FM19 - Returning Everton to Glory

[Colonel Getafe]

thanks for that. i also play with no initial budgets/transfer window, but i think my league setup/setting are probably a bit different as I've appointed some of the same staff as you, but some dont appear in my game. i can get away with paying release clauses for senior/u23 staff although i'm probably gonna have to pay a few off if I get european football and i've got rid of quite of a lot of people. bit of a balancing act when you're not a "top level" club at the start i guess.

[Joey Numbaz]

Wow! We kicked some serious arse on the new values. Remind me next year not to send the end of season update until the Monday after the season ended.

7 hours ago, Joey Numbaz said:

I'd sell them in a second for value:
Morgan Schneiderlin £18.25M
Yannick Bolasie £13.75M
Mo Besic £10.5M
Kevin Mirallas £8M
Cuco Martina £7M
Dominic Calvert-Lewin £3.2M
Joe Williams £3.1M

Would consider selling if someone comes with a big offer:

Mason Holgate £11.5M value (might even sell him for that)
Henry Onyekuru £12M value (maybe someone doubles that?)
Bernard £31.5M he's good but is he that good?
Gylfi £26.5M he's great on set pieces we were 3rd in the league in goals from corners (11) but selling high seems reasonable

Updating this list ...

Schneiderlin: £21.5M
Holgate: £11.75M
Bernard: £44.5M!!!
Gylfi: £36.5M!!!

Some other guys whose value shot up:

Gana: £46M
Coleman: £52M
Mina: £40.5M
Dolberg: £42.5M - I paid £19M for him 6 months ago.

I really hope this can give me some flexibility to bring my guys in:

Here is the list of that mid-table all-star team:

Our guys

Idrissa Gueye - defense stud in midfield
Lucas Digne DL who flys up and down - and is actually my Libero now.

Other guys I really want

Harry Maguire - £31.5-£42M BPD - Just a great player
Felipe Andersen AMR £44-£59M - leads West Ham in goals and tackles in real life - and they got relegated - rescouting maybe this price drops.
Ruben Neves £30.5 - they don't want to sell.
Ricardo Pereira £23-£31.5M - heir apparent to Coleman another excellent player.

Guys I'd like to have if I can find a spot for them

Aaron Wan-Bissaka £13.75M DR Flying up and down
Aleksandar Mitrovic £15.5M
Pierre-Emile Højbjerg £15.5M they don't want to sell him. I have Davies anyway. But I like him better I think.
Christian Kabasele - DC playmaker
Callum Wilson - either he or Mitrovic would be a nice second striker
Willy Zaha
Etienne Capoue
Fabian Balbuena

Guy I don't really need

Ryan Fraser AML IF - I have Lookman and Richarlison amongst others

I have Pickford, so I left out the goalies. In the interest of completeness, they took Fabianski and Ryan as their two.

I figure this might be a fun way to do it instead of going crazy looking for superstars. Not saying if one doesn't present himself I won't go for it. But this could work.

[Joey Numbaz]

14 minutes ago, Colonel Getafe said:

thanks for that. i also play with no initial budgets/transfer window, but i think my league setup/setting are probably a bit different as I've appointed some of the same staff as you, but some dont appear in my game. i can get away with paying release clauses for senior/u23 staff although i'm probably gonna have to pay a few off if I get european football and i've got rid of quite of a lot of people. bit of a balancing act when you're not a "top level" club at the start i guess.

I play with every possible league and a database pushing like 200K players. So maybe I have some more guys you wouldn't have access to?

[Colonel Getafe]

with your scouts: do you try to get the best ones possible for JPA/JPP regardless of their nation knowledge, or do you try to setup nation-specific scouts to have as much of europe/world covered as possible even if the stats are a bit low?

[Joey Numbaz]

15 minutes ago, Colonel Getafe said:

with your scouts: do you try to get the best ones possible for JPA/JPP regardless of their nation knowledge, or do you try to setup nation-specific scouts to have as much of europe/world covered as possible even if the stats are a bit low?

A little bit of both. I've noticed there are not nearly as many 18-19+ JPA/JPP scouts available as there were in older versions. So I go for the best I can, but I also try to get nation knowledge of everywhere in the EU. So I'll take a guy with slightly lower ratings who knows a bunch of countries. I scout other places like Eastern Europe and South America too, but it's tough to sign guys from non-EU countries. The good ones who can get a work permit are already playing in the EU typically anyway.

I am trying to build with youth, so most of my scouts are looking for players 18 and under, and I'm especially interested in guys I can have play on the U18s the following year. But I still have some guys out and about scouting too. I am setting the assignments myself for now, not letting the Chief Scout do it.

