FM16: Everton FC - Howard Kendalls Blue and White Army

OK so having played the beta version and being in VERY early stages, my first impression is that we face the same issues at Everton as we have had to for probably the last 3 or 4 seasons.

Everton have a very good starting 11, but beyond that there is very little - Not entirely fair - There are probably a good 14-15 players the rest are either pushing through (and a way off of the first team), or they are simply not good enough.

Add in to that the fact that there is little to no money to spend and then I am afraid Blues that we immediately faced with the John Stones & Graeme Jones challenge!

John Stones - Well true to form, he is wanted by the entire top 4 - They do come in for him as well, with daft offers - I dont mean good 'daft' either...£19 mil rising to £24 mil was the best I was offered, which obviously I reject - that causes Stones to demand a move etc.

Fortunately the team rally to the manger and I don't upset things too much but obviously it has an effect.

Graeme Jones - A good Assistant Manager I feel, but he gets snapped up by Charlton as their manager - I try to persuade him to stay - he basically tells me to mind my business - I wish him well... Leaves a gap though (yet to fill it, I have an advert running)

However in order to get this thread up and running - I have reset it all and these screen shots are all from day one of me going in - so no turmoil as yet

To business - As I say the first team does pick itself somewhat but the injuries do play a part - The tactics are yet to play ay real part if I am honest - I have set the team up based on how I would like to see them play...

First Team 4-3-2-1

I dont know the PA's of any players - I am doing this based on what I know and what my coaches are sharing with me.

On the plus side, there is some talent at the club as we know - Screen shots of the core players. (Any others you would like to see just let me know)

John Stones

James McCarthy

Ross Barkley

Romelu Lukaku

Always a tough one - I usually trawl through this here website and get a hold of the wonderkids and or cheap options... But I am blazing a trail and using the club to recommend players.

I think that the obvious area for concern at Everton is in goal. Tim Howard whilst not past it, is getting on and his ability is sliding. Joel Robles is decent enough, but again not in my opinion a long term option...

With Gareth Barry's age in mind I always have a look for Defensive Mids, Steven Pienaar for the same reason - I think a left sided Attacking Midfielder and a look at Strikers, just because as well - Of course its all irrelevant on the basis that you get £1.5 million to spend by the board... There is always the generate your own spends option though..

Club Recommendations

Goalkeepers

Defensive Midfield

Attacking Midfielders Left Sided

Strikers

The ones in reserve

Looking through reserves (I am not including the ones who would normally be considered senior players), there is not a lot that I would keep - Again I am using the knowledge of the club by reading the coaches reports.

Potential Ability

Dont know about you, but I am afraid that anyone that isnt 3 stars or above is for the chop in my games and on that basis we are looking, hmmm, fairly good, especially defensively and in midfield. Keepers and Strikers we remain lacking in talent pushing through... I will keep Hennan (all that fuss about him IRL), and Rodríguez though.

Basically 3 stars and above stays, 2.5 stars I will try and sell on at a fee, but they will stay at the club on their current contracts.

Everyone else is offered out with a 50% of next sale clause... If by the closure of the window they are still there, they are released on a free...

Defenders

Mason Holgate

Tyias Browning

Matthew Pennington

JonJoe Kenny

Midfield

Ryan Ledson

Kieran Dowell

The ones coming through

Wow, I will be honest and working on the same principles as described on the U21 page (anything less than 3 star PA is gone) - I wont be keeping too many of the kids...

No keepers make the cut, just 1 defender, 2 midfielders and 1 attacker...

Defender

James Graham

Midfielders

Steven Kinsella

Michael Donohue

Attacker

Delial Brewster

Interested to see the actual PA of the players... AS I have said I am going off of the staff and my own feel for who goes and stays...

I initially wanted to play my 3-5-2(Baines and Coleman wing backs) formation that dominated on FM15 but it just doesn't work as well this year so after about November I had to switch things round to a 4-2-3-1 so a lot of my early signings were to fit the 3-5-2.

