FIFA 17 - sponsored by Visa, MasterCard, McDonalds etc.

[The Merse]

First game played with the newbies and it's good. Very good.

MOTM Tolisso 1 goal
TIF Depay 1 goal, 1 assist
FIF Thiago 1 goal
SIF Piszczek 1 goal, 1 assist

All showed a real upgrade on the incumbents, even SIF Thiago over his IF version when he outmuscled Chiellini to score with his improved strength, Piszczek had great touch and passing and height and strength boost over Bellerin helped, TIF Depay finished in a way that Reus just doesn't - Reus has a weird way of striking the ball that pisses me off, he also provided a cracking corner for Piszczek's goal. Tolisso meanwhile scored an edge of the area curler that Matuidi would never make.

Happy as fucking larry with that.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Yeah I'm not overly sold on Reus.

Especially since I switched to a 4-3-3(4), he goes missing far too much.

[Gray Fox]

There's been problems connecting to FUT on Xbox all day. As such they've extended the birthday #7 SBC and the weekend league has had an extra day tacked on.

I may just play 10 games a night and get my full 40 in for the first time in over a month.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

New SBC is really good.

Minimum of 8 gold players, 8 squad rating, 8 chemistry.

Also I've started badly (1-7) but I just switched to 4-3-2-1 and it clicked. Martial who was wasted finally came into games and we were lethal.

6-3 (I missed loads too) after extra time only because of Coutinho's fucking overpowered long shots.

Also, the new Keita is indeed amazing.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I also need to bring Lewandowski back in but that means having to sell some Bundesliga stuff which I was trying to hold off until the SBC comes out.

Or I might switch to 4-3-1-2 in game with Reus and Dembele up front and bring OTW Sanches into the midfield.

[Yevrah]

Just noticed the Agbonlahor birthday card can be snapped up for 24k.

[Yevrah]

22,750, don't mind if I do.

[Bam]

22,750, don't mind if I do.


Hmm, that's in the bellend thread. To really annoy the locals you could have added 'cheeky' into the sentence.

[Yevrah]

That was why I did it.

I'm guessing Agbonlahor is a sweaty player.

[Gray Fox]

Most of those birthday cards are to be fair. Past FIFA games were all about pace.

This year strength and dribbling matter just as much.

[Yevrah]

Yeah, he's got 80 dribbling and 80 physical too.

Stick a sniper card on him and he'll be obscene.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

http://i.imgur.com/WFp7Da7.jpg

:(

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

An 88 Son is going to be fucking glorious.

[Gray Fox]

lol at the opponent with 27 tackles. Was he parking the bus too?

I've finished the last of the birthday SBCs. I think I did 7 of the 8, missing the first one after not knowing about the bigger prize overall. I'm still looking at El Shaarawy, but that finishes at 7pm. I don't think I'm going to be able to do it unless either Dembele or Sanches scores.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

No.

I run into opponents a lot because I'm an idiot.

[Shindig]

You're not alone in this.

[Gray Fox]

Take your right finger off the trigger when near players.

[Waffdon]

I've not conceded a goal since lowering myself to use a BPL squad. Valencia, UP Van Dijk and Baily are absolutely ridiculous in defence. Not conceded yet and UP Gabbiadini finishes ahin.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Sold MOTM 87 Son for 465k (:() and decided to pick up FIF Kane until I buy Son back.

3-0 within 20 minutes with Kane scoring a goal and playing some lovely passes to start moves for the other two.

5-11 right now, this is the worst I've done in a WL thus far.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Sticking the Bundesliga players up that I had hoarded.

I can't imagine that I'll lose that much by waiting a week or more and I want TOTGS Lewandowski or better.

[Gray Fox]

I've just had to chill out from the most stressful time I've had on this FIFA. I had to wait to start the El Shaarawy SBC(it finished at 6pm) until 5pm. Both my OTW cards were due to be involved in the Bayern v Dortmund game and I needed their price to go up to afford it.

I listed all my IF cards for about their lowest BIN just after 5. I needed all to sell to do it. So everything but my IF Tolisso sold leaving me the 60k or so short of it. I went through buying the cards for the 1st part of that SBC but didn't go through with it until I knew Tolisso had sold.
I saw my coins go up just after 5:45pm so submitted the first one. From then I moved in a mad scramble to buy the IF cards off the market. They were all being bought up and so I had to waste valuable time re-searching. I bought the last one at 5:59. I made a mad dash back to the SBC screen and got back in to see the timer show only 12 seconds left.
I put all the cards in there and then went to apply the needed position cards to find I didn't have them. Disaster. It's about 6:10pm now so I couldn't go to the transfer list as backing out of that screen would have meant it disappearing for good. At this point I'm 3 chemistry short and have no way to increase it. I'm cursing myself for essentially wasting 150k.
I was going to back out and take the hit, but took one last look through my untradeable cards and there I saw SBC Parolo and Insigne. Put them in and jumped when I saw all criteria ticked. It still allowed me to submit it, even 20 mins after the deadline.

It may not sound it, but it was mega stressful. But still:

http://images-eds.xboxlive.com/image?url=MSVnmBUo_fHjbLYMjAEUQ0lownAKOp9IonrjkJ1o Pz440p.naLXphh4wZ7BoolFfW.DuiC7skq3tx1ExU3PFE4AJWy 2CRIMPpqDd4BaycOoUWeJdFIAH4cW6444j_Zb9FKwPC8uLNEwf K2LME0wjj1FquxFAcYS7WP43fXcjdB2HvDMXUgLk5S8llAp9Gx eB4NwBNG0E.vUovXPElUYymXZRGCzieqMHEbod.BNXncKadbek iD5XLJ5BUMUdEIqE7gX2kjXDY1UfX_61qTkiDxPkUvgU08guwe D_xcwBY0M-&format=png&h=640&w=1138

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Sold almost every single Bundesliga player I had stocked up and I also sold the Kane I bought earlier in the day.

I've bought Andre Gray back and have 866k. I'll buy SIF Lewandowski for around 600k and then with the rest I'll buy back 87 Son when his 88 comes out on Wednesday. If I get some pack luck with WL (I wont obviously) I might even be able to stretch for the 88 that comes out.

[Gray Fox]

I've only the 4k left after the above exploits. Selling that Dembele at the higher price really was crucial.

This week, I will be mostly, being poor. :D

I did however get 82 Walker in one of the two packs, so he replaces the loyal servant as I sell my 81 Walker. 411 games ago I bought him for 20k. I now sell him for around 11. Not a bad return at all. There's only 3 cards at the club who have played more games than he has too. It also helps building the coins back up slowly.
After opening reward packs I'm back up to about 25k. I'll probably need to spend a fair whack of that fitting the guys back into the team, or I can save it for one weekend league and then go and buy IF Tolisso back, or save for bigger things etc.

I do like the game this year. And I haven't even played a match yet!

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

93 Lewandowski is utterly brilliant.

I've struggled in this WL but after buying him I've won 5 in a row.

16-14 right now.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkG6iOROdIg


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvwiO59kTQQ

I love him.

Secured Gold 3 and I've not got 7 chances to grab 3 extra wins for Gold 2. Which is some turn around considering that I was 5-11 at one point.

[John]

I'm looking at making a French league side, that being the only top league I haven't had a proper side in so far on this version. I have enough coin to make a good one, with OTW Depay looking particularly exciting. How on earth is he so cheap?

[Gray Fox]

It's all league bias and nationality.

Same reason as players like Naby Keita or Salah are so cheap. He's not in the EPL or La Liga and so people are less interested. Then add in that he has a tougher nationality to link up to hybrid with him. Look at 86 Kante for example. He and Keita both have an 86 card. Both look of similar quality. One is 60k and the other is 400k.

Imagine the difference in price had he been in the EPL instead.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Because most people don't use a straight Ligue 1 side. They'll go with a hybrid.

I've played a few 4-3-2-1's with SBC Lacazette, Martial and Dembele.

His first IF with United was great so the 86 must be lovely.

[Gray Fox]

https://www.easports.com/uk/fifa/ultimate-team/web-app/show-off?showoffId=dyM4rshBrwz:FFA17XBO

That's where I am with this now. Obviously some sacrifices had to be made in midfield for now. But you can see that I have a few ingredients there for a decent Serie A team. There are plenty of CAMs in that league that look phenomenal. Also I want to get more use from that
red Mertens.
The idea now is to build back up as I've essentially just spent 900k on two players.

[The Merse]

I'm looking at making a French league side, that being the only top league I haven't had a proper side in so far on this version. I have enough coin to make a good one, with OTW Depay looking particularly exciting. How on earth is he so cheap?

TIF Depay is the bollocks. I'm loving him at LM, can only imagine the damage he'd do as a LF

[Yevrah]

Pulled this together just now.

http://i67.tinypic.com/2vvsxuo.jpg

600k all told.

[Lemmo]

Servers have been absolutely horrendous the last couple of weekends so I've not even bothered trying to play as it's really not enjoyable.

This is what I'm going to be using when they're a bit better:

https://www.easports.com/fifa/ultimate-team/web-app/show-off?showoffId=jnmcqz1DnMAM4:FFA17PS4

I think the FUT Birthday cards shouldn't lose too much value and they look pretty special, Ogbonna and Abate especially.