[Joey Numbaz]

I also try to keep my Director of Football and another scout with great ratings available to follow up on specific players other scouts find as the equivalent of a 'cross checker' in baseball scouting.

[Joey Numbaz]

Wow. Wolves are willing to sell Neves now ... but want £55-£74M for him. Anderson's price dropped by £5M at least. Going to have to do some juggling. I really like Neves. He's a perfect midfield playmaker who can shoot from distance and plays defense. But that's a hefty price tag. He is only 22 though.

[Joey Numbaz]

Ok, might be ready to pull the trigger on my first player ...

Almamy Touré from Monaco.

Ricardo Periera was my choice from the list a few posts above, but Touré is just as good (he's the blue one):

Touré's much better in the air, and I love me some set pieces. He's 2 1/2 years younger too. He'll be £8M-£10.5M cheaper to buy, and he'll be £34K-£40K per week cheaper in salary. This is kind of a no brainer.

He should take over for Coleman within a year or two, and he's big enough, and defendery enough to play CD also as needed. Touré is one-footed, but I'll teach him how to play left-footed too.

Here is Touré compared with Yerry Mina, my best CD. Touré is still blue.

This is a no brainer for me. I am going to try to backload the deal, since cash is a little tight right now. I like to get creative on these transfer offers early on in the career, so we can ramp up quicker. Once we are in the Champions League then there will be a lot more money coming in.

They wanted £15M-£21M for him. After a little back and forth, they accepted £5M now, £9.75M spread over 3 annual installments and another £3.3M after he plays 50 games for us. I don't want to make them too frustrated with me, because I will be coming in for Pietro Pellegri if they are ever ready to sell him. We need to be friends!

He drove a hard bargain, but Touré is joining the fold.

His demands were supposed to be £45K-£59K per week. But I did pull out the wage rise, lowered the bonus to my board max, and forced him to take an optional one-year club extension. He'll get a raise after 30 games played too.

[Joey Numbaz]

Next up on the list Kristoffer Ajer, a 21 year old DM/CD from Celtic.

He is young, and can replace Gana as he ages out. He can replace Scheiderlin as soon as I sell him. I see him more as a CD than a DM, to be honest, but the 11 pace/acceleration is scary as we play a much higher defensive line. Which is why he'll have to fit in as a DM at first, and hopefully train up some quickness. He's driven. He can bring the ball out of defense too, which means he's possibly a future libero. He works his tail off, has 15 vision, 16 passing. This kid is a supah-stah as they say in Boston. He is a Celtic after all ... we are going younger and cheaper than Harry Maguire. Similar style of player though.

£21M does the trick after some haggling. £6M now, £12M spread over 3 years, and £3M after 50 games played.

Ajer accepts promises of rotation playing time and us qualifying for the Champions League by 2020-21. I'm hoping for this year, but let's under promise and over deliver.

We are in competition for his services with Valencia, but they only have minor interest. So I am a little nervous about this one, but think we should land him.

*****

A Chinese team offered us £13.5M for Schneiderlin. We negotiated £23M for him.

Two newly promoted sides (Swansea and Aston Villa) as well as barely surviving Cardiff offered £8.75M for Mo Besic. I negotiated £12.25 with all three of them. We wish him well wherever he lands.

Hibernian are giving me £775K for Luke Garbutt. I have to pay £14.5K a week in wages though so it's basically a wash.

I cannot give away Cuco Martina ... he's valued at £6.75M. Best I've got so far is loan interest from Sheffield United and Leeds.

Henry Onyekuru is playing regularly for Nigeria now. He's already got 5 caps, made the team for the African Cup of Nations and played most of the season for a Galatassary team that made it to the Europa League final, which he started in. I am hoping this is enough for him to get a work permit. Nigeria is ranked #50 right now, if they do well in the tournament hopefully that will get better and make it easier for me to get him a permit.

*****

The Champions League Final is today. Manchester City v. Liverpool. City going for the double. Arsenal won the Europa League too. I guess England is on the rise all around. Which kind of makes it hard for me to make it to the Champions League right now, which is a bummer.

I attended the game ... Liverpool scored early (4'), Milner from inside the box with a nice shot after receiving a great pass from Firmino at the top of the box. City finally got its first shot at 30' - after 3 yellow cards and four Liverpool shots. Liverpool dominated the first half, although Aguero had a clear cut chance right in front of Alisson late in the first half.

Liverpool goes up 2-0 at 53' after a corner gets headed in by Firmino off of a nice headed pass from Henderson. And that was all she wrote. City got some shots, but nothing that really threatened. Liverpool returns to the Champions League Final and wins this time.

