Everton

Im a huge Everton fan but I can never get them to finish in the CL for the first few seasons of managing them. Closest I've come was 1 point away in my 2nd year, then I signed Akinfeev on a free and went on a rampage going 1, 2, 2, 1 in the prem. Anyone else have this problem?

You managed to improve on a key position. You should snoop around for any world class striker you can find and he will keep you in first.

Everton always do fairly well on my saves. In the mid 2020's they won the CL under Moyes. Against me. When I was managing Liverpool.

Im a huge Everton fan but I can never get them to finish in the CL for the first few seasons of managing them. Closest I've come was 1 point away in my 2nd year, then I signed Akinfeev on a free and went on a rampage going 1, 2, 2, 1 in the prem. Anyone else have this problem?

I'm not sure I understand what this problem you are referring to. Is it that you couldn't win the league in the first few seasons?

Continuously upgrading your team is one of the main objectives that any manager should strive for. Seems that's what you did for your GK position. What's the problem?

No I simply cant qualify for the CL in my first 3 season every time, but I was wondering whether anyone has done it out of curiosity.

Everton are one of the easiest teams to do well with, I won the premiership in my second year on an old save. And ill admit, I'm not the best at the game!

everton are a top two club in my save and ive also won the league with them in a different save.

only thing the team seams to needs is more squad depth, better strikers and fullbacks

The problem as stated is depth

Like RL, once injuries set in, they're usually screwed

Lets see, here is how I would do things.

GK: Howard is good enough, keep him around

Keep Turner as your backup (unless he complains), try and bring in a good youth a season or two into the game to look at replacing Howard down the line (this new youth should ideally replace Turner as backup anyway)

DL - Baines is more than enough to begin with, but if he gets injured, your only backup is Neville, who is usually found covering other areas anyway

In the youth department, Garbutt is the only prospect, but I find he will rarely become good enough, so look elsewhere

DR - Spoilt for choice here, Heitinga (believe it or not) is the best option here... BUT only if both Distin and Yobo are available for selection, otherwise, your next best would actually be Neville, with Hibbert as backup

At the sametime, you might get lucky with Coleman who can become nearly as good as Heitinga for RB, but you WILL need luck due to his age, there is really no other youth element to consider here as Gosling would be better being trained for a midfielder role

DC - Yobo, Heitinga, Distin all good enough at the start, you also have Jagielka coming back from injury around January, with Duffy and Mustafi as young backups (Duffy being the better), Rodwell can also be used here if need be

ML - Choice of 3, Arteta, Pienaar and Bilyaletdinov with Baines being able to play here if need be [providing you have backup for DL]

There are no youth options here, and Arteta starts injured, so bringing in a ML of your own will be needed since a couple of injuries will leave you having to play someone out of position or not using the ML role

MR - The first team options - Arteta, Pienaar and Osman with Gosling and Baxter as young backups

Again, you will need to bring in an extra here since there is no real depth

MC - With a fit squad you will have far too many options here

Cahill, Arteta, Pienaar, Fellaini, Neville, Rodwell, Bilyaletdinov and Osman can all play here and are all good enough to be used, it is the one area that can be left to last when improving the squad

Also, Gosling can be played here if need be

ST - Believe it or not, you have 12 strikers in the Everton team, but only 2 of them are 1st teamers, them being Yakubu and Saha, with Saha being the better of the two

Vaughan can become good as can Baxter, the rest, just get rid of as they aren't worth the effort

Providing you can keep a fit team, these 4 will be fine, if you use a 4-5-1 system, but if injuries occur, which usually do, or you use a 2 striker system, you will need to bring someone new in

Hope that helps

Much appreciated Deadzone. I love to train Coleman every game I get and can usually get his value to shoot to the 3 million pound mark by seasons end or the season after but that is where he caps for me. I must have played 6+ saves where I go 2-3 seasons in before starting over with everton, but Baines never gets injured, only once in a blue mooon is he out for more than a week or two. Also I like Anichebe to be trained as a hulking right winger. I agree with your point of buying a class striker. Whenever I can I do well in 2-3 seasons, after they settle of course. Cheers for the more in depth analysis.

Tbf, Anichebe isn't good enough for Everton in FM10

Maybe for a lower Prem team, but he usually plays his career in the Championship in my games