667: FUT BIRTHDAY ''Simply The Best''

[00:00:01] Hello foodies and welcome back to FUT IN REVIEW. It is episode 667 and today we are throwing a party because FUT is turning 16. That is right, our favorite mode is finally old enough to get a driver's license in some countries and just like any teenager it is probably going to make some questionable decisions.

[00:00:27] I am your host John and joining me are my partners in FUT crime Chris and Yngwie but we'll be back with them shortly. Gentlemen, FUT might be celebrating his 16th birthday but let's not forget another big milestone coming up my 40th birthday. Yes, while FUT is just entering its rebellious years I'm heading straight into the era of back pain from sleeping wrong and suddenly caring about the weather forecast.

[00:00:56] But enough about me getting older. FUT birthday is here and that means crazy boost, a whole lot of five stars and hopefully some cards that won't be outdated in two weeks. So grab your party hats or if you're like me your reading glasses and let's dive into all the madness of FUT birthday. It is time to kick off episode 667 of FUT IN REVIEW.

[00:01:20] And let me start by saying hi to my bestie all the way from Scotland. I've missed him a whole lot and unfortunately he didn't miss us quite as much as we did him. It's none other than Chris. Hi Chris. Hi mate, happy birthday to everyone out there. It's a long time since I was 16 so you younger guys you can go first and tell us what it's like. Yeah, here's me imagining I'm getting old by getting 40 but you are actually way older.

[00:01:49] Thank you my friend, thank you. Don't look the part though and I'm honouring you today with Reignas-George Hione. If that helps a little bit. Yeah, just don't tell Jose Mourinho that he was very upset, told us to calm down after scoring five goals against his team last night. Two chalked off. Very, very. I mean, I wish Dessus had actually cut his toenails. He might have stayed on side at that point but what a performance from the guys.

[00:02:15] It's been needed to be honest with you because I've hated football since last weekend. You got over it as a final fan. I am adoring the weekdays but I'm not really enjoying the weekdays this year. So yeah, that's just football for you. And also joining of course is the king of the north, the food legend, the legendary FIFA database. It's none other than Hengvi. Hello, hello. Hello, my friend. How's life for you? It's quite good.

[00:02:45] We've had some spring weather here the last few days. So it'll be nice and sunny. I just wanted to say, you got a tan, mate. That's just the camera. Can you imagine the food came out 16 years ago, Ingrid? I think we might have lost him for a second. He does imagine it, mate.

[00:03:15] He's actually shocked that it's that long ago. Yeah. Full of shock. It seems like yesterday we were celebrating 10 years of food. What's been, where's the time gone? Flying. Definitely. Normally I'd say, let's start with a week in food. Of course, let's kick this week off. But food birthday started with a bang. There's a whole lot of futures. There's a whole lot of content, a whole lot of SPC.

[00:03:41] So I think for this Friday, we might just have to deep dive straight into what you think, Ingrid. Yeah, I think so. There's lots of things to discuss. So yeah, interesting stuff. Definitely. Where do you want to start, my friend? We can start with the objective Tammy Abraham flashback. Why? Why? Because that's the card I was having on my screen just now. So it fits perfectly.

[00:04:10] Kind of a legend in foot. Yeah. So if everyone's wondering, why is John Potter about this? So when we start the show, we always have, which one do you want to show first on the graphics? So we just spoke about a list and then he goes to Tammy Abraham, which wasn't on my list. Yeah, that's a different list. Yeah, thanks. For anyone watching the YouTube version and of course the Spotify video version, it is now on screen though. So Tammy Abraham, 88 rated striker. Yeah.

[00:04:40] That's kind of standard. Perfect evolutionary territory as well. And he is 6'5 with 5 star skimmer, 5 star weak foot. Good agility and balance and composure. 91 composure. Really nice. Good short pass and vision. Free card with advanced forward plus plus, poacher plus plus and target forward plus plus.

[00:05:09] Tall and lean body type so he won't feel too bad in game. You can put an hook on him and he'll be control lengthy, which also is nice accelerate for a tall striker. It's not going to be easy to stop him or get the ball from him when he's running. Press proven plus, which will make him keep the ball really well.

[00:05:32] If you're through on goal, that's a really nice playstyle plus for a striker, at least from what I've experienced myself. Normal finesse, chip shot, power header, rapid normal, quick step normal, so it'll be fast. He has trickster and flair. So I think that could be a really fun free card and that you'll be able to put in an evolution pretty soon, I guess, as well. So yeah.

[00:06:00] You can already put him in the fantasy captain one if you haven't used it and gives him a 99 dribbling. And yeah, I think you should have a good time using that card then. Yeah, this looks like a pretty frustrating card to play against. What do you think, Chris? For a free card, then I think, for me, it all just depends on the objectives. I think the last two fantasy ones were quite difficult to do. Ten rival games and ten squad battles.