[Yevrah]

7/20 done towards getting SBC Lacazette, some of the teams are total fucks to do. Enjoying ASNL as we speak. :moop:

[Gray Fox]

Servers have been absolutely horrendous the last couple of weekends so I've not even bothered trying to play as it's really not enjoyable.

This is what I'm going to be using when they're a bit better:

https://www.easports.com/fifa/ultimate-team/web-app/show-off?showoffId=jnmcqz1DnMAM4:FFA17PS4

I think the FUT Birthday cards shouldn't lose too much value and they look pretty special, Ogbonna and Abate especially.

I know exactly what you mean. They keep doing these events over the weekends and the servers can't take it. That's one great team though. I want one of those Italians in my birthday reward pack, whenever we actually get them.

Let me know how Abate is when you get to using him.


7/20 done towards getting SBC Lacazette, some of the teams are total fucks to do. Enjoying ASNL as we speak. :moop:

He's so very worth it. A genuine goal per game player.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Servers have been absolutely horrendous the last couple of weekends so I've not even bothered trying to play as it's really not enjoyable.

This is what I'm going to be using when they're a bit better:

https://www.easports.com/fifa/ultimate-team/web-app/show-off?showoffId=jnmcqz1DnMAM4:FFA17PS4

I think the FUT Birthday cards shouldn't lose too much value and they look pretty special, Ogbonna and Abate especially.
Ogbonna might be my favourite defender, he seems to break up so many attacks. He's a perfect match to Smalling.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://www.futbin.com/17/squad/2998413

Genuinely thinking about that.

I would even be able to stretch to Lewandowski's 95 version by selling the Prem/Bundesliga players that would now be useless to me.

Edit: It's happening. All up for sale with Mane leaving for 355k and Martial bought for 397k.

I'm going to miss Mane but he was a real trooper and made me about 250k profit.

It is complete and I still have 120k plus whatever I get for the 93 Lewandowski.

[Gray Fox]

I may have to admit defeat on cramming the 3 stars I've got into the same team. I love having all 3 in attack, but the players I'm having to put around them for the sake of chemistry are harming the defensive side. Obviously I can better this with more coins but they'll be slow in coming back.
I can't see assists from the web app, but I know Torres has 23 goals in 23 games. Lacazette has 59 in 56 and El Shaarawy has 9 in 10. Put short, once I get these 3 up top, I'm actually shocked when I miss now. As for the latter, he feels a little weak but is fantastic otherwise. His ideal range seems to be belting it from just outside the box. I've scored 3 or 4 good ones with him already.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27_mWPjEaoU

I sit 7-3, but in truth the passing tonight has been very random. 40 yard raking through balls have been easier to pull off than a standard 10 yard pass. I deserved 1 loss, the other 2 I was a little unlucky with some rebounds from defensive tackles I made. I might play the rest tomorrow, I might not. I'm just hoping the servers calm down in the meantime.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Decided to buy Birthday Luiz :uhoh:

[Gray Fox]

I've come up against his SBC card only the once and the bastard had 86 Kante and IF Gueye next to him. I think that was the only match I failed to get more than about 2 shots off. It was like playing against someone with cheat codes on.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I just scored my best ever chip goal with IF Martial on his debut which would have given him a hattrick. For some reason the game gave it as a Butland OG though.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqrYpjOtGZM

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Winning 2-0 in a match and looking comfortable, guy scores a lucky goal and the momentum shifts to his favour and he grabs another. Then in injury time this happens:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkvwhTe8n48

Ugh.

[Gray Fox]

On a winning streak today. Won 5 running, with 3 of them being late turnarounds. I'd been playing will in all of them but just couldn't beat the keeper. When they block a point blank cut back you know it's not your day. One game was 5-5 at half time. Basically both trapped in the kickoff boost.
Still I'm 12-3 now. Hopefully will push towards Gold 2/1 tonight. El Shaarawy has 14 in 15, Lacazette 62 in 61 and Torres 27 in 28. I notice people paying a lot of attention to the latter now too, so he's doing very well.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Finished 20-20 :(

Final game decided on a penalty shootout and I win about 90% of the time but I bottled it.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Marquee matchup packs:

Gold Pack: Baier (80 non rare CDM, Augsburg), silver team fitness, the rest shit
Two rare gold pack: Ben Yedder and Riedewald
Premium Gold Players pack: Van Dijk, Winston Reid and some shit
Jumbo Premium pack: Carcela-Gonzalez, N'Doye, Trippier, Gold all injuries card, hawk card
Rare Mega: Gabi, Bakambu, Musa, 4 squad fitness cards, silver all injuries, CAM > CF.

Nothing amazing but I'll make profit.

[The Merse]

All told, about 20k instant profit and about 30k (to buy rather quick sell value) of cards I'll keep from the MMs this week. Not bad considering I didn't compromise my position for future SBCs - I had plenty of cards of similar value, clubs and leagues. Always a nice little top up in earnings and allowed me to buy Ribery as the last FC Bayern player in my Bundesliga SBC investments. Anything extra I get over the coming fortnight and will go into buying an 87 rated Aubameyang, so I can trade in my 86 rated in the SBC if really needed and sell if not. The IF is just too much.

[Yevrah]

I made a fortune from the Marquee matchup packs yesterday. No stunning golds, but loads of decent consumables and a fair number of random but profitable players.

[The Merse]

Marquee matchup packs:

Gold Pack: Baier (80 non rare CDM, Augsburg), silver team fitness, the rest shit
Two rare gold pack: Ben Yedder and Riedewald
Premium Gold Players pack: Van Dijk, Winston Reid and some shit
Jumbo Premium pack: Carcela-Gonzalez, N'Doye, Trippier, Gold all injuries card, hawk card
Rare Mega: Gabi, Bakambu, Musa, 4 squad fitness cards, silver all injuries, CAM > CF.

Nothing amazing but I'll make profit.

Hmmm. Seems PS4 got different rewards? I got an electrum players pack, a jumbo gold, a rare consumables pack and a prime players. Can't remember the 5th.

Rare consumables is a money maker and a half. 4K from 4 squad fitness cards, 2k from 2 CDM>CM cards and 2k from contracts.

[Yevrah]

Couldn't get on with Birthday Nani, despite his awesome dribbling stat his sprinting motion was horrid. So out he and Bale go and in comes Messi. :cool:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Hmmm. Seems PS4 got different rewards? I got an electrum players pack, a jumbo gold, a rare consumables pack and a prime players. Can't remember the 5th.

Rare consumables is a money maker and a half. 4K from 4 squad fitness cards, 2k from 2 CDM>CM cards and 2k from contracts.
Yeah but I keep my squad fitness cards.

[Yevrah]

Hmmm. Seems PS4 got different rewards? I got an electrum players pack, a jumbo gold, a rare consumables pack and a prime players. Can't remember the 5th.

Mahow's talking about the one that was going yesterday. Same rewards as you on XB1 for the latest one.

[The Merse]

Mahow's talking about the one that was going yesterday. Same rewards as you on XB1 for the latest one.

That's what I'm on about too.

Maybe it's because I did it from the iOS app?

[The Merse]

Yeah but I keep my squad fitness cards.

Fair. I do 2 competitive squads with a third and fourth to play more occasionally with/experiment so no need for fitness. Occasionally the weekend league demands I use one squad due to restrictions and I use individual player fitness cards but I've hardly touched Fut Hamps in mind this and have about 500 of them now.

[The Merse]

That's what I'm on about too.

Maybe it's because I did it from the iOS app?

Oh no. Hang on, it went live today (well, Monday). My bad.

[Gray Fox]

Got to 16-4 in relative comfort, but was really tired by this point. What followed was the most frustrating 5 games I've had in a while. There was so much auto-block and shenanigans involved that I was actually laughing at the game. Most of these games I was leading and ended up losing the first 4. I lost 2 in the 90th minute and a further one in the 120th. The 5th game I was up 2-0 before I tackled him twice, with the ball rebounding to his player, for him to shoot but be deflected into a perfect through ball to Griezmann. From kick off I went up and put a 9/10 chance against the post. He thumped one long ball up and was in to make it 2-2.
I laid seige to his goal in extra time but couldn't score. I missed my first penalty and thought it was all done, but a clutch save when he needed to score to win saw me turn it around. My winning penalty only came because his keeper did some kind of delayed dive. After that I got win 18 pretty simply and finished 18-8.

This week is full of rewards now. FUT birthday 100k pack for me, monthly rewards should be here and the usual Thursday ones. I look forward to being disapponted in all.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

This round of Marquees:

Jumbo premium gold: Welbeck, Leandro (2k silver) and shit
Rare consumables: 4 squad fitness
Electrum: Murray, Dost, Kimmich and bollocks
Gold players: Boufal and crap
Prime gold players: Gueye, Falcao, Gabriel Jesus and nothing much more.

[Dan]

Bundesliga SBC is out, gentlemen. Very pleased I went out & piled up a load of Darmstadt, Ingolstadt & Freiburg players, as well as a few Ulreich's this morning :cool: Managed to finish the first two of those pretty much for free, and should be able to save a decent amount of coins on Freiburg too. Still probably won't get the whole thing finished for ages, but I should be able to make upwards of 50k coins out of those pickups.

