill the long-awaited move to a new setting, the Bramley-Moore Dock stadium. 

You have a £2m transfer budget at your disposal with a trimmed squad that is still rich with high earners and a plethora of injuries to key players. What's not to love? 

Key Players

Hot Prospects

 

 

Edited January 1, 2023 by ShaunG95

[Michael17alen]

Enjoy I will follow you!

[IUsedToBeGreat]

Jeezoh - its a tough nut this one... cant shift anyone out... cznt get anyone in... even on loan! 

Lost the curtain raiser 1-0 to Liverpool too!

[GrayMatter]

3 hours ago, IUsedToBeGreat said:

Jeezoh - its a tough nut this one... cant shift anyone out... cznt get anyone in... even on loan! 

Lost the curtain raiser 1-0 to Liverpool too!

Leicester always give you £3.8m for Begovic. If you offer Tom Davies out for £9m, Crystal Palace will give you that much for him too. You can get £1m for Coleman from Celtic too. Aside from that, you have to get a few days into July but Sochi have given me £5m for Gray on a couple of occasions and because I bought a player from Dynamo Moscow - they gave me £1.3m for Rondon. Aside from that I also sold Anthony Gordon for £21m to Leeds but I'd imagine the vast majority of Evertonians would want to keep him!

[evertonmarc]

Cheers @ShaunG95

Will likely start my Everton save shortly, been holding off as i hate looking at the financials at Everton haha!!

 

[IUsedToBeGreat]

19 hours ago, ShaunG95 said:

 ...Anthony Gordon for £21m to Leeds but I'd imagine the vast majority of Evertonians would want to keep him!

I am off the fence with him... SELL

[IUsedToBeGreat]

4 hours ago, evertonmarc said:

Cheers @ShaunG95

Will likely start my Everton save shortly, been holding off as i hate looking at the financials at Everton haha!!

 

Good to see youre back - They are atrccious - its soul destroying I thought we were supposed to ESACPE in game world

[Peluch]

Have to say, i'm having much fun with this save.

The ending of the first season was a little bit painful. With a little luck we could have finished with a trophy or a place in the Champions League..but is ok, let's trust the process

 

 

This was the trasnfers situation, couldn't say no to Bayern for Calvert-Lewin
 

Spoiler

 

This is my current situation, good start but we had just lost 1-2 at home against Arsenal. 
The next two game in the league are Chelsea and Liverpool, both away

Sorry for any mistakes, English is not my native language and I'm trying to improve 

Edited January 5, 2023 by Peluch

[Swills417]

Nice to see an Everton thread this year. It's an interesting challenge with them struggling IRL and quite often struggling in game under AI management. 

I've started a save with them after holidaying until after the world cup. Lampard has just been sacked after a in November and the team was languishing in 16th.

Haven't got access to my save but have a few observations.

There is next to no transfer budget available  

Managed to ship off Townsend to Norwich for £2m (1m upfront, 1m installments), Michael Keane moved to a Spanish club for a few million. Rondon and Begovic left for free. Tried to shift Doucoure but had received zero interest. 

Brought in Todd Cantwell for £2m and Cole Palmer from City on loan. 

The first eleven is definitely good enough for mid-table, but expectations this year are to avoid relegation and improve the first team in summer 2023. 

Will do a more in depth review over the weekend. 

[GrayMatter]

2022/23 Overview

We did rather well considering this was our start to proceedings...

The Man Utd fixture was particularly embarrassing, I will let you suss that out by looking at the following screenshot:

Say no more. As you will see, Falcao scored in this game, he's a favourite of mine to sign given his model citizen personality.

2022/23 Summer Incomings

• Arsen Zakharyan for £13m
• Illia Zabarnyi for £13m (£14.5m)
• Adamo Nagalo for £2.7m (£4.2m)
• Hal Robson-Kanu for free
• Sander Berge for £12m (£12.5m)
• Hakon Arnar Haraldsson for £5m (£6m)
• Daniel Carrico for free
• Sebastian Corchia for £650k (£1.2m)
• Radamel Falcao for £500k (£650k)
• Octavian Popescu for £2.3m (£3.3m) - loaned back to FCSB to gain a work permit
• Gabrijel Rukavina for £3m (£3.9m)
• Fran Garcia for £8.5m
• Jack Walton for £300k - P/Ex
• Armando Broja on loan for £1.3m

I just want to caveat by saying that aside from Zakharyan and Garcia, all players were signed with lower fees up front, the initial fees before those in brackets are totaled with installments considered. For instance, I only paid £4.5m up-front for Zabarnyi with increases to £13m over the course of three year annual payments. I understand that without this context people would jump to conclusions about potentially cooking the books! Broja was a deadline day loan and I have categorically never seen him develop very well on FM so I decided to take a punt on him given that DCL is out injured.

*U21 foreign players signed

2022/23 Summer Outgoings

• Asmir Begovic to Leicester for £3.8m
• Anthony Gordon to Leeds for £21m
• Tom Davies to Crystal Palace for £9m
• Seamus Coleman to Celtic for £1m
• Demarai Gray to Socchi for £5m
• Salomon Rondon to Dynamo Moscow for £1.3m
• Charlie Whitaker to Norwich for £700k
• Andy Lonergan to Barnsley - P/Ex

I sell all players for money up-front, this effectively allows me to deal in installments on the transfers in. We brought in around £42m here on players that I had no intention of playing. Gordon would have been a starter (Iwobi works as a AMR, however) but I have too much of an affinity with Zakharyan to not trigger his £13m release clause - his ceiling is much higher than Gordon's too. I needed to sell Gordon in order to afford that up-front fee. Rukavina, Popescu and Haraldsson are also versatile players and can play on either flank.

