Topic: FIFA 19 (Switch)

@Rich10 cjs keys?

@Rich10 You tend to get those sort of things happen in all FIFAs occasionally I find. I've certainly had to tackle players who weren't moving in 18, and last night playing 18 I had a drop ball in my half, my player respectfully booted it downfield for the opposition goalkeeper, Asmir Begovic. The ball bounced twice in front of him, losing what little speed it had, and he proceeded to spill the low catch hilariously.

And I find midfield action just depends on what formations each team plays and their style of play. And besides, doesn't tend to be a lot of midfield action in modern football anyway.

Once I've gotten into it, I find the FIFAs I've played seem pretty similar to each other. I've got 3DS, Wii U and Switch FIFAs and I don't notice much difference in the rhythm of the game.

@gcunit I'd say 19 is definitely slower then 18, almost to the point where I find myself too ahead of the play in terms of waiting for the ball to arrive, needing to us fast-pass more when building attacks and being impatient on my button presses.

@ICISAZEL cjs cdkeys, I used paypal as a payment option and you'll need to add a new account to your switch to download the game, but it was legit for me (despite other reviews of them).

Good game last night @Lroy, you certainly know how to use Leicester.

This had me laughing though: https://twitter.com/kingrich10/status/1050125107497070592?s=20

@Rich10 Yeah, thanks for the invite and waiting for me to join. Really clumsy implementation by EA. You should be able to jump straight in no matter if you are in a single player career match. Anyhow, very close game and yeah, that Maguire goal-line technology mishap was hilarious. Wish we had voice chat during the game for that one 😂

Apologies I didn’t go for the rematch on that occasion but I was busting for the loo ☺️ Then got pulled back into my MK Dons road to glory career save file.

Definitely up for playing again. Doubt I’ll get so lucky next time, lol!

@Lroy No worries chap, there's always another time for more games.

Updates on your MKDons career on here please: big wins, narrow losses, transfers, tactics etc.. I need to pick a lower league team to get involved with.

@Rich10 Ah cool, will do in my next post.

Has anyone else noticed how bad the offside decisions are? I had 3 in one game earlier where the replays showed the striker as clearly onside. Really frustrating!

@Mondos Yeah. It can be very punishing. I think you can go into the slider settings to adjust the frequency of off-side calls but haven’t tried myself.

Also, noticed you have already hit 50hrs played. Way to go in a little over 10 days. How you faring in Career Mode? Who you playing with? Any hidden gems discovered along the way?

@Lroy I'll have a look for those settings then, thanks!

I have barely touched career mode. I started one with West Ham, but I'm only a couple of games into the season but the squad is so thin I don't really have any motivation for it. I will probably can that save and eventually start an new one with a random team in an random league.

Have been playing FUT but I'm hoping to put FIFA down for a couple of weeks soon and concentrate on Banner Saga.

@Mondos I’ve never really invested much time into FUT. Think it came in just as I was leaving FIFA for awhile. I have started a FUT team in both FIFA ‘18 and FIFA ‘19 on Switch but barely played half a dozen games in that mode.

Open to try it a bit more this year though, so please do offer any beginner tips or highlight what aspects of this mode you most enjoy.

I couldn't be doing with FUT once I got a taste of having to renew player contracts all the time.

Exactly this. I've never been able to get into FUT even though FIFA was my go-to-game in FUT's premiering days. I was playing FIFA on the PS3 and PS4 for hours and hours back then, but always career and local vs/co-op. I hated the contracts and injuries.

@gcunit Yes, I did notice this aspect looked like it may well prove a very frequent irritant. In that your players have a limited number of appearances and then you have to ‘apply’ a specific type of card to them. Seems like this is a mechanic that’s used throughout for other boosts and modifications to your players. Repairing injuries as @toiletduck mentioned as well.

Not being familiar to the FUT Mode it does all feel rather strange. But like I said I’m willing to give it a try but I just haven’t really given it the time of day. Career mode is all-consuming for me personally with FIFA. So I’m still struggling to discover what is so good or addicting about this FUT mode other than having the roster of possible players include past greats?

As requested by @Rich10

So, after about 25hrs or so, I’m now approaching the business end of my first season in FIFA ‘19 Manager Mode with English League Two side MK DONS. Playing on Professional Difficulty and default 6 minute halves.

Might have to raise the difficulty for my next Career Save as I’m already guaranteed promotion with eight games still to go having accumulated an unassailable 20 point lead at the top of the table. Think I’m on a run of something like twenty-five straight wins. Also through to the Final of the Checkatrade Trophy as well. Knocked out of quarter-finals of Carabao Cup by Premiership opposition Crystal Palace and lost in the 3rd Round of the FA CUP to Championship’s WBA.

What little money the board gave me has gone towards a solitary Youth Scout and I’ve started to develop 4 or 5 Youth Academy prospects. Two teenage keepers look the brightest prospects so far and shall promote both to my senior squad before the start of next season. Aim to make one of these my undisputed Number 1 over the next season or so.

I also signed a random RWB (Whyte IIRC) from fellow League Two side Mansfield Town for 300, 000 as cover - I’ve stuck with MK DONS default 5-3-2 formation and haven’t tinkered with player instructions or tactics as yet. Sure that will come once I’m up the divisions a bit more. Also bagged Cameron Howieson - Kiwi on a Free Transfer. He is blossoming into a fine creative force contributing both important goals and assists in an attacking midfield role.

