Season three has started well, off the back of last seasons relegation the boys had a point to prove, the board and fans expect immediate promotion, we can’t let them down.
The first few matches were tough, but after tweaking any formation to now play a 4-2-2-2, with two DMF’s, 2 wide midfielders and 2 up top, our play has started to balance out, we have more cover in the centre of the field, and with the instructions for one of the DMF’s to always hang back and take up a defensive role, we aren’t getting caught quite so much, although the essential quality of a good DMF has always been to be able to pop off shots from range, and neither of my two DMF’s can shoot for shit, Decouré is the better of the two, chipping in with the odd goal but nothing from ‘PES DMF’ territory.
Also, watching a few FIFA 19 tips n tricks videos on YouTube has made a big difference.
It was nothing I didn’t already know, or knew that I should be doing, but in the hustle and bustle of a live match you often just forget the discipline and go into button mash mode, proper use of jockeying and contain when defending and laying off the damn sprint button has made a huge difference, and my play has improved.
Muto, a CF signing from Newcastle, hasn’t really done much since joining, he got a hat-trick on his debut in the pre-season tournament but since then, only a single league goal.
Josh King, a signing last January from Bournemouth, is now starting to settle in to his role as the main striker, bagging a couple of braces and being pivotal in most matches, along with another January signing, Jurgen Damm, from Middlesborough, who is also now starting to shine out on the right-wing.
Top of the league after 7 matches, but still a long way to go, I will be disappointed if we are not in the title race come April time, I have invested around 48 million into the squad, in order to gain promotion back to the big time, we cannot afford not to go up this season.
Pantimillion in goal, has been really good but he’s only rated 71, I needed another keeper, and managed to bag this stalwart on the last day of the transfer window, aged 33 but an experienced keeper and 76 rated, he will do nicely, has already made a great legs save from close range on his debut in a good 3-2 win over relegated Watford.
I also adopted the Operation Sports (forum) sliders for FIFA 19 at the start of this season.
After trialling them in a friendly I was so impressed with much more balanced the game play was, and realistic, that I kept them, in short they only change a few stats, mainly the run frequency, pass speed, and first touch error, for both Player and COM, this keeps it balanced but introduces more randomness into proceedings as the ball bobbles about more and there are more midfield battles.
I shall not be tweaking anything, it’s the OS sliders, or vanilla, no messing about wasting time.
Lastly, I leave a short compilation of goals scored so far this season, nothing stand-out, a few nice team goals but some of them were at critical points of the match, and a result of tweaked tactics, play style, so meant more in-the-moment.
FIFAFX.com 
Paul – I’m thinking the unthinkable on the other side and considering doing away with a DMF altogether.
I’ve said it before and will say it again: Alan Smith must have the best agent in showbusiness. Getting the FIFA gig the way he has done, in an age when it’s a worldwide franchise and probably most people can barely understand his Brummie drone, is a marvel.
Re. the sliders I hear good things about them this year especially as the vanilla game is so solid, so you should in theory be stable with them.
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NG – probably not so important in PES, from the goal clips I see that people post the midfield looks pretty void, usually able to just run through it unchallenged, so a DMF maybe not as needed.
The FIFA commentary is a little repetitive in certain situations, but overall adds so much to the immersion, night and day compared to the nonsensical drone that is in PES.
The sliders don’t change much just a few tweaks but has a great impact on how the game unfolds, the looser ball, and more unpredictable touches lead to some very realistic passages of play.
Happy with them so far, and as I said, I won’t be fiddling with them, if i change them, it will be just back to default settings.
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Oh, it’s good quality commentary, I just find it amusing that Alan Smith has got his role in it so firmly locked down. Americans in particular struggle to understand any accent that isn’t a standard BBC one like Martin Tyler’s. The new Dr Who actress is from Huddersfield and they had to subtitle her when she was on a US talk show a few weeks ago.
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Quite ironic that the Americans don’t understand English, because they don’t speak it – its a bastardized version of it, probably still think they invented it though.
The Champs League commentary is Derek Rae and Lee Dixon, Dixon adds sublime insight into the game, with lines such as ‘I always think that if you can keep a clean sheet away from home and win your home matches, that you’ll do enough to go through’
Brilliant !