2022/23 Winter Incomings

• David Brooks for £26m (£30.5m)
• Nicolas Seiwald for £24m (£27.5m)
• Tim Ronning for £1m (£1.5m) - loaned back to IF Elfsborg to gain a work permit

I probably overpaid for Brooks but I feel he's a great buy as an inside-forward and contributes to the home-grown quota. Seiwald I don't believe I've ever had before but his attributes are incredible as a box-to-box midfielder. Sadly, he has a £48m release clause so I'm hoping that isn't activated anytime soon.

2022/23 Winter Outgoings

• Mason Holgate to West Ham for £12.75m
• Yerry Mina to Southampton for £2m
• Andros Townsend to Udinese for £5m

Same principle as the summer outgoings, sold all of these for money up-front to supplement my January transfers. I still had around £20m of money left in the transfer kitty at the end of the window given my wheeling and dealing on installments.

EFL Cup

DCL was outrageous in this game, absolutely unplayable. Our run-in to the final was: Cardiff (H), West Brom (A), Forest Green (H), Brentford (H) and Hull City in the semi-final. Those somewhat easier fixtures didn't build any complacency though as we usurped a Haaland-less Man City.

DCL's Performances in 2022/23

Elite clubs sniffing around him, it may well be time to do an 'Everton' and sell our prized asset.. All will be revealed on the next update.

Armando Broja's Performances in 2022/23

I had quite a strong rotation policy, initially I started with a 4231 and Falcao, Broja and later DCL were rotated heavily. However, from January I created a 424 with a false-nine and advanced forward which improved our fortunes. Broja was potent playing either role despite his horrendous passing as his height and pace, much like DCL was a constant threat to opposition. Without spoiling too much for my second season, Broja has improved massively and even I'm surprised by how rapidly he has developed considering he tends to stagnate while at Chelsea.

[Swills417]

@ShaunG95big win in the cup! Nice to get some early silverware. 

In April of 2022, and we sit in at the lower end of midtable - with only 3 points between 16th and 10th. We have some promising results at home, but have nearly nicked some decent results away at big clubs (usually drawing until very late and concede some very nonsense goals to lose).

We got a golden generation through the u18 so I have dedicated a loose pathway to the first team for a few of them. Including a very promising Irish lad, who has already made his debut. 

I don't think we are likely to be relegated, we are largely good at home, but very bad away. The next few fixtures will be key.

Started making ambitious transfer plans for summer 2023 - hopefully a generous transfer budget is provided so we can land our top targets. Does anyone know how much Everton generally get second season? 

 

[GrayMatter]

22 hours ago, Swills417 said:

@ShaunG95big win in the cup! Nice to get some early silverware. 

In April of 2022, and we sit in at the lower end of midtable - with only 3 points between 16th and 10th. We have some promising results at home, but have nearly nicked some decent results away at big clubs (usually drawing until very late and concede some very nonsense goals to lose).

We got a golden generation through the u18 so I have dedicated a loose pathway to the first team for a few of them. Including a very promising Irish lad, who has already made his debut. 

I don't think we are likely to be relegated, we are largely good at home, but very bad away. The next few fixtures will be key.

Started making ambitious transfer plans for summer 2023 - hopefully a generous transfer budget is provided so we can land our top targets. Does anyone know how much Everton generally get second season? 

 

Cheers mate, big win indeed!

I got around £50m at a point in time where the bank balance was looking quite healthy too due to outgoings.

[Yoarra]

Nice dude being a huge everton fan I decided to do a save where I simmed to Jan and then take over at everton they where rock bottom only winning 2 games and I'm 8 games away from the end of the season with 5 points off safety been hard with no funds and no one coming in for players.

[tarzanofmars]

I'm sorry, that's the best thread title ever  

[Swills417]

It is indeed the hope that kills you! I will never again disparage Frank Lampard or any recent Everton manager in recent memory. This team is awful. 

This is where things are currently, 3 games left to play:

 

We have had an absolute stinker of an April - with seven league games. Seven! Losing every away game. The defeats against West Ham, Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth hurt the most. 

 

We now face the following teams to attempt to survive. I cannot see us picking up anything in these games and our best hope is that  Nottingham forest don't win their games.

Manchester United (H)
Brighton (A)
Tottenham (A)

We are likely to survive - but with this side you never know. Also, I will be without DCL until the final game after he was sent off for a straight red against Bournemouth. 

[dothestrand]

I've started an Everton save. This is quite a difficult challenge early on because you have a) reasonably high expectations, b) no money, c) loads of injured players, d) players on ridiculous money. All in all, this makes moving players on and signing new ones tough. 

I've sold Tom Davies (9.25m), Salomon Rondon (1.7m), Seamus Coleman (1m) and Abdoulaye Doucoure (3m - way below market value) - these guys were on crazy wages and selling them seemed the easiest way to give us room to manouevre in the transfer market. How is Doucoure on 120k per week? Jeez.

In has come Roberto Gagliardini (1.7m), Andrea Schjelderup (8m), Malick Thiaw and Yacine Adli (both on loan from AC Milan) and Philip Billing (6m).

I'd love to sell Idrissa Gueye (130k per week!) but I can't find a buyer. Newly signed and with 2y on his contract, he's going to hard to shift. I have enough CM options without him.

Michael Keane started listed and is still here - I may try to move him on still. We've got enough CB options and I want another RB ideally. Holgate can cover CB.

No interest in ever playing Yerry Mina or Andros Townsend. Both have long term injuries and are out of contract next Summer. I just hope I can shift them in January for whatever I can get.

First three games were losing 2-0 to Man Utd (A) and then three home wins against Leeds (1-0), Wolves (2-0) and Liverpool (2-0!!!), so I'll take that start - especially those with longer term injuries start to return.