Only picked the game back up a few weeks ago, having played for a bit when I got my One S in October & had to scrounge for coins, not helped by doing all of the Higuain SBC & blowing 55k on a pack that gave me Marchisio (which I sold) & nothing else.

Still, worked my way back over 100k & have been climbing the online seasons leagues with a fairly basic Serie A team. Taking this version as a learning experience & hopefully should be able to get some FUT Champions under my belt at some point before the next game comes out :D

[The Merse]

I'm ready for the fucker after yesterdays splurge on the remaining players. Championship one will need doing too since McCormack will play with SBC Griffiths in my throwback team (my first couple of FUTs I'd start with a Scottish team for the first couple of months).

[The Merse]

Just finished it for free (Well, players obviously). Got 89-rated Hazard in my rewards. Dunno whether to sell it or sell my 88-rated one.
Also sold the likes of Schurle, Ramos and a few others I had saved for 3k each. Lovely.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I need that Son and SIF Alonso.

[The Merse]

Why in god's name has Ozil got an IF?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

534k to buy 88 Son and 85 Alonso.

Or I might even pack them tomorrow but I've got more chance of Jennifer Lawrence proclaiming her undying love for me.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

852162892233416706

I'll actually get a Gold player this month \0/.

[Gray Fox]

That is so much better than it was before in terms of the Elite finish. As for Gold, I'm not sure the thought of one extra disappointment is enough to push me to get into Gold 1 over 2.

[The Merse]

Woof. Much demanded and may get me back into FUT Champs once the moving to London thing is over in June. Having hit Gold 1 in the two months I managed three weekends of play in, the idea of an extra couple of Gold IF's is very attractive.

[Gray Fox]

After thinking, I'd have had 3, 6 and 9 cards as your Gold rewards, but I guess that would make Gold 1 a little too good. I can't remember where I finished for March. I think it was Gold 2, but I might have sneaked into Gold 1. If I did it was only just.

Those 4 cards should arrive at 7pm tonight. I'm just hoping for a card I can use, even if just 1 of the 4. If I get either of the two Liverpool players I'll be a happy man. 88 Nainggolan/87 Perisic is the dream. But being realistic, there's a lack of players rated 83 or less you'd like to get, but that's exactly what I will be getting. A shame I'm not good enough for top 100 monthly. Almost every top forward and midfielder had a TOTW card through March.

Still in other news, prices are dropping again. As far as I understand it, people are selling off their valuables now, in anticipation of TOTS. I didn't think TOTS came out until May, but apparently it's late April to May usually.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

New Marquee Matchups give a TOTW player for doing all 4.

[Yevrah]

That explains why I can sell bog standard golds from the leagues involved for a fortune.

[Yevrah]

Just sold Rebrov, an 73 rated GK from Spartak for 8,500 and Schennikov from CSKA for 6,000.

These prices are so good I might even go balls deep on some FIFA points.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Hannover vs Braunschweig is a fucking nightmare.

Even bronzes are getting insta BIN'd at 3.5k.

[Yevrah]

Futbin reckons it costs 70k to do the whole lot. I suspect that needs to be updated...

Imagine all the effort just to get Tanaka. :drool:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Best WL rewards thus far for me. NIF Lacazette and Gundogan flying the flag.

I also bought an 85 Alonso for 108k.

[Yevrah]

Is the TOTW marquee reward tradeble? If so, I might be in.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I have heard that it is.

88 Son for 305k :drool:

Praise the crash.

[Gray Fox]

Nothing in 2 of my reward packs, but my 2nd pack yielded a walkout. Given the state of the TOTW I got excited but the Austrian flag brought me back to Earth. Still, that's Alaba plus there was a hidden MOTM Fernandes. Near on 80k for the pack. Not bad at all.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Did the Marquee matchups.

I got a pissing Guardado.

Wish I hadn't of bothered.

[Yevrah]

I've only got the German one left to do, so I'm preparing to be as disappointed as yourself.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I did get quite a few players back that could be used in the SBC's (so value is there) but I was really hoping for someone to make profit on.

[Yevrah]

Any tips for coming up against sides that press the shit out of you?

[Gray Fox]

Play the ball out wide quickly. Most pressing formations are narrow and are the 4-1-2-1-2 or 4-3-1-2. If you work the ball wide, they have to stretch that midfield out to chase you down or just leave you 1 v 1 on the full back. Moving the ball quicker also helps.

I've just sold a non-rare gold player for 8k. What's going on?

Monthly and Birthday rewards were due to drop tonight but:

852655629084889088

I'd expect them in the morning. If not they'll probably hold out on them for a week.

[Yevrah]

I got Bas Dost. Got all excited when I saw it was a striker too.

And cheers Fox.

[Gray Fox]

Opened all my rewards now. I got untradeable Kane and Firmino from the birthday pack. Disappointed not to get a birthday player in there. Then came the 4 monthly cards. Two, 81 keepers in Boruc and Wiedwald was disappointing to see, but there was better up the other end.
85 Belotti and 87 Casemiro. Delighted with the latter but very interested to try out the former. 200k worth of cards for free too. Happy with my luck this week. After the SBCs cleared me out, I've gone from 5k to 177k, plus a quality red card. Just need to figure where I want to spend.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I got the IF Gueye as my Gold in the silver monthly rewards which isn't too shabby. I've been wanting to try him out.

[The Merse]

The MMs this week :drool:

Ok, the TOTW pack was shit (81 rated Hunt) but I also grabbed 84-rated IF Guardado and 85-rated MOTM Germain in a single Jumbo Premium Gold.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I fucking hate Fridays. I also start like absolute horseshit.

1-4 and I just lost a penalty shootout which I should have won.

[Yevrah]

How long does the Journey take to hammer through?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Someone said about 16 hours if you do all the training sessions, watch every cut scene etc. which seems about right.

I've decided to switch from 433(4) to 433(3). I like the CAM but I'm too shit defensively so feel that those 2 CDM's are needed more.

Hopefully I'll start winning when I go back on after dinner.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Thought that I had finally broken the gypsy curse upon me when Lewandowski scored this beauty:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jO1T6TBMWoA

But then I lost thanks to this goal after battering my opponent all game:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOVoTuS7QN8

I'm aware that I made two mistakes in that (a reckless challenge with Keita and then accidentally switching to Sokratis) but still :(

I think I need to make a budget/fun squad to mix things up and freshen it up when I'm in a bit of a slump.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://www.futbin.com/17/squad/3128086

Possibly, although I'd need to do Soma's SBC.

[Gray Fox]

After recieving who I did in my monthlies I think I should set about a Serie A team again. I want to use Casemiro but that will come in time. The SBC El Shaarawy is obscene and Mertens is a god in his own right. So I've knocked up this to try and incorporate both:

https://gyazo.com/9ee2580ba3e7b028417682120cbd1dda.png

It's just out of my range, but I can fix that by playing with regular Koulibaly for a week or two or swapping out Joao Mario for Nainggolan. It can obviously be improved in some places, but I have limited funds so this looked a decent option. I toyed with the idea of doing the Serie A SBC, but another expensive striker I cant trade, seems like a bad idea.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I've been opening loads of the Jumbo Premium Silver packs with my coins and I've just packed this:

https://www.futbin.com/17/player/18275/watkins

I might make a team around him as he looks damn good.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

http://i.imgur.com/22QeBXJ.jpg

Liking that.

[Gray Fox]

He looks mad for a silver. Speaking of which, the Amartey TOTT card is also disgusting.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Had a go with the domestic hybrid above (but with OTW Bailly instead of Ake) against an 88 rated La Liga side which seems a little harsh.

Bossed and went 1-0 up but then conceded two goals late on with luck going against me.

Bent and Gueye were absolutely amazing.

Did seem to refresh me taking a step back from my first team though.

Oh and 'Mon the Sane IF.

[Lemmo]

Tried the new team out today in FUT Champs, probably not the ideal place to try a brand new team and get used to them.

Started off horrendously at 1-3 but clawed it back to 14-4. 89 Mertens is genuinely the best player I've used this year.

18 games played. 28 goals, 15 assists.

FUT Birthday Ogbonna is also the best CB I've used at 100k he seems a bit of a steal. He's like Bailly on roids with better positioning.

[Gray Fox]

7-3 having recovered from 2-3. I've conceded some comical goals too. 2 of the losses have come courtesy of own goals. First one I cut out a low cross twice in the same game by pressing A to pass it back to the 'keeper. Both times he ran out past the ball and it trickled in. I lost that game 3-2. Then came the next game in which my opponent had a shot from a really narrow angle. Going out for a throw-in but my 'keeper tried a save with his feet and basically booted the ball into the net.

The 4-2-3-1 is good, and allows some nice play, but it's a lot harder to work the ball forward against better players. The wider 2 CAMS are a bit less effective than I'd imagined too. They are Dybala and Mertens in my set up as El Shaarawy is too good at smashing in 20 yarders. If struggles continue I may swap out Belotti and move to a 4-3-1-2.

[Lemmo]

Went on a bit of a tear this afternoon. Currently 24-5, playing really well. The game I lost I missed about 4 one on ones so only myself to blame for that one.

I've only been to 1 pen shootout so far too, which is rare for me in that many games.

May look at the 85 IF Alonso to replace Rose as feel he sometimes gets pushed about a bit too much but apart from that it's such a solid team.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Alonso is brilliant.