2015/16 Summer Ins: Charlie Austin(9m), Ron-Robert Zieler(6.5m), Michel(1.8m(panic buy because Id sold Coleman and had no RWB), Luuk de Jong(6.75m), Rodrigo Caio(2.2m), Mayke(4.4m), Fernando Gago(3.6m)

2015/16 Summer Outs: Naismith (8.75m - Sunderland), Mirallas (23.5m - Monaco), Coleman (35m - Man Utd), Howard (Free - Leon), McGeady (4.5m - Watford), Gibson (2.5m - Udinese)

January Ins: Breel Embolo (13m), Anwar El Ghazi (7m)

January Outs: Kone (180k - Stade de Remis), Luuk de Jong (11.5m - Leverkusen), Barry (675k - Crystal Palace)

Ended up finishing comfortably 7th, bad start really cost me, going for top 4 this season. Special mention for Barkley, Stones and Besic who were all excellent all season.

2016/17 Summer Ins: Mile Jedinak (400k(seriously short of numbers in CM)), Fraser Lawson (375k(Regen from Hearts), Francis Coquelin (10m), Timo Horn (6.5m), Rodrigo Bentancur (4m), Emanuel Mammana(4.6m(failed WP so signed him and loaned him out for a year)), Jack Grealish (16.25m(Villa relegated, had a release clause), Sebastian Rode (11m), Javi Manquillo (7m).

2016/17 Summer Outs: Oviedo (2m - Wolves), McCarthy (32m - Man Utd), Michel (1.4m - Aston Villa), Rodrigo Caio (14m - Norwich), Ron-Robert Zieler (18m - Man City), Mayke (28m - PSG)

I'm in December atm, will just give a quick update on my progress so far.

Transfers in:

Alessandro Del Piero (ST, Free, pretty much just so I could say Ale Di Piero had played for Everton

Jefferson (GK, £2.5m, very good value replacement for the bomb scare, has performed well so far)

Evandro (M/AMC, loan for £80k p/m, signed on a short term loan initially because all of my AMCs were injured apart from Osman, he did well so I extended the loan to the end of the season and he promptly turned to ****.)

Kristoffer Ajer (DMC/MC/AMC, £1.5m, one for the future and looks even better than he was last year, rated as 4 star potential)

Transfers out:

Gareth Barry - Fiorentina (£1m, didn't want a backup player on those wages)

Tim Howard - Torino (£675k, see above)

Bryan Oviedo - Watford (£3.1m, not needed with Galloway and Garbutt coming through)

And despite a very conservative transfer window I'm currently £16m in the red thanks largely to the punishing loans we start off with, will have to watch my spending until the end of next season when the second short term loan is paid.

I'm currently 9th after 15 games with 25 points but only 2 points off 4th, I was in the top 4 for most of the season until we had a run of 3 defeats in November sent us crashing down the table but things have improved since and we've won our last 2 games. And all of that's been with Lukaku and Baines being injured for the majority of the season, particularly damaging in Lukakus case as he had 7 goals in 8(1) games between his two big injuries whereas Kone has only managed 6 in 12(4) with 3 of those coming in one match and 2 others in the Carling Cup so in the league he's managed an astounding 1 goal outside of his Swansea hat trick, having your main striker not scoring in 13 of his 14 games is a bit of a handicap! I would have played Naismith or Rodriguez there instead but they've been out injured as well pretty much since day 1, tried Mirallas and McAleny as striker but they didn't do much either. Thankfully Lukaku and Baines are almost back to fitness and I should have them ready to play just in time for the Christmas fixtures.

In terms of other players my best performers so far have been Mirallas (7.45, 16 games, 4 goals, 4 assists) and Seamus (7.36), most of the others have been good to middling and on the other end of the sprectrum my worst performers out of the players that have played regularly/semi regularly so far have been Besic (6.74 in 12 games), Gibson (6.78 in 6 games), McCarthy (6.87 in 17 games) and to a lesser extent Barkley (6.96 in 17 games) but he's improved a lot since I had a tactical shakeup and stuck him back in AMC ahead of Evandro.

