Once an established top-flight club, Fulham has now become one of the yo-yo teams dropping in and out between the Premier League and the Championship.
Your challenge, if you choose to take over the job in FIFA 23 Career Mode, is re-establishing The Cottagers as Prem mainstays.
Team Rating
Fulham has a four-star rating in FIFA 23.
The breakdown of the ratings is as follows: ATT 78, MID 76, DEF 74.
Starting Lineup and Formation
Fulham starts with a 4-2-3-1 Wide formation, which perfectly suits the side's style and the players at their disposal, so we're keeping that as is.
The striker is obviously Aleksandar Mitrovic, and with the changes made to pace and physicality in FIFA 23, he should provide a decent threat.
Floating behind him as the CAM is Andreas Pereira, who will pick up pockets of space in a roaming position.
There isn't outrageous pace on the wings, but Willian and Harry Wilson can still cause issues and have been brought in over Bobby Decordova-Reid and Neeskens Kebano as they are more technical players.
Having a right-footed player at RM and a lefty at LM also means you can swing in crosses to the big man sooner, without having to cut onto the player's stronger foot.
The side has two CDMs protecting the back line, with Harrison Reed just making the cut, partnered with the club's best-rated player, Palhinha.
New signing Kevin Mbabu takes over from Kenny Tete at RB, with the promising Tosin Adarabioyo joined by Issa Diop at CB instead of Tim Ream.
Antonee Robinson keeps his place at LB, with Bernd Leno another new signing between the sticks.
That gives us a pretty decent starting XI while also having a few game-changing attacking players to bring off the bench, including Manor Solomon, Daniel James, Decordova-Reid and Vinicius.
The bench is rounded off with defensive-minded players Ream, Tete and Nathaniel Chalobah.
Tactics and Instructions
As with the formation, we won't change any of the tactics, as they give a structured and balanced approach both offensively and defensively.
Fulham plays with a fairly high line and looks to get on the front foot by using Pressure On Heavy Touch.
There are a fair few instructions we will switch up, however, telling Mitrovic to Stay Forward and Stay Central to keep him as close to the goal as possible, while keeping him as a Target Man.
Both wingers are told to Stay Wide, with Willian also asked to Get In Behind.
Our first-choice wingers both have low defensive work rates, so Pereira is asked to Come Back On Defence to get an extra body involved and will play with Free Roam positioning.
The two defensive midfielders are set to Cover Centre and Stay Back While Attacking, making it hard for teams to counterattack.
Both full-backs are asked to Overlap, but only Robinson is asked to Join The Attack.
Training
There are a few players in the squad that you should focus on in training in FIFA 23, including youngster Luke Harris, who has an 84 POT.
As well as him, look to train up Palhinha (POT 83), Adarbioyo (POT 82), Diop (POT 82), Marek Rodak (POT 80), Wilson (POT 79) and Pereira (POT 79).
Transfer Market
Starting budget: £33 million
Who should go?
Fulham has pretty good squad depth (apart from at CM) so you can actually get rid of quite a few players and only need to worry about investing in a few.
You can get away with this at the start of the save, however, you will need to replenish the squad if you start getting into European competitions.
Feel free to get rid of Kristian Sekularac, Tom Cairney, George Wickens, Chalobah, Decordova-Reid, Stefan Parkes, Josh Onomah, Kebano, Terry Ablade, Ream and Martial Godo.
This will really streamline your side and give you about an extra £18 million to bring in new recruits.
Loans
Luke Harris is the only player in the team who is worth sending out on loan, which should help him fulfil his 84 POT.
Fulham also have a fair few players out on loan, but out of them, only three are worth keeping an eye on.
Jay Stansfield (POT 82) and Rodrigo Muniz (POT 81) could become future first-team strikers for the side, with Steven Sessegnon (POT 77) a decent option to cover either full-back.
All other players can be sold upon their return.
Who to sign?
The side is lacking serious depth in the centre of midfield, so bringing in a CM/CDM to replace Reed and also a backup is our first port of call.
They will be playing alongside Palhinha, so you can bring in a box-to-box or more attacking option if you like.
Fabio Miretti is our first choice, and although he has the lowest overall, he also has the highest potential!
We're also big fans of Quinten Timber, and if you can bring those two into your midfield should be sorted for the next few seasons.
Transfer Options (CM/CDM)
Player | Age | Club | Cost | Wage | OVR | POT |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kenneth Taylor | 20 | Ajax | £11m | £9k | 75 | 86 |
Alan Varela | 20 | Boca Juniors | £10m | £9k | 75 | 85 |
Daniel Braganca | 23 | Sporting CP | £11m | £9k | 75 | 84 |
Samuele Ricci | 20 | Torino | £7.3m | £20k | 74 | 85 |
Gianluca Busio | 20 | Venezia | £6.5m | £3k | 73 | 86 |
Quinten Timber | 21 | Feyenoord | £6.5m | £6k | 73 | 85 |
Nicolo Fagiolo | 21 | Juventus | £6.5m | £40k | 73 | 85 |
Fabio Miretti | 18 | Juventus | £4.7m | £17k | 72 | 87 |
Another CB would also be a great investment, allowing you to rotate between three first-team quality options when the schedule gets a bit hectic.
Our first choice is Joao Victor, but if you don't have the bank to do that deal you can go for his Benfica teammate Antonio Silva!
Transfer Options (CB)
Player | Age | Club | Cost | Wage | OVR | POT |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Castello Lukeba | 19 | Lyon | £13m | £22k | 76 | 86 |
Joao Victor | 23 | Benfica | £13m | £9k | 76 | 84 |
Tanguy Nianzou | 20 | Sevilla | £6m | £11k | 73 | 85 |
Micky van de Ven | 21 | Wolfsburg | £3.7m | £15k | 71 | 85 |
Antonio Silva | 18 | Benfica | £2.8m | £2k | 69 | 87 |
Then, if you have the funds, another left-footed LM will give you more options for squad rotation and could improve your first-team options.
Board Expectations
The board at Fulham aren't expecting ridiculous accomplishments from you in FIFA 23, so keeping them on-side should be fairly straightforward.
Of high priority is Youth Development, where we were given the Long Term task of having a player signed from the Youth Academy in the first season play in 50% of the games in the following one.
Brand Exposure is of medium priority to the board and on our save we were asked to sign two players born in North America.
Another Long Term goal is for the low-priority Financial challenge, needing to increase the club worth by 75% within three seasons.
With no European competition to worry about, Continental Success has no tasks and is therefore of very low priority.
Domestic Success also has a very low priority, asking you to finish mid-table in the Premier League and get to the round of 16 stage in the FA Cup.