[00:06:28] I mean, you really had to grind to get this one. I don't think this one's as bad as that. Is it, Yngwie, the objectives themselves? For him, no. It's like you need to win a match to unlock a loan card. And then you need to have five matches that you win with two from Serie A. Score 10 goals with Serie A players. It's in any mode, so there's no stress. Four assists with English players in any mode, so that's no problem.

[00:06:56] You need to play nine rivals matches while having minimum two players from Serie A. So you don't have to stress. You can just start them and sub them off if you don't have any good ones. But I think pretty much everybody has some usable Serie A cards now to use in rivals as well. You don't have to win, which is always nice.

[00:07:20] You have, I'm pretty sure this is like a win, five out of the objectives. So if you don't want to play nine matches in rivals, which can be hard enough, you can play 12 squad battle matches on minimum semi-pro with two players from Serie A. And you're starting 11, and that's really nice and chill because you can do objectives, evolutions in the squad battles as well. You don't have to play online.

[00:07:48] If you can't use your best team, that will be a downside for many as well. So I think that's a good thing that you can do five out of the six ones. So if you prefer rivals, you do it there. If you don't, then you can just chill it in squad battles. I think that's a really nice thing that EA started using these things. Yeah, I mean, keeping a free card, five star, five star, and then doing this as well, giving you options. Uh-oh, might get too positive tonight.

[00:08:17] Weekend foot, 9.5. Who knows next week? That's why we're not saying this week we can. Yeah, it's too early now. Too early, yeah. But we can all say this is a great card, right? Yeah, for that, I think it's great. It's like you will be able to fit them in evolutions soon and now and later as well. So, and should be really good for objectives later as well. And I think if you like a big target man type of player, I think that's a really good option, actually.

[00:08:47] I'm glad you added a target, but they have not just said you like a big man. That was all. Yeah. Yeah. All right. I'm not going to go there. No, but I think this, I mean, I'm not going to do it because of a certain club he's playing for, but for the rest, I think that card looks pretty awesome. Yeah. For the, I don't think you can go wrong with a free card like that. Nope. I don't think you can go wrong with any card that came out today though, but let's.

[00:09:16] Oh, I think you can, but that's okay. We got some SPC players. We got a duo SPC for Kai Havertz. It's currently injured in real life, unfortunately for Arsenal after a tough week in Dubai. Oh, they had a pretty easy week against a certain Dutch club though. So they had a good week in the Champions League.

[00:09:43] So there's a Kai Havertz duo SPC that's quite pricey around 1.1 million coins to do. You can unlock a player pick so you can select two different versions, both are 92 rated. There is one striker version that also can play as a cam with a technical plus and powershot plus. There's a version that can play CM and CDM.

[00:10:10] Has long ball plus and anticipate plus. So it all depends. Both have five-star skimers and weak foot. So it depends on what fits your team best. The striker one has a few more play styles than the CDM one. So I'm pretty sure many did the left back. I think it was Winter Wild cards SPC last year. Yeah. Good count.

[00:10:40] A few evolutions on that on the way as well. It was quite fun card to use then and in most teams for a while. So for me, it's a lot with 1.1 for that card. It's a good card. There's no doubt about it. But for my team, I don't think it would stay long if it made my team, to be honest. As I said, it's a good card.

[00:11:09] But for my system and team now, I think it would be a mistake if I spent my father on that card. But it's a very good card by all means. So it's probably going to be really good in game. I was going to say, I think the midfield one, if you look at it, he could potentially be an Arsenal Vieira.

[00:11:30] If you think about it, 6'3", the anticipate plus and long ball as well, which I think is a playstyle plus. It actually is very, very handy, especially in a deep line midfielder when you've got a lot of people pressing. He's got the centre half as well, which I don't know if you agree with me, John. I think it's quite a good position to have, particularly if you're under pressure at the back, because you've got a player like that dropping back behind your centre backs.

[00:11:59] You take the ball and then you can ping it to the wing with a long ball. I mean, I think it's a really interesting card, that one. Probably two or three hundred thousand coins more expensive than it needs to be. Around about the 800 mark, I would agree. You would probably dive in on that one. The striker one I'm not so sure about. For me, he's a card that I always do. I always have him in my team at the very start because 6'3", tall, skinny, long legs.

[00:12:27] He is Vieira-like as well. So, yeah, if it was just a little bit cheaper. And I think the rating is maybe just a little bit low now as we start to go into, you know, foot-birthday is the start of the silly season, isn't it? Yeah, and he has the normal jockey and intercept as well on the centre mid, which is really nice for a ball winner.

[00:12:50] I wish he could have had holding plus-plus on both positions as well for that price, but he doesn't. So, for those stats, I don't think I use holding plus-plus. So, that would be difficult for me to use him. He wouldn't perform as I would want him to do for that price. So, wow. John, what do you think about the centre-back on the CDM, the dropping back for that position?

[00:13:19] Centre-half, you mean? Yeah, I think that's definitely an option, right? Five option. The problem is with these cards, and it's not a problem, but I think when we reach foot-birthday, and especially when they're all five-star, five-star like they are now, all cards work, and we're looking at marginal differences, right? And I don't think you can actually notice many of them in-game at this stage of the game.