I'm 7-7 currently so I'll need to pull my finger out after the United game.

[Yevrah]

Decided to give FUT a rest for a while and started a career game with Man Utd. Just won the opening friendly cup, but Ibrahimovic has done his cruciates in the process. 7 months out. :moop:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Nice to see that injuries are rife in all modes.

[Yevrah]

They do indeed appear to be. I've lost him, Shaw and Kehinde (all for a decent amount of time) and I'm only a fortnight in. :nono:

[Yevrah]

Juan Mata's constantly paranoid about me dropping him. Poor lad, Mourinho must really have fucked him mentally.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I just played a FUT champs match where I was basically walking through my opponents defence. He then attempted to slide me at every single opportunity, ref only gave out 2 yellows despite me having 4 players injured in the game. He scored 2 lucky goals to win too which pissed me off even more.

Luckily three of the players finished with no lasting injury but David Luiz is out for 2 games.

[Lemmo]

Finished on 32 wins making it my highest ever finish.

Ended up a bit disappointed as I was genuinely on for 35 wins at one point but I lost my head for a few games when some guy scabbed a goal then literally held it in the corner all game. I pray on the next Fifa they remove how easy it is to do that, It's like the Rock has suddenly turned up and put on some boots.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Damn that's a great effort.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

http://i.imgur.com/F3OgWcn.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/wLDr53s.jpg

I'd have been seething through the fucking roof had I lost that.

13-11 right now, god I hate WL. It's so much better with another 12 hours.

[Yevrah]

35 wins Lemmo? Jesus, you must be good at this.

Does that put you somewhere near the top 100?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDYvPUVhRqw

Never has a goal tasted so sweet.

Battering the guy and he ends up scoring a lucky goal in extra time then keeps heading to the corners. Lovely ball in by Sokratis.

Ended up winning on penalties.

[Lemmo]

35 wins Lemmo? Jesus, you must be good at this.

Does that put you somewhere near the top 100?

Seems low this week, top 100 was 34 wins when I checked earlier (Think it usually ends up at 36/37)

I finished on 32 with a game remaining so couldn't make it.

I did beat some guy who had been in the top 150 in Jan, Feb and March and he messaged me after claiming I was cheating because he'd never heard of me. Not quite sure how you would even cheat on this game.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Can't be arsed anymore, I'm far too tired.

15-13 which is a shame as I could have easily hit Gold 2 had I played some more on Friday and Saturday.

Only hope is for a massive power outage whilst I'm sleeping.

[Yevrah]

I did beat some guy who had been in the top 150 in Jan, Feb and March and he messaged me after claiming I was cheating because he'd never heard of me. Not quite sure how you would even cheat on this game.

Rofl. The pro-community really is full of some seriously up their own arse wankers.

[Gray Fox]

The FIFA community really can be a lost cause at times. Just last week I had 2 occasions of messaging a guy "good game" after it had finished, to recieve a reply that told me that I was wrong. It was not infact a good game and I was lucky and didn't deserve my win.

Still, I tend to only play now until I can't reach Elite and this time I stopped on 26 wins. If I could learn how to grind out the extra 3 wins I'd be delighted. I am a little bit disappointed EA introduced the new tiers for monthly rewards after a week of the month was up already. I'd have definitely played past 18 last week if I had known. As it is I need 53 wins for Elite 3 and 41 for Gold 1. For my skill level, getting Elite is going to be challenging, but I'm aiming at Gold 1 now.
Lemmo 32 wins is quality. You look like you've enjoyed your shiny new Mertens. I'm sure I've asked this before, but do you use any custom tactics? I've been giving some a go for a while now, but keep noticing my goals conceded are now mostly from me losing the ball in the midfeild and having no one back. Either way, I hope the TOTW pack is nice to you on Thursday.

[Lemmo]

The FIFA community really can be a lost cause at times. Just last week I had 2 occasions of messaging a guy "good game" after it had finished, to recieve a reply that told me that I was wrong. It was not infact a good game and I was lucky and didn't deserve my win.

Still, I tend to only play now until I can't reach Elite and this time I stopped on 26 wins. If I could learn how to grind out the extra 3 wins I'd be delighted. I am a little bit disappointed EA introduced the new tiers for monthly rewards after a week of the month was up already. I'd have definitely played past 18 last week if I had known. As it is I need 53 wins for Elite 3 and 41 for Gold 1. For my skill level, getting Elite is going to be challenging, but I'm aiming at Gold 1 now.
Lemmo 32 wins is quality. You look like you've enjoyed your shiny new Mertens. I'm sure I've asked this before, but do you use any custom tactics? I've been giving some a go for a while now, but keep noticing my goals conceded are now mostly from me losing the ball in the midfeild and having no one back. Either way, I hope the TOTW pack is nice to you on Thursday.

Mertens is special, he's currently on well over a goal and assist a game and they're all FUT Champs matches - His team of the season is going to be ridiculous.

Hopefully the TOTW pack goes a bit better than my previous couple, they've all been full of discards. I've not pulled anyone decent since IF Carrasco awhile back who sold for about 200k in the end.

I don't do loads for custom tactics, I set my defensive line to cover and increase the build up play speed to about 70.

Individual instructions is pretty standard, both full backs and 2 CM's to stay back while attacking with 1 CM (One of the side ones) to get forward. All 3 forwards set to get in behind and stay central.

I personally don't look too much into individual instructions, I believe it's more related to players work rates. For example you can set your full backs to stay back but if they have the high attacking work rate you'll always see them popping up in the oppositions box and bombing down the flank.

For that reason I ended up getting rid of POTM Dele Alli and switching back to Kante as he just breaks up more of the play and gets around the pitch better.

[Gray Fox]

I have my build up on 70 too, but I've noticed a lot that when I work a chance, if it misses and falls back in play, I'm very vulnerable on the counter. Same if I lose the ball in the midfield. All I can think is it's my midfield bombing on too quickly and not being there to help out. I might try turning them all down to see if it makes a difference.
I genuinely don't know how they're going to make Mertens better. I have the 88 version and he's perfect as is.

I'm swapping out Walker for Valencia to see if there's a difference. The latter is much stronger and I reckon that'll help me more than the lack of pace. I'd love to try Coleman here but he's too much.

I have 55k right now but I think I'd like to upgrade my Serie A team. I'll have 95k and whatever my two 100k packs gift me with. They discard for about 15k each so that's a minimum of another 30k on top. The front line is set if I play a 4-3-1-2, but if I do go for 4-2-3-1 I'd be interested in birthday Muriel, 88 Icardi or get 86 Gomez and move Dybala up top.
I think midfield is the best investment though. I can afford a good TOTW card here. I'm looking at either Brozovic or Joao Mario. They both have almost the exact same card minus the shooting and work rates. Brozovic has much better shooting but high/med work rates. Mario has med/high.
There's options in defence too. I can upgrade to birthday Abate at right back, or TOTT Koulibaly instead of the standard one.

[Lemmo]

I have my build up on 70 too, but I've noticed a lot that when I work a chance, if it misses and falls back in play, I'm very vulnerable on the counter. Same if I lose the ball in the midfield. All I can think is it's my midfield bombing on too quickly and not being there to help out. I might try turning them all down to see if it makes a difference.
I genuinely don't know how they're going to make Mertens better. I have the 88 version and he's perfect as is.

I'm swapping out Walker for Valencia to see if there's a difference. The latter is much stronger and I reckon that'll help me more than the lack of pace. I'd love to try Coleman here but he's too much.

I have 55k right now but I think I'd like to upgrade my Serie A team. I'll have 95k and whatever my two 100k packs gift me with. They discard for about 15k each so that's a minimum of another 30k on top. The front line is set if I play a 4-3-1-2, but if I do go for 4-2-3-1 I'd be interested in birthday Muriel, 88 Icardi or get 86 Gomez and move Dybala up top.
I think midfield is the best investment though. I can afford a good TOTW card here. I'm looking at either Brozovic or Joao Mario. They both have almost the exact same card minus the shooting and work rates. Brozovic has much better shooting but high/med work rates. Mario has med/high.
There's options in defence too. I can upgrade to birthday Abate at right back, or TOTT Koulibaly instead of the standard one.

IF Brozovic is very good all round especially going forward, always pops up in the right positions and has a decent long shot. Not used Joao Mario or really came up against him much to comment.

I had the 86 IF Koulibaly but his High/High work rate put me off him, always seemed to be charging up the pitch and getting caught. That's why I switched to FUT Birthday Ogbonna and Chiellini who have High - Med/Low respectively.

I'd also recommend FUT Birthday Abate, he's got everything. I actually think he's better than Walker who previously was untouchable for me on this version of Fifa.

[John]

TIF Carrasco out tonight. :drool:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

And TIF Sokratis :drool:

[Gray Fox]

I must not open my 100k packs...

[John]

Isco looks a bit good too, actually. He must have about six special cards now. Shadow on him and he's almost the perfect midfielder. Should fit in beautifully beside Kovacic.

[Gray Fox]

If you're interested in trying them out, look at the IF card below.

89 Isco is now 120k on XB1 which looks a bargain. 87 Carrasco is now 115k. Both have lost 50k just today so try those out now if anyone's interested in them. 87 Sokratis is now only 70k too.