*****

One other little tidbit, we've brought club icon Tim Cahill as a coach. He's got 100% knowledge of India and Australia and he's a perfectionist personality, 17 determination. He's a filler coach that helps lower the workload and I love the guy, my Everton jersey is a Cahill #17.

*****

And there it is, he's in!

Took him nearly a week to accept. But we'll take it. Welcome to Merseyside, Kristoffer Ajer!

[Colonel Getafe]

Ajer is very much on my radar too, although he always seems to get snapped up by a top level club early in the winter window.

Might have to give Lewis Gibson (very promising attributes) a bit of a run out seeing as Baines broke himself in the 93rd minute of the first game of pre-season and now wont even play in his own testimonial.

[Joey Numbaz]

Oh man, bummer on Baines. I am torn on whether or not to keep him around as a leader/tutor for one more year at £28K per week. I probably should, but he'll never play. I have Adamola Lookman playing as my WBL now, and Digne or even Touré could step over there if needed. And Baines' physicals at this point mean the only thing he could really do it maybe be a Regista like Pirlo or something with some retraining.

[Colonel Getafe]

Yeah it'll be tricky losing him and jags at the end of the season, the two leaders. I was thinking of giving him an extra year too, but now I'll hold off. 

[Joey Numbaz]

Next up, Sandro Tonali from Brescia in Serie B. The podcast guys mentioned him as being good, so I scouted him ... and I agree.

£7.75M. Just paid this one straight up. The kid is professional, determined, works hard, technical, good passer and he's 19. He's got all the fun DLP traits too - killer balls, dictates tempo, long range passes and brings ball out of defense. He needs to work on his positioning, marking and jumping, but those are all reasonable for his age already. This kid at that price is nuts compared to some of the others I see out there.

Torino has major interest but hasn't made an offer yet. Hopefully he thinks we are a better option anyway. He will need to learn English, I promised him a course too.

[Colonel Getafe]

Tonali is definitely a wonder kid. One of the first I always put on my short list. 

[Joey Numbaz]

Great to hear! Hopefully he develops well.

[Joey Numbaz]

Sad day today ...

I mean he barely played for us this year, but Jags retiring is a bummer. I've been playing since 2010 and he was the captain for a lot of that time, etc.

He's willing to take $1200/wk as a U18 coach, when I get an open spot I'll look into hiring him.

Martin Stekelenburg also retired. I'm a big Holland fan and he was the World Cup Final keeper from 2010 ... 

[Colonel Getafe]

I've just finished pre season and jags was probably the best and most consistent defender still. Definitely have to keep him at the club in some coaching capacity when he retires. 

[Joey Numbaz]

Wow, I convinced Monaco to sell me Pietro Pellegri!

£35M up front; three annual £4M payments. £6M after 50 goals. 30% of future profit, like I'm ever going to sell him.

Promised him a hefty contract too.

Hopefully he signs!

Bernard and Gylfi are probably gone if this goes through.

[Joey Numbaz]

Yannick Bolasie is off to Middlesbrough, for £5.75M. A less than I hoped for, but I'll take it. He was making £75K/week, so this is great. We wish him well.

[Colonel Getafe]

Have you settled on one or two particularly good tactics? I've tried a few different formations through pre season but nothing brilliant stands out (I appreciate it takes time to coach the systems but there should be a good starting point) 

[Felmet]

Nice going, and if you catch Pietro for that price and wage, it is a steal.

[Joey Numbaz]

12 hours ago, Colonel Getafe said:

Have you settled on one or two particularly good tactics? I've tried a few different formations through pre season but nothing brilliant stands out (I appreciate it takes time to coach the systems but there should be a good starting point) 

Sort of. I tend to change tactics a lot, because I get bored. Or to work my way out of a slump. Or because I get different players.

My two main tactics right now are:

5212 WB with a libero that Rashidi has posted some youtube videos on (check out his videos on the Lyon Libero, I've posted some formations here too).

The other is also from Rashidi's Lyon series, it's a 433 (game calls it a 4141 DM wide)

I love the libero tactic, but it might not be as great a fit with this team after adding Pellegri and Ajer.

 

[Joey Numbaz]

2 hours ago, Felmet said:

Nice going, and if you catch Pietro for that price and wage, it is a steal.

Thanks! He's in! He signed. I am pretty excited. In my FM18 save by around 2021-22 he was arguably the best player in the world. Granted, I had him playing with Mbappé too. I doubt he'll develop quite as well this time, but we'll see!

