FC27 First Impressions & Top Tips | FUT IN REVIEW #743

[00:00:00] It's Lounge Day! Well, Early Lounge, but still FC27 is in our hands and tonight we'll give our first official impressions. Some tips, some don'ts, some rants, some praises and of course some fun. And are we looking at the best FC Lounge ever? Well, we'll find it soon enough. Let's dive in.

[00:00:32] Welcome back, please, to episode 743 of FUT IN REVIEW. My name is John and I'll be your host today in the second episode of season 9 and I am not alone. I am joined by Mr. Merchandise himself rocking a lovely white hoodie today and looking as sharp as ever. Maybe he'll bring the rants today though. It's John Kirkham. John, welcome back my friend. How are you?

[00:01:01] I'm very good. Thanks, John. Thanks for having me and looking forward to discussing the early stages of the FIFA FC 27 launch. Me too. I already packed our WhatsApp conversations. So we have definitely something to discuss there, but we're not discussing it with the two of us. He is back from his well-deserved holiday. It is, of course, Mr. Blue wearing a lovely blue merchandise shirt.

[00:01:27] Yeah, of course, blue because he is Mr. Blue looking good as ever. Even a blue microphone, by the way. So well in team there. He's back, Karim Homer. Welcome back, G. Thanks for having me back on. How was your holiday? How was your holiday? Because you kept sending us pictures from the pool, from the sun, from your drinks. When I woke up, the first thing I saw is you pouring in another cocktail.

[00:01:52] Oh, it was brilliant. Can't complain. Lovely weather. Obviously just it was brilliant, so I can't complain. Then don't complain. Welcome back in Rainy Island, no? Yeah, I came back. I got a message, what, two days ago because of the wind and some day, I think it was the window cleaner or some day who may have let the window clean in my back garden, left the gate unsnubbed.

[00:02:18] My gate had came off the hinges. It's raining. There's four suitcases, loads of washing to do, but it feels so I'm having my best life. You stay inside anyways, who cares? Yep. All right. It is talk. It is time to talk, of course, about the game. It is Friday evening when we record this, which means we all had like almost 20 something hours when we start recording this, doing this.

[00:02:43] I'll tell you a little bit about my night before I ask your guys opinion, just to see, just to show you guys how much time we actually spent in doing proper research. So, I did play the beta. I got some early things going and talk to people. And when the clock hit midnight, I was ready. I started, dived in, all ready to go. And then my daughter came out of bed.

[00:03:09] So, that actually meant I was thinking about FIFA all night, but actually wasn't able to play all night. So, that was a little bit different. So, this morning at 4.54, I remember distinctively, I started playing until the kids went to school and then went back.

[00:03:25] I have, for my memory, not played this much FC in a single seating. Of course, sometimes I step up to do a little walk around, but I think I played all day long until I had to go out today. It's my hands aren't used to it anymore. My PlayStation is overheating. It's definitely, it's good to be back, but the rhythm, I'm not used to the grind anymore, guys.

[00:03:53] I want to know, how was the first day, Fugo? What stood out? Let's just have a conversation. I don't want to go around asking questions or topics. We'll see where this goes. Let's ask John first. John, first ask, you like it? Does it feel fresh? What's going on there?

[00:04:12] It certainly feels fresh in the fact that everything is slower again, passing's a wee bit off. But yeah, I like the menus. They seem to be fine. I like some of the new SBCs that are out there. This points thing to create an SBC, that's pretty good. There's plenty to do in the game. We've got squad battles, we've got rivals, we've got live lounges or live events, I think they call them.

[00:04:37] There's moments, there's plenty to do. Some things which we'll pick on. A lot of the packs are capped. You won't get anything more than an 82 or an 83. I'm not so keen on that personally. But yeah, I've got my icon. Which one? My face will say it all. I got White, the new English women's icon. She played for Arsenal in England. She also played for Birmingham City and stuff like that. I've forgotten her first name.

[00:05:07] Ellen. Thank you, Ellen White. Yeah. So yeah, she seems okay. But again, I should have probably took my icon first. I took my, the new foot card. I took that first. So I took the striker and then packed another striker. So it's like, haha. So, but yeah, overall, finding it tough. As you all know, if you've listened to me before, I struggle with defending. So I'm really struggling with defending. But it'll all come good. I'm sure it will.

[00:05:37] Graham, what about you? How have you found it? um I love it. Not too bad Tuesday, I say, guys. I just said this could be the best FIFA launch ever. Then you're like, it's alright. I'd say it's about 65-70% love and then the remaining hate. Um, I like the refresh. It's just like your love with Rangers, man. Oh, right now it's all love. Can't complain.