Edited January 15, 2023 by dothestrand

[Swills417]

It's super hard to shift some of the squad in the first two seasons on this. 

Still early in the summer window 2023 - looking for a central defender that is more of a pure defender and is a step above what we currently have. 

The first choice pairing towards to end of the season was Godfrey and Onana but I am aware that neither are natural pure central defenders. I'm not convinced by Yerry Mina or Tarkowki. Willing to heavily rotate Braithwaite as third choice. 

I also have this gap in in midfield as I'm looking for a technical deep lying playmaker. Missed out on Ward-Prowse to that other lot across Stanley park. 

Any recommendations? I'm hugely tempted by a outrageous Pjanic swoop or Benfica's Weigl. Looking for someone to sit in the DM spot and block passing lanes and use their passing and vision (as opposed to dribbling) to progress the ball forward. I also recognise that Onana could potentially be trained to do this role. 

 

 

Edited January 18, 2023 by Swills417

[JohnWarrington]

Just started a new save with a real fixtures mod installed.  Operation survival is a go

[GrayMatter]

On 18/01/2023 at 11:35, Swills417 said:

It's super hard to shift some of the squad in the first two seasons on this. 

Still early in the summer window 2023 - looking for a central defender that is more of a pure defender and is a step above what we currently have. 

The first choice pairing towards to end of the season was Godfrey and Onana but I am aware that neither are natural pure central defenders. I'm not convinced by Yerry Mina or Tarkowki. Willing to heavily rotate Braithwaite as third choice. 

I also have this gap in in midfield as I'm looking for a technical deep lying playmaker. Missed out on Ward-Prowse to that other lot across Stanley park. 

Any recommendations? I'm hugely tempted by a outrageous Pjanic swoop or Benfica's Weigl. Looking for someone to sit in the DM spot and block passing lanes and use their passing and vision (as opposed to dribbling) to progress the ball forward. I also recognise that Onana could potentially be trained to do this role. 

 

 

Central defender wise I'd look at Malick Thiaw or Anel Ahmedhodzic. Both are accessible and have ceilings, as well as being consistent performers. DM spot, I'd perhaps look at Nicolas Seiwald (providing he hasn't moved), maybe even Lewis Cook or Manu Kone or Joao Gomes from Flamengo. As you said though, Onana can certainly play in that role.

[dothestrand]

4 hours ago, ShaunG95 said:

Central defender wise I'd look at Malick Thiaw or Anel Ahmedhodzic. Both are accessible and have ceilings, as well as being consistent performers. DM spot, I'd perhaps look at Nicolas Seiwald (providing he hasn't moved), maybe even Lewis Cook or Manu Kone or Joao Gomes from Flamengo. As you said though, Onana can certainly play in that role.

Malik Thiaw is excellent. You can get him on loan with an optional purchase clause of around 15m which is good value if you have the funds. 

[JawZy]

ins

Outs so far

The strasbourg lot are players I enjoyed few seasons ago on FM, did originally want Ajourque but he wasnt interested

 

[Steel Eagle]

Second season in, has anyone managed to shift Dele Alli on?  One of the better midfielders in the team for sure but 10 million for every 20 appearances just hurts.  Just starting second season and not sure what to do with him.

[JawZy]

Wasnt a great season, to point where at end of season, board call me in for a meeting, and have given me a points target for the first few games in the new season

[karanhsingh]

On 19/01/2023 at 18:08, JohnWarrington said:

Just started a new save with a real fixtures mod installed.  Operation survival is a go

Which mod is this?

[Swills417]

On 26/01/2023 at 10:59, Steel Eagle said:

Second season in, has anyone managed to shift Dele Alli on?  One of the better midfielders in the team for sure but 10 million for every 20 appearances just hurts.  Just starting second season and not sure what to do with him.

Such a tough decision to make - he rejected the Besiktas contract and has rejoined my squad for pre-season 2023/24.

I plan to make use of him, play him for the first 9 games and see if it draws any interest from buyers. If not I reckon the second installment can be stretched out until the 2024/25 season. By then I'm hoping some club comes along with a big offer. 

Plan to play him as a left sided mezzala, in home games where we are favourite and all the cup games we play. He's already had a red for violent conduct for me in a preseason friendly to some local club in Singapore. 

In my save, I have managed to secure some of my top targets and missed out on some due to Everton rep being below than other more mid-table premier league teams. 

We really struggled to score goals last season so a new look forward line was needed. I also think we need quality down the spine of the team so central midfield and center defence was a big area we needed quality improvement.

[JawZy]

in my failed second season Leeds bid 35m for him but he rejected Leeds

[dido53]

After hearing one of my favorite manager Sean Dyche appointed ı started a new save yesterday.I believe everton has fans,not great but not bad squad(at least survıve fırst season and ımprove).I use 433 and ım 5th at the league just before world cup break.Even when ı lost some games we played better football but our central defenders and gk are awful. They make so many mıstakes and cost us much more poınts.But its fun for now

[Swills417]

As you can see there are a number of new faces at the club for the final season at Goodison. A new look front line has been recruited with the duo from Ukraine being upgrades on Anthony Gordon and Dwight McNeil.

Behind them we will play as a three, with an emphasis on attacking down the left with Mudryk, Dele and Mykolenko all on attack duty. 

Anton Stach and the reintroduction of Dele Ali should provide a higher standard of quality and consistency that last season as we struggled for a partnership. Onana will now be deployed and developed as a DLP, with added physicality.

Guehi was signed from relegated Crystal Palace for and Branthwaite will be introduced to the starting eleven for this season.