[00:13:44] Honestly, it won't matter if you use the Van Persie card or the Bergkamp card this week, which I could tell a funny story, but I already told you guys about that, or Havertz or any other striker or Thuram. Sure, there's a marginal difference, but I don't think there are any bad players out anymore now. They are all very much viable, and I just looked at a card, which we'll discuss shortly, but a certain Spanish player, which is really cheap,

[00:14:13] I'm like, whoa, that's actually an amazing card. So, is Havertz a little bit too expensive? Ah, perhaps. But if you're a fan, like you said, Crazy Doom every year, definitely. I think this is one of those SBCs which could very much do so. And for some, even it should do if you're a fan, right? I think that you don't want it priced too low because then everyone would just try to get him in the team. Having two options from him, I think it's pretty balanced, honestly.

[00:14:43] I quite like it. It's better than eight more million cards, though, and I see plenty of players that have already done him. So, I know. Yeah, me too. Our Discord's running full already, so, yeah. Yeah, we have a few. So, there's a lot of people that you're going to struggle against him versus the ones that can really abuse his powers. Yeah, the problem is, for example, this is sort of what I meant.

[00:15:11] If you compare him to the Pirlo card we got like three weeks ago, four weeks ago, there's the five stars that makes a difference, but that's about it, right? So, yeah. Can't really go wrong. I do think the CM version is the one to do. Yeah, I would do the CM1 if I was going to do any of them for sure as well. That one looks the best and most rounded for me at least. Yeah, definitely. What's next on your list?

[00:15:40] There is someone there which I've seen before, though. There's a legend of the game, even though he's still going strong at the age of 40. Hey, that's me. Yeah. So, there's nothing to be ashamed of, John. You're just a kid still. There's a flashback Cristiano Ronaldo. That's not one way to hype him up. This is the one we're waiting for. The one and only.

[00:16:07] You should get a throne ruffle as well and then go Cristiano Ronaldo. The sporting Lisbon legend Cristiano Ronaldo. Well, most scoring player in the world. So, yeah. 93 rated. Can play striker and left winger. He has finesse plus and rapid plus with normal power shot, power header, technical, flare, trickster, quick step.

[00:16:37] Trivela, acrobatic and aerial. So, he's got pretty much every area. He's got it all. He can talk about his play for an hour. Yeah. But he's just a perfect striker. It's five-star skill and five-star weak foot. So, he has... And he can play left winger. Yeah. He has the five-star weak foot that the team of the air card doesn't have. So, that's very interesting, of course. 99 composure. We kind of dig that.

[00:17:03] He has the inside forward plus on left wing and winger plus plus. Wish he had inside forward plus plus on left wing, but okay. He has advanced forward plus plus, target forward plus plus as a striker. One plus for poacher and false nine. Comes in around 2.578. 2.8. The prices go up and down a little bit. So, it's expensive.

[00:17:34] Expensive SPC. But I think it's an anticipated one. Yeah. It's a great striker. It's going to be crazy difficult to face that card. Team of the air dropped 15% since release and dropped 530,000 in the last hour. So, yeah. So, the question then, guys, is, I mean, we all agree it's an amazing card. It's 2.7, you know. Are we going to do it? That's the question. Inve?

[00:18:05] I'm considering it, but I want to check a few reviews and I think I want to be destroyed a few times by him in Rivals before I make up my mind. Because he's going to kind of gut my whole club with fodder if I do the SPC. I have no problem fitting him. I did the flashback on Celo SPC a while back as well. Even if he's one storm, mate. It's no problem. 99 doesn't need a boost.

[00:18:35] As long as he feels okay-ish in heavy gameplay, then I don't mind it. But if he's like super, super heavy in heavy gameplay, then I will struggle with him. But the card looks absolutely crazy. And I can understand the price when you see the play styles. Five stars give me first a week foot. So, if you got the coins and if you need a striker, if you got the fodder as well,

[00:19:06] I think you should be doing this, I think. It's going to carry you for a while in game. Can I ask then, guys, and I know I'm bad for doing this jumping between bits and pieces and trying to derail the show. But if you were to compare him to the Harlan card, who's been released, what makes this Ronaldo card that little bit more special than that one?

[00:19:35] Because that one looks crazy cheap price. There's a different body type on Haaland and Ronaldo. Haaland usually feels a little bit more heavy than Cristiano. But they're pretty similar.

[00:19:59] And Haaland, the rapid plus on Ronaldo is quite huge because that's a crazy playstyle to have for a big super skilled striker that already is really good and always been good in the game. Haaland is a little bit hit and miss until he gets up to what he is around now with double five star.

[00:20:24] Because when he had the three stars, Gilmous and Weakfoot, he felt off for some reason. I think Ronaldo will feel more agile in game. That's one thing. There's a couple of things. I agree with Yngwie. There's a couple of things, though, because Chris, the fact you can play Ronaldo left winger or even start left winger is a huge bonus on his own. In fact, Ronaldo has 99 composure.

