Just entered February and we currently sit Top of the league, a chasm of a 13 point gap separates us from second placed Villa, the league table scripting has been kind to me, I have drawn a couple of games and lost one, the teams all around me also drew and lost, keeping my hefty advantage in tact, had they won their games, the lead could have been reduced to a more manageable 7 points, but it didn’t, and I am still on course for the EFL Championship league title.
I was however dumped out of the FA Cup in the fifth round by League One Oldham, I nonchalantly played my fringe squad for that game, accessible easily from the team sheets option within the game, you can have multiple team sheets setup and flick between them with the RS before starting a game, I have one setup with my starting XI as default, one for fringe players, mainly subs who don’t always start or get a game, and a third team sheet for youth players, to blood them.
Despite Oldham’s lower status, they were up for it, harrying and harassing me all over the pitch with frenetic pace, you could instantly tell the difference in quality of squads as their passing was often astray, first touches poor and relied on long balls and fouls, but somehow they ran out 2-0 winners, after going ahead from a headed corner, then hitting me on the counter for the second late in the second half, from then on they played a 5-4-1 defensible formation and just clung to the lead.
Frank Angolo Zambo Aguissa (what a name) has cemented his place and the vice captaincy, at the heart of my midfield, he is my Dodo, my Gerrard, my Kanté, a solid DMF who breaks play up, his performances have been solid and earned him the Player of the Month award for December.
However, when it comes to shooting, as all legendary DMF’s should be able to possess a slamming shot, this is usually the result:
One match in particular, against an in-form and high-flying Bristol City, came just 3 days after the FA Cup defeat to Oldham, and my thread-bare squad were struggling with fitness, the 2 games in quick succession really took its toll with half of my squad starting with 60% or less stamina, and it really showed, our passing was off, inaccurate, first touches poor, and Bristol City played around us With ease, finishing with 62% possession.
I tried purely to get a draw from that game, as anything else would have been very difficult with the shattered squad, City went 1-0 up late in the first half then after sliding a nice pass between defenders into the box for my CMF to run on to, this happened:
Great save from the keeper. I rode my luck at times then in the last-minute of the first half, I managed to bag an equalizer with this fine effort from League top scorer, Jurgen Damm:
Here is my full squad, very thread bare, and this was after signing a handful of youth team players just to give cover, I’m going to have to sign some quality to have in reserve for the Premier League, if we suffer injuries we will be left very short.
Talking of injuries, my captain, CNB Vranjes, went down under a challenge against Watford and has to be stretchered off:
The final day of the January transfer window saw me scouring about for out of contract players, and free agents, nothing of. note was found, but I did scout and then shortlist a quality looking winger, all ready to pounce at the end of the season, only for Lazio to come in last-minute and snatch him from under our noses
I should have the season (3) wrapped up by end of next week, hopefully as Champions, my key priorities for pre-season will be to flesh the squad out in key positions with players good enough to do a job, but that won’t moan too much if they don’t play week in, week out.
FIFA 19 continues to amaze me with its detail, realism and pure enjoyment of matches, the crowd atmosphere, commentary and general all round presentation, a solid 9.5/10 for me so far.
Lastly a couple of nice-ish team goals from various matches, nothing sensational scored recently, The defence and midfield is too well-drilled and keeps its shape too well to pick the ball up in midfield and waltz 40 yards unchallenged and unleash a 35 yard generic arced finesse curler past a flapping keeper 😉
FIFAFX.com 
Out of the few possible scenarios I envisaged for Zambo’s strike, that was not it! I hope you laughed.
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If there was time it’d be great to assemble a Custom XI of Big Hair Players. You’ve got Chang. Get Fellaini and Luiz, and I bet there are others. Valderrama could come out of retirement. Gullit too. What a sight that would be!
Maybe go up a difficulty for your run-in once promotion is mathematically assured, to get you ready for the Premier League? You’ve got some decent players but as ever, the need for quality to stay up and then win things. Fascinated to see if you can take Forest to Treble-style glory in this tale.
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Jay – I just put my head in my hands, he’s got a couple of goals Aguissa,but more often than not this is the end result.
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NG – A sideshow Bob XI.
Chong is on loan from Man Utd, another decent player I’ll be losing, I’m going to have to seriously do something to bolster out the squad, finances permitting.
I will be staying on world class, the Premier League is a whole ‘nother difficulty level in itself, as I found out last time, that’s what I love about FIFA, there’s no need to hop between difficulty levels to balance the challenge.
