FM13: Everton F.C. - Featuring overused toffee puns

[TopToffee]

How much? I've had two break down, but m hoping I'll get one to come in with some good cash.

Total probably about £180m

Came in in March, cleared all the debts and started work on a new stadium. Gave me £53m transfer kitty immediately (which I used to line up summer transfers)

Then when the summer came round, set the transfer budget at £73m. Shortly after, he invested another £44m to boost the bank balance (without increasing transfer budget).

Can't decide if it's the best thing ever, or if it has kinda spoiled the game a bit...

[Nadessico]

Total probably about £180m

Came in in March, cleared all the debts and started work on a new stadium. Gave me £53m transfer kitty immediately (which I used to line up summer transfers)

Then when the summer came round, set the transfer budget at £73m. Shortly after, he invested another £44m to boost the bank balance (without increasing transfer budget).

Can't decide if it's the best thing ever, or if it has kinda spoiled the game a bit...

ffs not even mine will give me a new stadium XD

[bakes106]

Yeah, that's an interesting idea. I liked it when bakes mentioned a number of posts back and would have tried it if I wasn't so far into my save and already set on my system. If I was starting from the beginning though, I would definitely try it. I would probably used more of a control style to allow him the time to hold it up and let the others move off of him.

yer i havent had much time to play lately, because i'm travelling around the uk atm. i might start a new save when the new patch comes out. And try it again.

[EvertonblokesMobile]

Cool! I'll try in my second season to play a 4-4-1-1 with fellaini as inside forward and a either TM or AF on the top with direct and blanced style. Not sure whetere to use control or attack.

I started doing this with Felli and hes basically saved my skin at the end of the second season. I have him in the AMC position set as an Advanced Playmaker but with the closing down set to maximum.

He has been immense, and suddenly got the JellyFish scoring as well.

With 7 games to go I hadnt won in about 10 games before and was just facing loss after loss, no question I would have been sacked at the end of the season. Felli got at least 5 goals, maybe more and provided a target for my crosses while Jela was marked as he arrived late from the AMC position.

I am playing balanced and standard, but change to Attacking or Counter with no shouts depending on the oppo.

Give this a try.

Also, I will lose Felli at some point and have no idea who can replace him! I am training Barclay and Green to tackle in the hope they could take over but I am not convinced! What skills should I look for in a replacement? Work rate, Tackling, and Strength is my current criteria, is that getting there?

Cheers All

[sniell]

Really enjoying my Everton save, just finished my 1st season and am delighted with how things went.

Turned off transfers for the first window, the only addition to the squad was Frimpong on loan to bolster the midfield. I did however bring in Luke Shaw (£2.5M) as a long term replacement for Baines and Admileson (£5.25M) as backup up front in January. Only major exit was Naismith on loan to Spurs, also in the Jan window as he just couldn't settle into the 1st team.

Played a pretty conservative 532 most games, rigid set up with, direct passing, less creative freedom, high pressing, aggresive tackling and little roaming. Switched between attacking, counter and defensive depending on opposition. Prefered lineup was the following:

GK Howard (GKD)

SW Heitinga (LA)

CB Distan (LD)

CB Jagielka (BPD)

LWB Baines (WA)

RWB Coleman WS)

CM Gibson (CMD)

CM Fellaini (BBM)

AM Pienaar (APA)

ST Jelavic (DLFS)

ST Mirallas (20 goals as a poacher in 26(13) appearances.

Not the most adventurous i know. It saw us grind out a large amount of 1-0's and we were pretty solid at the back all season, boasting the best defence in the league.

Premier League: Claimed 2nd place, having led the pack for the first half our form took a hefty hit in the busy christmas period and the turn of the new year. I think this was mainly due to a small squad, so will be looking to improve the depth in the summer window. We did however end our 6 games without a win in the league with a 5-0 thrasing of league winners Manchester United.

Giant killings seemed to be our trademark. Didn't lose to City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Utd or Arsenal in the league, our 8 defeats in the prem came against teams we should have beaten on paper. Think i might have to rethink tactics for games against lower teams, as we did struggle for goals.

FA Cup: Runners up. Had a fairly straighforward run, biggest challenge until the final was Spurs in the quarters who we thumped 3-0. Came up against Arsenal in the final and despite an even game, Falcao scored twice for them without reply.