Only transfer target for January really is to sack Kone and Osman off (I'd like to keep Osman but he's demanding a move because of lack of game time) and bring in Loic Remy on loan to provide some non **** backup in case Lukaku gets crocked again.

Oh as for assistant managers, I brought Neil Dewsnip back to the club when Graeme Jones buggered off to Charlton, he's a good assistant.

Jones looks like he might be on the market again pretty soon though, only two points off the relegation spots with Charlton

Why is the date in all the screenshots 2nd Jan 2015 ?

Not sure, I am guessing it's because it's beta... Only noticed it when you pointed it out ?

I will be back on this tonight...

Love the tribute to Howard. Fair play

Love the tribute to Howard. Fair play

Thanks Staf -

Oh as for assistant managers, I brought Neil Dewsnip back to the club when Graeme Jones buggered off to Charlton, he's a good assistant.

Jones looks like he might be on the market again pretty soon though, only two points off the relegation spots with Charlton

Not to put to finer point on it but - HA, I do like it when 'it doesn't work out' after Everton

He's now bottom by 4 points in February and is upset as he thinks the board has lost confidence in him, can't be far off getting the chop now.

I've managed to push up to 4th now, strengthened in January with Casemiro (has been rubbish so far), Sergi Roberto (rubbish so far) and Julian Brandt (injured) coming in on loan + Kristoffer Olsson (went back to FC Midtjylland on loan), Amr Gamal (couldn't get a work permit so has gone out on loan until he does) and Brandon Barker (too young and raw to play a real role in the team yet) coming in... quite the success as you can see. There does seem to be an issue with my Deep Lying Playmaker not playing well no matter who I put in there which is a little annoying since the tactic is working great otherwise. Galloway is developing really well now, should be close to max ability about the same time Jagielka declines past starting ability which is handy, though he could end up being LB if Garbutt doesn't develop much further.

I've started many new games with Everton so far on FM16 for testing purposes, however, the one I've got going right now is decent. Managed to sign Stones to a new contract straight away but Chelsea activated the min release clause in January 2016 for 53m.

Money to burn.........

I'd recommend keeping Antony Evans, he's the biggest prospect in the U18s in real life so there's a decent chance he has a decent PA but a low CA is masking it somewhat.

What a cruel game this is, Steven Naismith was finally fit after 4 months out injured and what happens? He comes off 10 minutes in to his return with a toe injury.

What a cruel game this is, Steven Naismith was finally fit after 4 months out injured and what happens? He comes off 10 minutes in to his return with a toe injury.

Just sold him for £10 million... Barkley and Stones have kicked off big style - Naismith joined in - They are all for the chop at this rate!

My first run is looking ok (apart from when the loans kick in...and the crazy starting injury situation)

Managed to get Angel Correa and Oliver from Athletico and Sandro from Barca, all 3 on loan.

Rossbach in goal as Howard ended up with a 3-4 month injury (was looking to replace anyway).

Persuaded blue bill to part with £3.5m for an 18yr old Argentine centre back (can't remember how you spell his name....Emmanuel mammmaaaasomething).

Anyone got a screenshot of big Brendan Galloway a few years in? Thanks

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/438322-FM16-Everton-FC-Howard-Kendalls-Blue-and-White-Army

This general discussion thread for Everton in FM is probably better suited for that request

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/438322-FM16-Everton-FC-Howard-Kendalls-Blue-and-White-Army

This general discussion thread for Everton in FM is probably better suited for that request

Errrr.....this is the page we are on? Or am I missing something.....!!

I'm in December atm, will just give a quick update on my progress so far.