[00:06:03] Um, I've seen that after the enjoyment of last weekend. I think I'm off alcohol for a long time. Um, um, but I like a lot. I like the colour scheme. For somebody that's colourblind, the colour scheme doesn't annoy my eyes as much. I don't like the whole revolving thing behind it, though. Gives me a sense of dizziness. Don't know what's going on. Like, if you're just waiting for a second, the screen starts moving behind the menu. Puts me off something awful.

[00:06:33] Um, but the gameplay-wise, there's so much that I like about it, but going from 26 where they really made it too assisted and going back now to having no safety net. It's annoyed me a little bit because, obviously, you get so used to just so many things being there, even though I didn't like them. So, trying to get back to being more manual, it's a bit of a learning curve that's taken a little bit longer than I thought it would. But, overall, I'm enjoying the game.

[00:07:04] Uh, there's a lot of petitions going around already. Don't just go back to them. Yeah, it's just the defending game. Didn't you see that? Yeah, I've seen plenty of... I'll call him, the main one, call him for a character because I don't believe that that's how he truly is or feels to a certain degree. But, just leave it as it is. I said this last year. Yeah, it's hard. It sucks. I get spanked 6-2 in one of my games. Like, couldn't defend to save myself despite the game before.

[00:07:33] I'd won 6-0. And I've seen... There's one of your games. I get spanked just about every game, but... Yeah, well, I said one of them. Like, the Nancy, it was just a one-off. Like, I've been beat quite a few times. Like, um... I've done that... Was it the weekly objective thing where you can get the deal mandy? So, I started playing that. I've done the nine games. There's two of them where I couldn't even score. I think... I think I might have been... I won 4, lost 5.

[00:08:04] It's really hard to find that balancing act. Because I find that... Maybe just the way I'm set up. I'm very aggressive when I play. But a lot of people are doing that. Finding out and they're sitting back. So, I'm giving too much space behind me. Which is my own fault. But, again, it's the way I want to play. So, it's a steep learning curve. Again, like I said, you don't have much of that holding your hand there. That you got sort of used to in the last game. Regardless if you wanted or not. So, it's fun.

[00:08:34] And I'll get... I'll get the hang of it quickly enough, I think. And that'll be good. Yeah. I had the most weird experience to start off with that I've ever had at the launch. So, I got the game on PC and I've got the game on PlayStation 5, right? And I am probably going to make PS5 my main. But I found it very...

[00:09:03] The incentive to play on PC was I can use the widescreen monitors we have to see the full pitch, right? Plus, I have heard that it's on capped. You can have higher frame rates and stuff. So, I launched the game. And in the menu, my controller kept aiming down. So, I could only hit the last button every single time when it started. Every single thing. Here's the weird thing. I disconnected my controller and it still did that. I still couldn't click anywhere else.

[00:09:34] So, I was like, what's going on? I can't find it. And I was looking on the forums. I made a post about it on the forums, actually. I mean, if it keeps moving down, I can't even play a game. Let alone, do I want to play a game? So, I was like, this is a horrible, horrible launch. This really sucks. But I made a little bit of an oopsie. Because apparently my... Because it's the same PC we use for sim racing here. And my sim racing base was also connected. And it had the wheel slightly tilted to the left.

[00:10:04] And it saw the wheel as the input for the controller. So, the moment I put my wheelbase off, suddenly all things was fixed. But that was my first hour of see today. Where I was like, okay, this really sucks. But I have to admit, I've played it on... I think I played about four hours, five hours on PlayStation, I think, and maybe two hours or something on PC. That PC version is absolutely fantastic. It plays uncapped.

[00:10:32] I think it was like 250 frames per second or something. It was insane. You can see the pitch wear out throughout the match. So, after sliding, you not only see like a little bit of a scar on the pitch that goes back. No, it actually stays that way. It looks absolutely fantastic. It's super smooth. I only played squad battles on PC. So, I can't comment on cheating, etc. yet for that.

[00:11:01] I got Aguero on PC as well as Icon, so can't really complain either. But yeah, my first PC impressions was absolutely amazing. But I thought, why did I start on PC? Because now I've got to PlayStation and I'm probably very disappointed. But last year, there was a lot of menu lag. Delay when you go to menus, wait up and stuff. Actually, I've not had any issues at all on PlayStation yet. It's a solid 60 FPS.

[00:11:30] Hasn't crashed. I've not been disconnected yet. So, the positive is technically, I think, so far, so good. It looks and feels and plays very smooth. I do quite like the menus as well. I find the background a little bit distracting. But the good thing for me, G, is that I think my screen burns in a little bit less now. This year, when the background goes moving like that. But it's smooth. It clicks.