League Cup: Winners. Again another easy run to what turned out to be a dream final against Liverpool. A Jelavic goal was enough to scrape it 1-0.

[danm2501]

Had the same trait in my first season, great results against the big sides, losses to ones we should have been beating. Lost to Wigan, Reading, Southampton and QPR in the space of 5 games in my first season.

Anyone had any luck with Ross Barkley's development? He's got a potential of 4.5 stars, but his stats just don't seem to be improving. Had him on Advanced Playmaker heavy training for a whole season, and he started okay, but declined at the end of the season, and I've since put him on a technique training, with tutoring from Sebastian Kehl (awesome personality stats), so hopefully during the second season he'll start to improve, if not, he's going to be left behind by my awesome looking regens.

[Toffee_Shark]

Total probably about £180m

Came in in March, cleared all the debts and started work on a new stadium. Gave me £53m transfer kitty immediately (which I used to line up summer transfers)

Then when the summer came round, set the transfer budget at £73m. Shortly after, he invested another £44m to boost the bank balance (without increasing transfer budget).

Can't decide if it's the best thing ever, or if it has kinda spoiled the game a bit...

Got bought out on mine as well, I definately prefered it before when we had little money and I was relying on loans and decent free transfers at the seasons end.

[sniell]

Anyone had any luck with Ross Barkley's development?

4.5* potential on mine too. Got 31 games (16 starts) in my first season, average rating of 7.00, 2 goals, 2 assists. Had Fellaini tutor him and put his training on ball winning midfielder to boost his defensive attributes. Attempting to get everything (aside from corners, free kicks and throw ins) up to atleast 10 to make him into a decent all round midfielder, he'll get more game time if he's effective in a number of roles.

Happy with my transfers for the start of 2nd season, although may have crippled the finances by using the 48months payment, spent a total of £43M. Sold Osman, Gueye, Hibbert, Naismith and Vellios with Anichebe and Pienaar leaving on loan deals.

Squad now looks like this:

GK Howard, Butland

SW Mussachio, Hammar

CB Heitinga, Duffy

CB Jagielka, Distin

LWB Baines, Oviedo

RWB Coleman, Seb Larssen

CM Fellaini, Mario Suarez (Barkley)

CM Schneiderlin, Gibson (Barkley)

AM Michu, Ronaldinho (Barkley)

ST Jelavic, Admilson

ST Mirallas, Zaha

Pretty much same set up as last year, although I have made a few tweaks and will continue to develop the tactic.

Started off the season with a 3-1 victory over Swansea, Michu the star with 2 assists. Goals from Jelavic, Mirallas, Duffy. Good start, looked like we were attacking with a bit more intent too.

[vrig]

Anyone had any luck with Ross Barkley's development? He's got a potential of 4.5 stars, but his stats just don't seem to be improving. Had him on Advanced Playmaker heavy training for a whole season, and he started okay, but declined at the end of the season, and I've since put him on a technique training, with tutoring from Sebastian Kehl (awesome personality stats), so hopefully during the second season he'll start to improve, if not, he's going to be left behind by my awesome looking regens.

The guy amazes me. Tbf its the first time I've really focused on a player's development, but I really am amazed at how responsive he is to training. I put him on technique focus and he's in the blue in 3 weeks. I set him to MC position training and he's a natural half a season in. I'm also trying to get him to be a rounded player - his tackling, marking and positioning are all in double digits and I'm using him as a MC(a), so I reckon he'll turn out to be a very disciplined advanced playmaker. Maybe you're better off focusing on specific attributes rather than role-training? He started my second season as a super-sub, coming on to clinch winners. Into February he's taken advantage of Fer's long-term injury to become a first team regular.

He's pretty much the highlight of a so-far unimpressive season. I'm sitting sixth midway through February, and certainly don't look on course to reach the heights of last season (2nd). I didn't really catch on to the fact that going into all my games with a counter strategy was hurting me until after xmas. After last seasons excellent results, teams are playing far more negatively against me, packing the midfield and making games difficult.

I clinched Ronaldinho on a free in January. Don't plan on keeping him past the current season, but he's performing admirably. The side is pretty badly hurt by injuries. Pienaar, Fer, Hiljemark and Oviedo are out long-term, and my uninjured players have a lot demanded of them with the packed schedule.

