Topic: FIFA 18 Switch

@Lroy You're doing the Cobblers proud after the turmoil they've been through the last couple of years.

I currently play 6 minute halves. It means progress is slow and eats up my time like no-one's business, but chances can be so hard to come by at World Class that I feel I need 12 minutes to stand any chance of finishing a game anything other than 0-0.

Online seasons is where you play 10 games per 'season', each game against a random player in a similar division to you (everyone starts in Div. 10) and of a similar star rating for the team you're using. If you do well enough to reach the points target in those 10 games you get promoted, and can even 'win' the division title. Once you've been promoted, you need a minimum number of points in the next season to avoid relegation, but aiming for promotion/title again. It's so addictive, because if you lose you just want to play again to get a win, and if you win you want to keep your run going. But it is kinda stressful. Going four goals down to a stranger is as close as I come to smashing my joy-cons. Playing the AI is a lot calmer I find.

Edit: thanks for the encouraging words about my write-up. I was football through-and-through once upon a time and so this stuff is in my DNA.

@gcunit Oh wow, that does sound fun. Where is that on the in-game menu? Not really explored much outside of Manager Mode ☺️

I HAVE to stop myself paying FIFA after midnight!

Not only do the hours pass far too easily, compromising my sanity the next day, but my performance suffers.

On a high after that late equaliser described above, I've lost the next 5 matches, only scored 2 more goals (one for Leandrinho, who continues to look my best player) and am second bottom in the league.

The phenomenon of losing a game so insisting on 'just one more' to end on a win is utter madness. Highlights were conceding 3 goals in the first half hour against a very good Sampdoria, and finishing the night with a 6-0 loss away to Juventus.

World class AI is surely a step above what it used to be. These teams are ruthless and just impossible to tackle once they get inside my penalty area. I have to find a way to stop them otherwise this season will be a miserable failure before it's halfway.

@gcunit I share your weary head this morning. Cannot put this game down at the moment. I'm blitzing my way through the second season to reach the January transfer window. The goals have been drying up lately, lots of 1-0 wins, or 0-0 draws, couple of loses. However, I've still managed to hang on in there and am currently fourth with very few points separating the top 6 sides in the Championship league table.

I've been investing in both my scouting networks and my youth team. Hopefully, that will identify some much needed class for this season to clinch promotion and allow for some fresh youngsters to be promoted to the senior side ready for next season.

Edit Forgot to say, I had the making of future superstar. Young lad of about 16 years of age with potential rating going into the mid to high 80s. Resisted promoting him to the senior side as thought it better to allow him to train in my youth team for now. Bang! Got an email saying he had been snatched off by another unknown club?!

I have a few of the old guard retiring at the season's end and a couple of players unhappy with their lack of first-team chances. My line-up has been fairly set this season leaving my subs ever more frustrated.

For some unknown reason my loanees up front have stayed with me far longer than a 'short term' would possibly be? I'm not complaining as these three lads have been my main source of goals since the second half of my first season to now. All are unknown names to me and young but their value is creeping up due to their good performances under my watch. I want to buy them but hesitate to terminate their loans in order to do so in case either I can't afford them or something goes awry like my last aborted attempt to sign some players pre-season (they still haven't joined my squad and I can't now seem to try and enquire about them any more, that option is missing from their player info screen?)

Season highlights so far have included dramatic penalty shoot-out wins in the Cups against Premier League opposition such as knocking Spurs out of the League Cup. However, I was eliminated by Chelsea, going a goal down early and failing to capitalise on all my created chances. Still in the FA Cup heading into the New Year.

Have built up a long list of players for my 'Short List' will see what I can manage to bring in come January transfer window despite the paltry amount of money I have at my disposal. Thinking 'promising' players, scouted in detail, is the way to go. Need them cheap but with bags of potential.

Best of luck turning your season around or perhaps as insurance, start a second save at professional difficulty? Just to see how that feels challenge wise. Don't want it too easy but also don't want it to be unplayable and unfair too.

@toiletduck Thanks for sharing your own story. I hadn't realised the German 3rd Division was included. Nice, I always prefer starting out with a minnow team and getting them as far as I can before jumping ship for a better offer. Tend to say, I'll stick with a team for 3-5 seasons before seeking a new challenge elsewhere.