[00:11:57] We didn't get login issues, which we always tend to have. So, before as well, the web app, pretty solid so far as well. No weird disconnects, no queues. And there's plenty, of course, to say about in-games and stuff. But we've had nastier launches or nastier technical problems when we started. There's things going wrong. Don't get me wrong. But I do think, technically, it's so far a really solid game for me. So, yeah.

[00:12:27] Don't know if you noticed anything weird on that, though. I did notice for a couple of streamers and some stuff on the socials, there was an issue where they were trying to pass and they kept doing keepy-ups. And then they would have to go into the games. There's a broken controller settings, I've heard. Yeah. Yeah. So, apart from that, gameplay-wise, I haven't seen anything that's, like, buggy broken. Yeah. So, yeah, I think the launch has been quite smooth. You know, I got on a wee bit early.

[00:12:57] I went to New Zealand. Got up with some friends and family. Right then you picked up there as well, mate. Yeah. And then came back. So, yeah, I think really good. Solid launch. Like you said, I think gameplay is to be figured out. But touching G's point, let's not go patching it for day one of the pre-release. Not early release, sorry, not pre-release. You know, it's next Friday's officially release date.

[00:13:26] Let's not go talking about patching anything at the minute unless it's a broken issue, not just a skill gap issue. No. I want to talk about first impressions. So, I'm going to ask you a question. And I only want to hear, like, if it's good or bad or yes or no. Right? Okay. And because this is the first impression, you don't want to have to build it all up. You don't have to. You can indulge us a little bit by why, but I think I'm going to come back to this in about four weeks.

[00:13:53] And then we see if early impression changed for me, guys. But also why it has changed. Yeah? Okay. No. I'm just going to ask, and you guys just say yes and no. Actually, is attacking more rewarding? Yes. What do you guys find? Yes. Do you hear us like, hmm, don't know? Yeah, it's been good.

[00:14:18] There's certain things that are a bit meh, but overall I think it's been a lot better. I have conceded lots of headers from general crosses, so that's more attacking options for other people. I've scored probably more goals in the start of a game than I have done in the previous last couple of cycles. So, yes, attacking is rewarding. Does the game feel faster or slower? Lower. Slower. For me.

[00:14:46] But then that's because some cards are back to being basic standards, like 60, 70-ish. So, I expected it. Yeah. Passing is, the whole game feels slower. You've got to be more sensible with your passing. You can't do those super pass, super long balls and run fast. You know, players are lengthy again. A lot of defenses are lengthy. Yeah. So, they catch up with your players fast. So, gameplay feels slower.

[00:15:15] Definitely feels slower for me. The attacking AI, do you notice the new differences? I'm not doing those. Sorry, Gia. I'm going to say John did a beautiful video on doing these triggered runs. It's above my skill set at the moment. So, I'm not seeing that beautiful attacking movement. But I have seen some streamers do it and explaining how it worked as well. And you can see where it's giving them goals. But for me, I'm not seeing the benefit.

[00:15:46] I've struggled to get the curved runs working right. They seem to run into a defender for me. In that pocket where there's a defender or defenders. But the non-triggered runs, I have noticed my AI being far better. It's like, when you trigger a run, they'll only run. They did say they'll only run so far, like an X amount. Then stop. But I've noticed, if I just leave my left and right back on wing-back support.

[00:16:15] And if I take my left mid or my right mid inside a little bit. And I just keep it slow, flip moving. That they'll just shoot on by. And they don't stop. They just keep going into that gap. And they'll attack it quite aggressive. So, my playmaking center mid is making a lot of moves left and right on their own as well. So, there is a lot better. It's not massively better, but it is better for me. AI defenders still doing too much themselves?

[00:16:45] No. No. Absolutely not. Non-existent. For us Spotify viewers, you should see the looks on their faces when they said no at the same time. No. They stand in generally the right places. But other than that, they're doing next to nothing really to stop anybody.

[00:17:08] So, it's better in a good sense than obviously a helping sense. Yeah. So, AI defending is generally different, right? Yeah. Well, very much so. First impressions of manual defending? Good? Bad? Weird? Rewarding. Rewarding. I hear rewarding and practice, which both think is a good thing, no? Yeah.

[00:17:38] If you practice enough, you'll get good at it. And when you get good at it, it is really rewarding. Because I've played a few people that just are relying on you not being able to get that tackle in or getting that read right. But if you do get it right, the counters on, they seem to crumble a little bit. Because they start to realize, oh no, this guy or this girl knows what they're doing. So, it is rewarding.

