Warming up for Team of the Season

Hello Futties! I’m back with your latest EA FC 24 blog. Firstly, please join me in celebrating  Fut In Review, as it reached 600 episodes in March, I was so thankful to contribute to the milestone episode. Check out Episode 600, if you haven’t already: https://futinreview.com/episode/episode-600 

 To kick this issue off, let’s explore a couple of key topics: 

• What’s happened to the blog since September 2023 
• Formation in review the 433 (2) 
• Impending Team of the season (TOTS) 
• What can I expect from the FUT In added time blog? 

What’s happened to the blog since September 2023 

Well.... I became a Dad. With the arrival of my son in late 2023, my focus was rightly drawn to support my family. With all of the new excitement and next stage in my life, unfortunately meant my time and priorities were switched and the blog went silent. However, I kept up to date with EA FC 24 even with early morning feeds and sleep deprivation. My squad has continued to evolve as we head into Team of the season (TOTS), playing throughout the Winter Wildcards, FUT Fantasy, Ultimate Birthday and Golazo promos. Later in the blog, I’ll share my plans for the summer and heading into EA FC 25.  

Formation in review the 433 (2) 

I started a poll in the Fut In Review community Discord, asking your opinion on including a new formation that I tested last week, so here it is.  

*Note I like to play possession style, so very rarely do I spam a through ball. 

 *Winger instructions on EA FC 24 – formation 433 (2) 

Strengths 

Width 

I really liked the width this formation gives, the two wingers (even with Cut Inside & Get Into The Box For Cross) acted nicely to drag Centre Backs and Full Backs from the opponent out of position. 65 width also helped with that, which helped me attack down the channels and sidelines of the opponent, often avoiding a congested midfield for a cutback goal or cross.  Opponents often drifted out of defensive positions which made it easy to play around, 1-2s and crosses to score goals.  

Defensively 

Similar to the 4-3-2-1 formation, you have your 3 CMs as the key component of this formation.  Interestingly, I ran both CMs and on stay back while attacking, cut passing lanes and cover centre. This made a very nifty and tight unit to defend the middle of the pitch.  This also helped as I used my Left Back (Gomez) to get forward and create an overload on the left-channel with the Left Winger (Werner). The DM (Stanway) I explored using the ‘Deep Lying Playmaker’ here and it worked a treat, often dropping into the back 4 to offer an extra pass and solidly defending the edge of my penalty box.  

Weaknesses 

One striker 

With the lack of strikers, a clear downside to this formation is the one central striker. Often needed to hold the ball up against Centre Backs (Van Dijks of this world) is difficult. Forcing you to play down the channels and look for a cutback is often effective but against good players will become predictable and restrict your build up. 

Building up 

When regaining possession after the opponent attacks is often met with a counter-press or tackle back in EA FC. Where I found this formation fell down was when I turned the ball over and then proceeded to be hit on the counter. Unless you have excellent positioning skills with your outside CMs, this can often leave them exposed to 1-2s and a good 2 striker formation will haunt you here.  

Top tip - You need to have discipline in the midfield.  

Below I have included a table of player instructions.  

Do let me know what you think to this formation, you can tag me on the Discord or on X @quad3rs  

Team of the season: Warm up 

As with the impending arrival of Team of the season (TOTS) the week before brings us a week of saving packs and reducing our clubs down the bare minimum in terms of SBC fodder. Warmup gives exactly as the name suggests, time to take stock, build packs and look ahead to TOTS.  

Between the lines, this for me means two things. Market should momentarily spike, meaning cards rise in price over the weekend and that it’s a good opportunity to take a step back, have a relaxed week and come back refreshed for TOTS.  

Both approaches suggest we should be mindful of any tradeable cards we own, perhaps selling when prices spike for FUT Champs is a good time to let go. Give yourself a space to enjoy a squad on untradeables and have your coins liquid ready to go for TOTS. On that, buying meta cards for your team should wait, cards will drop once we see the start of TOTS ‘live’ and Community TOTS shortly after. In summary, my plan is also to complete a few SBCs, so open the little packs, a few 83X10s and save the big packs. I’m partway completed on Zambrotta SBC that was released last week.  

What can I expect from the FUT In added time blog?   

As we enter the second half of the game cycle, the In added time blog will continue throughout the summer months and into the building of EA FC 25. Here’s what you can look forward to: 

Promo Reflections: The blog will revisit past promos, analysing their impact on the power curve and discussing memorable moments. EA are creatures of habit after all... 

TOTS Squad Updates: Expect detailed insights into TOTS cards and how they fit into various squads. 

Silly Season Fun: Keep an eye out for lighthearted content related to the game. 

EA FC 25 Predictions: Speculation about what EA has in store for the next cycle 

Final words 

Well, that’s it for a returning In added time blog and I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I put it together. I’m active on the Discord as ‘Quad3rs’ so please do drop me a message with any questions you have 🎮📝.