[Joey Numbaz]

I am having serious buyers remorse with André Gomes now. I really don't need him. I feel like I need to cash in on Coleman (worth £42M), Bernard (£44.5M), and Gylfi (£36.5M).

But selling Coleman would be sacrilege, I am loyal to my long time Evertonian's - I've had him as the EPL Player of the Year in some older versions of FM.

Bernard and Siggy ... I'd sell them, but I need to be careful about making them mad, and I'm nervous that there won't be a ton of interest. Not sure of what I'm going to do yet.

I might just see how it plays out and who the odd man out ends up being. Depth is good. But I need to raise some cash too. Maybe Moshiri will just dump some more money in and balance the books when the season starts like he did last year.

[Joey Numbaz]

Baines will be back for a final season as a bench warmer/tutor. I'll give him £28.5K/week. And he'll need to be retrained as a DM. His pace is down to 9, acceleration 10. Maybe he can captain the U23s!

[Joey Numbaz]

Well, we've made it through pre-season. I signed a couple of kids, here's an update on the transfer business:

For those of you scoring at home, that's £104M spent and £99M received. Which means I am in the black finally. We have £4.25M in the treasury. I still have £57.6M in the transfer budget, and a wage budget of £1.984M/week, spending £1.952 right as of right now.

I am still trying to get rid of Cuco Martina, I had him shipped off, but he turned down the offer.

Bayern came called for Richarlison. The most they would offer was £71M and I told them to pound sand. I still wish someone would do the same for Bernard or Sandro.

Richarlison wasn't happy. He wants to play in the Champions League. We are already in Europa, and I told him we are on our way soon, but that wasn't good enough. Martina and Sandro came to talk to me about it, said I was being unfair. I convinced Martina to mind his own business, but Sandro is still annoyed. I don't see this being a long term issue.

I have exclusively played the 4-3-3 (game says 4141DM) this preseason. To say it's gone well would be an understatement.

We won the inaugural Mother Noblett's Cup! Per wikipedia, Everton's most widely recognised nickname "The Toffees" or "The Toffeemen", which came about after Everton had moved to Goodison. There are several explanations for how this name came to be adopted with the best known being that there was a business in Everton village, between Everton Brow and Brow Side, named Mother Noblett's, which was a toffee shop that sold sweets including the Everton Mint.

We outscored our opponents 20-1 over 6 preseason games. The one goal was against Real Madrid - Seamus Coleman ran back to retrieve a Madrid clearance and bruised his ankle somehow. Marco Asensio picked up the lose ball and converted the one-on-one with Pickford. That's it. This defense has been solid as a rock. Madrid only managed 2 other shots the entire game. We had 26.

Note, Madrid played their real lineup too. This was a good old-fashioned thrashing. We outshot our opponents 25-1, 28-3, 16-3, 22-6, 19-4, of course 26-3 v. Real Madrid.

Position re-training:

André Gomes to by a AMR (APs)
Michael Keane as a HB for depth/flexibility
Bernard as a Mezzala because I have too many wingers as it is and he's more attacking than playmaker.
Gylfi as a AMR (APs) to get him playing time - I'd sell him too if someone comes asking
Pellegri as a Shadow Striker just in case I go back to the 5212 Libero tactic (no advanced wingers, so Richarlison/Dolberg would be strikers)
Dolberg as a Mezzala since Pellegri is going to play a lot of Advanced Forward, and he's better in the middle than on the wing I think.

The next posts I'll post the players on each squad and their current ratings in my spreadsheet for the two tactics I play. Although it might just be one the way this preseason is going.

Also up next is the Community Shield against City. That will be a good test, and then opening day as Chelsea comes to Goodison. We get Chelsea, Spurs, and Arsenal in the first 5 games.

[Joey Numbaz]

Here are the U18s

I could really use a good U18 DC/DM. Just haven't been able to find one yet. Astley is a decent prospect, but I need someone to pair with him. I also couldn't find a DL who is any good. Daley is so bad, I'm just going to play a DR over there.

Gundelund is reasonable on his left foot so I'm not too worried. But he'd be a good HB too if I can find a DL. Ceide £150K, Rovella £1.6M, Gundelund £110K, and Ndubuisi £450K are all transfers. They seem like steals at those prices.

[Joey Numbaz]

The U23s

Same story, short on DC and a makeshift HB. Gibson is nowhere near as good as USA international Antonee Robinson right now - but he's 3 years younger and still showing as a good prospect. He's got to start developing that dribbling (6), passing (7), and flair (1) though.