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Paul – tread with caution as I started like that in both seasons that followed relegation but struggled around the Christmas mark. A strong sqaud is a must as fatigue kicks in with the busy fixture list. It is more important as well to rotate your sqaud and keep players happy. Pay lots of attention to the smiley faces in the sqaud hub as this makes a difference to performance. You may need some of these guys during a busy fixture spell.
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Darryl – Thanks, good sound advice and duly noted.
I lost a few players more than I ideally would have liked pre-season, mainly due to letting a bunch of contracts run down, as they were players who never played, also lost Bojan and one other due to clubs paying their release fees, so was entirely up to the player whether he went or not.
you are right about the players status in the squad hub, signified with the faces, it also affects negotiations too, if a player is happy and has a good average form rating, you can sometimes get up to or over double his value for him when selling.
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Paul – Derek Rae has a great footy commentator voice, similar to the peerless Tony Gubba of ISS98 fame, possibly my favourite-ever footy game commentator. After the FIFA19 demo I thought Derek Rae was the official commentator for FIFA19, bit of an anti-climax to hear Tyler and Smith again really. Dixon is average and his delivery sounds a bit like Lawrenson’s way back in the day on the other game. All in all, it doesn’t really matter either way as I have the volume turned down and listen to podcasts and audiobooks whilst playing anyway.
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Results have picked up now as I have moved from 9th to 7th and just two points behind the play off spot. I was struggling with the gap up to 6 pointa so decided to invest more in pre-match tactic set up in line with the opposition formation/tactics. With 11 matches left of season 4 this could be a nicely timed run (maybe). The following site gives a lot of depth to this and has helped a lot:-
https://www.fifauteam.com/fifa-19-formations-guide/
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Will have a look Darryl. Cheers
I played 2nd place Preston North End last night. I was top. They had the best defensive record in the league and ours was next best, was a tight as assholes game which they pinched 1-0 to leapfrog me into top place. Bastards.
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Ng – I have to have the commentary on, its all part of the immersion and atmosphere for me, if I had something else plYing I would feel departed from the game. Plus the crowd sounds amazing in 7.1 Dolby atmos.
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Paul – Good news on the OS sliders. And I thought a change in formation might help stem the flow of goals conceded a little. Love that in-off-the-bar goal.
By the way, how’s RDR2 going? I’m still very tempted to get it once it drops in price a little.
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Agree with Paul. My performance noticeably drops when I don’t have the sound of commentary on. Doesn’t even need to be in English. If I can’t hear the commentary due to music, I’m worse for it.
Good post Paul 🙂 good start.
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Shed – RDR2 is amazing, haven’t played as much as i like due to having FIFA on the go and the blog, and limited time of an evenings, but i like having it there in the background.
Jay – Early days yet, cumulative fatigue hasn’t kicked in yet and I do have a pretty sparse squad.
Xmas time will be the litmus test.
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Pleased the Gherkin is doing well too.
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A pacy Gherkin don’t forget !!!!
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The drama continues and am now 5th with 2 matches left and 3 points clear of 7th. Thanks to taking my time with the pre-match tactics set up for each game based on the opposition I have gone on my best run on top player. In the clip below it was a real jump off the chair moment. I had just climbed into the play-off spots and needed to win my next home game against Peterborough who were lying 5th to keep up the momentum. I bossed the game but with 8 minutes left on the clock it looked like the win would ellude me. Then I saw a bit of space open up for my midfield player Stenge……
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Stengel …….
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Great goal Darryl. Stormer. Are you playing on custom broadcast cam?
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Paul – no zoomed out Dynamic now as I love the sturdy feel.
Well I have just had an epic couple of games. I reached the play offs by finishing 4th. In the play off semi final I was up against Milwall. I fancied this game as they play a flat 442 and this suits my style of play with quick players in a 4231 who can get behind them.
First match away and all looked comfortable with me leading 1-0 at half time. They scored early in the second half but I went 2-1 up five minutes later and then scored from a corner in injury time to lead 3-1. Game over I thought and switched off and they scored in the last few seconds to give them a lifeline. But to win 3-2 away with precious away goals I was happy.