Transfers in:

Alessandro Del Piero (ST, Free, pretty much just so I could say Ale Di Piero had played for Everton

Jefferson (GK, £2.5m, very good value replacement for the bomb scare, has performed well so far)

Evandro (M/AMC, loan for £80k p/m, signed on a short term loan initially because all of my AMCs were injured apart from Osman, he did well so I extended the loan to the end of the season and he promptly turned to ****.)

Kristoffer Ajer (DMC/MC/AMC, £1.5m, one for the future and looks even better than he was last year, rated as 4 star potential)

Transfers out:

Gareth Barry - Fiorentina (£1m, didn't want a backup player on those wages)

Tim Howard - Torino (£675k, see above)

Bryan Oviedo - Watford (£3.1m, not needed with Galloway and Garbutt coming through)

And despite a very conservative transfer window I'm currently £16m in the red thanks largely to the punishing loans we start off with, will have to watch my spending until the end of next season when the second short term loan is paid.

I'm currently 9th after 15 games with 25 points but only 2 points off 4th, I was in the top 4 for most of the season until we had a run of 3 defeats in November sent us crashing down the table but things have improved since and we've won our last 2 games. And all of that's been with Lukaku and Baines being injured for the majority of the season, particularly damaging in Lukakus case as he had 7 goals in 8(1) games between his two big injuries whereas Kone has only managed 6 in 12(4) with 3 of those coming in one match and 2 others in the Carling Cup so in the league he's managed an astounding 1 goal outside of his Swansea hat trick, having your main striker not scoring in 13 of his 14 games is a bit of a handicap! I would have played Naismith or Rodriguez there instead but they've been out injured as well pretty much since day 1, tried Mirallas and McAleny as striker but they didn't do much either. Thankfully Lukaku and Baines are almost back to fitness and I should have them ready to play just in time for the Christmas fixtures.

In terms of other players my best performers so far have been Mirallas (7.45, 16 games, 4 goals, 4 assists) and Seamus (7.36), most of the others have been good to middling and on the other end of the sprectrum my worst performers out of the players that have played regularly/semi regularly so far have been Besic (6.74 in 12 games), Gibson (6.78 in 6 games), McCarthy (6.87 in 17 games) and to a lesser extent Barkley (6.96 in 17 games) but he's improved a lot since I had a tactical shakeup and stuck him back in AMC ahead of Evandro.

Only transfer target for January really is to sack Kone and Osman off (I'd like to keep Osman but he's demanding a move because of lack of game time) and bring in Loic Remy on loan to provide some non **** backup in case Lukaku gets crocked again.

How has Del Piero been? Contributing anything? Thinking about picking him up as Southampton.

Errrr.....this is the page we are on? Or am I missing something.....!!

Oh Christ sorry, I've been jumping between this thread and Everton research data thread where we were discussing Galloway at the time, must have thought I was in the other thread at the time!

How has Del Piero been? Contributing anything? Thinking about picking him up as Southampton.

Haven't played him

So this just happened.

So this just happened.

Well played, any screenshots to show your tactical setup? Also squad screen shot to see the players stats if possible?

Onwards!

I play a 4-2-3-1 with a standard back 4 (FB support + CD defensive), a defensive DLP and a supporting AP in centre mid, then a False 9 with an attacking midfielder behind him and two supporting inside forwards either side, high line of defence with low tempo with an emphasis on keeping the ball. I'll post a screenshot of the squad when I get a chance later but the star performers were Coleman, Barkley and Jags with Kone and Lukaku also putting in decent shifts.

Well in Tobias!!

Definitely be interested in seeing more of the tactic!

1st season, no major ins or outs, just new contracts for stones and barkley etc... and barry sold in jan along with osman, came 6th having been 4th for the majority. Majorly tailed off towards the end of the season, felt as if people knew my game. Delofeu, mirallas, lukaku, barkley all did well up top and jags and stones were solid as. The tailing off period coincided with quite a few injuries mind.