Tonali is the big one here, brought him in from Brescia for £7.75M. Other transfers in include Palade £2.6M, Ackermann £1.1M, Ferreira £450K, and Schurrle £24K. I like the value, and organizational depth. I hate playing anyone that isn't at least a 3.5-star prospect in my U18/U23 teams.

Tonali has been moved to the senior squad for training, but he'll play at lot with the U23s this year.

[Colonel Getafe]

Where in the league did you finish for the first season, and what sort of transfer budget were you given for the second season? (tricky to see the pic on my small phone screen) 

[Joey Numbaz]

I finished 6th in season one (64 points). I was given £26.7M pounds as a starting transfer budget (looking in game now), the rest came from selling off the excess. My post said that the transfer budget was up to £52.2M pounds after the season ended, maybe I had some left over from last year? Not sure which number is actually correct.

[Colonel Getafe]

Thanks for the info 

[Joey Numbaz]

I found two more players for the U18s a DC and a ST that also looks like he could be a good IF.

Both cheap, and coming in from Ajax.

Nordin Musampa, for £1.6M. He's a no-nonsense CB, 3.5-4.5 stars. A massive upgrade Anderson/Armstrong.

He can play HB too.

Here is Brian Brobbey ... £2.1M.

11+ for a 17 year old is pretty good. With normal development he should turn out pretty nice. He's also got 11 marking and positioning, which for a kid striker - wow. Work rate 11 too. But 16 finishing, 15 composure, 15 strength! He's got potential.

[Joey Numbaz]

On to the Community Shield! 87,193 showing up a Wembley for a meaningless exhibition!

I know no one cares about it, but I wanted to make a statement, playing against Manchester City. Everton are about to take the next step. We just smoked Real Madrid in a friendly, and the Premier League is next.

Things did not start out according to plan. We did not get a shot in the first half. 33' ex-Toffee John Stones scores off of an indirect free kick, Yerry Mina just completely missed him or something.

Then City struck again on the counter, Keane just missed a header at midfield with Aguero and it turned into a De Bruyne goal. 2-0 before halftime. Defending champion City putting us in our place.

We did not give up. Stones gave one back as fouled Dolberg making a run into the box and Gylfi fired home the penalty on 58'.

But really we didn't do much. Not many highlights and at 78 I had to throw in some subs. Richarlison who had played like crap and has poor morale out for Bernard. Sandro Tonali and Kristoffer Ajer get to make their debuts as well, giving Gana and Mina a breather.

Still no spark. At 88' for the first time all year I switched to the libero 5212 tactic, with Tonali as the libero.

90+2, Pickford holds the ball as we set up for one last run. He throws it out to Keane on the left. Keane plays it forward to wingback Digne, who plays a beautiful through ball on the ground to a running Dolberg, alas, Stones breaks it up as Dolberg dribbles into the box.

But ... the loose ball finds Bernard running from deeper as the AM ... 

And into the back of the next it goes!

Scores are level at Wembley!

Penalties started out well. Pickford saved Dybala. Siggy and Pellegri scored for us, Carrasco for City. Then Fernandinho launched one high and wide to the right and Dolberg made his, after 3 rounds, we are up 3-1! Bernardo makes his, and all we need is Bernard to put it in the net again. Unfortunately Herrerín guessed correctly and we'd have to wait. De Bruyne converts, leaving it all up to Almamy Touré, playing for an injured Coleman. Touré strikes it hard, and into the net. Another trophy for the Toffees.

We were outplayed, but it's not like they dominated. They didn't get a clear cut chance, just one half chance. We are still pretty solid defensively I think.

The season starts for real in a week at home against Chelsea. I am looking forward to it.

[Joey Numbaz]

Ugh. Two and a half hours before the transfer window closed, Huddersfield was ready to give me £39M with and £7.5M more after 50 games for Ademola Lookman. I took it and he didn't agree to a contract with them. I didn't necessarily want to sell him, but for that money, including 30% of any future profit should he become a superstar, it would have been worth it. That's a bummer.

Two more U18s have joined the club. I LOVE this first guy, Ander Barrenetxea, for £1.8M

Here's another, he can be a advanced playmaker on the wing, a or MC. Stanislav Shopov, from Bulgaria. £1.2M

So now I'm pretty crowded up top on the U18s. I have six guys at least 3-4 stars for the 5 positions. I love what I was able to do in the transfer market to improve the U18 team.

Here's the U18/U23 prospects now. Doesn't even count Ajer and Pellegri. 12 of these guys were mine either when I took the job or through the first youth intake. 15 came in through transfer.

[Joey Numbaz]

Opening day was quite an affair at Goodison against Chelsea.