[Gray Fox]

Also the other day some skill move and weak foot upgrades happened. Not many players you will care about, but there's a few good ones. These obviously apply to all special cards of said player too. Ousmane Dembele now has 5* skills. Son now has 4* skills. Belotti now has a 4* weak foot. Mbappe Lottin up to 4* weak foot. Sturridge now has 4* skills. Lacazette now has a 4* weak foot.

I don't think I've missed anyone out. But my Lacazette just got better so I'm a happy chappy.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

If I was able to actually use skills effectively I'd be happy.

As it is, meh.

[Gray Fox]

Opened my rewards.

Pack 1 was pretty good. Walkout Fabregas, Barzagli, Mane and Varane. Pack 2 and I got Barzagli again but not much else. A shame they aren't worth what they once were, but three, 86 rated players is not to be sniffed at.

[Lemmo]

Herrera and 2 81's in my rewards, probably about 110k altogether which isn't great but it all adds up.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I got fuck all.

Did buy Sokratis TIF though.

[Gray Fox]

I also got Mathieu and Guardardo as their normal rare cards. I expected 800 coins each but they have both sold for a combined 15k. I'm not on the console but I assume they are both in the marquee matchup of the week?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Yep, and it's another TOTW player reward.

I'll be doing it tomorrow and obviously get Zapata.

[Gray Fox]

I've kept one Barzagli and sold the other. All else sold I got up to 180k.

In come IF Joao Mario and birthday Abate on Lemmo s reccomendation. I picked Mario over Brozovic based on work rates, but honestly that's an either way decision. That leaves my Serie A team looking like this:

https://i.gyazo.com/78a6de562633f96788c6e358bf4b1f57.png

I have 40k left to spend. Doesn't buy me much of an upgrade on anything unfortunately. Although the obvious next player to go is Medel. The options I can afford to replace him are Hamsik, Pjanic and Marchisio. Non of the 3 jump out at me but the latter would be the most likely. Another option would be to sell Abate back and use funds to pick up an IF CM, but I think the way I have it now seems right.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Decided that I don't want to qualify for the WL this weekend.

I've got to finish up a dissertation proposal for tomorrow and I've agreed to go and work on a team presentation on Saturday so I'd have only been able to play on Sunday.

[The Merse]

I'll be looking to return to WL in May as planning uneventful weekends throughout ahead of moving.

Got 87-rated Thauvin in my MM rewards, and he looks a beast.

I'll post up my squads next week. Currently have two functioning hybrids, expect a third new one to be completed by getting SIF Robben to make it my first ever 189 rated squad before the next weekend and 4th and 5th hybrids sat as concepts to work towards.

[John]

87 Thauvin does look properly good.

Picked up 90 Isco and 88 Carrasco for a combined price of less than 400k, which is pleasing.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Demibay from MM for me :(

I knew I'd get a discard price IF.

[The Merse]

Demibay from MM for me :(

I knew I'd get a discard price IF.

Was win-win for me as only cost me 6k to procure a Carvajal to complete them all.

Thauvin is holding at 50k but think I'll keep him as a right wing option for the hybrids featuring Tolisso or Matuidi with Lacazette.

[Smiffy]

OK gents, I'm off to get a console on the weekend. It's been too long for FIFA. What's do the majority of you play on?

[Gray Fox]

Me, Yevrah, Merse and Lemmo are on XB1.
John and Mahow on PS4.


FIFA is now in the EA Access vault too. I'd recommend picking up a month of that as opposed to buying the game.

[Gray Fox]

My usual FIFA leak source says we're about to get a European TOTT for the knockout stages.

There'll be some amazing cards in that.

Leak says Ronaldo, Dybala, Zlatan, Lacazette and Aubameyang are the forwards.

[Gray Fox]

855466372238897152

Jesus.

[John]

The picture I've seen has Mbappe, Fekir, and Dybala as the first line of forwards, and there's an Aspas in the works too, apparently.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

That Vidal looks mental and I can't wait until I get my hands of Thiago.

[John]

I'll be all in on Casemiro, and I'll probably pick up Cabral and Aspas too.

[Gray Fox]

Besides the obvious, I'd quite like Fekir. I remember his standard card being the first player with good dribbling I used on this version. Also that perfect link to Lacazette.

[The Merse]

Mbappe Lottin or Fekir to go with TIF Thauvin is tempting.

[The Merse]

Holy shit they've dropped SBCs for the too. And I'm away all weekend. Ffs. Mobile app is shit for SBCs.

[Gray Fox]

Well this weekend is going to be horrible to play in.

I'd do the SBC myself, but given I'd be happy with less than half of the players available, my chances of success are low.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I just did it (the untradeable one) as I only needed to buy like 3 players and got a Pozuelo :\

[The Merse]

Ffs. Got Dendoncker twice. I hope to god I recuperate the 30k spent selling the cunt.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I've just spotted that Kasper is now 1 special away from being the only keeper in the 80s club.

[The Merse]

What 80s club?

If you mean 90s then de Gea, Neuer and Buffon are also 90+

[John]

Ffs. Got Dendoncker twice. I hope to god I recuperate the 30k spent selling the cunt.

That's a lot of hoping for 30k.

He looks quality. Stick him between De Bruyne, Alderweireld, and Hazard in a hybrid and you'll be laughing.


What 80s club?

All card stats at least eighty.

[The Merse]

It had crossed my mind since I have Hazard, Naingolan over de Bruyne though. I'd need either Lukaku (not agile enough for me) or Mertens (too expensive) up front to make it work though, and probably a strong link centre back in a 442 as well (no decent ones) so I'll sell and rue a couple of players I sunk in.

[The Merse]

That's a lot of hoping for 30k.

He looks quality. Stick him between De Bruyne, Alderweireld, and Hazard in a hybrid and you'll be laughing.



All card stats at least eighty.

Ah right. That makes a lot more sense. Cheers.

[John]

87 Benteke has agility in the mid eighties. Probably a bit much expenditure to accommodate a player worth buttons, but he really does look very good. Tall, strong, top passing and tackling, great ball control, and a corking long shot.

A bit of dribbling and he's a pound shop Casemiro.

[Gray Fox]

I wish I had coins going spare right now. So many players are dirt cheap. For example 89 Thiago is going for 60k.

This is the first time I've regretted that Torres SBC.

[Yevrah]

I can't even get into the game. Fucking servers.

I suspect I'm closing in on losing 100k on Messi though by now. :moop:

[Yevrah]

Fuck me. Futbin reckons he's down to a BIN of 485k now. I bought him for 600k about a fortnight ago.

[Gray Fox]

People are selling up in preperation for team of the season cards. That means anything of value is dropping as people undercut each other. Events like this TOTK release get people opening packs and drive down prices further.

I was using Pogba for 500k just at the beginning of February, but he's now BIN of 265k.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I bought FIF Lewandowski for just over a million like 10 days ago. Lowest BIN is 680k.

I have no regrets though, he's pretty much the perfect striker for how I play.

[Gray Fox]

I've already lost money like crazy. I've built the team about a week early. I bought Dybala at 80k, he's now 60k. Abate for 84k, he's now 64k. Joao Mario for 59k and he's now 45k. A bit annoying but EA never announce this stuff in advance and I guess it's for good reason.

Still I played a very strange 4 games last night. The gameplay was the best I've felt all year. It threw me off to the point that I couldn't defend. Opponents attackers were much slicker and dainty than under normal gameplay. I won all 4, but all 4 were high scoring for me. A good sign. Hopefully this wasn't just because I was playing at 1am.

Medel is next to useless in my Serie A team now. Mario seems to always be in the right place. I've looked into options and I'm thinking of playing 86 Perisic as a LM on 7 chemistry. I looked at him next to Brozovic and he's better at everything but passing and defending. As he'd be my attacking of the 3 midfielders, defending wouldn't make a difference. The passing is however offset by Perisic having a 5* weak foot, 4* skills, he's taller and would seem a lot stronger. He also has much better finishing and would seem to till be decent at long shots himself.

Back in the start of this I used to used Moussa Sissoko as a CM on 7 chem and that worked, so hopefully this does too. I'm only about 2k away from affording him, so I'll be able to say today whether it's worth doing or not.

[Yevrah]

I'm closing in on a TOTT player from the tradeable SBC. Just the 82 rated squad to go.

On the subject of player prices bombing, I noticed 89 Mertens can be had for around 400k now and that obscene Salah for around 100k. So tempting to bin Messi (even though he's my favourite player I've used on this so far) and go back to Serie A.

Decision might be dictated by the TOTT player I get, well, if he's any good, which I know is extremely unlikely.

[Gray Fox]

I've used 88 Mertens and Messi on this version. I prefer Mertens.

That being said, if you do buy Mertens be aware he'll be getting a TOTS card in 2-3 weeks time, so all of his special cards will plummet in price getting closer to it.

[Yevrah]

Got Howedes.

Looks like I can get about 25k for him. Could have been worse I guess, but thoroughly uninspiring nonetheless.

I might have another go.

[Yevrah]

I've used 88 Mertens and Messi on this version. I prefer Mertens.

That being said, if you do buy Mertens be aware he'll be getting a TOTS card in 2-3 weeks time, so all of his special cards will plummet in price getting closer to it.

Are prices only going to go one way now and will they drop by much more?