[00:18:03] Because if you can do it consistently for the first 15-20 minutes, I've noticed in games, people then seem to try and play weird balls out wide and cross from daft places. It really seems to put them off when you can really tackle well. But then I've noticed in games when I really can't tackle for nothing, people are just running through me. And they'll just keep running at me. And I just keep struggling. So, it is, like John said, practice. But it is rewarding.

[00:18:31] Because when you get it right, it puts people off. John, did you already get it right once? I've won one game in the live lounge. But there's no need to be nasty like that, John. But I would call out throwing defending. I've obviously not done it right. But what looks like I've won a lot of tackles. And they're in my box. And the ball bounces to their player. Bounces back to my player. Bounces back to their player. And goes in my net. And it's just like a scramble of bubbly ball.

[00:18:59] It's like, so, that's not very good. But that'll be down to my defending. I do think it does really help if you hold the L2 or the LT button when making a tackle. Ground yourself first. I have been enjoying this whole cannon mouse game between attacking and defending. I've always been a fan of manual defending. So, I'd like to think I'm pretty decent at that. Let's put it like this.

[00:19:27] So, today I'm actually celebrating my last minute tackles. Or when they go one-on-one. And I get the ball. I'm like, yes! Come on! Let's do this. I got it. And normally this would be like, if he's gone, he's gone. And if he just makes a move, he's done. And I can't really do much. And I'm like, maybe I still have one defender back. And maybe I can. Yeah. And I love the fact that if you do a manual step in tackle. Like a normal tackle, right? It actually, the reach is pretty far for a good defender so far.

[00:19:56] When you did manually. So, you're like, oh, he's almost passed. And I can just, yes! I got it. Just before he took the shot. I can still make the tackle. I think it's really cool. But it is also, I've been playing some monsters this afternoon. Who are like, I go left, right, left, right, left, right. And over the hole. And then, and I'm like, oh, yeah. Yeah. I feel a little bit like the Feyenoord meme that came out versus Barcelona last week. Where you saw the two players sliding, you know, against Rafinha. I've also been in that spot today.

[00:20:25] But so far, I think it's actually pretty cool. And the other side around as well. I am using, I picked Alia as my Hall of Fame player. Is it Hall of Fame? Hall of Legends? Hall of whatever. Hall of Fame. Hall of Fame. Because he's an X-Final player. And it's pretty cool for my first. Plus, they can have max chemistry anyways, right? It was like, you can take him. He's good at dribbling. He's fast. And you're actually going to see if you can find that left back or the defender.

[00:20:53] And see if you can, like, trick him out and pass. Like, you can go past the man without relying on speed alone. And I think that's the feeling when you can get, like, if you watch, when you're a winger or when you watch wingers in the weekend. When they make that one move and they go past the man. And then take a shot, for example. This was the first time in, seriously, in years where I'm like, oh, I actually like enjoying my wingers. Not for getting to the byline and trying a cutback.

[00:21:22] No, for trying to go against that one defender who he's controlling. And I might be able to defend him by this. This felt really cool for me today. I'm almost getting addicted to doing tricks and skill moves. Because I was like, maybe you can find another way to pass this one defender. It does, yeah. Maybe I'm a little bit too enthusiastic about this. But if you change the defending, that's gone as well by it. So I think that's a really good addition. Next one.

[00:21:51] Passing. I want to know, what do you guys think about the short passing so far? Fine. Totally fine. That's okay. Obviously, we've got no real good players with amazing play styles or anything. So you do notice the difference. But I think it's fine. So far, I've not been able to commit any 360 no scope silly pass things that people try and do. And nobody's been able to do it against me.

[00:22:22] You've got to be really precise with it. Which you should want. You shouldn't be able just to throw a pass somewhere and just hope or expect somebody picks it up. You've got to really look for the man and make sure that you weight it right. So it's been good. No bossing? Oh, no. That's a different kettle of fish. Depends which type you're talking about.

[00:22:44] If you're talking over the top long ball, chip shot, type chip over the top, that's really caught me out and destroyed me quite a few times today. But long through balls, because as you just talked on, the play styles aren't there and the passing stats aren't there. Those balls go left, right, out. I've seen them go out a lot. So I would say long passing still has a bit of work to do.

[00:23:12] But I think that's probably around the play styles and passing stats. Yeah, it's been, I think it's a little bit overpowered for me. If you do a curved long through ball, especially between the centre back and the full back, and you've got a good run going, 90% of the time, the defenders are just not getting it. But if you're good enough to draw somebody in deep, you can go right over the top. And if you've got a fast striker, you're in.

[00:23:41] And if you include it as a long ball, but if you get pinned down to your corner flag, if you switch the ball at a long cross to the other wing, I find it cuts out the AI. Like the team, they just struggle to turn around and go that way. So I think some of them are a little bit too strong, but it's not, again, it's not something I would be wanting to change straight away or asking to be changed.