Btw, Duffy is keeping Heitinga out of the side atm. He had 3 goals from corners in as many games at one point, and has gotten below a 7 twice all season (and only just, bearing in mind he's playing something like 20 games). Despite the harshness and time to go of the second season, I'm already looking forward to the third. Barkley and Duffy are phenomenal.

[EvertonblokesMobile]

Duffy, is amazing for me too, he got a chance in the second season following an injury to Distin in about November, he never left the side and took fans player of the year!

He's nicking the odd goal from a corner and outperforming Jags next to him. Top quality!

[joshgo]

Yeah, gutted that I sold Duffy. He had started the first few games of my fourth season due to injuries and because he been a very useful backup in my third season. Newcastle had an injury crisis and came in on deadline day with an upfront $20M offer. I didn't think he would break up the usual partnership of Strandberg/Howedes, plus I had Jags and Okore (coming off of a really good loan spell with Leverkusen) also at CB. The offer seemed too good to refuse. He seems to be doing just as well for Newcastle.

While the money is nice, I'm starting to regret the decision some now. Despite the fact that I have a couple of really promising looking regens in the pipeline, I wish I had held onto him. Jags has just now begun aging quickly statswise and Okore is nowhere near as consistent as he was in Germany.

While the money is certainly nice, I didn't have to have it as my finances have improved quite a bit now that the one big loan payment is off the books, and Duffy would certainly be my first choice backup CB. He would easily be starting if I hadn't gotten a pretty good deal on Howedes the season before. Paid just a bit less than I brought in on Duffy.

[vrig]

GK Howard, Butland

SW Mussachio, Hammar

CB Heitinga, Duffy

CB Jagielka, Distin

LWB Baines, Oviedo

RWB Coleman, Seb Larssen

CM Fellaini, Mario Suarez (Barkley)

CM Schneiderlin, Gibson (Barkley)

AM Michu, Ronaldinho (Barkley)

ST Jelavic, Admilson

ST Mirallas, Zaha

Love the look of this. But every time I stray from my 4-3-3 with this Everton side it goes awry. Experimenting with a 4-4-1-1 cost me a couple of results at the start of the season. Is Michu still doing well for you? I've had him earmarked as a potential Fellaini replacement from day 1.

[sniell]

Love the look of this. But every time I stray from my 4-3-3 with this Everton side it goes awry. Experimenting with a 4-4-1-1 cost me a couple of results at the start of the season. Is Michu still doing well for you? I've had him earmarked as a potential Fellaini replacement from day 1.

He's been pretty solid, advanced playmaker(S) behind the front two. Played 19(7) g5 a6 avr7.36. Had hoped for a few more goals, but thats probably mainly due to him having excelled at Swansea irl so i'm happy with how hes done.

As for the formation i'm noticing a lot of goals being conceded when my centre backs end up having no options to pass to, have ended up playing a lot of games with the sweeper being moved to defensive mid which hasnt been too consistent. Might be worth trying the sweeper as a centre back but im no tactical expert.

Cant agree more with the praise for Duffy above, proving to be very consistent and will most likely be a first team regular in the future. average rating of 7.94 in 21 games so far this season (2nd)

Unfortunately for me Barkley's suffering a broken foot and is going to miss the 2nd half of my 2nd season. Had a good start to the season and was getting a lot more game time than last year. There's always next year. To make things worse though the player i brought in to cover for him while injured, Rafinha(Barce) has also picked up a long term injury leaving me pretty thin in midfield, which has made the hectic January schedule tough. Still grinding out results though.

[sniell]

Forgot to mention above the performances of Jordan Hammar, not from the youth system but is trained at club. he got 14 games as a sweeper in the first season, average rating of 7.16 and has played 6(2) times with avr 7.55. Fairly good all round stats and at 6'4" is a rock, very good at defending crosses, Jumping 19, strength 16, heading 13.

[Clarkster]

If you could sign Rooney back at the age of 29 for £10M upfront and £29.5M over 4 years would you just had an offer accepted?

[EvertonblokesMobile]

I probably would, did you go for him? and how much is he costing in wages?

[Clarkster]

He wanted £210K in wages, 45k appearance, 22k goal, 8M loyalty and 8M agent

Managed to sell a couple of fringe players and improve my team. Will put up a pic soon.

[sniell]

End of season 2 review:

(posted my lineup a few posts up)

Premier League: 2nd

Runners up to Man U again. We were consistent throughout and managed a points tally of 80 with the joint 2nd best defence in the league. Unfortunately Man U were too good, we were 10pts of the pace although 11pts ahead of 3rd placed Arsenal.