Home leg next. Again looked comfortable with half time approaching and was 1-0 up (4-2 agg) but they scored just before half time (4-3) and again not long into the second half (4-4) . My players were tired and flagging with thier attacks down the left, exposing my young RB. But with 20 mins left I got a precious goal (5-4). Again they came back and scored straight away (5-5). Away goals now wiped out and my players were gone. Somehow I hung in there with the odd threat on the counter. Extra time. Very cagey stuff with two exhausted teams. Then with 5 mins left they scored from a header and my heart sank. No way back, but wait the linesman flagged OFFSIDE. I have never experienced relief like it in a game. I saw the last mins out and the penalties. Thankfully this was more straightforward as I scored my first three and they missed them all. Breathless.
So tonight will be a one game session with the final against MK Dons. I feel nervous.
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That’s intense stuff Darryl but all adds To the immersion.
Good luck in the final. Hope it goes to plan for you. Keep us posted.
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Paul – you have had a taste of the playoffs and don’t they do it well. In the first game it took both sides a good 20 mins to settle with lots of stray passes. I felt it too as a result. I have been thinking about my tactics already and MK Dons play a 5-3-2 and struggled in the league against them. I may match this formation as my midfield three are very strong.
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The Cods are going up.
I eventually got my one game play off final underway laat night after a day of thought and planning. MK Dons were my opponents who play a 5-3-2 pressing game. I decided therefore to go 4-4-2 and try to win the midfield battle with lots of possession, then spread the ball to the wings when they tired themselves out. The plan worked like a treat. By 30 mins mark the score was 0-0 and I had the majority of the possession (68%). However, I had yet to get a shot on target but I felt the game going my way. So it proved as my wide men started to get plenty of space on the flanks and MK Dons became less and less a threat. On 50 mins I took a well deserved lead with a cross and volley from the right hand side. I was now enjoying myself and playing keep ball on the large pitch. After 75 mins Brewster wrapped things up with a one on one, which he slid past the advancing keever. So with scenes of jubilation I picked up the trophy. What an atmosphere and EA deserve a lot of credit for making the big occasions special.
This feels like one of my best achievements on FIFA as World Class is bloody tough. With 18 games left I was 10th and 6 points adrift of the playoffs. My attacks and the game felt flat. So I decided things had to change and as a result I put much more thought into the tactics. The last week has seen me scouring the tactic guide on the bus/train to work and my lunch breaks. I have planned each match accordingly as opposed to my lazy approach before.
So now we move on to the Championship and the story continues. Two seasons ago I was relegated but now come back with a stronger side and a better prepared. Going down on the last game hurt and there is no way that is happening again.
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Congrats Darryl !!! Good Luck in the Championship.
Are you changing tactics on a per game basis then?
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Paul – thanks pal and looking forward to the challenge as I know I have a squad good enough to compete now. As for tactics I have four baseline formations that I like to use, which are 442 flat, 4231, 4411 and 433. Then I tweak these depending on how I want to play as all these formatiions are versatile. But most important I then look at the player roles and for example I want to get behind a flat midfield four then it is no good if my wingers don’t have the right assignment (ie: get in behind). That guide I posted is so useful. As for the opposition what I do is pretend to create a new team sheet. When doing this you can use any team in the game as a template. This means I can check if they like to press or sit back etc. Once I am happy I delete the spreadsheet. This is what any manager would do in real life and study the opposition.
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Good Tips Darryl. I haven’t gone that deep.
I have a formation/play setup assigned to each of the five options – Balanced / Attacking / Ultra Attacking / Defensive / Ultra Defensive.
My base (default) balanced formation is 4-2-2-2, this stays the same for defensive and attacking, but with the instructions altered, so for defensive I reduce the numbers committed forward during play and at FK’s and corners, set interceptions to aggressive and play a ‘press after losing ball’ tactic with buildup set to possession.
For attacking its the opposite, same 4-2-2-2 formation, but with fast build up play, more numbers forward etc.
This allows me to keep my same shape and play style but just adjust to be a tighter unit defensively or more probing unit attacking wise.
Ultra defensive switches to a 5-4-1 with everything aggressive, compact, keep all players back, us elong ball counter, and Ultra attacking switches to a 3-4-3 all out attack, with certain players set to free roam, literally just gungo ho.
This gives nice versatility during matches, and of course there’s also the ‘on-the-fly’ tactics for att/def assigned to the d-pad, team pressing is a fave defensive one and attacking full backs.
I also have an alternative team sheet set up with fringe/sub/youth players in that I use for cup games or games i expect to be easier.
So much choice and flexibility.
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