Sold Deloufeu to spurs for 33 mill after that season, most of it was up front as well - they had got champs footie. I signed Begovic for about 5 mill, lincoln for 5 mill, shane long for 1.5 mill and lavezzi on a free. Lavezzi has been banging them in av rating of 7.4 ish in January, scored about 10 from left inside forward which is where Del was playing. Rom has scored 2 in 13 so fortunate that others have chipped in. After a poor start with the same tactics i tinkered with it a bit and have now won 11 of my first 19, moving from 12th in Nov up to 5th at the start of Jan. Have a lot of money in the bank as big contracts to pienaar kone etc... all finished or were sold for next to nothing. Just bought Berahino for about 16 mill, mainly performance related installments as he is out of contract in 6 months.

Just been looking for a new young british striker to bring in as understudy... found this guy.. random stats?

I have to scout him first but I would say those attributes are probably right.

I had a Hibs save on FM15 and he was pretty decent on that, looks about right

So....

Having been messing around for the last week or two on the game, I thought it was about time to sit down and get a proper save going. So here's how it's going so far....

• Keep as many of the best players as possible, within reason. I had already decided before starting that I would probably be selling Mirallas. As good as he is, with our starting funds and the high fee you can receive for him, it wasn't a hard choice. And keeping Stones and Barkley was a must. Which I managed to do by asking what would keep them here, and then convincing them that our promising youth in the side will eventually help them meet their goals of winning trophy's right here at Goodison.
  

• Revamp the backroom staff from top to bottom. For a top 4-6 club, Everton were unbelievably bad in the training and staff area.. this had to change, so complete revamp was needed.
  

• Give as much game time to young players as possible.. namely Barkley, Stones, Galloway, Holgate, Ledson, Browning etc.
  

Backroom Staff:

In what is probably my proudest achievement so far in the save, I've revamped the club, and Everton now boast the best coaches in every category as well as 2nd in both categories for Scouting. Physio's, were 3rd.. still work to be done .

Transfers:



For me, the weak point of the Everton side is on the wings, particularly with seemingly half the squad out injured to start off with. With that in mind, Demarai Gray seemed a no brainer and a pretty realistic Everton choice, especially with his low release fee clause.

Similarly, Carlos came in for cheap too, while both will be blooded in slowly, I can see Carlos getting a lot of game time, whether at LW or upfront.

Here's a screenie incase you guys haven't seen him before:



Jason Cummings... I stumbled across him while scouting through Scotland (rich hunting ground for Everton I feel). Have to say, I was shocked when I saw his attributes, has all the makings of a very fine striker already, and I highly recommend you looking at him.



The last two transfers I have made, namely, Timo Horn and Pione Sisto speak for themselves really. You all know about them and what they bring, again.. no brainers.

Tactics:



Tactics are still being worked on, but the general shape and style is there already. And seems to be starting to gel. Below is also what will probably be my first XI once injuries aren't too much of an issue. Very strong side imo.



Summary:

All in all, pre season is shaping up nicely, and i've achieved everything I wanted to thus far. Can't wait to crack on with the season and see how they perform.

Mind sharing the staff you brought in? Thanks

Sure...

While that looks like a top 6 formation, I struggled to a 14th place finish with something very similar. Barry and McCarthy simply get overrun in midfield, even if you push them back to DM's, and we're struggling to get the ball back resulting in ~40ish percent possession.

Has anyone gotten good performances out of Coleman and Baines as wing backs? I've tried for a season and a half to make it work, but they are leaving too many gaps in the defence compared to what they bring going forward. It's annoying, as I love watching us play with both going forward IRL. Goals leaking are less of a problem when they are playing as full backs, but that's not really taking advantage of their skills. Thinking I might have to sell them and go with more defensive options like Galloway and Holgate that develop into good Premiership players.