If so, I might sell everyone and just sit it out until TOTS is released.

[Gray Fox]

Are prices only going to go one way now and will they drop by much more?

If so, I might sell everyone and just sit it out until TOTS is released.

Yes to both. Treat it like what happens when a guy with an in-form gets another special card. Take Dybala as an example. Yesterday his 90 card was 700k. Suddenly he gets a 91 card and his 90 card is now 440k BIN.

[The Merse]

Picked up birthday Blaczykowski as a strong link to Lewandowski in one of my Hebrides for 16k. Loving the market crash.

[Gray Fox]

The Perisic experiment didn't really work. He felt sluggish compared to his team mates in the first game, but I came up against the same card straight after and it was clear the other guys was performing a lot better. I've sold him on and I'm looking to sell Abate. He's good, but the team needs that extra midfielder. I can also spruce up the defence with the cash.

Only downside is that I missed the chance to sell him for over 70k. It'll have to be mid 60's.

[Raoul Duke]

I've been playing Career Mode a lot recently. Just got Oxford United up into the Premiership and won the UEFA Cup last season (having won the FA Cup in my first season :D).

My team is full of nobodies and weird freebies/youths but it's quite enjoyable seeing them develop. Quite looking forward to selling off a bunch of them once they're a bit more established and upgrading to some higher calibre players though. My new fave is this 6ft 5 Italian striker (regen) who's got 5* skills. Just scored a header to beat Barca in the Super Cup thing with his first ever touch of the ball for us :drool:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Did the TOTT tradeable and got Dendoncker :(

I'll use him to do it once more but I now feel Merse's pain.

[Yevrah]

Right, sold up almost entirely and I'll save 99% of my coins until the TOTS squads are released.

In the meantime, it's back to 3,000 coins for some bronze packs to start (+ SBC Eto') and we'll see where that takes us. Might try and build a Turkish league team as I've not done that before and I'm guessing it'll be cheap as fuck.

[Yevrah]

I was tempted to do an Oxford Ut save Raoul, but it seemed a right slog at the start.

Who did you buy in the first season?

[Raoul Duke]

I was tempted to do an Oxford Ut save Raoul, but it seemed a right slog at the start.

Who did you buy in the first season?

I got Marcus Edwards in on loan from Spurs (CAM) and some French centre back. Bought De Ligt from Ajax as well (I used the 'increase transfer budget' unlockable) so I had a little cash to play with.

They've got some pretty good players to start with - Lundstrum and Ledson are a solid combo in midfield, Rob Hall is a tidy winger and Kane Hemmings is a good finisher with either foot. Ledson and Hall are still at the club and playing in the Premiership with me.

You can sim a load of the home games, especially once you get a decent lead up at the top of the table. There are about a billion cups though, which is something of a grind :moop:

[Dan]

Been selling up my cheap Serie A team along with most of the rest of the valuable players in my club, and that, along with some decent profits from Marquee Matchup investments, has lifted me from 75k to about 200k.

Looking to build a Bundesliga team, although I'm probably going to just invest most of it for now & look to make some more monies. I picked up the 89 Thiago last night, although i did so at the worst possible time, when he was climbing again after the servers came back up, so I paid 69.5k when he was going for 55 earlier today, but hopefully he'll still give me some profit in the future. Also picked up the 87 Sommer for under 30k, but I'm debating selling him back to allow me to either pick up OTW Dembele or invest in a few other cheap Bundesliga players I can use until they can be sold for profit.

Any suggestions on the best way to invest my coins?

[Yevrah]

I've made a fortune from buying and selling cheap silvers, but it does take a while, so there are no doubt better ways to make larger profits.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

The best way is probably predicting what the Marquee matchups will be and then investing in the rarer players.

[Gray Fox]

Correctly guessing Marquee Matchups and SBCs are the biggest profit makers. Back in December the done thing was to buy up 84 rateds for 3k or so and then when an SBC with an 83/84 requirement dropped, sell for 8k+. The other way to make big bucks is going in on someones OTW card. Case in point is Gabriel Jesus now. His card is currently 120k as he's been out a while, but he's supposedly nearly first team ready. You get him in and he bags 2 goals in a game, he'll go up in price and you make coins.

I've finished the sprucing up by selling Abate for 66k. That's an 18k loss in 2 days but I'll not be selling and changing again. The team looks more well rounded now:

https://www.easports.com/uk/fifa/ultimate-team/web-app/show-off?showoffId=jrqxqh8brV0:FFA17XBO

Essentially for getting rid of birthday Abate, I brought in Chiellini, 2IF Brozovic, Florenzi and I stuck a shadow card on Barzagli. That and 30k to spare. I'm not really sure on what the next player to buy or upgrade is now, so it must be looking good.

[Dan]

Yeah, I'm planning to scoop up some 83/84 rated players once this lot of SBCs are over, and I've made some decent money from MMs over the last week or two of actually bothering with it, so I'll probably stick with that in that case.

TOTS is likely to be the absolute lowest point of the market, right, or do we reckon the premium players are likely to hold roughly where they are now?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

My biggest profit was on Mane's OTW.

Think I made around 200k or so and I got months of use out of him. Would have made more had I sold him before he got injured but I'm happy.

[Dan]

Ousmane Dembele OTW is currently at 120k, I have roughly 85k in coins, plus Thiago & Sommer, who will add another 100k. Do I sell them both back & get Dembele (or Sane, as mentioned earlier), or hold out in hopes of another drop?

When is TOTS due, actually?

[Yevrah]

With the market still in freefall I'd be wary of investing in anything that'll stay in your club/sit on your trade pile.

Turns out SBC Eto'o is shit. Obviously good enough to bash through Division 10 of offline seasons, but his Medium/Low workrates mean he's rarely in the right place.

[Gray Fox]

Dan EA never announce things like this in advance. Can't be having people know what to do with their coins/money. It's almost always at the start of May though. You'll get a first team, plus subs of each league on the game with everyone essentially having been injected with steriods. Then there's almost always either a community squad, or they call it something like a best of the rest XI. That team has all the players who haven't made their respective league teams, with a bit of fan service in there too. For example, looking at the Premier League the team is already almost a lock. You have Kane, Lukaku, Hazard, Dele Alli, Kanté and Mané, with probably Alonso, David Luiz, Azpilicueta, Coleman and De Gea to round it out. Someone like a Defoe or a Zlatan has clearly played well this season, well enough to warrant a card, but due to Kane and Lukaku being on fire they wont make it. They'll get in the community squad instead. Even Alexis Sanchez could miss out, though for me it's 50/50 between him and Mané.


I got myself from 4-0 to 6-0. Then came all manner of witchcraft to deny me 2 games. I can't even explain how I lost both without getting annoyed. That loss streak was 1 kick away from growing too, but a last minute equaliser took me to extra time which I won. Won and lost some from there and sit on 11-4 now. I have 2 aims.
1 - Avoid a collapse around the 16th win again.
2 - Get into Gold 1.

From here I should make Gold 1. I'd have to go 14-11 from here so it's possible to fuck it up. If I want Elite for the month I need 26 wins minimum and then 27 next week. So far that's been right on the edge of my skill range. I need 30 wins from here for Gold 1 for the month so a Gold 1 finish this week would all but guarantee that. I've given up for Elite for the week already and I'd need to rattle off 4/5 wins on the run to convince me to change my mind on that. I'd have to go 18-7 from here to make it and that isn't happening.

[Dan]

Don't they do about twenty different teams as well? Got to imagine the market is going to be all over the place in the next month or so.

FUT Champions looks like hell. Seems like every second person you face has a super team, then parks the bus & shields the ball in the corner as soon as they go ahead. Hopefully they can balance that kind of stuff out for Fifa 18.

[Gray Fox]

Yeah there's one for every league. Essentially no one will care about anything else once they drop.

Speaking of FUT Champions we're approaching an interesting time. Their rewards are about to be heavily skewed. The top weekly prize guaranteed 11 gold TOTW items and the top monthly pack gives 44 gold TOTW items from the previous month. Almost all of the European leagues haven't much time left and once the seasons finish, EA will seriously struggle to cram 11 gold cards into a TOTW with only the MLS really playing. Same goes for monthly. I've no idea how they'll get around this.

It is a struggle for someone like me. If I play the 40 games I'll get around 25 wins. My highest has been a 27 win week, but I'm not really good enough to go better than that. It's as simple as, had I been able to up that to 30 wins a week, I'd be rolling in it. But it is what it is. I enjoy it 90% of the time. But sometimes I just don't have the time to play close to the 40.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Did the TOTT tradeable again and my eyes widened as I noticed a walk out.

It was Kasper :(

[Gray Fox]

He's damn good at stopping the low driven shot if you want to use him. I don't think I could do one of these SBCs now. There's only 7 of the 23 you can make any profit on and only 5 of those are noticable profit.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I bought him yesterday for like 40k.

http://i.imgur.com/LyI9OnM.jpg

I was using his 86 in that team before and I really like him.

[Yevrah]

Balde Diao in TOTW then.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Potentially a ST IF Martial which would be ludicrous.

[Yevrah]

One for Samadini this one as I know how much he loves pulling together teams, but everyone's welcome.

Blank canvas, 1.5m coins to spend, what would you build?