[00:24:07] Yeah, so I can see all points of this one, to be fair. But with passing, I do like the fact you can do the, if you hold bow triggers and then you pass, like L1, R1, or LB, RB, and then you pass. The player that sends the pass will go for a run with you, right? So since it is a pass, I think it's technically on this category. But I absolutely love that.

[00:24:33] You don't have to do it everywhere because it might also, if you do a defender, you're pretty much screwed, right? If you lose the ball. But it's absolutely insane for a fullback. You finally can set your fullback on attacking. You can step up with your fullback, pass to your midfielder. While holding the L1 and the R1 button or the LB and the RB button. And that fullback is suddenly either going to see if it has space on the side or space in the middle. And it will overlap the player that gets the ball for a run.

[00:25:03] It is absolutely super strong. Hard to defend because you don't really compete because it's not controlled by a player. I think that's the best addition they've made in years. And I... Can I jump in, John? So, G has already mentioned, I think he's got his wingbacks on... He's got his fullbacks as wingback. And you're talking about sending your fullbacks on a run. So, obviously, because I'm conceding so many, I've got both my fullbacks on defend.

[00:25:29] And I really don't want them to step out because I'm probably more scared about conceding. So, is that a tip that I'm doing? Am I probably better having them unbalanced then or something like that? No, it's still preference, right? But I like my fullbacks to act like an extra midfielder or go overlapping on the right wing, for example. The thing you can do is, let's say you take your fullback, your right fullback, and you hold both of the bumpers, I think you call them,

[00:25:56] and you do the pass to your right winger. From your fullback to your right winger. That right winger will get the ball, but the fullback will look... It's actually pretty smart. Sometimes it will go on the outside. And you can actually pass it on the outside as well. But sometimes the fullback will go to the middle and act as like an extra midfielder coming up. Creating that overload in the box. I've had many people sitting deep. And now suddenly my fullback is creating space. Which normally would be a very viable tactic.

[00:26:25] And fullbacks in real life football are definitely... 95% of the teams use them that way these days, right? Yeah. And they weren't really possible because the only run you could do is just a regular run, send them forward straight, they'd be on the right winger. But now they're so smart, you can actually get them in an extra midfielder. I absolutely, absolutely loved it. Defensively, it still happens if you lose the ball, then you're done, right? So in your case, maybe don't use it on your fullback yet. But I think it's definitely...

[00:26:53] I've been thinking all day about, hey, maybe I should start a 3-4-3 probably now. Where I used two wingbacks as wingers. Because now I can finally get them either inside or outside, depending on how the situation is. Where it used to be very much too rigid to actually be viable. I think there's loads of potential there. And I think that's the one thing. And that's why I made the video this morning right away about that. I think that's the one thing people should be practicing right now.

[00:27:23] To hold both and pass. Or hold both. Because if you hold both now, they will send for that curved run. It's a little bit longer. And it maybe might not be that curved, but it will look as well. Does it go on the outside or does it go on the inside? Depending on where the space is. And it's runs you couldn't make before. So it makes the whole ground pass thing, I think, a lot more dynamic than ever before.

[00:27:50] So, yeah, I absolutely love passing. You know, also what I also very much love is our Patreons. And if you are a Patreons, then you won't get to see the next segment. Because I have to talk a little bit about our sponsor. Which, of course, is NordVPN. And it doesn't matter whether you're traveling, logging into public Wi-Fi, or looking to secure the absolutely lowest ping for, well, champions, for example. A solid VPN is essential.

[00:28:18] NordVPN keeps your connections encrypted. And lets you bypass regional restrictions effortlessly. And, of course, we have partnered with NordVPN. NordVPN. So you get a massive 75%. Did you hear that, EA? 75% discount. And if you take a two-year plan, because why not? I have one myself as well. You get not only that discount, but you also get four extra months or free.

[00:28:46] So head over to footinreview.com slash VPN and use the code footinreview at checkout. Secure your setup and support the show at the same time. So back to the topics I had listed up for you guys. Because the shooting is something we have to discuss. I'm going to mention a couple of types of shooting. And just let me know what you think about it.

[00:29:16] Finesse. Let's start with Finesse Shultz. Inside the box, fine. Outside the box, not seen anything yet. I find it very balanced. Normally it's very overpowered. I find it just, it's okay. It's not my go-to at the moment. Maybe that's because none of the strikers that I have have it is gold.