We were off to an amazing start as Kasper Dolberg (playing AMR/APs) scored on a wide open header of of a Lucas Digne cross in the second minute!

And then we cruised. All the way until the 90th minute when Sandro Tonali gave up an own goal off of a Willian direct free kick rebound. Disaster.

But we came right back! Digne bombed a long pass for Bernard on the left wing, he dribbled to the byline and found an uncovered Dolberg racing in the box for an easy goal!

However, now at 90+5 we give up *another* equalizer, this time on a cleared corner. The ball found its way back into the box where it was blasted home, Pickford couldn't do anything about it in the top far corner. Jeez.

A 2-2 draw in a game that we dominated. Chelsea did have once great shot around 15 minutes into the game after a defensive breakdown, but Pickford saved it.

Check out Chelsea's shot chart:

Another thing, Richarlison has been a waste of space with his poor attitude after I wouldn't let him go to Bayern. I gave him a chance today and he missed a great shot and generally played pretty badly. Bernard has been great when substituting for him late. So I think I'm moving Richarlison to the bench until he gets himself figured out.

[Joey Numbaz]

Ok, some major events from match week 2, at Newcastle. Don't forget in this universe, Newcastle are coming off of  strong 7th place finish from 2018-19. They came in tired, having lost a heartbreaker in Europa qualifying 3 days earlier. After losing 2-0 away to Kayserispor in the first leg, they won the second leg 4-3, but it wasn't enough. And they also sandwiched a 1-0 loss at Man City inbetween.

We fell behind 1-0 early (4') - a non-transition ball over the top, it was kind of wild, I hadn't seen anything like that. It was borderline offsides but what can you do?

But by halftime we were outshooting them 8-2 and instead of giving them grief I told the team to keep doing what they'd been doing and we'd be fine. But I also changed the tactic, I went back to the 5212 Libero. And I brought in two subs. Sandro Tonali and Ademola Lookman. We finally busted through with goals at 58' and 63' (both off of set pieces), and tacked on an own goal at 90+1 to ice it 3-1. We dominated and Newcastle ran out of gas.

We struggled away last year. 7-9, w/3 draws compared with 12-3, 4 draws at home. So any road win is a good one.

Going back to this 5212 as a change of pace has been a revelation. I am starting to think maybe switching to it as a starting tactic instead of a change of pace might be the way to go.

In my last 5 games (Blackburn, Real, City, Chelsea, Newcastle) here's the tactic split:

4-3-3:  424 minutes, 3 chances for, 2 against - 3-1 vs. higher rated teams, 0-1 vs. similar, 0-0 vs. lower
5212:  79 minutes, 2 chances for, none against, 2-0 vs. higher rated teams.

We've outscored opponents 5-1 with the 5212 over those 79 minutes. The one goal was the Chelsea corner that salvaged a draw for them. We've been outscored 4-2 with the 4-3-3. I'm going to have to think about this some. But really, I want the 5212 to work, I love Liberos!

Also - Richarlison did not play. Reporters did not ask me why.

[Joey Numbaz]

So here is something interesting ... oh wait, first, we beat Fulham away, 2-0. Again had to switch to the libero tactic at halftime. We got two in the second half for the win, a penalty at 71' and Yerry Mina goal off of a corner at 89 to ice it. I am switching to the libero tactic as the starter going forward.

Anyway, the interesting thing.

I started Richarlison's whiny arse in the mid-week U23s game. He has not played in the last two senior games, both wins, since his morale was poor and he played bad in the season opener with similar morale.

Sure enough, after the game above, I get this email:

Looks like he's good with staying after all. His morale has jumped from poor to quite good!

Coincidence? Or very cool in game logic where he reacted to the benching and slumming with the U23s? Just curious @Seb Wassell.

For some background - Richarlison was mad when I wouldn't let him go to Bayern. But our relationship never changed from 'very close', and holding me in the highest regard and me being his only favored personnel. Even though he wouldn't talk to me for a couple of weeks.

 

[Joey Numbaz]

A couple of draws to report on.

League Cup, which we are defending champs - we get Liverpool. Away. Ick. Last year were played them 2x in the 5th round of the FA Cup on our way to winning that one too. Early season they look like the best team in the league. They and City are the only 3-0 teams and Liverpool are +7 already (City and us are +4). They are defending Champions League Champions (beat City in the final last season), and so far this year have 3-1 wins over Watford and Brighton, 4-1 win over Chelsea and beat Arsenal 3-1 in the EUFA Super Cup. Maybe they won't care and play a b-level squad. I want to win all the trophies. Even the league cup. But it's cool that it's a free roll, as the board doesn't care.