Our 6 losses came against Utd, City, Spurs, Newcastle, Chelsea (away) and only rivals Liverpool got the better of us at home, we did however beat them 1-0 at Anfield.

Champs league: Group stage (3rd)

Drawn against Napoli, Benfica and Galatasaray, 1W, 3D, 2L was only good enough for 3rd spot.

Europa League: 2nd Knockout round

Managed to turn around a shocking 1st leg against Wolfburg where we lost 3-1, beating them at Goodison park 3-0 thanks to a Jelavic hat-trick. Only to be drawn against Spurs where we lost on penalties (2-2 on aggregate)

League Cup: Semis

Went into this as the current holders but a 2nd successive win wasnt to be as we lost 4-3 on aggregate to Chelsea having beating Wigan, QPR and Southampton in the previous rounds.

FA Cup: Winner

Lost in last years final to Arsenal so delighted to make another final. Easy-ish run of games, West Ham, Swansea, Villa, Hull, West Brom ans surprisingly Championship side Huddersfield in the final. Where two late Baines penalties sealed a fortunate 3-1 win.

Shane Duffy was by far my most reliable player, avr of 7.86 in 33(3) and was rewarded with fans player of the year, making it the 2md time in a row its gone to my left sided centre back in my 5-3-2 formation, Distan picked up the award in the first year.

Have had a busy transfer window in the build up to start of 3rd season. Board cleared most of the debts and gave me £30M to play with.

Out went Seb Larsson (£6M), Oviedo (£6M), Pienaar (500K), Howard (£3M) and most significantly Musacchio(£23.5M to Man U) surprising considering I signed him for £9M the previous year and he only averaged around 7.08 and looked vulnerable every time I played him as a sweeper.

In came Kjaer and Schmeichel for free. Lallana (£3.6M) and Livermore (£3.4M) All as squad players.

Signed a transfer listed Coentrao for £8M with the intention of using him at RWB enabling him to cut inside whilst also providing cover for LWB.

Kyriakos Papadopoulos for £21.5M (release clause) Love the look of his stats, should make an excellent stopper.

Manchester City finished 7th in the league, and failed to make Europe which led to many of their players requesting transfers. Silva, Kompany, Tevez, Nasri, Dede, Moutinho and Aguero were all listed at some point and managed to sign the latter for 26.5M, little hesitation due to the wage demands but managed to get him to agree 105K per week.

This leaves the first team squad looking like this:

GK Butland, Schmeichel

CB Duffy, Papadopoulos, Jagielka, Heitinga, Kjaer

WB Baines, Coentrao, Coleman

CM Fellaini, Schneiderlin, Mario Suarez, Livermore, Barkley

AM Michu, Lallana

ST Aguero, Mirallas, Jelavic, Ademilson

Also kept Gibson and Anichebe in the reserves for depth. And have the following youngsters: Zaha, Shaw, Hammar, Rafinha as well as a few others who I don't feel are quite ready to compete in the first team.

Am keeping the 532 sweeper tactic as the prefered choice, but am also developing a 4-1-2-1-2 and a 4-3-1-2 setup.

[No One]

Has anyone been able to sign Andreas Cornelius for Everton in the first season? He won't even speak to me but I signed him in my first season as Sampdoria. Why would he sign for Sampdoria but not even speak to Everton?

[joshgo]

Has anyone been able to sign Andreas Cornelius for Everton in the first season? He won't even speak to me but I signed him in my first season as Sampdoria. Why would he sign for Sampdoria but not even speak to Everton?

I looked at him my first season and he was willing to come, but I opted against. He ended up going to Leverkusen and has been a massive disappointment since. 49 games, 8 goals. Was good for your Samdoria side?

[No One]

I looked at him my first season and he was willing to come, but I opted against. He ended up going to Leverkusen and has been a massive disappointment since. 49 games, 8 goals. Was good for your Samdoria side?

He was sensational for my Sampdoria side. He had an almost goal a game record in his first season. That's why I wanted him at Everton but was surprised when I was told he had no interest in joining.

[joshgo]

And have the following youngsters: ...Shaw

Shaw has turned out quite nice for me. I picked him up after the first season for $1M to deputize for Baines. He had a good loan spell after that and has played about 35 first team games for Everton. He's got about a 7.4 average rating in that time. I think he could be a good long term successor to Baines since he is still only 20.