[00:29:42] And they did promise that there would be a good balance and that it shouldn't be overpowered. So for me, it's okay. Yeah, I agree so far. I think it's something we can really judge when the more play styles get in. But in the current situation, I think it's totally fine. I've scored some where the options were actually very clear that I could take it. I've missed some sitters trying to do it. And the goalkeeper has actually saved some.

[00:30:13] My one big bug here last year, or actually all previous years, when the goalkeeper took a dive into that corner, in the far corner, he didn't put his correct hand on top to get the reach in. This morning, I took the first shot. The goalkeeper took his other hand up and took the ball out. And I was like, yes, I missed this shot. Which is weird. But they finally made that goalkeeper animation as it's supposed to be.

[00:30:42] Which for 99% of the people who play this game, nobody cares about it at all. But I was actually very happy that I finally saw some realistic goalkeeper animations. And it actually worked because they saved it. So, kudos to that. But I agree. Currently, Finesse, fine. Good place. What about power shots? Do you want to go first? Yeah. I'm finding that quite useful.

[00:31:13] It's one of the ones that you do need to practice to get that sort of, I use precision shooting as well. But once you start getting that feel of how much power from whereabouts, and what sort of direction you put on it. Especially with, obviously, new game people are feeling that out. So, they are sitting a little bit back. It is quite a valuable tool. But if you are trying to get straight through the box and got everybody back, bring it back to midfield, pop one off. I think I've scored maybe four now.

[00:31:43] A lot of times it goes out for a corner or it comes back. Get the rebound in the box. But I think it could be a very, very good tool. John? Yeah. I've only scored a couple myself. Most of the time I've gone a wee bit wide. So, as G said, getting your angle right, I think, is more the problem than actually the power shot mechanic. It's different when you come from that shooting, eh? Yeah. And I haven't conceded any power shots,

[00:32:13] even though I've conceded loads of goals. None of them have been a power shot. So, at the minute, yeah, I'm just... It's there. Using it. Not much. Not getting used against me. So, yeah. Can't really give too much of a comment, John. All right. I think they're very much viable. I've scored plenty as well. If people drop too deep, it is definitely a good tactic to just lay back on the edge of the corner box. They give you some distance. All bow triggers are bumpers. I should say. And take a shot.

[00:32:42] Don't overpower it because you'll go wide because the shooting isn't that good. But about 35-40% strength is very often more than enough to just absolutely demolish the not high-rated goalkeepers yet. So, I think it's very much a viable strategy to do so. And I think it feels balanced as well. I think balance is the key word so far. But are low-driven balanced, Graham? Well, I picked Remy.

[00:33:10] So, I think he's scored every low-driven. I bet low-driven has always been too overpowered. There's a reason why they removed it. It's the reason why they brought goalkeeper movement. It's just one of the short tips that just works too well. But, again, I'm not confident that we changed. Don't want anything touched. That is a really good tool to have. John? Yeah, I've scored most of my goals of being low-driven

[00:33:38] or is it game-changer when they bend it? But, yeah, mostly low-driven. The streamers that I've watched, they pretty much all use low-driven. I would say right now, even though you don't want to use the words overpowered, it's one of the stronger shooting mechanics at the moment. Yes. The other one that nobody mentions, but I think it's very cool, is lobbed finishing. I've scored plenty one-on-ones where goalkeeper come out and they won't be able to touch.

[00:34:07] It feels a little bit, it dips too fast for my feeling. I have not checked, but I don't think Elia has like something that helps with that. But he never missed one single lob so far, which feels very strong. But I think if you're one-on-one, if you have a shoulder on target and you can make it a low-driven one, I think it's your best bet for sure. So, what is currently broken or overpowered gameplay-wise for your feelings?

[00:34:41] I know people complain about corners. I've not had too much an issue about that so far. For me, so far, I don't think there is anything that stands out. I know a lot of people obviously moaning about corners, they're moaning about defending. So, for me, like you said, the keyword seems to be balanced for me. Everything seems pretty okay. I don't think there's anything too bad so far. I would say, for me, low-driven's are probably, as I just mentioned,

[00:35:10] one of the stronger finishing tactics. And I have been cut out a lot by those long over-the-top balls, more so than I thought I would be. Now, that is partially probably defending. But I've seen it. I've faced a lot of it. So, everybody obviously realizes it's a good tactic. So, I don't want to call them meta or overpowered, but they're very strong. Well, that would be my first question though. My next question would be, what would be the next meta? But I'll give you a little introduction to what happened here.

