[FM23] The Premier League Thread

[stevemc]

Welcome to the FM23 Premier League thread

I've set up a number of club threads over the years, but they seem to get less and less traction, so thought it made sense to create a Premier League thread, so you can update your progress whichever your team, no matter what year or stage you are at in your FM23 save. Share your updates, signings, staff etc.

Below is a brief summary of each club at the start of FM23 which might offer you some inspiration to start a save in possibly the best league in the world... 

 

 

Edited December 13, 2022 by stevemc

[CR#7]

How’s the Hammers this year ?

Very interesting squad. 

[dothestrand]

Interesting looking saves here are Brentford, Brighton, Palace, Everton, Leicester (should be able to do better than the prediction), Notts Forest, Southampton and Wolves. 

[stevemc]

I'm in the summer to the start of the 2026/27 season where I've taken Wrexham to the Premier League but just left and took the Newcastle United job. 

Newcastle finished 9th but qualified for the Europa Conference League, offered me a £183m budget to get their squad into shape, quite how it's got into this state with their resources is bizarre but it's too good of an opportunity to turn down. Amongst the absolute nonsense they've signed they have Diogo Costa, António Silva, Pedro Porro, Teun Koopmeiners and Francisco Trincão. I can also make use of Ivan Toney and they still have Alexander Isak - the majority of the rest need cutting away and not a talented newgen in sight.

I can't see an FM23 Newcastle United thread so I'll be posting updates in here from now on.

If you wish to read about my save so far, follow this link...

 

[stevemc]

Newcastle United: Season 5 (26/27) - Start (Premier League)

Previous post^^

Having spent 4 season with Wrexham, getting them to the Premier League, I left to join Newcastle United after a disagreement with the board over transfer & wage budgets.

I arrived at Newcastle United with them having finishing 9th, and in the UEFA Conference League, however their squad was a mess. Only 2 home grown players, 6 short of the squad registration rules, a squad full of player on inflated wages and contracts that didn't fit the level of player they signed - so I've have a massive clear out to start fresh.

For goalkeepers, they already had Diogo Costa who is world-class, but there is an agreement in place that I'll let him go if a club matches his £104m release clause. I brought back home-grown-at-club Freddie Woodman for £5m and Daniel Langley for £19k as third choice, which will help with the squad registration rules.

In defence, I added elite-centre-back and English international John Stones for £30m to partner António Silva, with Tino Livramento arriving for £55m to add competition at full-back for Pedro Porro and Fabiano Parisi, both players also helping the home grown quota. As youth options I promoted Charlie McArthur, brought in newgens Finn Altenkirch (18m), Hernán Moreno (£4.3m) and Tommy Thorburn (£6.75m), all young enough to become home-grown players in the future. Dimitris Nikolaou arrived on a free, but that was wrapped up before I joined, so he's up for sale.

In midfield, James Ward-Prowse arrived on a FREE, Ilaix Moriba for £42.5m to add to the options they already had in Teun Koopmeiners and Bruno Guimarães.

Attacking midfield reinforcements arrived in the form of Endrick for £17.75m to play shadow striker (which I had on loan at Wrexham for two seasons), Assan Ouédraogo for £76m and model citizen Youssoufa Moukoko who's being retrained into an inside forward with elite-midfielder Jack Grealish joining for £30m on deadline day - to add to Francisco Trincão and Liel Abada that were already there. Youth option is Nathan Mclaughlin arriving from Motherwell for a bargain £3.8m. Allan Saint-Maximin is transfer listed.

Finally, Benjamin Šeško (£20m) arrived to play back up to Alexander Isak and Ivan Toney. Also signed Lorenzo Lucca (£10m) but he's stayed on loan with Pisa.

£66m net spend, whilst trying to the squad into a better, younger place with lower wages and more home grown, I'm happy with that first window.

 

 

That leaves the squad looking like this, as we look to meet the boards target of Europa League (I think we'll surpass that):

 

This was my personal record after leaving Wrexham:

Next post...