Weaker Championship teams play differently to good Championship teams, and Premier League teams play like Premier League teams, the difficulty scales up through the one level.
In the unlikely event that I start breezing through the PL, I shall then look at Legendary level, until then ….
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Paul – No 40 yard waltzes through midfield but a casual observer of these goal highlights might draw the conclusion that FIFA 19 AI allows attackers to foxtrot in behind defences all-too easily and somewhat unrealistically.
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Shed –- sssssh! He’s immersed!
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Shed – and on some occasions I’d agree with you, neither game is perfect, one thing for sure though is the COM’s AI awareness and positional play is light years ahead of PES.
NG – 12/10
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Paul – lol. Last time I looked the other game was on 23/10, so there’s catching up to be done.
Of course in your goals vids we only see the times you did manage to get through the AI defences, and we see several such moments all compiled into one brief highlights vid. We don’t see the hundred times you tried and were stopped by solid AI positioning and decision-making. Now where have I outlined that before…. 🙂
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I completely hear you NG, but I haven’t posted one single goal where the midfield in FIFA doesnt exist, where I am allowed to run 50 yards through the midfield and where the defender just runs alongside me and doesn’t possess the situational awareness to know that he needs to make a challenge, because it doesn’t happen in FIFA, yet its evident in every goal vid anyone posts from PES.
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Haircut XI
Sommer
Ake
Dante
Luiz
Marcelo
Fellaini
Witsel
Hamsik
Sane
Willian
Salah
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Paul – there’s a lot going on, little side stories to go along with the main story. I loved that goal from (Jean Claude van) Damm, proper karate kick there. And that celebration! Proper athleticism there.
I must say I’m half tempted to buy the game… 30 euros off here in the ps store. I won’t be playing it any time soon as modded up pes is doing me just fine. But it would be nice to have around… Hmm.
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#1 – I particularly enjoyed the goal from Damm for several reasons, one it was a tidy finish, two it cane straight after missing that penalty, and three Damm is my top scorer, and league top scorer but has been off form of late.
Lots and lots going on off-pitch, setting up various scouting networks all over the world looking for talented youngsters. Developing them with training, interacting with players, press conferences, the in depth tactical options. Certainly enough to keep you busy.
If you have pc modded PES then you’re in a good place but can’t recommend Fifa 19 enough. It’s the best sim EA have made to date.
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Paul – It is a 9.5/10 experience for me as well at the moment. The only thing stopping it being a 10 is the games can be a little too high scoring at times but that is my only gripe. This season I have played 10 (TEN) and scored 22 (TWENTY-TWO) and conceded 18 (EIGHTEEN). The back story of promoton, followed by relegation and then promotion again is all part of that narrative.
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Darryl – I’m surprised. My matches are very realistic and not high scoring at all.
My last 10 results have been (My score always first):
2-0, 1-1, 1-0, 0-0, 1-0, 0-2, 3-1, 2-2, 4-2, 2-1 (GF: 16 | GA: 9)
Very realistic scores in all the other COM controlled matches too.
That was one of my bug bears about PES, for a number of years, and again this year, there are always a spattering of high scores in every match thats COM decided, teams hitting 4 week in week out, its ridiculous.
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Paul – so far this season I have had a 5-4, a 3-2 and 2 x 2-2 matches. The thing is the games are tight until I score and the CPU comes straight back the other end. I have read on the forums that people are experiencing this and have seen that changing the move assistance to high in the settings does counter this.
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Darryl – how does move assistance stop you conceding goals ? All it does is keeps the player you switch to moving in the direction of the LS. I have mine set to low, feel greater control that way.
Just played a 3 match sesh as the Mrs fell asleep on the sofa. Come from 1 down to beat Cardiff 2-1 Away, drew 1-1 with Preston, and battered Bolton all game who countered in the final minute to snatch a 1-1 draw.
My unassailable lead at the top has slipped to 11 pts now. 8 games left.
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Paul – I gave it a go but can’t see much difference. I think I am just poor at defending. Thankfully I have such a powerful attack and am up there in 8th and 1 point behind the play off spot after 15 games. Brewster keeps getting better and better. He is rated 84 OVR now and is soo good at working the channels. He is also lethal in front of goal. Super player and only still 24 in my game.
Also other news I have been offered a job at Juventus. I am flattered and a job offer like that has to be considered. I doubt I will go for it as I have a mission at Fleetwood to complete. Tempted though…….
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Darryl – all I can say is jockey and contain when defending. Let the com control your players, take control of your DMF and parade the back line cutting passes etc.