More importantly our Europa League Group was drawn. It could have been easier.

Dortmund was in the Champions League semi-final last year. But they also only finished 5th in the Bundesliga. They don't have Pulisic anymore either, he's at Liverpool now.

I can win this group. Which would be nice to avoid one of the teams coming down from the Champions League in the round of 32. I think that's how it works anyway. But I could have gotten an easier draw than Dortmund.

 

[Joey Numbaz]

Building with youth! Three goals in three games and a 7.47 average rating.

[Joey Numbaz]

Tottenham came to town for Match Week 4, the last one before the September international break.

They left in tears. Utter domination. Richarlison back in form with two goals. Pellegri and Sando also get on the scoresheet for the first time in the league. Good stuff all around! We were up 2-0 after 10 minutes, 3-0 after halftime and cruised to a 4-0 win.

Look at all of those chances! I will be sticking with the libero tactic for the foreseeable future.

Tottenham only completed 45% of their passes on defense.

1/9 of the season is over, let's look at the table! The goal is to qualify for the Champions League this year.

How about newly promoted Aston Villa? They won the Championship last year with 87 points. But they haven't played anyone yet:

They are killing the bad teams though. Something to keep an eye on.

[Seb Wassell]

13 hours ago, Joey Numbaz said:

*snip*

Sounds like he got over it/came around to me. This can be a combination of you managing him well through that period and him potentially realising that the interest from elsewhere was not as solid as it appeared (perhaps no big forthcoming etc.).

[Joey Numbaz]

Yeah @Seb Wassell I was just wondering if benching him and then playing him on the U23s had a direct or indirect impact on his getting over it. Immediately after the U23 game he was over it, which seemed like a big coincidence if it was in fact a coincidence.

[Seb Wassell]

20 minutes ago, Joey Numbaz said:

Yeah @Seb Wassell I was just wondering if benching him and then playing him on the U23s had a direct or indirect impact on his getting over it. Immediately after the U23 game he was over it, which seemed like a big coincidence if it was in fact a coincidence.

To what extent I cannot say, but yep.

[Joey Numbaz]

The international break is over ... and we get a tough ask, at The Emirates to face Arsenal.

This is not the Arsenal you guys know and love (or hate). This team has added Nabil Fekir, Matthijs de Ligt, and Benjamin Pavard. I really wanted both de Ligt and Pavard, but I am happy with Kristoffer Ajer so far. He can play DC, DM, or MC. He's comfortable enough with the ball and has great vision as a libero. I've been slotting him back there and moving Digne to the wing when protecting a lead (Lookman goes to the bench for a better defender in the  middle of of the field).

We were playing pretty well, but hadn't scored yet when Granit Zhake scored on a great strike across the goal from just inside the 18 yard box. Sometimes you just have to tip your cap. The other guys are allowed to make good plays.

But we were not to be denied. 51' Gylfi scores on a free kick from all the way out here!

4 minutes later Ajer's shot deflects off Richarlison for another goal. From there we closed it out after making the defensive subs described above. It was nothing less than we deserved as we threatened far more often:

Check this out ... 16 corners. Look at this heat map, kind of funny, never noticed anything like that before:

For those who have lost track we have now played 60% of our 5 games against top 6 squads and we have 13 points, the only dropped points were due to Chelsea's last second heroics. That's good enough for 2nd in the table right now, Liverpool are 5-0-0 and thumping people. Things are looking up at Goodison.

[Joey Numbaz]

So we had a devastating injury a couple of weeks ago, that I forgot to mention. Seamus Coleman's acceleration dropped from 15 to 10 after he pulled his hamstring August 1. He was only out for two weeks, but that was crushing. We'll see how he recovers, but for now, he is the backup. I guess signing Almamy Touré as a future replacement worked out pretty well. Coleman has started recovering, but he's only gained back 0.2 so far.

Ademola Lookman had something similar happen with his pace back in December. But that only dropped from 15->13 and he recovered it in 4 months. I'll hate if this is permanent for Coleman. He'll still be useful, but I'll have to move him off the wing if this doesn't recover.

[gcoard]

How often do you update your spreadsheet?  I really love the approach statistics based approach (huge Moneyball fan as well) but manually entering all the data seems like it would get tedious if you update it regularly.  Cheers and COYB!

[Joey Numbaz]

3 hours ago, gcoard said:

How often do you update your spreadsheet?  I really love the approach statistics based approach (huge Moneyball fan as well) but manually entering all the data seems like it would get tedious if you update it regularly.  Cheers and COYB!