Maximiliano Gomez was signed as back up for Calvert-Lewin from Trabzonspor, where he hit double figures for goals in the Turkish league. Broja was initially the 1st choice for the backup role, but Chelsea demanded too high a price for a loan move. I have also explored the idea of Zlatan Ibrimihmic coming in as an impact sub. Lots of the incomings were done as staggered deals with small installments over 3 seasons, and a few payments due after 50 league games (pushing the cost into the following seasons budget). Obviously, with the £40m season transfer budget stretched we are looking at a bad financial situation exacerbated by poor league performance or lack of revenue generated if we don't end up selling one of our prized assets (Calvert-Lewin and Anthony Gordon probably being the prime assets). 

Handling the Dele Ali situation will require an element of game time planning. The deal to bring him was initially free but built in was £10m per 10 appearances. He will play home games and all cup games. Iwobi will rotate in for away games and tough home games, due to his superior work rate.

Thus far, we have played the opening two League games.

1-1 (H) Manchester United

1-1 (A) West Ham United

We dominated both games, and was easily had the superior XG which suggests we are on the correct path!

Financially, when I took over we had a wage bill of £124.7m p/a which has now been cut to £105m p/a – a big one was getting Doucoure’s and Idrisse Gueye off the books for the season.

There is also a lot of height in the team now so we will look to maximise this through set plays. Routines have been set up for all potential set pieces. 

We were also lucky enough to receive a golden generation through the u18s. A pathway has been drafted for these 4-5 players to be integrated into the first team set up over the next 18 months. There are a LOT of Irish players that have come through the Academy (possibly due to the Sligo Rovers affiliate). 

Anyway, hope to make some progress on the save over the weekend. 

[GrayMatter]

2023/24 Overview

Clear progress shown, we were unlucky not to win the league to be fair given how many goals we scored but it wasn't to be in the end.

2023/24 Summer Incomings

• Tino Livramento for £22.5m (£25.5m)
• Pedro Neto for £39m
• Anel Ahmedhodzic for £10m (£11m) - P/Ex
• Williot Swedberg for £24.5m (release clause)
• Nelson Weiper for £26m (£27m)
• Niklas Hedl for £10.5m
• Sergey Pinyaev for £8m
• Armando Broja for £56m (£64m)
• Strahinja Pavlovic for £12.5m (£16m)
• Adam Karabec for £6m (£6.5m)
• Flavius Daniliuc for £13m (£16m)
• Roman Zobnin for free
• Romeo Lavia for £13.5m (£21.5m)
• Dion Drena Beljo for £6.75m
• Eddie Nketiah for £4.6m
• Chris Popov for £10m (£14m)
• Tomas Galvez for £10m (£12.5m)
• James Ward-Prowse for £15m (£18m) - P/Ex
• Alejandro Garnacho on loan for £1.2m

Broja was pre-arranged during his loan spell, a hefty fee but he was ridiculous good last season so I thought it'd be rude not to secure the signature of someone who is homegrown too. The fees look massive overall but largely these were funded on installments and will harm the finances of the club in the long-term alongside the stadium repayments but I'm hoping success on the pitch helps to negate any financial struggle. 

*U21 foreign players signed

2023/24 Summer Outgoings

• Neal Maupay to Aston Villa for £725k (terrible deal)
• James Tarkowski to Watford for £4.6m
• Jordan Pickford to Middlesbrough for £21.5m
• Abdoulaye Doucoure to Norwich for £20.5m
• Reece Welch to Sheffield United - P/Ex
• Ellis Simms to Coventry for £300k
• Lewis Dobbin to Wolves for £10m
• Moise Kean to Juventus for £24m
• Niels Nkounkou to Udinese for free
• Lewis Gibson to Bristol City for free
• Nathan Broadhead to Portsmouth for £300k
• Andre Gomes to Wolves for £1m
• Dominic Calvert-Lewin to Man City for £89m (all up-front)
• Idrissa Gueye to Brighton for £6m
• Andre Onana to Southampton on loan for £300k
• Alex Iwobi to Southampton on loan for £875k
• Jean-Philippe Gbamin to Crystal Palace on loan for £850k (£2.6m future fee)

So much deadwood was moved on and wages were saved here, ultimately that was the goal as some of these players were on ridiculous wages. Calvert-Lewin allowed us to fund a lot of our business and as much as I really like him on FM, he was grumbling over a move for most of the summer window so I decided to move him on. Beljo came in as a direct replacement and attribute-wise, there wasn't much in it despite speed overall which I began to work on straight away for the towering Croat.

2023/24 Winter Incomings

• Faustino Anjorin for £1.6m
• Roony Bardghji for £7m (£9m)
• Paul Wanner for £40m (£50m)
• Ahmetcan Kaplan for £12m (£13m)

*U21 foreign players signed

I adore Roony and Wanner on the game so their transfers were no-brainers whatsoever. Both will become home-grown at the club which is a massive bonus too.

2023/24 Winter Outgoings

• Dele Alli to Fulham for £15m

There was no way I was paying £10m after 10 appearances for Alli and although he'd had a great season in Turkey with Besiktas and improved quite a lot, it was time to go.

EFL Cup

Man City got their revenge for last year's final. The start eleven was largely disappointing and front-three of Haaland, Leao and Foden proved too hot to handle.

FA Cup

A premature exit that displeased the board.

Europa League

We had a really good run to the semi-finals but Benjamin Sesko exists and happened, he was a real problem in both games. He is my top target for next season alongside Josko Gvardiol who was instrumental in both games too. I'm doubtful I'll land both but we'll see. I think my financial freedom will only allow for one of them.

Nelson Weiper's Performances in 2023/24

I was really impressed with the big German, he started the majority of games and clutched up in quite a few big games. Another signing who will become home-grown and lead the line for years to come.

Armando Broja's Performances in 2023/24

He's absurd, he really is. As you can see I didn't start him that much, mostly because I'm trying to have an impact on his personality via mentoring with Falcao and some other more professional players. Even so, as a substitute, his pace and power was a constant threat to tiring defenders.

