The Byline

The changes to the match engine in Football Manager 2023 have made it more important than ever to ensure that you’ve got the right balance in your midfield. 

One key defensive midfield role that’s been getting a lot of love recently is the Half Back. We’ve built a tactic around it with EFL side West Bromwich Albion, who have two natural Half Backs in Okay Yokuslu and Jake Livermore, to show you how best to play with the role in FM23.  

Set pieces in football, and therefore in Football Manager, are the subject of attention and study. That attention is usually reserved for Free-Kicks and Corners but what about the innocuous throw-in? Apart from when a team develops a long throw-in programme (think Stoke City), they’re largely ignored. 

This doesn’t do the humble throw-in justice, as they are an essential component of any Football Manager career.

Just throwing the ball somewhere willy-nilly not only robs you of a potential goalscoring opportunity (depending on your location, of course), but it also increases your risk of losing the ball and ending up on the wrong side of a devastating counter-attack. So again, throw-ins are far more important than you might think. Guido Merry explains how he’s developed devastating throw-in routines in Football Manager 2023.
 

Imagine that you’ve just finished a career – or perhaps you don’t have the time to play a full save – but you want something to put your managerial prowess to scrutiny. Challenge mode on FM23 Mobile has you covered. 

The custom-built challenges place you into a variety of situations that’ll allow you to test your skills, prove your class, and perhaps even give you some inspiration for a future career. With challenges ranging from leading a team unbeaten to winning with youngsters, there are plenty of possible achievements to help you enrich your Football Manager CV. 

In line with their increasing real-life popularity, football analytics are an increasingly important aspect of Football Manager. This is seen most clearly through the Data Hub, first introduced in Football Manager 2022 and hugely expanded in FM23. 

In his last post on The Byline, FM Stag introduced all of the newly-added team performance metrics in FM23.

Here, he walks through the newly added player performance metrics in FM23 and suggests ways you can translate these numbers into meaningful insights that’ll help elevate your player selection decision-making.

For Football Manager 2021, Ihor Crusadertsar wrote about how to build a simple, winning tactic using the classic 4-4-2. 

Now, he’s returned to The Byline to provide another explainer, this time inspired by a certain Portuguese coach and focused on the Narrow Diamond variant of the same formation. 

Seasoned Football Manager players will know that developing young players and watching them shine on the world’s biggest stages is one of the most satisfying feelings the game can provide. 

However, FM fans will also know that not every club has a strong youth team when you take over and that it can often take a while for you to be greeted with a ‘Golden Generation’ on Youth Intake Day. 

Although you can work with your board to improve your facilities and Youth Intake prospects, sometimes it’s necessary to look further afield to get the stars of tomorrow lining up in your team’s colours. Here’s a list of our top tips for youth recruitment in Football Manager 2023. 

Developing your promising squad into a world-class side is one of the most rewarding experiences in Football Manager.

There are a number of tools available for you to use in your quest to create future superstars, and the arrival of the Development Hub on Football Manager 2023 Mobile offers you a home in which you can nurture your squad.

Bringing together Training, Mentoring, Squad Management and Youth Development in one place, the key elements of squad development are easily accessible to you this season.

So, whether you want to keep track of your youth prospects, pair up experienced pros with exciting youngsters or make tweaks to your all-important training schedule, let’s take a look at how you can use the Development Hub to full effect…

The stratospheric rise in the popularity of analytics in football is undeniable. From various notable sports publications and football broadcasters embracing Expected Goals (xG), to websites and social media accounts dedicated entirely to the examination of the beautiful game in the form of meaningful numbers and useful metrics, it’s everywhere. Analytics have been an integral part of Football Manager for a number of years, and Football Manager 2023 takes this to new heights. 

In this article, FM Stag takes us through the newly added team performance metrics in FM23 and suggests ways you can translate these numbers into meaningful insights that’ll help you elevate your tactical decision-making.

The English Football League (EFL) is one of the UK’s best breeding grounds for talented young footballers. EFL clubs are typically keen to give academy prospects first-team opportunities earlier than those in the top-flight, allowing them to gain valuable experience and accelerate their development. 

Many of those EFL young stars will be popular transfer targets in Football Manager 2023. Here, we’ve worked with our Research team to produce a definitive list of the best.

Nearly all football managers rely on tools to help assist them during their career.  Some use cutting-edge technology to crunch data, while others make do with an old-fashioned pen and paper. However, every manager would give their best cup final suit for the power to change the footballing landscape like you can with Football Manager’s Editors. 

For Football Manager 2023 we’ve listened to calls from our community to increase the power available to you via our In-Game Editor (IGE), so let’s run through some of the new areas you can make serious changes to an existing save. 

In the current climate, it seems like debt and football go hand in hand. Whether it’s top-flight teams splashing the cash or a lower-league team desperate to stay afloat, many clubs are in a difficult place financially.

If you take over a team in debt in Football Manager 2023, don’t panic or throw the save aside and pick another club. Tackling that debt creates another fun challenge, one faced by many real-life clubs. 

Matthew Hallsworth provides eight top tips on how to manage a club in debt without having to sell all your best players.

With Football Manager 2023 out now, it’s time to start sinking the hours into a long-term career. Although instant success is nice, nothing quite matches the rewarding feeling of rising through the divisions and breaking new ground with your club of choice. 

We’ve put together 10 of our favourite FM23 projects from around the world to give you some inspiration.