Nice job offer. Hardly realistic though. From relegated fleetwood to taking charge of Italy’s biggest team ?
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Paul – I think that is half my problem as I try and control everyone. I have never been a fan of tactical defending if I am honest but couldn’t go back to legacy. I don’t think either game gets the defence side of the game right and a new system would be welcome but would never happen.
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As for the job offer in my game Juventus are struggling and about 6th. I have taken a small club like Fleetwood to the higher level of the Championship and built the club. Still stretching the realism a bit. I wouldn’t move so doesn’t matter.
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Darryl – I switched back to legacy defending because IMO tactical doesn’t work as it should.
With tactical you cannot pressure the ball carrier, it’s based around contain and then a timed tackle. Far too often the better players would turn me or shift the ball faster than I could react, and inside the box they got shots off to often when just containing.
I find legacy better as the pressure button doesn’t just auto-hone in on a player but pressures them more tightly, then you can use second press or contain more efficiently.
Using L2 and pushing the LS into the ball carrier is a good method too as that engages a physical contact, often dispossessing the Player or making it harder for him to play accurate passes or shots.
I am top by 11pts and have the leagues best defensive record, so this tactic definitely works for me at least.
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Paul – your own and Darryl’s experiences with the game definitely hold weight for me and I’ll likely click on that order button somewhere this weekend. Seems to be too good to pass up though pes is delivering the goods at the moment. Custom tactics for the cpu make the game spring to life. Baffling that Konami haven’t implemented these themselves by default (well not really baffling ; they just can’t be bothered and let their users do all the hard work)
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Paul – I am glad it is not just me as I have been experiencing exactly the same with tactical defending. I may give legacy a go.
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Darryl – legacy ultimately was the way to go for me on 17 and 18. Could never get a handle on tactical defending, too fiddly for me.
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Paul – thanks for the info. Judging by this mornings session it had provided a better balance . Scores this morning as follows (me first):-
0-1, 2-1, 1-0, 1-1 (fa cup), 2-2 and 2-0 (replay)
I had slipped to 13th and six points behind the play offs. This has given me a bit of a pick up and have climbed to 9th and 4 points behind.
The game this year seems to be more suited to legacy defending with the introduction of 50/50 battles. With tactical you could not get close enough. Closing down of your opponent is an essential part of football but there is no option to do this with tactical. I read a description recently on the forums that described FIFA as being more of a sandbox game in comparison to the more on the rails PES. I get this and it was always the other way round with the two. However, the tactical defending doesn’t fit into this ethos as it limits what you want to do..
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Exactly how I found it Darryl. Legacy defending is much more suited to a pressure defensive game, tactical defending doesn’t allow you to get close enough to be effective , as you said.
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*** Today’s post will be delayed and will be up later tonight.
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Interesting convo about a number of things here, I too have always gone Legacy on FIFA in the last 6 years or so since it was introduced. Tactical defending is a great idea (FIFA tries things that don’t always work out, but at least it tries things). I’m still liking what I’m hearing about FIFA19 here and on the forums that I take a peek at occasionally to see how the game is lasting with the ex-PES faithful.Also FM19 and other recent editions look fantastic and I envy those players for the time they have to put into it. What a time to be a footy gamer.
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NG – it is a very good time to be a footy gamer. I am just envious that FIFA has a cut off point of 15 years for a management career. I am at the point now where how many seasons I have completed matters less and less. What you would also love is how each youth player has thier own personality, which wasn’t the case in the past with FIFA. I have a beanpole of a CB who is only 18 with an OVR of 76. At 6ft 8 he is one of the tallest players I have played with. But his first touch and ability is like Bambi on Ice. I also love the development side of things. First a promising young player will rise quite rapidly but once he gets to about 24 it is then a case of improving small percentage areas of his game. I had a wonderful session last night as I have had replays in the 3rd and 4th round of the FA Cup and a few injuries. This has meant I have had to utilise my entire sqaud. When you grind out results under these conditions it feels even more satisfying.
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NG – I meant I was envious of the fact you can just carry on with PES.
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Darryl – realistically speaking, 15 seasons is probably enough, but if you get that far, the chances are that you would very much want to continue past 15 seasons because you’ll likely be so invested in the game and the story.
What happens at the end of the 15th season? Is it definitely still the case that the limit applies?
In Civilization the game is formally over in year 2020 or so, but you can play on forever if you want. (As this player did.) Maybe the same will happen after 15 seasons for you, who knows.
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Loved reading this thank yoou
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