Armando Broja's Attribute Profile in 2024/25

Just look how good this guy is now... He's giving me Erling Haaland-vibes.

Edited February 4, 2023 by ShaunG95

[Swills417]

@ShaunG95

That's a really good season! Broja looks like a beast for you - but also at emergency backup squad status 

You've got some good fees for some players. £20m for Doucoure! I gave him away for free!

Progressed a little over the weekend. Zlatan Ibrahimovic has joined us on 12 month deal. Chucked him straight in to Liverpool away where we were mauled 3-0 at Anfield. 

[Gilberto Silva]

Everton's win at the weekend against us has inspired me to start an Everton save, complete with creating Sean Dyche to roleplay as. 

Started with two base tactics, the first is a close replication of how he set the team up against us at the weekend. The only trouble really is that it is quite difficult to double up on wide players as Everton did. 

 First tactic is a 4-5-1 base;

GK: Pickford - GK(D) - Do not want him being too adventurous with sweeping. Mainly he is there to stop the ball going into the net. He will distribute quickly though looking primarily for progressive passes into the final third as often as possible.

DL: Mkylenko - FB (S) - Nothing fancy here, I want the full-backs to concentrate mainly on defending but they will get forward when required (boosted by personal traits).
DR: Coleman - FB (S) - See above.
DRC: Coady - BPD (D) - Main job here is to stop attackers but want to see plenty of progressive passes into the final third. 
DCL: Tarkowski - BPD (D) - See above.

MCR: Doucoure - B2B (S) - Out of possession, I want him to be pressing the opposition so have ticked mark tighter and tackle harder. When we are in possession, I want him breaking into the box to get on the end of second balls and crosses so have get further forward ticked.
MC: Gueye - BWM (D) - Simple, win the ball back and give it to someone else. I want him holding the middle of the pitch. 
MCL: Onana - B2B (S) - Similar to Doucoure, he has tighter marking / tackle harder selected but no other option selected. He will get forward as an when he needs to. 
MR: Iwobi - WM (A) - The wide players will be the main source of creativity. I selected wide-midfielders here to ensure that out of possession they stayed more or less in line with the midfield trio but will break to get forward when we win possession. 
ML: McNeil (WM (A) - See above. 

FC: Calvert-Lewin - TF (A) - Self explanatory. He is the spearhead of the side, battering ram. He needs to be winning headers, bringing the two box-to-box midfielders into play and looking to score chances himself. 

In terms of team instructions, I have the mentality set to balanced, with standard passing, play for set pieces and focus play down both flanks. In transition I have counter-press selected and GK distribution to kick it long. Out of possession I want to press more often and invite crosses into the penalty area.

The second tactic I have setup similar with a flat midfield three but push the MR/ML into the AMR/AML strata to get them starting higher up as we will be pressing higher but most other instructions shall remain the same. The only other change would be having the middle midfielder as a deep-lying playmaker (more than likely Garner) whilst having Gueye replace one of Onana/Doucoure but still acting as a ball-winning midfielder. 

Thoughts on my tactics welcomed. 

We started the season with a 0-0 draw away at Wolves before a 1-1 draw at home to Aston Villa. So far I am happy with the tactic I have setup as we are doing very well to limit the opposition to good chances.

[GrayMatter]

On 06/02/2023 at 11:21, Swills417 said:

@ShaunG95

That's a really good season! Broja looks like a beast for you - but also at emergency backup squad status 

You've got some good fees for some players. £20m for Doucoure! I gave him away for free!

Progressed a little over the weekend. Zlatan Ibrahimovic has joined us on 12 month deal. Chucked him straight in to Liverpool away where we were mauled 3-0 at Anfield. 

Haha! I put him down to that so he didn't whinge when I rotated, it does work a treat. I also got that type of fee for Doucoure because he played a lot in the first season, I did exploit the newly promoted sides on the fees as soon as the transfer window opened. Pickford ended up leaving Middlesbrough on a free at the end of the season and went to Norwich who stayed up.

[jstembridge]

Dele Alli is the most challenging part of an Everton save. I tired to move him for 2 years but he didn't want to. Finally moved him to Roma in 2026/2027 for $25M (shockingly). But I was only able to get $2M for Duke, ugg. DCL wanted a move and Chelsea stumped up $56M, where he played 16 times and scored 1 goal in 3 season...so at least he didn't come back and bite me!

I'm in 2028 now, and still have Onana who I alternate between CB and CM, Gordon (captain) and I've kept Coady for his leadership/mentoring. This will be his last season (35 years old), and his first not being captain.

[causticgrip]

Everton Season 1

 

Pleased with how the first season went, over performed for sure and that was down to a solid defence. Might have achieved more if DCL has been fit from the start hey, turned some of those draws into wins.

Going forward, don't want to change the team too much really, has good potential. With Southampton being relegated, might look to nab JWP to replace an ageing Gueye. I won't sign Fraser permanently and whilst Gray is decent enough, i'd like a better player if possible. Bringing back Gordon at some point is an option.

 

 

[Swills417]

Finally picked up my save again last night after a few weeks or not having the time to play. Made some slight tactical tweaks to try and arrest a slide into some horrendous form. 

Changed Onana from DLP to a BWM, removed play out from the back and be more expressive. Lead to two clean sheets. 

I realised we had the third worst defence in the league right before this tweak, but the 2nd best attack. Although, I reckon this should correct itself soon. We conceded and outrageous amount of penalties due to Tackle Harder being on and errors leading to goals due to Play out from the back and be more expressive being on. 