[Dan]

Cards have been released for Kante (92) & Alli (91) - early indications are they're probably going to cost 1.5m each to complete :cab:

They've done loan player versions as well - roughly 30k each for 5 game loans :D

[Yevrah]

I'm tempted to whack all my coins into special Kante's and just sit on them for a week.

[Gray Fox]

Finished all my games and got 26-14 again. Same as last week. The Serie A team is lovely to play with, although the defence needs a little work. Although the bodge job of a 2nd team I have has let me down a couple of times. I had a fair few things go against me this weekend too. A lot of unfavourable bounces, players randomly falling down. I also came up against a Ronaldo 10 times. I usually only see him maybe 2 or 3 times a week so it was definitely odd. The only bad patch was when I hit 19 wins. I lost 3 running. Other than that I don't think I endured a losing streak. Some things improve, others dont.

This all means that next week I need 15 wins to get me Gold 1 monthly. But I need 27 to get Elite 3. To that end I'll need to improve my other team. Koke as a CAM just doesn't work well enough at this level, so I've my eye on that new Fekir. I'd have to hybrid out the left side of the team but it's worth a go.
If I'm honest I dont think I'll make 27, but I have to try. Only playing to 18 wins in that first weekend has hurt my chances big time.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Kante looks absolutely bonkers.

[Gray Fox]

While he looks that way, I'd advise everyone not do that SBC. Give it 3 weeks or so and he'll have a similar, if not better card in the TOTS, but you can sell him on.

This is why I've made a point of only doing SBCs that are either affordable, or for player unlikely to get a card of the same ilk. Examples being Torres or El Shaarawy. Both aren't getting a card like their SBC variants again this season.

I'm not entirely sure how to get either through or past him though. Next WL should be fun.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

There's no way I can do it so there's no chance of being tempted.

I'm fine with my MOTM Kante anyway.

[Dan]

Filled up my transfer list, and had a load of duplicates in my transfer targets ready for Marquee Matchups later. Accidentally hit LT so now I'm stuck in eternal limbo as I can't store them in my club or on my transfer list. I also can't log in on the web or mobile app to be able to remove sold items from my transfer list to clear space, as there's no way for me to back out of console until the items have been assigned, so they both tell me I'm logged in elsewhere.

Why I can't just have the option to return them to my transfer targets list in these instances, I have no idea :mad:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Just turn off your Xbox and wait about 30 minutes so you can use web or mobile app.

[Dan]

Yeah, I managed to get in around that kinda time later. Didn't realise it reset itself after a bit of time, but I'm down to two unassigned cards left now & I haven't had to sell anything important, so I should be okay in the end.

I'd really appreciate it if you didn't have to wait until lv45 to get the Transfer List upgrade. Only hit 20 last week :(

[The Merse]

New Alli is more tempting to me. POTM Alli is an absolute star. This one looks insane.

[The Merse]

Here's my lineups today -
Hybrid 1
Out go Alaba and Sokratis, Kurzawa returns to a squad for the first time in a while as one of my favourite cards of he year, and looking forward to giving Marquinhos and Trapp a go. TIF Thiago dances around anyone whilst the anchor makes him very handy around the park, whilst Tolisso is just perfect in midfield. TIF Depay is highly recommended too.

http://i64.tinypic.com/2i0ewsh.jpg


Hybrid 2
Minor changes recently include Alli over de Bruyne, upgraded Kante and Bellerin over their pre-winter editions. Alli is outstanding for me, whilst Gray and Aguero are a lovely pairing with Gray as a strong man to hit in the area and Aguero buzzing around off him.

http://i66.tinypic.com/34g8zzl.jpg

Hybrid 4
Completely re-vamped to get SBC Lewandowski and TIF Thauvin in a side and to re-integrate Matuidi who was ousted from Hybrid 1 by Tolisso. Looking forward to giving this a first bash tomorrow. Fekir looks a perfect false nine and a further upgraded Thiago with an anchor should dominate. Should I not like the overall feel, a few of these could find their way into (or back into) Hybrid 1 or 2.

http://i66.tinypic.com/14xggg4.jpg

[Dan]

Those teams are disgusting. The first one in particular looks a lot like the French hybrid team I'd like to build when I actually have a decent number of coins.

OTW Dembele has dropped another 10k suddenly, and is almost down to 100k. I might not be able to resist if he's still that cheap once I've sold all my MM players, although that won't be until at least after the weekend challenges are out, so fingers crossed he gets even cheaper by then.

Any word from the MM sources about what's due in a minute?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I love Ousmane, if he gets one more IF which boosts his strength he'd be perfect.

Here are my two squads:

http://i.imgur.com/B6GNxsX.jpg

Pardew makes the team.

http://i.imgur.com/Ryb2UBp.jpg

I should probably go back to Martial and a 433(3) so everyone is on 10 (bar Fahrmann) but I like this formation more and I like having 2 wingers with 5 star WFs. Might even do 433(3) with Son (everyone would be on 10 bar him and Fahrmann) and then switch in game actually.

Also, I'm quite tempted by the new Alli as well, if the SBC drops in price when the TOTT SBC's are gone I might go in.

[The Merse]

Tempted to sell TIF Dembele and pick up the OTW if he's that cheap, on the off chance of another IF.

[Dan]

Back up to around 130 now, I think. Typically there aren't any new marquee matchups, so I have fucktons of coins tied up in players that I'm not going to be able to sell until they actually decide to go live with the SBC. Still, should be able to make some decent money from them by the weekend.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Just had my biggest ever win.

8-1.

Dembele and Lewa both got hattricks, Thiago got 1 and the other was an own goal from a driven cross.

His goal was when I wasn't paying much attention after scoring the 7th.

Followed up with a 3-1 win.

Both of those after switching back to a 4-3-3(4). I think it leaves me too open to play with in the WL when I get back there though but at least I'm starting to get the hang of it in DKT.

[Yevrah]

I dropped a bollock by investing in Kante's last night. Lost a few hundred thousand coins and as a result have thought "fuck it" and spent the rest on a team rather than waiting for TOTS and the inevitable price drop.

I'll up it in a minute.

[Yevrah]

http://i67.tinypic.com/126e69c.jpg

Just pulling together the bench and appropriate chem cards now.

[John]

That looks dynamite, Yev. I'd assume Gomez is probably a bit weak to play up front on his own, particularly with two fellow little people as his support, but as a whole that looks shit hot and it wouldn't be hard to sub in some version of Icardi if Gomez does shit his pants.

I only have one side at the moment, with every other team I've made disappointing in some fundamental way, but that means I have a little under two million coins in the bank for TOTS players, with another four hundred or so thousand to come from selling players who aren't first choice when the time comes that space is required in the squad.

https://i.gyazo.com/1cc949689c3553e3c098bc0a66c014c8.jpg

Cabral is a test for the moment, and I have Pepe, SIF Godin, and IF Alvaro there to step in if he's crap, all of whom I've used and liked. This is comfortably the best side I've had in any iteration of Ultimate Team.

The Merse why wouldn't you plug the better Thiago into that first hybrid?

[The Merse]

John

I'm just testing a few players tonight and tomorrow in D1 whilst rotating for fitness. I'll settle on two sides this weekend and will use only one Thiago between the two then (the new one obviously) but for now, I'll keep with the separate cards to keep fitness at 100%. The new one scored twice on his debut and you reallly can feel that little bit of a difference in the upgrade.

I've got a fourth hybrid almost built to showcase SBC Higuain and finally give Dybala a crack, as well as the red SIF Bernardo Silva I've been holding onto, and the IF Inter midfield I've been keen to get a hold of.

http://i66.tinypic.com/2i9lcsy.png

[Gray Fox]

Yevrah I'd maybe suggest Icardi as a lone striker above Gomez. His 88 card is only 45k and I'm sure it has 97 finishing. You don't get the skill moves but he's strong to make up for it.

I like this thread. Between the lot of us who play, none seem to have the same team and most with different ideas and hybrids. It's a far cry from facing Smalling, Bailly and Butland every game at the weekends.

[John]

You can't bench the other for fitness whenever one of the Thiagos is playing, so you gain nothing on that front from using the inferior player. I'd assumed you were testing to see if the upgrade was worth it, but if you've already decided to stick with the newer one then I can't see the value.

I used 87 Bernardo Silva for a short time, and while he's obviously not exactly the same as the one you'll be using I got the impression he could probably drop about five off most stats and still be incredibly effective, so he should work out nicely. I would suggest getting SIF Nelson Semedo though. You'll take a bit of a chemistry hit on him and Silva, which isn't ideal, but he's so much better than that Pereira mug that the difference will be more than made up for in overall performance.


I like this thread. Between the lot of us who play, none seem to have the same team and most with different ideas and hybrids. It's a far cry from facing Smalling, Bailly and Butland every game at the weekends.

:nodd:

I enjoy seeing the different sides people are coming up with in here, even though I have little intention of going down the route of several hybrid sides myself. It's a shame the WL wasn't around the first couple of years I played this, because I was all about finding ways to fit together mad sides from four different leagues then.

[The Merse]

You can't bench the other for fitness whenever one of the Thiagos is playing, so you gain nothing on that front from using the inferior player. I'd assumed you were testing to see if the upgrade was worth it, but if you've already decided to stick with the newer one then I can't see the value.