I may try to train him to also play well on the right because I have an amazing German regen left back that definitely has the potential to challenge him for that spot.

[joshgo]

Just had a takeover and what a waste of f***ing time. This was like the fourth attempt and every other time they had talked about putting money into the club. This time, they came in, said they had no plans to invest in the club, and as if that wasn't bad enough, they took out a $35M loan to fund the takeover. Might as well be the Glazers. FFS.

We weren't even in any trouble prior to that either. Had about $80M in the bank and the projection was for about a $15M profit by season's end.

[sniell]

Has anyone done anything with Ben MacLaughlin? (at least I think that's his name, I'm away from the computer right now!)

I've kept him as backup for Coleman, has averaged around 6.8 in about 13 or so games for me over 3 seasons. Certainly never going to be first choice, but decent, home grown backup and will make a good tutor. Sent him out on loan halway through 3rd season, but despite being 1.5*s out of his 2.5* potential, his attributes seem to have stopped improving!

[sniell]

End of a frustrating 3rd season...

League: 4th

We were top for the best part of 27 or so games but a significant dip in form saw us drop down to 4th. Champs league football at least.

FA Cup: 3rd round

Lost 1-0 at Anfield to Liverpool, can't get any worse than that.

League Cup: Semi final, lost 3-0 at home in the first leg to Arsenal, 2-1 win away was obviously not enough.

Champs League: Group Stage (3rd)

Drawn against Madrid, Zenit and Fenerbache. W2, D2, L2, only enough for 3rd.

Europa League: 2nd Knockout Stage (again)

2nd time in a row we've been K'O'd from Champions League and put into this. Had hoped to do a lot better but a tough draw against Dortmund was our downfall.

Community Shield: winners

2-1 win over Man Utd, probably the highlight of a poor season.

As for the players Shane duffy had the highest rating again, 7.61 (35(3))

Barkley impressed, 7 league goals, 9 assists in 25(4). Mainly played as an attacking mid on advanced playmaker(s).

Big name signings of Coentrao and Aguero were disappointing. Coentrao spent most of the season on the treatment table and will most likely be sold due to his injury proneness. Aguero only scored 15 in 31(17), not good enough for a player of his quality, he was however our top scorer.

Did manage to bring in unsettled Phil Jones, Tom Cleverley and Theo Walcott in january. High hopes for them next season, will be retraining Jones as a sweeper to start ahead of Heitinga.

[sniell]

If you could sign Rooney back at the age of 29 for £10M upfront and £29.5M over 4 years would you just had an offer accepted?

My answer was yes. Then I get the chance, Rooney, 29, transfer listed for £32.5M and I'm not sure. Already have Aguero, Jelavic, Mirallas, Walcott, Zaha and Ademilson. As well as Doumbia coming in on a free. With the wages, his age and my surplus of strikers I probably won't bother.

[swisso]

I would have taken him

I like to bring iconic players back to the club when i can; built a solid backroom staff of Weir, Stubbs, Cahill, Reid, Ferguson, Watson

[joshgo]

I agree, I keep looking at how well Cahill has held up and thinking about pulling the trigger on bringing he back for his final season. But will probably make due with the backroom for him.

While certainly not given the chance to become iconic, has anyone brought back Rodwell? He looks like he has been developing really well on mine, despite hardly getting a game for Man City.

[sniell]

has anyone brought back Rodwell? He looks like he has been developing really well on mine, despite hardly getting a game for Man City.

Funny you should mention this, got him coming in January of 4th season for £6.25M. City have hardly used him on mine either, although he still looks like a well rounded midfielder.

[swisso]

He was never interested in coming to me and moved to Chelsea for silly wages. I'm quite strict with my wage structure so wouldn't have gone for him anyway

[joshgo]

He never wanted to come to me on mine either, maybe I just need to wait half a season like sniell. I'll be curious to see how he performs for you.

I've been training Goretzka up to try to replace Fellaini at some point and have Ward-Prowse & Praet working up to becoming the more creative/passing CM in my lineup.

[swisso]

Update is out guys with the new transfers/loans. I'll post a list soon of the major changes.

[Nadessico]

Update is out guys with the new transfers/loans. I'll post a list soon of the major changes.

we have changes????

did moyes do something i missed?