Edited January 8, 2023 by stevemc

[stevemc]

Newcastle United: Season 5 (26/27) - Complete (Premier League)

Previous post^^

Season 4 done, very good season overall again - CHAMPIONS! Took Newcastle United from 9th to 1st in under twelve months, overhauled their staff and scouting set-up and balancing the squad with more youth, lower contract costs and more home grown players.

We now have Champions League football to look forward too and that should open up the type of player we can now attract.

 

Premier League:

Topped the league with 94 points, 114 goals scored from this young team - losing four games, but that doesn't tell the whole story. We were around 6th most of the season when the top five start to collapse, opening up space for us, we also played all the top 6 in the run-in, and won every game, including sealing the title against Liverpool 2-1 with a 92nd minute winner from Alexander Isak. Manchester City fell apart after Haaland got a season ending injury at Christmas.

Alexander Isak took the golden boot with 29 goals, five clear of Gianluca Scamacca. He ended the season with 35 goals in 40 appearances. But James Ward-Prowse was a master stroke signing on a free, smashing the assists and high average rating out.

 

 

We made some moves in January after Liel Abada, Ivan Toney and Charlie McArthur left. A £106m deal for Jude Bellingham fell through when he opted to re-sign for Dortmund (hopefully correct that in the summer) so we brought in newgens Ton van der Meer and Jeong Dong-Hyun as we look to start hoovering up the next generation of talent.

 

 

Emirates FA Cup:

Made the fifth round, lost 3-2 away at Leicester City.

Round Three: Plymouth Argyle (H) 3-0

Round Four: Manchester City (H) 6-0

 

Carabao Cup:

Awful, lost on pens away at Charlton in round two  I was still tinkering around at this point with tactics.

 

Europa Conference League:

WINNERS! Dominated in all seriousness, terrible standard of team in this competition and and easy pick up if you’ve got any slight bit of talent.

 

Season Review:

 

This is turning into a Glory Hunter save so I expect to keep moving around but in England I’m still chasing the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, the only team in England I’d swap to now would be Manchester United as I’m a fan plus Liverpool have picked up a few more titles to overtake them, the suffered a poor end of the season being knocked down from 4th to 6th and losing the FA Cup final to Chelsea, Erik ten Hag went years ago but their under Poch now, so lets see what the Summer brings...

Next post...

Edited January 9, 2023 by stevemc

[BadAss88]

@stevemc could you share the tactic your using? 

[stevemc]

6 hours ago, BadAss88 said:

@stevemc could you share the tactic your using? 

Here you go 

1. 4231 Tight.fmf

[stevemc]

Newcastle United: Season 6 (27/28) - Start (Premier League)

Previous post^^

Season two with Newcastle United, most the hard work was done last summer in terms of transfers, so just a few tweaks needed this Summer. Just a note before I move on, sad to see my old club Wrexham get relegated but it was so obviously going to happen after I left.

Had a few staff retirements this summer, most notably Carlos Queiroz who was replaced as Chief Shout with Dario Baccin - I also took the scouting department up to 25 strong, and set them up all over the world in the hunt for the next generation of talent. After terrible youth intakes over the years, I've pushed the board to invest in the youth recruitment, facilities etc and overhauled our u-18 setup so all staff have positive personalities (model citizen, model professional etc). I've introduced a 442 version of my tactic too, to get two strikers up front as a second option as Lorenzo Lucca has come back in for this season from being on loan.

35-year-old Heung-Mon Son arrived on a free for a season, he's a great mentor and helps raise shirt sales, whilst some of the younger players get another season to develop. Finally got my hands on Jude Bellingham too, for £108m, who needs to introduction. Finally, newgen Noah Hermann arrived for £24.5m from Antwerp. 

Biggest outgoings were Bruno Guimaraes (£61m), Allan Saint-Maximin (£12.75m), Dimitris Nikolaou (£15m), Karim Konate (£10m) and Francisco Trincao (£53m).