[00:20:54] Just how many are there with 99 composure, except from some of these wild card specials that we got? Well, if you do the fantasy evolution, you can get some. Yeah. But on the normal cards, there's not many, no. I think that's probably the one. So, yeah. He's got 99 composure, I think. I don't know what Haaland has. Or 97. So that's not a huge difference. But I think the biggest difference here, Chris, is that you're not paying 2.8 million for Ronaldo.

[00:21:22] You're putting in a lot of forward and then pay up for the rest if you need it. And you can use it. You can sort of work towards him for the next month because he's also out for a month, I think. Yeah. And also, Ronaldo has pretty much all the attacking play styles. Haaland doesn't have anyone that's related to pace and acceleration. So he doesn't have quick stack. He doesn't have rapid.

[00:21:47] So Cristiano Ronaldo will be burning past the defenders while Haaland will struggle to do that. And, of course, the acceleration on Haaland is 85 and it's 90 on Cristiano. And Cristiano has the play style plus rapid. So he will run much faster with the ball as well. So he will be super difficult to catch up even with the fastest defenders. While Haaland, he doesn't have that.

[00:22:16] So he has the press proven. But he will not be able to run away from the defenders with the same ease as the Cristiano Ronaldo. And that's quite huge now in the game with all the cracked center backs out now. Nevertheless, both these cards are just insane. But is Cristiano Ronaldo a must-do, a could-do or a avoid?

[00:22:45] It's not an avoid if you can afford. If you need a striker and have lots of other, it's a must-do for me. Yeah. 100%. 100%. Because he's going to be one of the best strikers in the game, I think, from what I can see. The fact they priced him under the price of the Team of the Year version is pretty nuts to me, though. Yeah, that's a little bit surprising since he's a double five-star, yeah. But it's a nice thing at least.

[00:23:15] So I'll give EA some props for that. So I would put him in... Don't worry. I got on some cameras. There's a lot of very good strikers out, of course, that are cheaper. But if you can use a Cristiano Ronaldo card to his strength, he's a must-do. Because then he's going to dominate everything you face.

[00:23:43] If you have struggled using him in the past, then maybe you need to have a thought before you do it. But, yeah. I would just say to people, if you're thinking of doing it, and I'm not sure for me it's a must-do for me. I just never really got on with a card. But I'm doing really well with Harry Kane at the moment. He's just a shoot-and-heel scorer type of guy. Go on X. Have a wee look about there. There will be solutions for you.

[00:24:13] No, don't go on X. That's not a tip we advise for this show. Go on Bruce. Go on socials, whatever. Don't just skip X. I'm old-fashioned. Call it X. That's all called Twitter. Go on Twitter. There will be guys on there posting what number of cards you need for the 21. SBCs that you need to stick in. And then just look how your fodder stacks up there. It is on for, as you say, in a month, isn't it? 7th of April. Sorry, that would be an exception if it was July.

[00:24:43] 7th of April. Because I just think we, you know, let's be honest. He's going to get a team this season card, doesn't he? As well. Yeah, that's 100%. But I don't think, I'm not sure if that's going to be a double five-star. Exactly. I think that's the crucial part. Like I said always, Chris, if you get a striker, you put it five-star, five-star. There's not much more you could want from a striker. And if you now can get your hands in March on a five-star, five-star card with 99 composure,

[00:25:11] there's no need to replace this card in the whole game or for any reason whatsoever. Just putting it out there. And I don't have the fodder. I don't have any coins, like 70,000. So you spent all your coins today. Well, that is true. And it's not so bad. I will talk about that when we go into the birthday team, I guess. But I did spend all my coins on packs today. Yeah. I should maybe kept it for Ronaldo.

[00:25:39] But nevertheless, sometimes that's just the way the cookie crumbles. Yeah. I'm perfectly catched there, Yngwie. Because it's a good thing our new supplier of camera systems isn't sponsoring this show because my camera just dropped off the actual stand. But nobody noticed it unless you're looking at the YouTube version. No problem.

[00:26:08] Yngwie, we got three teams, though, we need to go into. Yeah. We need to start somewhere. We agreed, actually, to start with the icons because there's not that many. But, of course, interesting ones. There is a team one and team two. So I'm guessing we'll get more icons next week as well. But we got four legends of the game already.

[00:26:33] So we got Ronaldinho, Patrick Vieira, Marco Van Basten, and Emmanuel Petit. So I'm really interested in that Van Basten card. If he is kind of finally, finally giving a little bit of credit to the way. It took him 60 years. Yeah.

[00:26:56] Finally, five-star scrimmage, five-star weak foot with some nice play styles as well. Power shot plus first touch plus normal finesse, power header, incisive, tactical, quick step, relentless, trivella, and acrobatic. So many, many good attacking ones. And he got the quick step, which is nice. So he should accelerate really quick.

