FIFA 19: Everton Career Mode Guide, Tactics, Formations & Tips

Everton have spent big in recent seasons, and after buffering out their squad with loan deals from some of Europe’s top clubs, the Toffees are lining up a challenge for European football. It hasn’t gone to plan under Marco Silva this year, with a useful start to the season stalling in December, with just three league victories and nine losses coupled with cup exits to lower league opposition since. 

With Silva not cutting the mustard, it’s now your chance on FIFA 19’s Career Mode. RealSport gives you all you need to know as you set out on your journey with Everton. 

Team Rating

Everton just about claim a four and a half star rating on FIFA 19, with a 79 attack, 79 midfield and 79 defence. 

Formation

4-2-3-1 wide is the default formation and you should stick with the system, with 4-3-3 and a 4-5-1 the only realistic alternatives. 

Jordan Pickford (87 GK kicking) allows you to play out from the goalkeeper, with the back four made up by Seamus Coleman, Michael Keane, Kurt Zouma and Lucas Digne.

Idrissa Gueye (89 standing tackle) provides the steel in midfield alongside Andre Gomes, with Theo Walcott, architect Gylfi Sigurdsson (86 vision) and Bernardo operating behind striker Richarlison. 

On the bench go for Maarten Stekelenburg, Yerry Mina, Leighton Baines, Morgan Schneiderlin, James McCarthy, Ademola Lookman and Cenk Tosun. 

Tactics and instructions

There are various ways you can play with Everton, and this is very important as you will need to adjust from playing the lesser teams in the division to the quality of the top six.

Either way, Gylfi Sigurdsson (85 ball control) will be the key, the Icelandic international is a real threat in space, as he can either pick a pass (85 short passing) or have a hit at goal (86 long shots). 

Defensively, Idrissa Gueye will be the man to win the ball back for you (88 interceptions), and if you should look to get the ball to the tricky Bernard (96 balance) to open up room for Sigurdsson and all-round number 9 Richarlison (86 sprint speed). The Brazilian may not yet be the finished article and still has many of his winger traits (84 dribbling), but as his stats grow he will become one of the most dangerous forward in the league. 

Your instructions can help you get the most out of your players, and adjust their movement in regards to their opponent. Whoever you play against, Idrissa Gueye should be ‘stay back while attacking’ for attacking support to protect the back four in case of counter-attacks.

Richarlison’s attacking support should be on ‘balanced width’,  so he can keep the defence guessing with his movement.

Seamus Coleman’s run type should be switched to ‘mixed attack’ so he can both over- and underlap. 

Theo Walcott’s support runs are already ‘get in behind’ to make the most of his pace (89 sprint speed), with Gylfi Sigurdsson’s positioning freedom on ‘free roam’. Bernardo’s chance creation has already been set to ‘cut inside’.

Against superior opposition, you will want more structure, so tell the full backs to ‘stay back while attacking’ on attacking runs, and revert Sigurdsson back ‘stick to position’ for positioning freedom. Adjust these when on your defensive and ultra-defensive gameplans to change the way you play on-the-fly mid-game. 

Training

In your training sessions, look to use players with high growth to make the most of your time. With Everton, this includes Jordan Pickford, Richarlison, Kurt Zouma, Yerry Mina, Tom Davies, Ademola Lookman and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

The Transfer Market

Starting transfer budget: £57 million

Starting wage budget: £190,000 a week

Who should go

With Everton targeting European football, you need to trim off the players you will fail to make this grade. None of your first teamers need to be shone the door, but you should look to sell Tyias Browning, Brendan Galloway, Harry Charsley, Matty Foulds, Mateusz Hewelt and Nathan Broadhead. Those six should claim you close to £1.8 million and free up £59,000 a week in your wage budget. 

Loans

Everton have produced some top talent over the years, with a 16-year-old Wayne Rooney springing to mind. A couple of your youngsters won’t get the minutes required this season, so look to loan out Fraser Hornby, Anthony Gordon and Lewis Gibson to give them the necessary game time. 

Who to sign

New transfer budget: £59 million

New wage budget: £249,000 a week

Reliable right back

Seamus Coleman captains this Everton side, but a recent serious injury has stunted his potential, and now aged 29 and maxed out with a 79 overall, you need to look at other options, especially with the bright future the rest of the back four has.

Elseid Hysaj would be a perfect fit, with the Napoli man able to work up and down that right flank, having a strong starting overall and the potential to become one of the best in his position in the world. The Albanian is rated at 80 with an 85 potential, with stats of 87 stamina, 82 sprint speed and 81 standing tackle. The 24-year-old will set you back £20 million with wages starting at £48,000 a week.

Alternative options

Electric right winger

With Bernard out on the left looking to come inside, it’s important that you have a winger on right-hand side who likes to stay wide with bags in pace. Theo Walcott can do this, but his 79 overall makes him a liability going forward, so look to bring in a more reliable option.

You may not have heard of him, but Edin Visca has been having a fantastic season for Istanbul Basaksehir. The 28-year-old has nine goals and 11 assists for the Turkish league leaders, which has seen his overall on FIFA 19 rise to 83. Right midfielder or winger or Visca has stats of 93 agility, 90 acceleration and 89 sprint speed, costing you £30 million and wages of £38,000 a week. 

Alternative options

Contracts

Five players have contracts expiring at Goodison this season, and you may end up not renewing any of them. Leighton Baines and Phil Jagielka have been great servants for Everton, but aged 33 and 35 respectively, this season is likely to be their last at the club. 

Tyias Browning, Harry Charsley and Matty Foulds are part of the group that should be sold at the start of the season, so if you fail to ship them, just let their contracts expire. 

Managerial objectives

It’s a long-term project at Everton, but after stalling for some time and seeing Manchester City and Tottenham (and Leicester) leap frog them in the chase for Champions League football in the space of decade, time is starting to run out.

Your domestic success objective requires you to finish in a Europa League spot (fifth) and reach the FA Cup round of 16. The board will also expect you to qualify for the Champions League by the end of the next season, so your next three transfer windows are crucial.

For brand exposure, you will need to gain £44 million from shirt sales, but names such as Sigurdsson and Richarlison in your squad, this won’t be a problem. 

Continental success requires you to qualify for the Europa League, and remember if you are falling the short of the league, winning a cup competition will also take you through to Europe.

Lastly, for youth development you must sign two high potential players. Their potential must be higher than the current average overall of players in the same position in your squad. Not only that, you will need to grow two youth academy players by 10 overall points and play them in 10 matches over the course of the season.

Invade the top six

It’s going to be a tough ask at Everton, but with some young talent in the first team already, you could see in a couple years this side really challenging the top six. Of course, more investment is needed, and you will need to be smarter than the £45 million spent on Gylfi Sigurdsson and £40 million on Richarlison in recent windows. 

The players that have been loaned in will need to be bought permanently or replaced if you are to continue to grow, and for your first season, may be a fifth placed finish is realistic. You just need to finish above one of the top six, and with all of them having to contend with European football, you have a great opportunity. 

You should have too much quality for the rest of the division, but you must improve Everton’s record against the big boys, with the Toffees picking up just one point in their seven games against the top six so far this season. Get your tactics spot on, and you may even get close to coveted Champions League action. 

Full Everton player ratings