We actually had a positive net spend this summer.

 

 

Dejan Simcic was signed last season for £800,000 too.

 

That leaves our squad depth looking like this:

 

Started off with a a comfortable 3-1 win the Community Shield against Chelsea:

 

First time having a crack at the new Champions League groups format set-up, so we'll see how that goes, but we've drawn Ajax, Napoli, Malmo FF, PSV, FC Porto, Benfica, Lille and RB Leipzig.

Also drawn Harrogate Town away, in the EFL Cup third round.

 

And here is my career to date:

 

Next post...

Edited January 15, 2023 by stevemc

[stevemc]

Newcastle United: Season 6 (27/28) - Complete (Premier League)

Previous post^^

Season 5 done, very good season overall again - CHAMPIONS AGAIN

 

Premier League:

Topped the league with 89 points, 96 goals scored from this young team - losing five games. We started poorly but I swapped to a 3 at the back set-up due to the quality of defenders I had available which made us much tighter and tougher to break down, which I enforced with some January transfers.

Alexander Isak and Benjamin Šeško scored 33 goals each but Haaland took the golden boot with 40 goals.

 

 

Community Shield:

Started off with a a comfortable 3-1 win the Community Shield against Chelsea:

 

 

Emirates FA Cup:

WINNERS! Scraped past Manchester City 2-1. having been 0-1 down, dubious penalty decision went our way and set up off on a win.

 

 

Carabao Cup:

WINNERS! Very comfortable win 3-0 against a good Arsenal team, red card after 36 mins was the nail in they coffin. 

 

 

UEFA Champions League:

Runner's up to Liverpool, game was quiet but exploded in extra time where it just passed up by, too many under performers in the final, really disappointed.

 

Season Review:

 

After turning into a Glory Hunter save, I've now won everything in England, unsure whether to give Newcastle United one more season for a crack at the Champions League, or move abroad. The Atletico Madrid job is available, but they're seriously skint with an ageing team...

Edited January 15, 2023 by stevemc

[kopfan1977]

Atletico would make for an interesting challenge.. Especially if they have little money

[stevemc]

3 hours ago, kopfan1977 said:

Atletico would make for an interesting challenge.. Especially if they have little money

£11m and a very ageing squad  

[BadAss88]

5 hours ago, stevemc said:

£11m and a very ageing squad  

Looks like a nice rebuild! Perfect next plan in your 'Glory Hunter'-save!

[stevemc]

18 hours ago, BadAss88 said:

Looks like a nice rebuild! Perfect next plan in your 'Glory Hunter'-save!

Yeah will be, don't think there's any threads on here that I can post it in though

[ThanatosAFC]

Thoughts on Southampton? Seems they have a pretty young squad.

[kopfan1977]

On 31/01/2023 at 23:44, ThanatosAFC said:

Thoughts on Southampton? Seems they have a pretty young squad.

Very solid spine there.. Bazunu, Bella-Kotchap, Livramento, Lavia, Ward-Prowse (Still got 5-6 years at top of his game) and a couple others. Lack a clinical striker though, even at the lower end of his P.A Konate at RB Salzburg could be a solid addition for around £4m at that bottom PA

 

[kopfan1977]

On 20/01/2023 at 19:03, stevemc said:

Yeah will be, don't think there's any threads on here that I can post it in though

There's the Glory Hunter thread.. Or La Liga?

 

What did you decide to do after?

[stevemc]

On 02/02/2023 at 17:15, kopfan1977 said:

There's the Glory Hunter thread.. Or La Liga?

 

What did you decide to do after?

Where's the Glory Hunter thread, must have missed that!

I went to Atletico, been hard work there with that old squad  

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Would anyone know how to replicate how Brighton do their transfer business?

I have done a season and half with Brighton and basically just scouted players from anywhere other the top leagues but I don't feel like I am doing it right with the scouting.

Can anyone help me please?

 

[Watson156]

16 hours ago, stevemc said:

Where's the Glory Hunter thread, must have missed that!

