The Byline

Ever get halfway through a season, things are going well and then you’ve got certain players moaning at you for not playing enough, or teammates complaining to each other about treating a player unfairly? You’re not alone.

The Dynamics tab in Football Manager 2023 is an essential tool to helping you maintain a happy and successful squad. Will Goddard takes a deep dive into all of its key features and what it can tell you about your players and their social groups.  

Since the 1970s, pressing has become increasingly important in football. As more teams focus on regaining the ball quickly and efficiently, pressing with commitment and intelligence is key to success in the modern game. 

Pressing is vital to most Football Manager 2023 tactics. Here, Rock’s End FM provides a detailed guide to help you master the press. 

In modern football, it’s very hard to find elite central defenders at an affordable price. Their steep increase in value makes sense when you look at the duties they have to perform and the requisite attributes to fulfil those duties. It is a role that necessitates not only extraordinary cerebral and physical abilities but also the ability to lead and organise a defensive line.

On the pitch, a team's central defender is its foundation. They provide defensive stability and offer the launchpad for attacks from behind. There are five role options available in Football Manager 2023 for players operating in central defence – Central Defender, Ball-Playing Defender, No-Nonsense Centre-Back, Libero and, the most recent addition, the Wide Centre-Back. Here, Guido Merry breaks down the five roles and explains how to identify good talents for each one in FM23. 

This article could, in all honesty, have just consisted of an image of Lionel Messi. However, that wouldn’t be all that helpful for encouraging all of you to use one of my favourite roles in Football Manager, the False Nine, more often.

In this blog, Ihor Crusadertsar outlines the key characteristics of an ideal False Nine before highlighting some FM23 formations geared towards maximising the False Nine's unique skillset.

It’s a story many can tell – starting a Football Manager career at an unfancied team in the lower divisions and eventually leading them to multiple promotions and continental glory.

Lower league management isn’t always easy though, particularly if you’re used to working at the top levels of the game or you’re new to FM. So, to help you, we’ve put together a list of top tips to help you ace your next lower league adventure in FM23.

Since his appointment as Brighton & Hove Albion manager in September 2022, Roberto De Zerbi has received plaudits for his entertaining and effective style of play. 

Making the most of a lot of the good work done by his predecessor, the Italian has crafted a bespoke tactical approach that is paying off for his side in league and cup.

Having studied a lot of the Seagulls’ recent games, Dan Gear has put together this explainer to show how you get your sides playing just like them in Football Manager 2023. 

The arrival of the Main Data Update gives you the perfect opportunity to jump straight into a new career.

The update doesn’t just include all the recent big money transfers though, with thousands of players across the world having their Current Ability levels adjusted to reflect their recent performances. 

We’ve taken a detailed look through the data to pick out 15 of the most notable names that you should either be managing or sending your scouts out to study. 

Following the arrival of the FM23 Main Data Update, we know that a lot of you are getting ready to kick off your next big adventure. 

All the major recent transfers, updated player ratings and the real-life fortunes of clubs around the world open up a tremendous number of possibilities.

It can be tricky to work out where to start, so to help you, we’ve put together a list of 10 of our favourite FM23 challenges ready for you to dive into.

The United States of America. A country that is so vast it spans five different time zones. The country famous for Stars and Stripes on its flag, Times Square, and Hollywood, is also home to Major League Soccer (MLS). 

MLS started on the back of the success of USA ‘94, with the inaugural season taking place in 1996 with 10 teams. Like most American sports, it was divided into regional conferences, East and West, and since that first season the league has continued to grow. Toronto FC became the first Canadian franchise to join the league in 2007 and the 2023 season will be contested by 29 teams following the arrival of St Louis City SC.

The league is unique with a lot of rules that may be unfamiliar to those normally playing in the European leagues. Here’s a guide to help familiarise yourself with them and help you guide your team to MLS Cup glory. 

Across Football Manager 2023, there have been enhancements which align in-game actions with how real-life clubs operate more so than in any previous edition. 

Working with a variety of clubs and contacts across the globe, insight into how teams utilise their scouting network and complete player transfers has resulted in a fully updated scouting system for FM23. The main product of this is the brand new Recruitment Focus.

In this article, FM Stag and Dan Gear take us through what the Recruitment Focus is, how it works and how to get the best out of it to help with your player recruitment

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.