Other transfer activity has seen me send out about half a dozen players on loan to other teams and also sell off a couple of players not getting any first team action. This has given me the finances to recruit a few high-profile wonder kids on loans deals for the second half of the season. Got Angel Gomes (Man Utd), Hamed Junior Traore (Empoli), Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund) and also I extended an pre-existing loan deal I already had for a striker from Brighton. Forget his name. Rhys Healey - that’s it. Basically, scores every time I play him.

All four of these loaness are game changers from the bench. Really hope I can at least make one of these deals permanent but doubt I’ll be given any real cash from the board to do so in the close season. Shame. Lack of spending power was certainly one of the hardest aspects of taking a low League club to glory in FIFA ‘18 on Switch. Wait to see if this has been tweaked at all in this year’s version. I know on the other systems they have all sorts of in-game perks you can apply such as triggering a ‘financial take-over’ or ‘scouting a future star’. If we could at least expand the stadium as we move up the leagues that would be a more feasible and realistic component of the game to give more revenue to you as the Manager of a minnow club that begins to have real success on the pitch.

Anyway, like I said, running away with the League Two title which is nice considering MK DONS had only just been relegated the previous year in real life. Often find the second season is harder for find consistency, especially when managing in the lower leagues so hopefully with a few new hidden gem additions over the summer and some further tweaks to the squad we can push for back to back promotions next season.

Overall, I’d say MK DONS have proven quite a decent squad of default players: aside from an ageing captain who has the leader of men attribute, my back line is pretty much 25 and under, improving as we go ratings wise. Also have a nice mix in midfield with Alex Gibley coming on leaps and bounds and attracting interest from abroad. Good to know in case my hand is forced to sell in order to get a transfer kitty.

Cisse is another default MK DONS player and his has become my main ball winner in the centre of the park and is playing over and above expectations. Whilst up front Agar and the beast Chuks Aneke are tearing up the League Two goal scoring charts. Aneke leads the way on 23 league goals approx in 38 matches to date. Agard has about 18. Even my back up striker Sow (?) nets every other game I bring him on along with aforementioned effective scorer loanee Healy. We are comfortably the league’s top scorers and have the best defensive record too. The latter is often handy in Career Mode when using a small lower league side as it often means you can raise funds by selling your default keeper - who’s value and reputation has increased due to having so many clean sheets - if push comes to shove.

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How is everyone else getting along with their own Career Mode adventures in FIFA ‘19? Would love to hear about any hidden gem player discoveries, especially if they are under a million to buy.

@Lroy Interesting to see that you tend to use loanees regularly. I always find that a bit destruction of capital if you know what I mean. I preferred using owned players -even when worse and without much potential- so that they'd develop a bit and I could sell them in the future. Thereby I also saved money to invest in the academy. So short term, my team would probably lack some desired quality, but long term it's a better investment. I always felt a bit unpleasant developing players of other teams. And same as you, I usually lead the table comfortably (playing pro if I recall correctly, it's been a while though and my skills are gone ), so losing an occasional game if I have to spare my stars is not a problem.

@toiletduck Yeah, I see what you mean about loanees: developing other team’s talent so to speak. To be honest, I actually usually rely exclusively on Youth Academy talent but my last lower league save file (on FIFA 18 on World Class difficulty with Luton Town) saw me come unstuck a few seasons into it. Had half my first team made up of 16/17 year-olds. Never had any money from the board and desperately needed some extra quality. Made me realise sometimes loanees are the ‘stop-gap’ option until you can unearth that cheap hidden gem player or produce your own crop of stars via the Youth Academy. Basically, i’m trying to do a little bit of everything with this MK DONS save. So developing Youth Academy talent slow and steady, also use some high potential loanees that are already a class above the opposition in my current division and keep eyes out for some affordable hidden gems via scouting and research.

@Lroy Thanks for the season update, always interesting to see how others approach their careers.

Sounds like you definitely need to step up to World Class, it's not as 'unfair' as 18 seemed to me, plenty of chances to break up attacks and win loose balls.

Question: Do you only manage the team, or do you actually play as them?

For my part, I'm currently play-managing Liverpool as I get to grips with how 19 works. I've signed Vardy for £22m, Pulisic for £53m as well as investing in my youth academy. The comedy moment came as I sold Mignolet for his market value a week before the season kicked off, and then realised that Karius is on loan...so I was desperstely trying to sign a young English keeper as back-up with minimal funds in the pot...step forward Jamal Blackman from Leeds...good timing too as Alisson pulled a muscle a month into the season, phew!

Sold Sturridge and a few others too.

I'm already 6 points off City, and 4 off United as I sit in 4th, it's not easy to convert the chances with manual shooting on, so there have been some unexpected draws. Have to say that City ripped me to bits, Sterling and Greizman were on fire.

Need to find a lower league team for a proper career soon, maybe Sunderland...as they already have the stadium.

@Rich10 I play every second of every game. Never simulate and I never cheat by replaying a game over if I lose.

I’ve also got a Career Save with Leicester City. Again on Professional and definitely will need to up the difficulty as I’m unbeaten and top of the Premiership after about 10 games.

It's obligatory. Pace and finishing at that sort of price goes a long way in FIFA.

He's 33 in my game now and has had an ok if unspectacular start to my 3rd season, actually being outscored by the new boy Dimata alongside him, and so I was thinking about benching him to give a youngster some game time. 2 games and 5 goals later... I'm glad I didn't. Natural born match winner.