[00:27:24] This guard was so unrighteous, mate. He's a Ballon d'Or winner. And everyone seems to ignore him. He should have been much better. He's got good rolls as well. So advanced forward plus plus, poacher plus plus, target forward plus plus. I hope he plays as well as he looks. Tall and lean body type as well. Could be the one that's going to replace my striker card though. Who I always replace. I have to tell this story though. I know I can tell you guys before the podcast.

[00:27:53] But if you've listened to Tuesday's show. I was listening to Tuesday's show in the car. So I edited it. But I listened to the full show when I go drive out. Right? So I drive. I hear Shaq talk like five minutes into the show. Have you seen the new Robin from Percy card? And we got a Robin from Percy as we see like three weeks ago. Right? Four weeks ago. I don't know exactly. And which I done. I'm like, what new Robin from Percy card? And he's like, yeah, he looks very great. I don't see many people using him. But it's a great value.

[00:28:23] And I'm like, when did I miss a Robin from Percy card here? So I pull my car over at the nearest gas station. Get a, like, stop the car. Take my phone out. Look at the companion app. Can't find them. Look at the food bin. Can't find them. I'm getting crazy here. Where is this new Robin from Percy card? And while I'm thinking that, Shaq says on the show, of course I didn't mean Roman from Percy. I meant Dennis Bergkamp. Which, of course, is an Ajax legend. And he's a legend, nevertheless.

[00:28:51] But know what I'm going to put in my team, eh? And I was like, oh, okay. He's not getting replaced. But the one player you know that's the Ajax exception for me, is Marco van Baste. Yeah. Right? You've been talking so many times about him. Exactly. You've not rolled a usable card for him. And Chris knows. I think he's here. I think he's here. Chris knows. I actually have a shirt from him hanging here, signature and all. Like my pride of the studio. Yeah, this card has to be done.

[00:29:21] Or has to be getting in my team. The only issue is, I don't have any coins left. But hey, we'll figure that out soon enough. But he's going to be my new striker for sure. He has to get in. Yeah, it looks like a great value for coins, I think. Definitely. Nothing wrong with him. Hopefully, he goes a little bit down. And who knows? Maybe I'm actually back him. I don't like the inclusion of the new Ronaldinho, by the way. Or is it just me? I've got a feeling we've seen too many Ronaldinho this year.

[00:29:51] He's been already shown a few times. But of course, he's very popular every game. Every version of the game. So that's all about what first birthday is. It's like the most popular players will be in the promo. So you know next week who's going to come anyway. So when it comes to normal players, which we haven't seen yet. So they are cards we had. Lots of promo cards already. But they're the most popular ones.

[00:30:19] So that's what this promo is about. So it's not going to be a super surprise. We can also talk about another icon. The Petit car looks really good, I think. Cheap. 300,000 coins. Can play left-back, center-mid CDM. Yeah, 5-star CDM. Very good passing as well. 97 composure.

[00:30:48] Yeah, it's with very good normal play styles as well. So very good, affordable CDM. Really can't complain about any of these cards. Except the fact that Arnoldinho has 11 million in Vieira's aid. So I don't think there's a word too much discussing about these two. Ain't it, Chris? The thing is, I mean, the Vieira card will be absolutely tremendous for myself. I have the 90-rated one, I think. The Thunderstruck. The DSPC. He's a mainstay of the team.

[00:31:17] He's a dream to have that card if you were to get him. But he will be like unicorn droppings. He'll be absolutely hard to find. And the Ronaldinho one will be even harder to find that one. Yeah, but here's my counter-argument now. Sure, he's great. The Ronaldo card we just discussed is 2.8 million and available for everyone to grind towards. Hands down, best striker of the game. 2.8 million. Who in their right mind is going to spend 8 million on a centum defensive midfielder?

[00:31:48] Somebody is. Somebody is because they definitely will be selling. That's for sure. Somebody has. I mean, sure. But you get my point? Like, these top-end cards, the top-price cards, I don't think there are many. There is not much value, but there's not much point to actually chase these cards when there are now 5-star, 5-star strikers available. With all good stats, Tehran is like, I don't know, 200,000. Van Basten, 300,000.

[00:32:17] Yeah, the Ronaldo card, which is hands down the best striker in the game. 2.8 million. But available for everyone to grind towards. Like, keys and SBC. Then I can't really. Those 8 million cards, which you have to buy into transfer list aren't. Any interest to me, but I also think it's quite boring. But they're headline, John, aren't they? They're headlines. It's like the Micon friendly cup. It's in the game. It had no effect to me. I had no intention of trying the friendly cup.

[00:32:46] Never played one game, one match. You know, the guys who did it, their good friend Marios did it. I mean, fair play to them. That card is a badge of honour, that one. So, you know, there's elements to the game that are not relevant to us. For me, I would love to pack the Vieira card. The opportunity to get him, the fact that he's there, it makes the game fun. And you're just hoping for that once in a lifetime pool, aren't you? Do you know what I mean? I mean, that's what they're there for. They're just headlines.