Checking if he was worth it was also a part of the exercise. He is, and so I'll be selling him just before the weekend when prices should be at a premium. Until then, I agree and will be taking him out for the TOKO version and using fitness cards for him if needed as I've got 500 odd in reserve.



I used 87 Bernardo Silva for a short time, and while he's obviously not exactly the same as the one you'll be using I got the impression he could probably drop about five off most stats and still be incredibly effective, so he should work out nicely. I would suggest getting SIF Nelson Semedo though. You'll take a bit of a chemistry hit on him and Silva, which isn't ideal, but he's so much better than that Pereira mug that the difference will be more than made up for in overall performance.



He did look a good option but I'm determined to use Perreira as I really liked his standard card near the start of the game, so keen to give the IF a wee go. I'll keep it in mind though if I don't like the defence. I'm not 100% convinced I'll like Miranda as it is.

Gray Fox
It's definitely easier this time around. The spread of desirable players is far broader (across the leagues) - is always struggled to get more than one league or nation in a hybrid til this year. I just wish I had time to play more than 6-7 games a week with them this year.

[Dan]

Any companion app users finding they can't log in? Mine was working fine until last night, but today it's telling me the EA account servers are down.

[Lemmo]

I hope in the new version they amend a few things.

Personally I hope they change weekend league to some other type of ranking system. 40 games in 3 days is a bit too intense for my liking but I imagine there's some people who manage to get them in most weeks. I'm not sure how they'd do it without rewarding those who play the most games but some sort of laddered ranking system which is constantly in the game would be preferred from my point of view.

I don't think they'll do this one but I hope they re-work the chemistry system. It's just never made any sense to me, it's called Ultimate team, surely I should be able to put together any combination of players I want? It doesn't make much sense that someone like Fabregas gets a link to Chris Smalling but doesn't get a link to say Messi, who he spent years playing with at Barcelona. Obviously that's pretty impossible to code into the game but maybe some sort of system where if players play a certain amount of games with each other in your club they gain chemistry. E.g. 50 games 3 chemistry, 200 games 7 chemistry. 400 games 10 chemistry. The numbers may need revisiting but would be cool to see it.

[Shindig]

I want the AI to be interesting to play against. Just in case this year is the year Konami put Pro Evo to bed.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZKnYxCAPXA

Glorious.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Did the TOTT tradeable as I only needed to buy an IF and TOTT player.

Got Cabral :moop:

[The Merse]

Lemmo I like the chem system. Getting rid of it would kill off the beauty of a well worked hybrid and a lot of the community stuff. Having said that, I'm totally behind extending the Loyalty stuff to boost players Chem based on games for the club. I've seen Nepenethez and the like asking for that and it seems well reasoned.

I'd like to see better position changes - e.g. RW-LW (they're pretty much interchangeable positions these days).

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Yep, I've been wanting chem based on games played for your club higher than 1 for 10 games played and more position changes.

I wouldn't say no to being able to move wingers to CAM but then you'd see people stack their midfield with them.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Also, regarding WL.

I think 3 days is achievable but they need to tweak the times because it's harsh as fuck on Europeans.

7am start/end is fucking bullshit.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Fucking Cabral again.

I'm done.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

No one in the TOTW for me although it looks pretty decent.

Potentially facing an actual striker Martial is terrifying.

[Yevrah]

That Immobile. 99 reactions. :drool:

[Dan]

RIP marquee matchups :(

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I'm stunned that they didn't do any this week, especially with the Manchester derby.

If it's for the weekend then Spurs/Arsenal, Lazio/Roma and Spartak/CSKA seem like locks.

But they don't usually wait until Friday.

[Dan]

I've got way too many coins invested for there to not be any this week. Will hold out until the weekend in the hope they release them tomorrow, otherwise I'm just going to assume there won't be any until after the Alli/Kante SBCs expire & start investing for TOTS.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I'm now 1 game away from having the same amount of wins as losses, I think the last time it was even was at 0-0.

239-35-240, so I guess I'm guaranteed to go on a losing streak now.

[Yevrah]

There's going to be an SBC for a TOTS player, isn't there?

[Dan]

Absolutely. Better stock up on 86+ rated players & IF cards before they all vanish.

[The Merse]

Doing that myself. I had a choice, well 3 to be exact -
1. But Dybala and TIF Perisic to finish off Hybrid 3.
2. Sell the high value IFs in Hybrid 3 (at a profit) and stockpile cards
3. Sell H3 IF's and Aubameyang and buy TOKO (90) Aubameyang

I was very tempted by (3) but went for (2). Hopefully good things happen.

I'm also anticipating a full 40 game FUT Champs run this weekend for the first time since January.

[Dan]

EA have thrown in a couple of curveballs with the Marquee Matchups, but I've got lucky & had just enough players to not have to buy anyone from the featured teams.
Also still had a few Ingolstadt players stocked up from the SBC so should still make some coins.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Bastards.

My money is on getting Kruse this week.

[Dan]

I kept last week's TOTW pack until yesterday to see if I could get anything better. Got Ganso, so not really. Hopefully this one will be better, but probably not.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://streamable.com/u5em2

Stunning.

[Gray Fox]

858093493511745536

[Dan]

86 Dembele? :drool:

Hopefully that'll cause his OTW to dip back to 100k once FUT Champs is over.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

It wont, his OTW wont change as it's not an IF.

[Dan]

I know, I'm hoping the OTW drops as people try out the higher rate card instead.

[The Merse]

Sir Andy Mahowry that's Dan's point - The MOTM will be the highest rated card so the OTW could depreciate in value.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Yeah sorry, I read that as raising in that Dan would want to sell.

Derp.

[Dan]

I was debating not completing the maruqee matchups this week, as it looks like I'm going to have to spend 15k to get up to ratings in the La Liga & PL matchups, but I guess that's effectively 15k for four packs & a TOTW card, which will be at least 20k, so I suppose I'm back to doing it :D

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I spent about 40k to do mine.

I got Jarstein as my IF, which is a bit cheap but I'm not mad at.

An 85 IF could bring some money depending on SBCs that drop so I'll keep him around.

[Dark Soldier]

Downloading this on EA Access, haven't played one since about Fifa 12. I look forward to getting destroyed.

[Yevrah]

You always seem quite good at working out how to be good at games DS, so I look forward to seeing how you go about it here.

Will you be Ultimate Teaming it?

[Dark Soldier]

I'll see, I've not followed a Fifa in ages so its all brand new to me. Once I get the gist of it I'm up for some games.

Add me: DorkSirjur

[Yevrah]

Cool, will do next time I'm on.

[Gray Fox]

Spent a little coins on jiggling my 2nd team about. Koke at CAM was costing me goals in games. It comes with compromise at the back, but one that I want to try out.

In come 86 Fekir for 87k, Jordi Alba for 25k and I use my red Alvaro. I still have 50k left. I'd love to fix the chemistry issue in team 2, but only Pique being at CB solves anything and his standard card isn't appealing to me.

Team 1:

https://i.gyazo.com/9e75d1e6e515658e9909f2931f066768.png

Team 2:

https://i.gyazo.com/f277250ec0575dd065621bf143493c5e.jpg

[Dan]

TOTW pack two for this week...De Preville.

He sells for 11k BIN :D Fuck me that's awful. Guess I'll hold him until TOTS & hope to get a few thousand more.

[Raoul Duke]

I still have 50k left. I'd love to fix the chemistry issue in team 2, but only Pique being at CB solves anything and his standard card isn't appealing to me.

Wouldn't De Gea in goal or Azpilacueta improve it?

[Danny]

I wouldnt put Azpilacueta in goal ;)

Reading all the posts in here makes me want to get involved in FIFA but the game usually bores me to tears really quickly these days

[Gray Fox]

CB Azpilacueta would indeed fix my issue, but he's 90k and as of typing I have 66k.

The only way to do it now would be to downgrade from TOTKS Fekir to MOTM Fekir. That'd free up 35k or so, but as he's started with 4 goals and 7 assists in his first 4 games, I don't really want to pull him out.

Gameplay has felt awful tonight. So much so I'm still only 5-1. I have found myself playing great fifa though. My only loss coming in a game where I came back from 3-0 down to make it 3-3. I was then on top, but spurned two 1v1 chances, first with Torres and then Tolisso. He made me pay and caught me napping on the break again shortly after. A powerful header from a corner put it back to 5-4. I pushed like hell and got one last chance, with a ball in to Fekir in a very crowded box, he had to hit it first time under pressure. Inexplicably used his right foot and it cannoned wide, out off the post.

15 wins this week to hit Gold 1 monthly, 27 needed for Elite 3. The latter would mean playing 34 games tomorrow, which I've nearly done in a night session before. In truth, going for the 27 will depend entirely how many games I've lost when I hit 18. I'll need to be winning 7 of every 10 games to get there, but sods law says I'll be getting 26 wins for the 3rd week running.

[Dan]

Transfer list has bugged out. Hopefully that hasn't erased all the players on it.

Half the transfer market seems to be missing too, so EA have fucked something up.

[The Merse]

Logging into the app every few mins to get in there quick. I have 20 odd duplicates of 83-86 players and TOTWs so may be able to make some profits listing them at a high price as soon as the market is back up.
Annoyingly I just sold TIF Thauvin and TOKO Fekir last night.