[Carl0sAlbert0]

I messed up by original game in the 2nd season. Started again. First season started off brightly, was in 2nd place in mid-November, with Guidetti (loan) and Jelavic doing well, but in the 2nd half of the season results started to drop off and we slid down the table. Finished 11th in the end, but I was OK as I had only aimed for mid-table. At the beginning of the game I sold Baines to Utd so I brought in Jetro Willems and Zambrotta to provide back up for both FB positions. Signed Sebastian Jung for the RB role, and Jores Okore to bolster the CB position.

Currently in Jan 2014 now and we are firmly entrenched in 2nd. Bit of a gap (12pts IIRC) between us and Utd in 1st. City are a few points behind me in 3rd, but have 2 games in hand so I expect them to catch me up soon. Knocked out Chelsea and City in our march to the Carling Cup Semi-Finals (got Tottenham, who always beat me). Drew 1-1 with Utd at home, after leading and dominating for most of the match, my keeper spilled an easy catch at the feet of Rooney and they equalised.

Using a 4-4-2, with the roles set to fluid and attacking. When I play a bigger team I tend to play 2 DM's and drop them deep. This is what I would consider my strongest starting 11 at the moment:

Ospina

Jung

Boyata (loan)

Jagielka

Oviedo (immense for me)

Zaha

Gibson

Ekici (does well when he plays, but his fitness is rubbish. Always knackered after 30 mins, probably flog him at the end of the season)

Nem

Jelavic (12 in 14 so far this season, although it was 8 in 4 at one point so has dropped off again)

Bent (Villa were relegated so I picked him up for a down payment of £2.5m and £5.5m over 4 years, scored 16 in 18 so far, including 2 hat-tricks)

Backup/Rotation supplied by:

Sulemanji (free)

Cofie (free)

Coquellin (loan)

Mirallas (injury pone but good when fit)

Destro (free - working his way above Jelavic in pecking order TBF)

Willems

Cassani

Pogba (loan)

Okore (not having the best season)

Barkley

Duffy

Nem, Zaha and Willems are all 5 star potential. Have retrained Nem and Sulemanji to play a deeper ML position.

Took the hit and sold Fellaini to City at the end of the 1st season. Trying to sign Bollati on a free as he is out of contract in the summer, but my wage bill is a bitch at the moment. Am under my limit, but I don't really have any wiggle room left.

[bakes106]

john stones looks good on my new save i just started after the new update/patch

i think he will be a gun in a few years at cb

[sniell]

Having been off work ill for most of the week i've manged to complete my 4th season which could not have gone any better.

Prem: 1st

Having dropped to 4th last year after finishing runners up in the first 2 seasons we managed to remain consistent throughout and despite it going down to the last day we were able to secure 1st place. Only real competition came from Arsenal, had the chance to win the league at goodison park against them with 5 games to go but our only home defeat meant it went to the last day but a 3-0 win over Fulham kept our 3 point gap at the top. Finished on 88pts, 27w, 7d, 4l. Away losses coming to Man City, West Brom and Chelsea.

League Cup: Winners

Managed to overcome Arsenal in the semis, having drawn 2-2 at home they ended up with 9 men due to a red and an injury at the emirates and a 122nd minute goal from Theo Walcott sent us through to the final where we beat Man City 2-1

FA Cup: Winners

Got lucky with this, initially I lost the final and I got a crash dump after the season had ended, so got a 2nd chance and won it that time. Biggest team we faced was Newcastle in the final where we won 2-0.

Champions League: Winners

Having struggle in this the last couple of seasons where we never made it past the group stage a superb run saw us reach the final where we overcame the mighty Barcelona.

Topped a group that consisted of Zenit, Olympiakos and Shahktar with 5 wins and 1 draw. Into the knockout stages we lost 2-1 away to PSG but got through after a 2-0 win at home. Drawn against City in the 2nd KO round, 0-0H, 1-1A saw us progress on away goals. Next we faced Serie A champions Juventus, a Shane Duffy header in the first leg at Goodison gave us a 1-0 win to take to Italy, a 1-1 draw thanks to a late Ross Barkley goal saw us avoid extra time.

The crash dump problem cancelled the 1-0 win i achieved on the first attempt, but 2nd time was even better proving it wasnt a fluke. Comfortable 2-0 win against Barcelona meant the quadrouple was ours.