[00:33:14] They are the Ferraris of this world, aren't they? You know, nice to look at, but very unlikely to ever get your hands on one. Yeah, that's fair enough. That's fair enough. Yeah. But I mean, I think when you get to the heroes, I know, you know, I think there's potentially a striker in there who's just as good for me. From the heroes? Yeah, I think the, and I may pass this one to John because he can speak German, but Cecilia Sasic, is that the name?

[00:33:44] Well done, well done. I'll tell you about it. I mean, if you look at that card, 93 rated, I realise she's no Cristiano Ronaldo, but she's what, not even 10 times the price. She's actually, you know, 5% of the price of him. 150 in dropping, so. Yeah, I mean, that card, you know, is five star, five star, I assume, because it's foot birthday. And you look at it, okay, composure's a little bit low, but the pace is high. Finishing's pretty decent.

[00:34:11] I mean, if you can use that card, I think that's a fun card to use in game. Great value for coins. I only wish that she had rapid or quick step play styles to make her get a little bit more sprint speed. I mean, 97 strength with press print as well. If she gets the ball in the box, she'll be able to shield it and get a shot in. And I used the base card, and she was so clinical inside the box when she got the ball.

[00:34:40] So, it's going to be like the kind of female version of Hurricane type of player, I think. Very clear. Oh, there's actually a chance I might pack her. I think if you pack her, you know, I think if you pack her, it's just definitely a card that you may not, okay, you may not use her in weekend league, but, you know. Yeah, and that's my point. But this is exactly my point, Chris. This is a card for 150,000. But it doesn't.

[00:35:06] It is a perfectly playable and not even playable in a negative way. If this pitch is in your team, she will score goals. There will be nothing wrong with her. And why would someone spend 11 million on the striker that will hit 9 out of 10 goals and she might hit 8 out of 10? I mean... Yeah, I mean, the people who are spending that sort of money are whales, aren't they? You know what I mean? They are whales of this world because they have got the coins, you know, they can waste their coins on losing.

[00:35:36] I mean, that Vieira card will probably drop. He will be very rare to find. That's probably why his price is so high. You know, I think it's more supply than demand to that one. You know, if you look at the Ramirez card, I think, you look at the price of that one. I mean, that seems, again, you know, a great card, but 5.3 million for a card like that. But, I mean... This is basically a Vieira, but faster. It's a Vieira without the legs, though. That's the problem. You cannot... Short legs.

[00:36:06] Yeah, you cannot, you know, dis Vieira. Those long legs are massive in that midfield with the anticipate plus. You know, we talk about being the inspector gadget. That is what he is like. And that's why him and Kai Havertz, you know, you had those two together. It's like a fishing net to get the ball back. Yeah, talking about... Like, I always had a song in my head when you mentioned that name. I'm talking about singing. What's up with you singing?

[00:36:39] Me singing, John? Yeah, I've heard something about that coming up. Well, I was just saying the objective is great, wasn't it? Because you can get what's-his-name sung. No, I've heard something about you singing. Me singing? Yeah, you're doing a concert soon, I've heard. Well, that's been sprung on me. I don't think that's strictly true. There's somebody in this show tonight who's the karaoke king. We normally have a night when we go to Crete. This is what we're talking about.

[00:37:07] When we go to Crete in May, you know, all you have to do, be in the Patreon, join up. The accommodation's free at the wonderful Eva Mar Hotel. We marry us and his family. You're going to have an amazing time for that week. We'll play a bit of FC. We'll have lots of fun. We've got some real fun events coming up. We are closing soon. We need to get your names in. If you're thinking about it, get those flights booked. All you have to pay for is bed and breakfast. You pay for your lunches, your dinners, and your drinks. We also have a couple of meals probably planned at night, don't we, John?

[00:37:37] Yeah, you don't pay for bed and breakfast. I think that's why, yeah. Yeah, sorry, it's free. Bed and breakfast is free. Apologies for that. I get super excited when we talk about Crete. We take care of your stay and we take care of your breakfast. Exactly. And it's a wonderful breakfast as well. Absolutely stunning breakfast and in a stunning hotel. But John wants to have karaoke. So if you're any budding singers out there and you want to join us, you get to see the Dutch Elvis. His stuff.

[00:38:03] I ran a post on socials on our community and I said, should Chris do karaoke on our event? The answers were, of course. Yes, they should. And yes. And someone, I did offer the option to say, oh, please no. We got one vote on, oh, please no. Everyone else wants you to sing, Chris. Well, it'll depend how many wonderful cocktails we have before, John.

[00:38:30] If we have a few, I'm sure I could bet simply the best somewhere along the line. Can you give us a little preview now, though? Well, I was just saying how much I love when we played last year, FC, Urien and John. What were you singing, John? I don't know anymore. It was Santiago Jimenez. Remember that? And he's actually part of our objective today. You can get on my place for the wonderful Milan now. Well, not so wonderful, though.