We rely on Calvert-Lewin so much for our goals, we really need a succession plan in place. I can currently call on Maxi Gomez and Zlatan Ibrahimovic for rotation but I don't feel like these are like for like. We do have a golden generation coming through so I'm hoping we can find a decent stop gap if DCL inevitably goes down with a long term injury or agitates for a move to a bigger club. I'm not on the most recent data update so that Emre lad from Stoke should still be an option.

Also, I definitely need a right sided centre back option. Looking for the sort of playing who is usually picked up by one of the champions League clubs but hasn't by some miracle moved yet. The standout candidate is currently the Bosnian defender from Sheffield United. Missed out on Scalvini to Milan. Any options anyone else has turned to. 

[causticgrip]

Everton Season 2

 

 

There we go, did the double! Pretty lucky only 81 points enough to win the league. Glad to concede the least amount of goals again, would like to challenge Chelsea's insane irl record at some point.

[The Flying Scotsman]

On 07/03/2023 at 22:38, causticgrip said:

Everton Season 1

 

Pleased with how the first season went, over performed for sure and that was down to a solid defence. Might have achieved more if DCL has been fit from the start hey, turned some of those draws into wins.

Going forward, don't want to change the team too much really, has good potential. With Southampton being relegated, might look to nab JWP to replace an ageing Gueye. I won't sign Fraser permanently and whilst Gray is decent enough, i'd like a better player if possible. Bringing back Gordon at some point is an option.

 

 

Great season. Does Branthwaite not start at PSV in season one?

[causticgrip]

It popped up in my inbox that I should recall him from his loan and so I did. Rate him.

 

 

[GrayMatter]

Started a new save from the update, managed to recruit this guy via my youth intake in the first season (applied a picture for him).

Given that I am of Austrian heritage, I am very excited about this guy!

[Hog]

On 09/03/2023 at 15:52, causticgrip said:

Everton Season 2

 

 

There we go, did the double! Pretty lucky only 81 points enough to win the league. Glad to concede the least amount of goals again, would like to challenge Chelsea's insane irl record at some point.

Hi, very impressed with your tactic in terms of assortment of roles. Mind asking whether you use any player instructions?

[causticgrip]

Team instructions:

 

Added PI:

FBS: Cut inside, shoot less often, sit narrower, tackle harder

CBS: Take fewer risks, stay wider, tackle harder

DM: Shoot less often, Close down more, Tackle harder, Mark tighter

BWM: Shoot less often, Mark tighter

CM Take more risks, dribble more, shoot less often, move into channels, Close down more, Tackle harder, Mark tighter

IWs: Shoot less often, sit narrower, tackle harder

AF: Shoot less often, tackle harder

[Hog]

Thanks, much appreciated, Mr causticgrip. Although I can now envisage the tactic working well even without the instructions.

[causticgrip]

Everton Season 3

Retained the league convincingly, with my best ever defensive tactic that got a lot of players performing great.  I did put all my eggs in that league basket though, rotated for other comps and flopped hah.

I suppose the goal now is to achieve something in Europe. Most of the squad still has potential to grow and I can't foresee changing too much. I mean for this season just gone, the only change in the first 11 was Hickey coming in.

 

 

Edited March 13, 2023 by causticgrip

[GrayMatter]

On 13/03/2023 at 21:44, causticgrip said:

Everton Season 3

Retained the league convincingly, with my best ever defensive tactic that got a lot of players performing great.  I did put all my eggs in that league basket though, rotated for other comps and flopped hah.

I suppose the goal now is to achieve something in Europe. Most of the squad still has potential to grow and I can't foresee changing too much. I mean for this season just gone, the only change in the first 11 was Hickey coming in.

 

 

How on earth do you only concede 9 in an entire season?! Teach me the ways!

[Welshace]

Everton seem like a decent choice to go for in the new update, they have a decent budget and basically a blank canvas... they are on my list

[causticgrip]

On 15/03/2023 at 06:42, ShaunG95 said:

How on earth do you only concede 9 in an entire season?! Teach me the ways!

Hah well u can see my tactic in the post. Seems I got very lucky though because i'm having a bit of a mare in this current season (4) with the same team.

[causticgrip]

Everton Season 4

 

 

Pretty much the same squad as last year and the same first 11. Had some key injuries and players losing form though, so absolutely flopped in the league. The Champions League too as per- I don't why we're so bad in Europe.

 

Fortunately form did at least pick up towards the end of the season and won the domestic cups.  50 goals for DCL, he's the main reason we achieved anything.

 

 

 

[nick1408]

@causticgrip How'd you find the change with DM>BWM and BWM>CAR?

[GrayMatter]

Everton

Years of mediocrity, years of financial mismanagement, years of despair. Trophyless since 1995, turbulent ever since. Time for change.

I entered the job on June 27th with every intention of freshening up a decaying squad - wages are staggering, genuine quality is sparing, the collective is stinking. So, out went the following:

Outgoings

Holgate is relatively versatile but had high wages (that unfathomably increased annually). Coleman is a club icon but being a high earner sealed his fate alongside low natural fitness. Brighton opted to sign Davies after we recruited one of their transfer targets and Onana joined Davies out on loan to Brighton, Onana's low professionalism is difficult to cope with over the course of an FM season so I was looking for this loan experience to have a positive impact on his personality. We received around £17m up-front for all of the transfers, which added to our already healthy £31m transfer budget.

Incomings

Zakharyan came in as a personal favourite of mine with bags of potential. Haraldsson is a versatile option with a good personality, likely to be deployed across most of the attacking areas. Dante and Radamel Falcao arrived as mentors are purely as that, the latter can do a job up-front but Dante is a bit too slow to be starting regularly in the Premier League. Fran Garcia is a really solid option and draws parallels to the previously depart Lucas Digne so romantically I brought him. Nagalo directly replaces Holgate, filling in at centre-back and right-back. Alex Scott was Brighton's aforementioned target but he opted for a 6-year-stay in the blue half of Merseyside, unfortunately with a £100m release clause in his deal. Sivert Mannsverk, like Scott is very well-rounded and is a powerhouse in midfield, I see him as rotation option with Onana in the future. Baturina comes in as a creative spark in the midfield to succeed Iwobi in the long-term.