I went to Atletico, been hard work there with that old squad  

https://community.sigames.com/forums/topic/572363-fm23-glory-hunter

Edited February 6, 2023 by Watson156

[smplfc123]

On 31/01/2023 at 23:44, ThanatosAFC said:

Thoughts on Southampton? Seems they have a pretty young squad.

I've not long started with them, having simmed to Jan 1st and found them managerless and in the relegation zone.

They do have some good youngsters, but it's not enough to win games in the Prem and the attacking quality is very poor. The defence I'd argue is the strongest part, with the likes of Salisu, Caleta-Car, Lyanco, Bella-Kotchap, Livramento, Walker-Peters, Perraud etc. and in midfield you have decent starting options, just no real depth at all.

I've spent my January window bringing in what I could with a fairly small budget, including a loan deal for Jacob Murphy, a £7m deal for Terem Moffi to lead the line and a £3.5m deal for winger Nuno Moreira.

[Mackem742]

Started a save with Brighton with the aim of getting them into the European spots in the 1st season with the generous transfer budget they have. Made a few signings such as Fer Nino (ST), Thierry Correia (LB), and Bosko Sutalo (CB). 

Despite a very dodgy pre season with a couple of defeats on my North American tour I kicked off the season with a 5-0 home win over Leicester with Nino bagging 2 on his debut.

Edited March 2, 2023 by Mackem742

[Gilberto Silva]

Started a save with Forest - and much akin to real life I am struggling to find my best XI.

Although I have started the season fairly well, sitting in 12th in November.

I’ve kind of settled on a 3-4-1-2 at the moment but keep chopping and changing the defence and midfield. I’m leaning toward a back three of Felipe, Aurier and McKenna at the moment (mainly because I prefer Neco Williams as a flying right-wing back to Aurier). I think midfield wise I want to settle on Danilo as a deep-lying playmaker with Ryan Yates alongside as a segundo volante. 

Up front, Awoyoini has been the star so far leading the goalscoring charts. 

My long-term plan is to settle on a more 4-2-3-1 possession-based tactic once I get through a few transfer windows. I want a bigger and more physical player to partner Danilo in midfield and am on the lookout for a pacy left-winger who can stretch the play whilst Johnson acts as an inside forward on the right hand side.

Edited March 21, 2023 by Gilberto Silva

[Vizzini]

Finished the first season with Tottenham and came 3rd.

Made no transfers except for Alex Scott, who went out on loan. Just about to start the second season after a busy window. Notable outgoings were Hugo Lloris, Davinson Sanchez, Eric Dier, Ben Davies, Ivan Perisic, Lucas Moura, Joe Rodon and Harry Winks. To strengthen the squad I picked up Milan Skriniar on a free, Dominic Calvert-Lewin for 25.5m, Diogo Costa for 65m and Josip Sutalo from Dinamo Zagreb for 19m. In addition, Pedro Porro and Dejan Kulusevksi were made permanent. I have also decided to give Giovanni Lo Celso, Destiny Udogie, Tanguy Ndombele and Bryan Gil a chance to impress after coming back from loans abrod. Going into the season we are looking like this:

[Marinho]

On 21/03/2023 at 16:30, Gilberto Silva said:

Started a save with Forest - and much akin to real life I am struggling to find my best XI.

Although I have started the season fairly well, sitting in 12th in November.

I’ve kind of settled on a 3-4-1-2 at the moment but keep chopping and changing the defence and midfield. I’m leaning toward a back three of Felipe, Aurier and McKenna at the moment (mainly because I prefer Neco Williams as a flying right-wing back to Aurier). I think midfield wise I want to settle on Danilo as a deep-lying playmaker with Ryan Yates alongside as a segundo volante. 

Up front, Awoyoini has been the star so far leading the goalscoring charts. 

My long-term plan is to settle on a more 4-2-3-1 possession-based tactic once I get through a few transfer windows. I want a bigger and more physical player to partner Danilo in midfield and am on the lookout for a pacy left-winger who can stretch the play whilst Johnson acts as an inside forward on the right hand side.