[00:35:39] We did a bonus show last Tuesday, of course, for if you're Patreon, you get two shows a week, where we discuss what we think is going to happen or what this game looks like at the start. And Bo, Nathan and Neil very much agreed on the fact they expect formations with two CDMs, they expect some lower blocks and some higher speed forwards to go on counters. Inherent to that is, of course, a long ball over the top after you lose the ball. So, it was very much expected that

[00:36:08] because it can make up for your manual defensive mistakes. It can make up for the lack of practice you currently have. And it's a pretty easy way to do so because the low driven is very much not only guaranteed goal, but almost the guaranteed goal once you're one-on-one on the goalkeeper. So, it's very much viable. Don't want to think, I've seen everyone try it against me, but I do think the way this acceleration now works on players,

[00:36:38] make sure that defenders are actually able to catch up on speedy attackers a little bit better, I think. It is very much noticeable when you have a ball. You're very much slowed down compared to when you don't have a ball. I think that's the biggest difference, I feel. I don't want to, I'll mention it once again because, of course, we have a lot of new listeners as well, but I think partial team press, so triggering, I always keep forgetting, the R1 button and holding it on the second touch. So, L1 and on the second press

[00:37:07] you hold the R1 button. You'll see those blue markers come on your defenders when you're not in possession. Those blue markers will mark players making a run. They will already start walking with them. So, if they go with a true ball, your defenders are already walking with the strikers going for a forward run. And because the speed difference isn't that big or is going to be big whenever they get the ball, it's been extremely viable for me to just push a little bit higher. Hey, I think they're going to

[00:37:37] give a true ball. Okay, activate partial team press, hold, and my defender is going to be able to intercept that one. It could be that the AI is a little bit smarter on picking positions as a defender. It could be that people aren't used to doing the curved runs yet because all the balls that go forward are very much straightforward, right? But I've not conceded, I think I can concede one counter, but I've had many, many, many people try it, but I think

[00:38:06] partial team press. So, R1, hold your R1 on the second attempt, activate the blue markers, run with them has been extremely beneficial for my playstyle today. That's a good tip. So, maybe that helps. That's why I wanted to like the first episode, see what you experience, see what we can counterbalance that with, see how we can help, because I was joking with you when we started, right? Can you give a rant today? Because you did break the record

[00:38:35] on pushing a rant in the chat though, but it is a big difference from where we came from, right? And if you played like you did like in the last weeks, you played with 99 players, 98 players, in various speeds, you play a certain way, it can be a big way of adapting, especially since there's no way of leveling out levels of players currently. You can play anyone, from pros to players that start FIFA for the first time, right? Yeah.

[00:39:05] So I think it's important to share those experiences you haven't, but also set a little bit of light on how I think could be some easy fixes maybe. Also, my easiest fix for everything would be don't go for the Dia Monday, don't go for the want to watch players yet, because you have 30 days something, right? For those, I think. Play squad battles for one, two days, clear out some objectives, get some packs, play some, I keep forgetting, milestones. Moments.

[00:39:35] Moments. Thank you. I've not played them yet, else I wouldn't remember the name, but just start off easy for yourself, but practice while doing that. Start trying to trigger those runs on squad battles. Who cares? You're 7-0 up. Doesn't really matter, but it gives you an option to practice, because the AI is pretty smart, it's pretty cool, and they will act pretty much as you're expecting them. So just play your second game, play 3-0 up, fine,

[00:40:05] go for it, get some rewards on Sunday. But this is the ideal moment to make those new things your own without facing the pressure constantly. But John, you've been diving in to get online experience right away. I have as well, because else I don't think it was fair for me to judge this, of course. But my first match, I lost 5-0 today. I started with 5-0, like, okay, this is, this has been

[00:40:35] a whole long while since I lost a match like this. Artley got the ball, got overrun, of course, got a good team, but normally I don't care too much, but I was like, this is, okay, let me take a breather here, because what just happened? But it is a massive difference from where we came from. So please give yourself a little bit of space to bring. As I did say, it will all settle down. For those that have listened to me on the podcast previously, I do tend to have these

[00:41:05] rants. And what I was just trying to get over was, when you do like that, it's play 9 games, that's the objective, play 9 games, actually scored 9 games, but that's the objective. But when you win 1 and lose 8, I actually think it was 2 and 7, that's not a fun experience when you don't, like you said, you lost 5-0, when you don't touch the ball and you're losing like 6-3, 5-0, 5-1. It's not fun and the game's meant to be fun, but it will

[00:41:34] sort itself out, I will find my balance, I will find my rhythm, and then I'll be a lot more positive. No, and I don't mean it, of course, against you, because there's many people, we've got lots of messages today, but the thing I'm saying is, make those first day as much fun as you can, and if you lose, I lost the first match 5-0, and I didn't immediately start the second match on that one. I was like, okay, let me just take one step back, let me look at the objective,

[00:42:03] and what went wrong? Okay, I was too slow with defensive, I was stepping in a little bit too much, but also, pull those over the top balls, they really hurt me. you know what, let me just, and I played, I think, 30 minutes of squat paddles, practiced those new runs, then I went into the next one, knowing I have been getting better at those new runs, I was like, I can't wait to test this, and I got into that second match with a lot more energy than I came out of the first match. I still did it,

[00:42:33] and I think I got six wins from it now. Normally I wouldn't be too happy, but I'm like, it's all right, it's fine, you know, but I made some terrific runs, had some fun, I actually am looking forward to dribbling more, scored a free kick, by the way, that's been a while, that was cool. I think there's an objective to score 50. Yeah, so I'll get on it tonight.