Signed Yarmolenko for £20M at the start of the season in order to fit the squad into 442 and 451 formations to provide an alternate to my prefered 5-3-2. I felt these would work better in home games as the 5-3-2 doesn't dominate possession. Free signing Doumbia was our top scorer in the league with 16 in 24, not bad considering the price and hes only on 27.5K pw. Only other notable signing was Jack Rodwell who did well, his stats seem to be on the up now he's actually getting games, one to watch for next season.

[vrig]

I started again with the new patch as I didn't play my Everton save for a while and lost steam. Into December and Jelavic has broken his leg... in the same match as Baines got an injury thats keeping him out for 2 months. That's my leading goalscorer out til February and Jelavic out for the season (yes, that order is right ). Tearing hair out here.

For away/underdog games, I'm using a 4-4-1-1 with Fellaini as an attacking-midfield target man, similar to the suggestion earlier in the thread. It works a treat for counter attacks, getting some great results (2-0 against Liverpool and 4-0 against Man United being particular highlights). Lots of hard games and lots of draws mind.

Anyone noticed that the board only give 25% of transfer revenue to the budget post-patch? That'll make you hold onto the star players! I'm dreading the December/January crawl of packed fixtures; without 2 of our best players it's gonna be a tough season.

[sniell]

I started again with the new patch as I didn't play my Everton save for a while and lost steam. Into December and Jelavic has broken his leg... in the same match as Baines got an injury thats keeping him out for 2 months. That's my leading goalscorer out til February and Jelavic out for the season (yes, that order is right ). Tearing hair out here.

Try Mirallas as a poacher if you need a striker from the original squad. Coleman should fill in well as a defensive winger. Mirallas averaged around a goal every other game first two seasons for me, although that was along side Jelavic.

[Sunwell2]

Are you guys playing a direct or short passing style ?

[joshgo]

I tend to play short and build from the back. That being said, if the other side is just sitting deep and trying to frustrate, I will play direct on the counter and try to get in behind them with my pace up front.

[szp]

Anyone had an takeover in Everton save? I'm dreaming of some financial stability

[joshgo]

I've had one early in my 4th season and it has so far been utterly useless. Local businessman came in and basically just took out another loan to pay off the old loans. Also has said that he doesn't intend to add any money for playing staff. So really, just status quo.

That being said, I think I am having the best season on FM that I have ever had. After 3 seasons of finishing 2nd and 3rd and making it to the final of the Champions League, we are breaking record after record in the 4th season.

32 games played, 32 games won. I almost can't believe it so far. 103 goals scored so far and a gd of +74. We've broken the record for consecutive wins and most unbeaten games and are still building on those.

We have beaten Bayern Munich in the 1st Knock Out of the Champs League and are carrying a 1-1 draw at the Nou Camp against Barca in the Quarters.

Because of my successes in previous seasons, I have been able to spend a little bit of cash and Howedes and Muniain have really been the difference makers this season to take us to the next level I think. Don't get me wrong, everyone has been spectacular (particularly Strandburg, Wellington Nem, Fede Vico, and Ademilson), but these two really seemed to fill the weak spots that kept us from being truly class.

I'm hoping to be able to see out the 38 win season, but games against Man City and Liverpool still to come will be challenging. I'll let y'all know if I'm able to pull it off.

[edit: Just stomped Barca 5-1 at Goodison to win 6-2 on aggregate. Drawn Juve in the Semi with the prospect of Benfica or Man City if we make it to the final. Man City beat us after extra time when we made it to the final last season, so hoping for some sweet revenge if we get there.]

[wesfest]

Just started my second season and i dont think that I will get anywhere near my first season success without the backing of the board.

First season started by selling coleman for 5mil to reading and heitinga for 15 mil to PSG. Also sold Hibbo for 1.8mil to stoke which was a bit of a heart wrencher for me getting rid of the local lad! this gave me a bit of room in the transfer market.

Brought in albiol on loan who ended the season as my highest rated player but couldnt get him to sign another year and couldnt afford the agreed 7mil buy clause.

Brought in Rajtoral for 3 mil as RB who can also play on the right wing and looks a decent buy he is on huge wages though!

Got will hughes for the future for 4mil and he comes off the bench every now and then.

Other than that loaned out all of the up and comers (duffy, garbutt, green, bidwell)

Barkley comes off the bench and vellios and anichebe who I couldnt find a buyer for do a job in the cup.