Simmed till April of the first season (pretty much always do so) and then took over Forrest as well, only with relegation inevitable already. Cleaned house by selling a lot of player but only brought in a handful of players. The transfer debt already established is considereable so some good sales are needed in the early seasons to balance things out (and in the Championship downnright crucial as FFP was in danger).

Went back up after a killer race in the championship (4 teams above 96 points!) and managed 7th in the first season with a great first half (38 Points) and an ok 2nd half (23 points). Somehow means qualification for the UEL.

Established a 5-1-2-2 from the start, a quite attacking one though that produced 102 in the Championship and a still decent 62 in the EPL, though i made a few small tweaks each summer. I try to mainly stay away from players i used before or know much about this go around and also try to get more 22-27 year olds "established outside the EPL" and a few veterans in the squad.

Here's the current squad (with what'd be my ideal best 11 and bench slot sorted by likely Playing Time aside from Backup GK):

Slonina was a real stroke of luck with Chelsea dumping him in the 23 summer window, Daniliuc was available in 24 due to Watford being relegated (now already was grumbling about needing to go to a bigger club but back to content now). Everybody else i think will mostly be available at these prices sometimes during the first few season. Biereth i splashed on pretty much out of annoyance at not finding a better PF option or rather my top 3 targets all going elsewhere ... Had him on loan with that fee as an option and he was ok enough in limited time to make me think he can be good. 

The tactic, inspired by Cleon though quite different in many ways now, currently is a tad mad at first glance with a Regista (who can't even tackle or mark really) instead of a BWM but seems to be working, draw to Tottenham and 2 away wins against Bournemouth (3-0) and Everton (4-1), even with a few injuries.

Here are some of the players i brought in from outside the PL for what seem pretty good deals at 5-6 mio and manageable wages (Fernandez just got a new contract, was on 1,75 initially).

 

Gelhardt is also a good rotational PL striker while Reed and Ndidi are veterans that i wanted for their good defensive attributes, especially tackling.

 

On the players here at the start:

-Neco Williams: Not quite sure if he is a good PL player and will be in a reduced role after a poor campaign last season (was good in the Championship)

- Danilo: A really good DM/CM with a long contract and so far no desire to leave. Played as a BWM in the DM slot mostly but moved him to BBM at CM for this year.

- Niakhate: Wanted to leave early on, then got injured but in the PL had a really strong year with a 7.18 rating (with no goals scored) as a WCB.

- Gibbs-White: Good player for me at CM(A), 7 goals and 4 assists last season in only 28 games. 

- Brennan Johnson: Not quite as good as one would hope from where he starts, not much development for me and maybe not quite "starter for a good EPL team" ability. But homegrown at club, happy at club and did manage 7 goals and more valuably also 9 assists last year (after killing it with 23 and 8 in the Championship).

- Ryan Yates is just a solid allrounder to have in a squad, homegrown at club too.

 

Edited March 27, 2023 by Marinho

[MBJ96]

Doing a Brighton save at the moment. Been playing on this for some time, so not using the winter update. 

After having some trouble finding the right formation, I settled on a 3-4-1-2 with to DM's and to defensive wingers at the end of season one. This has worked wonders and I managed to secure a fourth place in second season. At the moment I am battling at the top of both Premier League and the new Champions League structure. 

Some of my best transfers:
Andreas Schjelderup (Summer 2022)
Illia Zabarnyi (Summer 2022)
Thomas Ouwejan (Summer 2022)
Marcos Leonardo (January 2023)
Altay Bayindir (Summer 2023 on a free transfer)

I have now bought both Vitor Roque and Endrick. They are loaned back to their clubs, so they will join me at the summer of 2025. 

Here is my team and tactic. Ben White is loaned at Arsenal, but I have already agreed a deal after the season. 

 

Edited March 28, 2023 by MBJ96