[00:43:05] All right, you've plans, quickly, what are your plans for the weekend, and maybe tips for people that are playing now? Grim, let's start with you. Going to start squad battles tomorrow, I know you said do squad battles, but I was doing this playing one of the live season weekly games for the Diomandy card, if I got beat, it's the live event, but it's against the computer, and it's for the Savino watch, so you start off

[00:43:35] in semi-pro, world-class, up to legendary, so I've been going in there, like you said, trying the new tools, like the runs, but then trying out different formations, trying out different roles between the formations, going back and playing a live game, see how it works, take one board what didn't work, go back into their games, because the opponent gets progressively, or the AI gets progressively harder, tweak it again, play a couple games, because one thing, it did annoy me at start, but the more that I was

[00:44:05] thinking about it, I thought this is actually quite good, because in objectives, it's like you've got to play one, win one, score in three, or assist in three, if I've done four out of the five objectives, I don't know why I'm playing these additional games, then like I said, it started working on my favour, because then I had that extra game, so then I only need to score this goal, don't care if I win or lose here, I can just pass and

[00:44:35] try and try and try this and try that, and it's been working out for me, but tomorrow I will batter away at the score battles, because I've got that reward on Sunday, and then I might play a bit for that gallery mode as well, see what that's all about. Yeah, I definitely want to talk about gallery later though, not this episode, but I think that could be very fun as well to be fair, but it's a little bit, it feels a little bit like the first year of evolution, it feels a little bit clumsy, maybe that's

[00:45:04] the best way for me to describe it, but generally I said it before, I quite like the idea of just doing something with your cards, that's good. John, your plans and any tips, for everyone playing? Obviously, stay calm, join the Discord, there's people that will listen to your rants and raves, but no, seriously, just even though our WhatsApp group is a little bit different, I am really quite positive in the Discord, I am just trying to get to grips with the changes, the squad battles,

[00:45:34] the squad battles, it's that, like the Diamondes, I think it takes four weeks of the objective, John, you've only got four weeks to get the Diamondi card, so you've got to complete your nine games every week for four weeks, or whatever it is, so that was the reason I thought, well, I'll get in there and then there'll be some packs, there's a pack for Play 1, Play 5, Assist 15, all that sort of stuff, so I thought, well, I'll do a bit of that, it was just a bit more

[00:46:04] difficult than I was hoping for, but yeah, I'll continue, I've got some evolutions on the go with my Saints players, I'll continue to do the squad battles because like G said, I've got tonight, tomorrow to do that for rewards on Sunday morning, I'll stay away from rivals at the moment, I think I'll concentrate on squad battles and live events. Yeah, talk about live events, we've got live events rolled up again as well, we'll talk about that soon or

[00:46:33] later, I think, but we'll definitely discuss it, but if you join the Patreon, which is of course patreon.com slash footer review, not only do you get this show ad free, but if you go in the second tier, you also get a bonus show every single week, which could have excellent tips this week as well, but you can join the Discord and well, you can find the new custom tactic that's coming in the next week or so, and of course all the tutorial videos. I want to ask you if you're listening to this to give us a five-star

[00:47:03] review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, but not only that, drop us a comment, just send in your questions. If you are banging your hat against the wall, trying to get that last win or trying to be an octopus, trying to get the new runs going, just send us a message. We're here, we can answer, we can try to help, but we can't help if we don't know what you're going on. So let us know in the comments. anywhere, YouTube, send us an email, go to foodandreview.com, drop us a message and

[00:47:33] we'll get there, definitely. And of course, a big shout out to our boardroom elite members. Those are Graham, which is also on the show, which is still weird, but hey, it's very much appreciated. And of course, Caden, you guys made this show go round and round and round. And that's also what I'm going to do. I am going to get a big old mug of coffee, very black coffee, and I'm going to make sure I'll be grinding squad battles all day long.

[00:48:03] Talking about all day long, keep this podcast on repeat. We'll see you next week. For now, it's time for us to drop it. Drop it. We'll see you