As for controls, I seldom use all the modifiers and skills (out of practice with that aspect of FIFA). The Pro Controller is fine for me and I also like handheld too. That's what allows me to get so addicted to the game. Play it on the TV and take it to bed. ☺️

Keep us posted on how your season progresses and best of luck. Youth development sounds a wise long-term move. Free transfers aye? Any recommendations? Not tried this out in my career save yet.

Another thing I forgot to mention above:

I was offered the manager's job a DA HAAG? At the tail-end of last season where I won promotion from League One to the Championship. They were offering about three times my current salary but I wanted to stick with Northampton and take them into the Championship for at least a couple of seasons, you know, hopefully mount a push for promotion to the top flight.

Thought that act of loyalty and the fact I had delivered well over and above my board's expectations in my first season would give me amble job security this season.

However, fast forward to barely 3 games into the new season rather bizarrely I seemed to get this odd reassuring note from the Chairman saying I'm a valued member of the Northampton family and seemingly giving me a vote of confidence due to 'media pressure'?

No idea what had prompted that? I'd lost my opening Championship League match but had then won and drawn the next? I had sold off some players I had deemed surplus to requirements including midfielder Kasim, who the game seemed to think was a star man for me despite me barely ever playing him? Maybe that's what it was about?

In any case, I rose up the table far quicker this season than last and won the Manager of Month awards for two consecutive months. Managing to beat other promotion faves such as Brighton in the process.

Here's hoping for some sincere gratitude and more cash for the kitty from the board going forward, lol! ☺️

How do you guys defend in this game or play it in general? Is the only solution to hold Jockey-button and wait for the AI messes up? Combined to very slow short passing makes the game very tedious to me.

@toiletduck Player fatigue and low stamina meaning I had to regularly make use of my 'B' team was certainly an aspect I had to deal with in my maiden season with Northampton. However, curiously my starting 11 at least now has dark green or light green ahead of most matches - week in week out.

A few of the oldies do still go into the red by the hour mark of the second half and this is typically when I use all 3 subs.

So maybe you'll find your encountering this problem less in your seasons going forward?

@Zkibu Defending I tend to just make it up as I go along. Which mainly comprises of running into the approaching player from an angle or to the side until I find the ball is under my control.

As hap-hazard as that sounds, I've had the lowest goals conceded record in the league both in my previous season and so far this season too. Only problem is, my team also scores fewer goals than my immediate rivals at the top of the division I'm in. None of my players were near the top scorer charts across both seasons too.

I create bags and bags of chances and have many shots. Just lucky to score more than one or two goals a game. Guess that's just me getting use to playing on Professional difficulty and being so out of practice with FIFA and managing a small 'weak' team in the game?

I think next season I may need to look into customising my actual player postions within my chosen formation a bit more. Presumably that is possible in the game?

I often have to use the tactic of 'Ultra Attacking' just to get my midfield to move up the pitch.

@Lroy Thanks mate. I like how the players go in the shape but they tend to just sit back. Guess I just need to be more aggressive. With attacking play, I am more into British/Scandinavian direct style than Dutch/Spanish short passes. Do I need to change the strategy settings or is the game just designed to play slowly?

@Zkibu I'm still learning FIFA 18 so my understanding of what can be tinkered with under the hood is very limited at the moment.

Currently, I am playing a variant of 4-3-3. It seems to be 4-3-2-1 (I think that is what the game calls it. Will need to check my Switch). Basically, I have a line of four at the back, then three narrow midfield players (no wingers at all) with the centre midfielder being slightly deeper as a defensive wall/deep lying playmaker/box to box man. This is a key position for me.

This defensive midfield player also needs to be strong, able to shoot at distance and have good stamina. Outside of a central defender, I also tend to make this position my captain where possible. Of course, depends on what players you have in your squad.

I then have three up front with one central striker or centre forward. Using a tall, strong player in this position preferably. Ideally, this position would be fulfilled by your main star player, a goal machine. Sadly, I've yet to find the man to fit the bill for my Manager Mode thus far.