I still had 5.5mil left over so bought matuidi on a huge salary in january - i didnt know finances were going to get as bad as they have!

I still won the league cup and finished 6th in my first season which was a delight.

Let mucha go and a few other hangers on (mainly youth) at the end of the season and brought in ospina and douglas (twente) on a bosman.

Board philosophy is to buy young players but my new budget is £0 - what can i do the repeat my success in the second season!!!

[BenW.]

First season with the Toffees and came 4th, 2 points ahead of Chelsea. Didn't make any ingoing or outgoing moves at all in the Summer, only lost 2 games in the first half of the season before January. Decided i'd rather cash in on Fellaini with Gibson and Osman playing brilliantly, got £23.5 Million from City, brought in Souza from Gremio for £8.25M as a replacement, Nick Powell on loan from Man Utd as cover for the CAM spot. Got into the League Cup final, losing to United, but rallied late on in the season to keep 4th place, Vellios got some crucial goals in wins vs Man City and West Ham.

Starting the next season I managed to get Pablo Armero on a free, subsequently, Baines handed in a transfer request....not ideal, but City came in with a £21 Million bid, so I parted with him. Southampton also parted with £4.4M for Naismith, Mucha and Anichebe went to Hull for a combined £3.2M, Hitzlsperger went to WHU for £1.5M, Gueye went to Southampton for £3.8M, and Heitinga left to join Fiorentina for £8.5M.

Along with my starter £13 Million budget, in came James McCarthy from Wigan for £6.25M, Chris Baird from Fulham for £1.9M, a keeper called Dusan Kuciak for £1.2M, Kolo Toure for £825k, Mattia Destro from Genoa for £6M, then two big signings - Cuadrado from Udinese for £12.75M and Wilfried Bony from Vitesse for £17M.

Paired against Benfica in the Champions League playoff, 0-0 in the first leg at Goodison, and a late Bony goal got me a late equaliser at the Estadio de Luz and got me through on away goals. Olympiakos, Shakhtar and....Barcelona are in my group.

[king_karl]

Started my save, Everton always seems fun, which is not easy to say as a Liverpool fan.

Might through up some real progress reports, the lack of budget is killing me. Loaned in Both Scott Sinclair & Darren Fletcher, purchased Mattheus and loaned him straight out to Leeds.

Evertons CB's are absolutely wonderful. John Stone & Shane Duffy are my eventual pairing hopefully.

[BenW.]

Unbelievable. After shading it through the group stages in 2nd, getting to it ahead of Shakhtar by ONE goal, I beat AC Milan 2-1 on agg in the Round of 16, Dortmund 5-3 on agg in the Quarters, then Man City 6-5 on agg in the Semis, thanks to a 90th minute Kolo Toure free-kick! Now got the final against Madrid to play. Unbelievable considering my team.

Only 11th in the Premier League though, but the Champions League win would make up for it.

[TheBigBoss]

Where do you lot do the focus passing on Mixed ?

[frayed]

Under 16 Players file

Created a file with some of the U16 players from Everton, just a handful of the lads who've played for the U18s that i've seen this season.

- Ryan Ledson, played for and captained England U16s, midfielder

- Jon Joe Kenny, fullback

- Joe Williams, midfielder

- Arlen Birch, played for Wales U16s but switched to England U16s, centrehalf

- James Graham, played for Wales U16s, centrehalf

Just to add, because these players are 15 year old, and Ledson starts off at 14 (he doesn't turn 15 until August) their CA and PA stars may be overstated in the Coach reports. So don't worry, i haven't overated them

http://www.sendspace.com/file/mzahms > download and stick it in My Documents > Sports Interactive > FM13 > Editor Data and make sure you've ticked the file when starting a new FM game

swisso, you might want to set at least one entry in each player's club history for this file. without at least one entry, the achievements screen (and therefore the biography screen) will not update. in other words, if you win a competition with ledson, say, the competition win will not appear in his achievements or his biography. not to mention that he will not have any appearances for everton listed in his biography screen. very odd that fm does not automatically set this, but there you go.

[TheBigBoss]

I was hoping for a takeover in this season for more financial activity but 2nd season I finished 5th and I got 16mil so I'm quite happy with that, surprised more people aren't doing this save its very enjoyable

[TheBigBoss]

In dire need of a takeover in my 3rd season now, feel I've taken Everton as far as I can really How many seasons did it take for you lot to get taken over ?