Galvez is a player I've always liked but never actually developed very well so I'm looking to sign him permanently at the end of his loan spell. Robson-Kanu offers backup in wide areas whilst also possessing the 'curls ball' trait which I like spreading around my players for some additional flair. Corchia replaced Coleman on significantly less wages, while Carrico is also a pleasant mentor. Ronning was purchased with every intention of him coming back and being a starter once he has a work-permit but this may well be a couple of years away yet, sadly. I toyed with the idea of acquiring Alejandro Frances as another coverage option in defence but went for the left-footed Harvey Araujo instead as he'll later become a 'trained at club' acquisition. Josip Sutalo (not to be confused with Bosko) seems a popular option this year, I've yet to use him so I thought I'd see what all the fuss was about - also better than every other defender at the club. Joao Pedro arrived as the actual Richarlison replacement which has yet to come in real life. We essentially tapped him up all summer until he handed in a transfer request on the final day of the season, not my finest hour but we got our man for a mere £5m up-front. He'sssssssss Brazilian.

Friendlies

We started really, really poorly. I would be doing a disservice to Crewe if I didn't state that they played us off the park, we were abysmal. I made some tactical tweaks from that game onwards and it seemed to pay dividends. I gave some younger players game-time here and out of the lot Stan Mills shined. He's really not good enough to be a Premier League starter but given Anthony Gordon's departure, I'll be using him as a squad player over the course of the season. I'm hoping for some 'easier' cup ties to accelerate his development, perhaps - all going well, at least.

Fixtures - August

Welcome to the Premier League, Erling Haaland.

In all seriousness, we were dreadful in the opening two fixtures but resurged following a spell of me booting up 'morale manager' and criticising training and performances across the squad. Sutalo seemed to sure up the defence after a woeful debut performance against Spurs, despite not performing spectacularly himself. Controversial as an Evertonian perhaps but I'm really not mad about Pickford so I will be looking to get Dominik Livakovic at some point to replace him when my dwindled transfer and wage budget allows.

Fixtures - September

We showed a lot of character to peg Leeds back twice as they were flying high in the league but Pickford had to shoulder a lot of blame in the Merseyside derby, some turgid goalkeeping was displayed. At one point in the first-half Liverpool had 4 shots on target and 4 goals. I did think to myself: no side in their right mind would be watching this wanting to take him from us. He did improve against West Ham though, largely the loss was down to my gung-ho mentality in the last few minutes of the game where we ended up conceding twice from set-plays. The side are bereft of goals currently but some solace can be found in the shape of Dominic Calvert-Lewin's imminent return to fitness.

Fixtures - October

A month of actual good performances and consistency? Well, I never. Falcao and Haraldsson came up trumps for us this month, with the latter becoming a model citizen under the tutelage of the former. The young Icelandic midfielder has been deployed as a shadow striker and his man of the match performance against Brighton was a particular highlight, running in behind opposition defenders at will, breaking away at pace and powering home the second goal. I promised Pep Guardiola that I'd play Tomas Galvez regularly, understandably with Mykolenko and Garcia, I hadn't. He started against Wolves and duly repaid my boldness with a swift sending-off on the 12th minute, giving away a penalty in the process. What a boy.

Fixtures - November

I was quite disappointed to see us stall against strugglers Leicester but there was some consolation in the following fixture as Alex Scott put smiles on the faces of home supporters with the winning penalty. The summer purchase from Bristol City has largely been used as a substitute and hadn't quite impressed as I hoped up until this point. Alex Iwobi came back to bite Arsenal with a double but a 3-1 lead was pegged back as veterans Xhaka and Jorginho refused to go down without a fight.

World Cup

An unused Harry Kane, Tammy Abraham bagging a hat-trick and Ecuador making the final, bizarre.

Future arrival

Looking forward to Kacper Tobiasz's arrival next summer, a mere £1.5m outlay rising to £3.5m in installments and a few international bonuses. He's yet to secure a work-permit but I'm confident that it won't take him long to get himself in a position so that he can join up with us. I am hoping to play Pickford as much as possible to get a high fee in the summer but if there is some interest in January, I would replace him with Livakovic in a heartbeat.

Similarly, I am looking to offload Yerry Mina and Demarai Gray in January. Gray has excelled from the right-hand side but I would like an upgrade in that area.

Fixtures - December

Already lost countless hours of sleep over the Friendly Cup Final defeat, while Jordan Pickford was off picking up a World Cup, Andy Lonergan became well versed in how to pick the ball out of his own net. Calvert-Lewin found his fitness against Sunderland with a hat-trick and opened the scoring against Crystal Palace, alas his goalscoring exploits were bettered by Wilfried Zaha who cupped his ears towards the Toffees faithful as the wantaway star secured the 3 points for the Eagles. We responded with great aplomb against Man Utd who were frivolous against our set-piece masterclass. Dwight McNeil had a field day against his former club while Joao Pedro finally made an impact from the bench, scoring twice.

Outgoings

Although Mina came back into the side with some half-decent performances, his inflated wages left a lot to be desired for our club coffers so we decided to let him go to Wolves.

Incomings

I don't think many managers can say they've signed a 55-year-old: I am one of them. I'd chased Sanderson earlier in the season as a work in progress forward, likely to spearhead the u21s for a few years before heading out on loan. Monsalve had been shortlisted as a first window target but the scouts suggested he'd be unable to get a work-permit so I allowed him to stew until January where he arrived for a small fee relative to his potential. Deadline day arrived and the FM romantic in me activated once more, David Brooks was available for £4m up-front with the rest paid on installments so I couldn't turn the Welshman down.