Then just before this Number 9 are the two other strikers either side of him. These are my widest players aside from the full-backs. All three strikers need as much pace as possible and good ball control/dribbling and able to shoot accurately and powerfully. I'd say at present 90% of all my goals are scored by the players I put in these three forward postions. None of my current crop of strikers have established themselves as a goal-machine. Each netting one goal every two or three or more games. I'd anticipate the most any one of these current players will score in terms of league goals is about 15. But that's each of them, so I guess that kind of makes up for the lack of a 30 goal a season Centre Forward at present.

I then use the default tactics whatever club I manage have (will look into changing this to maybe counter-attack in the near future, just not sure how these menus and options work off the top of my head). I do currently regularly use the in-match tactics of Attack, Ultra Attack and All Out Attack during the matches as I feel it is needed. The in-match setting seems to be 'Balanced' by default.

This is all merely guesswork on my part and just seems to be the approach that is currently working with modest success for me.

After last night's disastrous run of defeats, I decided I needed to create a new custom tactic. 12 minutes into the next match, against Genoa... (Lingard is 8, Leandrinho is 10)

I'm glad he's over the age of consent at 18, cos I love him!

@Lroy Oh you are playing the classic christmas tree formation. As a Finn that is the most hated formation ever created thanks to our underperforming national team that always finds a way to lose. Good to hear that you have found some success with that system

Thanks for opening up your style. Basically I just need to understand better my players and play more. I am currently starting with Blackburn Rovers. I was stunned that they are so low nowadays. So there is a nice chance to get the former champions back on their feet.

@gcunit Seeing those goals makes me want to play some more FIFA. Brilliant goals!

...omg! 3 minutes later in the same game against Genoa...

We're 2-0 up inside 15 minutes! So it turns out I'm a tactical genius, and Lingard might not have been a waste of money afterall as he holds off the defender to bag his first goal for the Viola. I'm sensing a beautiful partnership between Leandrinho and Lingard now. Dat throughball...

@Zkibu Ah, the cursed Blackburn Rovers. My first big, Manager Mode rivals. They steam rolled the League One division last season and I finished two points behind them. Not bad considering my Northampton Town team had been mid-table until about January and Blackburn had led from the first week.

Much to my delight, this season I am fairing much better in the Championship than both my fellow League One promoted teams. Blackburn are now mid-table despite heavy spending in the transfer market and MK Dons are flirting with the relegation places. Ha! Ha!

What formation do you intend to play with and keep me posted on players you think are good performers? My shortlist of transfer targets is getting longer and longer, lol!

I've only actually bought one or two players to date. Record transfer so far is Marc McNulty (?) for £650, 000 last season. A right-sided forward from Coventry City as he starred for me on my Semi-Pro Career Save File as Cov manager. Will lightning strike twice? Unlikely ☺️

In pre-season in my current season, I raided Southend Utd, IIRC, bought some promising lanky Japanese, yes seriously, left-footed, central defender for 300, 000 as cover now that young Poole (?), who I had on a pre-existing season long loan, has gone back to Utd.

Although to be fair, my main centre backs of Pierre and Taylor have been superb for me. Pierre even managing to bypass my personal inability to figure out how to score from crosses in FIFA 18 to head in a few goals from corners, lol!

Elsewhere my full backs are fine as they are. Buchanan at left back and vice-captain. Forgot my right back's name. Mulroney I think? He is solid and keeping a disgruntled Phillips out of the starting eleven.

Midfield also takes care of itself thus far with no need to buy fresh blood, yet. Any combination of Bowditch (my former club captain), Taylor senior (old statesman and now my club captain), Crooks (my future team lynch-pin and club captain in waiting) and hmm, forgotten my other aging but creative midfielder's name. He is very good though. Also got some tall, pony-tail bloke as back up.

My best transfer success has been somehow nabbing three young strikers on seemingly bugged, never ending 'short loan' deals.

One is from Huddlesfield, Quaran is it? He is my current Centre Forward. Tall, strong, left footed and can shoot. He has been struggling for consistency in the Championship but he basically won me promotion last season arriving as a late January injection of fresh legs to force out my aging Revell/Richards strike force.

Another bloke is from Burnley, I had his club-mate and fellow striker Long on a pre-existing loan deal last season but rather than renew that - Long did quite well for me but I replaced him with the incoming McNulty - this time went for one of his team-mates, Ayeni (?) I think? He is pacey and currently keeping McNulty out of my starting eleven.