[00:38:58] He went from hero to zero, hasn't he, John? No, actually, honestly, I think it's a good step for him. And he did the club very proud. He made the club proud, right? It's just the timing that he went to AC Milan when the week before Finer has to play AC Milan in the Champions League was a little bit sour, to say the least. But then again, he scored as well for AC Milan, although they didn't go into the last 16 because we actually won. So I think Endal, it's all fine.

[00:39:28] He got a goal in. He got this nice transfer. We got into the next round. Got some more money of it. I think that's fine. And to be fair, the only thing is I got a kid with Jimenez up. No, I got three kids with Jimenez on my back on the shirts. And the kids have shirts with Jimenez on the back. So that's a little bit awkward now, especially when we went to Finer Milan. To stay here with the Finer kids with Jimenez on the back.

[00:39:55] But I'm not going to trade in the shirts halfway through the year, I guess. Definitely not. But as I say, John, isn't it? Crete is just around the corner, almost two months away. It's going to be an absolutely wonderful event. If you're thinking about it, join the Discord. Join the Patreon. Get your name in. It's a wonderful time. It's not just the FC. There's a lot about where you go and look at the Crete itself, which is a beautiful place. Stay at a beautiful hotel. Well, beautiful family. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

[00:40:25] Particularly if you are a very good FC player. Because we need to stop John getting the three-peat this year. Yeah, someone mentioned I shouldn't be playing this year on tournament. No, you have to play, John. We would not spoil it for you. If you're the champion, you need to play it, of course. Yes, but I'm also the host, the organization, the sponsor. So I got other things to take care of as well. So I might not play. But hey, if you want to challenge me, just go and join the Patreon.

[00:40:55] It's a buck a week. And I mean it. We pay for the... We and, of course, Mario's from the Avon Mar Hotel. We make sure you do not have to pay yourself for the actual stay. And you can bring your partner. That's perfectly fine. And your breakfast is also included. So pay for your flights is basically a really cheap holiday. And on top of that, you can tune in some live shows and play some FIFA with us. So yeah. Yeah, wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.

[00:41:22] And also what's wonderful is this car design on the actual teaming. It's really nice. It is, eh? Yeah. I also like the Evolutions released, even though they cost a little bit too much. But we can talk about that after. Well, we can mention that, of course, Marquezio is a really good card as well. And JJ and Little King is probably good as well in game.

[00:41:50] Fair enough prices. Main team as well needs to be discussed as well. There are some fun cards there. There are some gems, hopefully. No, I mean, we got basically all these cards are five star, five star. Yeah. All of them are five star. So they make them all instantly pretty much usable, I think. Yeah.

[00:42:15] There are some big names in there like Bellingham, Bommati, Haaland, of course, Leo. Wilson. Wilson. Butchow. Famous Butchow, of course. Yeah. Who is actually pretty cheap so far. Yes, that should be a really fun card, I think. I was thinking if you need a cheap left card. But there are a lot of cards, maybe. There's a crazy amount of... There's a Griezmann as well that should be really good.

[00:42:43] We have Salma from Barcelona. How many cards are there? 22 or something? Well, it's crazy. I mean, I think you have to talk about the Bommati card. I mean, that, looking at it, 1.3 million. I know John will say, I've got 70,000 coins. No, it's perfect. It's the best card in this team. Yeah. Let's not ask... We'll not actually annoy the listeners by asking who he's packed tonight for the birthday. Because let me tell you guys, the show's not long enough.

[00:43:11] The list of cards that he's packed tonight. Have you packed Bommati tonight, John? I did, yes. Yes, there you go. Send your hate mail to John if you really want to, because he is on the gold list. But that card... That's perfectly fine. John at footcoaching.com. Also, of course, for all your inquiries. And send lots of love as well. But that card, 1.3 million. For me, that looks like a stunning card. Never really used it, because I've never been lucky enough to pack her in-game. I mean, you guys are far better at analysing cards than me.

[00:43:41] Is there anything with that card you would say is a problem? I'm biased, I'll leave this to Ingrid. For John, it's the price. But he doesn't have to buy it. No. No, it's like... For the card you're getting, 1.3, 1.4 million. So I think that's a really nice price. 5-star skimmer, 5-star weak foot. The team of the year is more... Is 1 million, 1.3 million is more. But And has 3 playstyle plus. And 4-star skill moves. So it's not a huge difference.

[00:44:10] I think that's a great-looking card. Finesse plus, technical plus, incisive, pass normal, ping pass normal, tiki-taka. Intercept, first touch and relentless. So it's a little bit interesting with the intercept one. So she has quite high 86 defensive awareness. So she would be able to nick the ball from the CEM, CDM's cams as well because of that.

[00:44:37] 80 strength is nice and great passing 97 with short pass, long pass vision as well. And if you serve as cam, 97 attacking position, 97 finishing, 95 long shots. So you can crack a few long shots as well. 87 shot pass. She's fast, nimble, great skills, great weak foot. Very good body type for that type of player as well.