We also arranged the future transfers of Oscar Perea from Atletico Nacional and Sam Curtis from St Patrick's Athletic. The pair will arrive in the following January due to u-18 restrictions and cost a combined £370k up-front. Both are raw in their development but have a lot of room to improve.

Fixtures - January

I'll gloss over the losses swiftly as we didn't deserve anything from any of those games, we are finding it tough away from home. Joao Pedro was at the double again against Forest Green and Demarai Gray put on a clinic against West Ham. Gray did attract some interest from clubs in the January window but nobody was willing to part with the fee I wanted, Lens mustered up £10m but his Premier League form (7.00 across the season) warranted a higher fee than that.

I began to trial a more balanced, defensively solid tactic against the bigger sides and although it proved to be effective against Man Utd in January, we were found out against Liverpool and Chelsea. However, the necessity to rotate the lineups did have an impact on consistency and when we were restored to full-strength against Arsenal, we scraped through into the FA Cup Fifth Round.

Fixtures - February

Well, the Carabao Cup wasn't on the agenda as Chelsea's free-spending reigned supreme over the course of the two-legs. I was happy for Radamel Falcao who equalised on 90+3 against his former club. Brooks debuted against his former club and helped us to a 3-1 victory. He continued by helping himself to the opener against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. We then exacted revenge against Brentford who couldn't handle the wing-play of McNeil and Gray. I then decided to recoup millions in wages by fining the majority of starters after the away fixture against Tottenham, an utterly toothless display.

Youth Intake - 2022/23

For a first intake, this could be the best I've ever had.

He may be fickle but I think I've potentially got a world-beater in the making here with Preda. I've yet to actually develop a word-class player from the entirety of my intakes but I genuinely believe he's already got the base attributes to fulfill that for me. Towey and Heald both look handy too. As I played a 4-2-3-1, I have every intention of retraining Heald to play from the left (AMR/ST currently) so potentially the trio form a front-three in the future (Towey is a striker). 

Fixtures - March

I genuinely believe I'd pulled off some sorcery against Liverpool in the cup despite being quite anxious at the prospect of drawing them. Don't get me wrong, we had our chances in the game and Calvert-Lewin missed a guilt-edged chance to secure victory in normal time, his misery was further compounded by missing our first penalty but former Liverpool academy man Conor Coady scored the winning penalty to send us into the Quarter Finals. Brave displays against Man City and then United did follow but Haaland is difficult to keep quiet for 90 minutes and added to his absurd league tally in 90+4. Fred broke our hearts at Old Trafford in similar fashion, netting a 90th minute winner. Two goals in two minutes from West Ham was enough to prolong our trophy drought even further as they also dispatched of Man Utd in the semis. A tough month.

Fixtures - April

Lots to shout about here, I'd settled on the previously mentioned 'defensively solid' setup in most of these games and it set up a nice balance between offensive prowess and defensive muscle. The pairing of Sutalo and Tarkowski at the back was seriously solid despite neither performing greatly in match ratings. I enjoyed the win at St James' the most given that Anthony Gordon opened the scoring, to which I shouted a lot of expletives and we showed a lot of great character to get back into the game and then sure up when protecting our own goal. DCL's five goals across the month helped tenfold.

Fixtures - May

Beating Southampton and then Villa got me a little giddy, I won't lie. I don't believe my optimism was necessarily misplaced however as we hadn't lost since early March but Leeds managed to pull-off a shock at Goodison after Falcao's early opener. I then played a young, entirely rotated side against Fulham on the last day as we couldn't improve on our league position whatsoever - had we even won our last two we'd have finished behind the side above us. I did dish out a first and only Premier League appearance to Kazuyoshi Miura who made history against Fulham. At the age of 56, he becomes not only the oldest debutant in the league but also the oldest player, surpassing Stanley Matthews' previous record by 6 years.

League Table

A season that surpassed expectation. We passed our 'become the best of the rest' board goal by three years and chalked up a very respectable points tally in what is an extremely competitive league. We still await our continental fate as West Ham play Man City in the FA Cup final.

Wolves, Leicester and Nottm Forest going down offers me some temptation to raid their squads. I can see myself going for Max Kilman, Pedro Neto and maybe even Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolves. While Victor Kristiansen offers an alternative option at LB from Leicester and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall appeals as a long term replacement for Doucoure. Brennan Johnson is also attracting a lot of suitors. We shall see what happens, I am looking at overhauling a lot of the squad though.

[Swills417]

Lots of interesting transfers there! @ShaunG95

I've just hit the January window in the second season and club are not looking good financially. We're about -£23m in the red. A number of squad players want out (and I'm likely to oblige their departures) including Holgate, Davies and Cantwell. Yerry Mina and Gordon may also follow as we need some cash in! 

We hit a an awful run of results between October and November that left us in the edge of the relegation zone again. A tactical shift to a 4-4-2 wing play has provided some more positive results despite not actually performing too well. 

Our main issue is definitely in defence. The back five have no established themselves as an effective unit. Attacking wise we have relied on DCL for goals, big time! 

GK: Pickford

LB: Mykolenko

CB: Guehi

CB: Braithwaite

RB: Patterson 

LM: Mudryk

CM: Onana

CM: Stach

RM: Tsygankov

ST: DCL

ST: Maxi Gomez

Livramento, Mina and Godfrey are general cover in defence. We rotate in McNeil and Gordon when the Ukrainians are not performing well. Zlatan Ibrahimovic rotates in with the strikers.

There have been so many errors leading to goals by our back 5 its become a real issue. I want to recruit a more established right sided physics centre back to pair with Guehi but finances are a big constraint.