I then have some young left footed striker from a French club whose name I forget. He is called Arachnabar or something? I will have to check. He got injured in his first match for me last season and was out for three months. Rather than terminate the loan, I kept him and he was my late, late show star as we clinched the runners-up spot and promotion to the Championship last year. He even kept a young lad out of my side, whose name I forget ☺️, who is a left midfielder that I play as a left sided striker and he himself had contributed several goals to my promotion charge last season. But this new fella is in a different class, left footed, pacey and scores wonder goals. Great understanding with Quaran (?) my centre forward too. I'll try and check his name and club and get back to you.

All have struggled to be prolific scorers but they are the edge that give my lowly Northampton Town an extra dimension. Not sure how we would be faring without them. I guess once the game decides to take them back to their clubs, I'll find out, lol!

EDIT I've added some more detail about my current starters above but I have a terrible memory and no working knowledge of modern football past the 2010 World Cup, so excuse my ignorance.

Will try and take some screen caps of my team for future posts and get the names right, lol!

@gcunit How do you save replays?

@Lroy I'm using a capture card because EA are ********.

You gotta learn those names, bro - eat, sleep, breathe it Nothing beats the joy of surprise when you score from a corner, does it?

I can't bring myself to type what happened after those two lovely goals (above) we scored against Genoa. If you have to, you can see the key points (2:00 being the real kicker) in this vid:

So obviously, after that, I'm fuming and am determined to finally score a win in the next game, against Cagliari. Lost 4-0.

Then Napoli. Lost 1-0.

End of October and I'm second bottom of the Calcio A. Play the bottom team, Crotone, drew 2-2.

Into November, 1-1 with Sassuolo. Still no win, but 2 game streak of not losing. Yay Viola!

Then we get a fortnight off before the next game, away to Lazio. WE WON 2-1! SCENES!!!1!11!

Away to Roma (currently 2nd in the league). 1-1 draw. 4 game no-loss streak.

December: Home to Benevento. We won 1-0. 5 games unbeaten.

Away to Atalanta, 1-1 draw. 6 games unbeaten.

Home to Chievo. Lose 0-1. Boo.

Last before Christmas. Away to Inter. Gulp. We won 3-0. Surely we've turned a corner now. Only one loss in 8 games, and a clean sheet against the side 3rd in the league. C'mon!

I've gotten much better at defending. Nearly all the goals I've conceded in those last 8 games have been from outside the box. But I've been scoring less too, and Leandrinho has been quiet (but still my top scorer with 6). I rested him against Inter and his replacement bagged 2 goals...

Check us out taking Inter to school for the third goal:

So this is how things stand at Christmas. I'm guessing I'm meant to catch 5th place to satisfy the board. Gulp:

PS. I've been offered the managerial post for the national teams of India, Chile, Finland, Belgium... not interested yet though. Not even offering a salary ffs.

@electrolite77 Several posts back in this thread you mentioned you had managed to tinker with some settings and tactics to devise an effective - kill a match to protect a lead and play on the counter. Any chance you could talk me through how to do something similar?

@gcunit I've started to dabble with a custom formation and tactics. 4-3-3 still at heart, essentially, pushing my midfield further up the pitch, switching from a deep lying defensive midfielder to a central attacking midfielder - a sort of triangle? I'm also working on pushing my Centre Forward further up and bringing my side strikers more inside. Again another sort of triangle shape?! Ha! Ha!

Clearly, I haven't cracked it yet as my chances creation and finishing haven't really been any more consistent. I even managed to lose 2-1 in my most recent match. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

@Lroy Remember just yesterday when I said this was a great idea? My FIFA play log has gone from 75hrs to 85hrs in one day

I use the '4-3-3 Attack' formation. I rely/over-rely on possession football, working the ball into my striker's feet around the edge of the box and then looking to see who's making what runs off of him. Then either make the pass or use the runner by not using them and trying a tight dribble into a shooting opportunity. Either that or work the ball in midfield until my wingers can break into a bit of space behind the opposition. But I've given up crossing for now, mostly. Just wherever I am I try and keep possession until someone moves into a gap and I can slip them the ball.