I usually update 2x a year. When everyone arrives in camp (sometimes I'll wait if I know some transfers are coming in within a week or three). And I'll usually do it after the newgens arrive.

I figured out how to export the data. I have a view I call "everything" which I can attach here. Then if you use Command+P (on a Mac, not sure of the Windows command) it will give you options for 'printing'. I print to a .txt file.

You have to do a little bit of formatting for the resulting .csv file (open the .txt file with Excel), to get the text to columns (the delimiter is the "|" character) and then get the players sorted the same way they are in the spreadsheet where you have the formulas. It's like maybe 5-10 minutes of work. I do a little extra because I track progression for the players' best rating as well to see how they are developing.

I find it really helpful when figuring out which way to steer youth players in their development. Sometimes looking at the player attributes my eyes glaze over. Having the one number as a guide helps me to focus.

Everything.fmf

[Joey Numbaz]

We are back to Europe! First game in the Europa League against FC Nantes. FC Nantes finished dead last in Ligue 1 last year, beat PSG 1-0 in the final of the French Cup. Their run up to the cup was laughably easy and then PSG outshot them 11-2 and Nantes had one go in and PSG didn't. Which, cool for us! It's funny when teams get relegated and qualify for Europe in the same year.

Anyway, we beat them 3-0 at Goodison. I rotated a little, including starting Sandro Tonali as the Libero. That was fun. Seamus Coleman was back in action and his lack of acceleration did not appear to be an issue. I'm not sure how well he was tracking back on D though as Nantes' LW did have 3 decent shots on goal. Coleman actually scored one, a great long shot to the keeper's far side. Dolberg scored on a direct free kick too. And again, the opposition's defense was reduced to hoofing it forward, they only completed 43% of their passes out of defense.

[gcoard]

44 minutes ago, Joey Numbaz said:

I usually update 2x a year. When everyone arrives in camp (sometimes I'll wait if I know some transfers are coming in within a week or three). And I'll usually do it after the newgens arrive.

That makes sense.  Shouldn't be too bad!

44 minutes ago, Joey Numbaz said:

I figured out how to export the data. I have a view I call "everything" which I can attach here. Then if you use Command+P (on a Mac, not sure of the Windows command) it will give you options for 'printing'. I print to a .txt file.

Especially when you can export the data...

44 minutes ago, Joey Numbaz said:

You have to do a little bit of formatting for the resulting .csv file (open the .txt file with Excel), to get the text to columns (the delimiter is the "|" character) and then get the players sorted the same way they are in the spreadsheet where you have the formulas. It's like maybe 5-10 minutes of work. I do a little extra because I track progression for the players' best rating as well to see how they are developing.

and then import it.

44 minutes ago, Joey Numbaz said:

I find it really helpful when figuring out which way to steer youth players in their development. Sometimes looking at the player attributes my eyes glaze over. Having the one number as a guide helps me to focus.

Everything.fmf 15.06 kB · 0 downloads

Yeah, that's always been the hardest thing for me.  I like the idea of using the harmonic mean to analyze a player's suitability at a role.  Otherwise, you'd miss a potentially interesting training opportunity (like Baines at AM)

[Joey Numbaz]

Ok, been a bit since the last updated. Mixed results here. 

We blew 2-0 and 3-2 leads against Southampton at Goodison - OUCH. I had to rotate against Liverpool in the League Cup and we got beat up pretty good there too.

But we bounced back and beat Bournemouth at home, Dortmund and Brighton away. Not bad.

I've worked in a 3rd tactic ... it's the Dafuge wide diamond tactic I used to great success in FM18. He tweaked it a bit for FM19 so I decided to work it in some.

We have gotten a bunch of goals off of set pieces. Of our 20 goals in the league, 9 are from set pieces. 3 corners, 3 direct (Gylfi has been unreal!) and 3 indirect. I am not sure if this is sustainable. But Gylfi is amazing, 18 FK, 16 Long Shot, 14 corners. And I have purposely worked as many tall players in as possible.

Of our 9 conceded, 2 from corners, 1 from direct free kick. So we are outscoring out opponents 11-6 in open play. That's good but not great.

So we are now at the October international break (October 6, 2019) and here's the table:

Not bad, 3rd place, 5 points clear of Chelsea for 4th place. Champions League or bust!

Note: Palade played in the Europa League for FCSB of Romania before he came over to us. He's a U23 I signed for £2.6M back in July.

Gana now has 5 yellows in 8 league games. He'll be suspended for the next game against Huddersfield. That's a yellow every 129 minutes.