The Byline

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.
 

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…