Selling Mirallas has been the go to move for several seasons, while he can be a good player for Everton it's easy to find replacement wingers, and the £20-25 mill you scoop up is essential to get some of the best buys in the first window. I also sold off Naismith, simply because funds for an extra striker was needed, Koné and Leandro/Henen aren't looking good on the game, so any injury to Lukaku really leaves you in a bad situation. I guess that's pretty close to how it would be in reality though

Oh dear guys... like I said in my post above, one of my main goals was to keep the likes of Stones at the club, however at the tail end of the window, this bid has come in.

What to do.........?

£61million? ... that would set me up for a few seasons, certainly help with the loan repayments, and I do have Holgate coming through.. Dragovic is probably looking like the best bet at a replacement thus far. On the other hand... STONES! , can't replace him.. can I?

Oh dear guys... like I said in my post above, one of my main goals was to keep the likes of Stones at the club, however at the tail end of the window, this bid has come in.

What to do.........?

£61million? ... that would set me up for a few seasons, certainly help with the loan repayments, and I do have Holgate coming through.. Dragovic is probably looking like the best bet at a replacement thus far. On the other hand... STONES! , can't replace him.. can I?

Rare moment of pride to be a Barnsley fan when I read that post.

As you should, it's shame they didn't stay and help bring some success to the club, although i'm sure the money was much needed.

As it turned out, I rejected them... Jags isn't going to be around for much longer and why get rid of one of the best CB's in the game, no matter how much they offer.

As you should, it's shame they didn't stay and help bring some success to the club, although i'm sure the money was much needed.

As it turned out, I rejected them... Jags isn't going to be around for much longer and why get rid of one of the best CB's in the game, no matter how much they offer.

How is the club's crippling debt looking ?

As you should, it's shame they didn't stay and help bring some success to the club, although i'm sure the money was much needed.

As it turned out, I rejected them... Jags isn't going to be around for much longer and why get rid of one of the best CB's in the game, no matter how much they offer.

I would of rejected any offer too for the reason you said. The money is always needed in League One unfortunately. We're having a tough time of it at the minute but with the squad we have, it's only a matter of time before we climb up the league. Holgate was brilliant for us last year, composure personified against seasoned professionals every single week.

Oh dear guys... like I said in my post above, one of my main goals was to keep the likes of Stones at the club, however at the tail end of the window, this bid has come in.

What to do.........?

£61million? ... that would set me up for a few seasons, certainly help with the loan repayments, and I do have Holgate coming through.. Dragovic is probably looking like the best bet at a replacement thus far. On the other hand... STONES! , can't replace him.. can I?

I cashed in from a similar offer, hard decision!

who did you replace him with? Tell me a tale of what a mistake it was to take the money and how the replacements just weren't good enough and how you regret it.... please?

Everyone tormenting me reading about their Everton saves... I draw Everton in the OTF FMO, and would be silly to have 2 Everton saves running side by side... or would it...

Pisto was incredible for my Everton team on FM15, proper little cash cow.

Just had a crash dump related to the save itself, tried restarting from save point, crashed upon same point ( going into a match with W.B.A). Will revisit Everton when I can bare to, sometime again.

I had that on my test United save, very frustrating.

I'd have considered the Stones bid more if it was 30% sell on and not profit

who did you replace him with? Tell me a tale of what a mistake it was to take the money and how the replacements just weren't good enough and how you regret it.... please?

It was in Jaunary 2016, got Vidic for 500K as a short term replacement, just scouting at the moment then I'll decide on a long term replacement in the summer.

Gotta keep Stones in my view even though Holgate is rated higher by my coaches... Barkley is a must keep as well. Nice to see plenty of good young talent coming though with Ledson showing promise Galloway retrained as a Inverted Wing Back on the right showing loads of potential....Jags looks finished though in my second season and he's slower than Leon Osman now...well nearly

Lewis Cook from Leeds was a star in FM 15 and looking very good again cost me £12.5m though

Luis Iberico from Peru signed for £600k sent on loan to get work permit which i got after he recieved his first international cap rated better than Big Rom

Anthony Archer regen could be the best I've ever had

Cheers