[00:45:07] So, yeah, I think that's, the price is lower than I thought it would be. So I think you can do a good deal there if you want to try her. I have the same. I packed her. I was like, what? Is this real? Then I compared the price. I mean, it's not bad, but what? I expected it to be at least two. I think it's a steal, honestly. Yeah, I think she sees you through to Team of the Season and potentially just right to

[00:45:36] the end of Team of the Season, this card, 94 rated, 5-5 I assume as well, you know. Every card is 5-5. 5-5, you know, you've got a few icons coming out as well. So, you know, John will say you don't need chemistry. I disagree. I love chemistry. You need as much as you can. A player like me does anyway. But, you know, that looks a wonderful, wonderful card for not too much coins. I still don't think you need chemistry on these cards anymore. It doesn't matter anymore. It's just nice to have, John.

[00:46:04] I mean, it doesn't hurt, but what boost do you give a card that is this good? That's actually meaningful anymore. It's not a must, but it's nice. Sure, but that's what I mean. If you can't fit her, just fit her in anyways. 5-star doesn't matter. And even the base stats, 97 finishing. Whoa, with the boost, she goes to 99. Like, you know. That's not much, though, yeah. That's a great-looking card.

[00:46:32] I also like the price of Chloe Kelly. She's really cheap. She can play right to wing or right to mid with trickster and press-proven plus. She has finesse shot, dead ball, whip pass, technical flair, and quick step. So she's a winger type. She now plays for Arsenal. She's on loan from City with a double 5-star as well. This is nuts.

[00:47:00] I'm going to put up the hype train music soon, because 5-star, 5-star winger for 60k and stats in all the right place. What? Even I can afford this card. And she has the inside forward plus and wide playmaker, which is nice. And the same is on the right mid position. And she has wide midfielder plus and winger on the right mid and winger plus on the right. So she can play pretty much every position wide.

[00:47:28] And if you like to cross, I think this is... And trickster, though, yeah. Yeah. I'm very close to replacing my Mardona now. I was like, hmm. Really, really fun card to use, I'm pretty sure. Chris, is City season starting now? Yeah, I mean, I think so. I mean, look at the Ruben Diaz card. That's one that I've got my eye on, I think. I use Kanati and Reynard. I mean, Reynard's not getting replaced. She has those go-go gadget legs as well.

[00:47:57] I know a lot of people don't like her, but she is a stunning defender. She wins the ball when she shouldn't. But look at that Ruben Diaz card. Does he place Kanati? Replace Kanati. I've got 91 rated one. He's 93 rated. Pretty quick. Like, you know, and then you look at his composure. 93, you know, strong. Anticipate bruiser. 5-5. He's got pinged past. John, you tell me. I know you're like a ball-playing centre-back. Is he that type of guy?

[00:48:28] Yeah, 100% right. Yes, he has the good... 97 short passing and ball-playing defender. Yeah. And five-star-five. I mean, I don't... I wouldn't select my defenders on having five-star weak foot. But it sure is nice if they have it. It's a bonus, a 96 strength as well. So, he's going to be much more agile than Kanati. These cars, I think, will see a bit of a dip, though, in prices.

[00:48:56] Because, I mean, 700k isn't too bad for this car, even. But I see our Packpool channel on Discord is going nuts as we are recording this. People having Ruben Diaz dupes already and stuff. So, we might just see him... Yeah. Drop 100k, maybe? Yeah, maybe even more. Bomati's even dropping now. So, there's a lot of cars to be packed there.

[00:49:20] Maybe there's a kind of store pack that's getting prices dropped. I don't know. I'm not from the store, honestly. So, it could be. Yeah. I think the crash will come eventually once this foot birthday, team of the season. That's the two big promos left, isn't it? It's going to be hard for any other promo. I mean, you know... FC Fantasy just kind of came and went a little bit, didn't it? I mean, there was no cards in there. I heard the guys talking through the week there, you know,

[00:49:49] saying that really there was nothing there that, you know, was extra special. I have a question after we've finished content, if I've got the time, guys, just to ask you very quickly as well about rivals, if that's okay. Yeah, definitely. I just wanted to quickly look at the benching view, or bench, because there's basically two teams in one. There are players there, like Lobot got 20,000 coins, right? Also, of course, 5-star, 5-star. It looks really good.

[00:50:16] Gullet Gang stats in March for 20,000. It's unbelievable. Unbelievable. The Oberdorf card, Jackson, striker card, 5-star, 5-star. Super fast. Even the Rabiot card, 60K. There are so many. Yeah, the Abiot should be really good. Probably the Abbey card is going to be really annoying. The Abbey and Juan Geranico, or John Geran, who's just moved.

[00:50:44] He's going to be, if you were looking for Kem for Ronaldo, John says you don't need it. But that card with the Abbey would give you Kem as well. I mean, there's just, this is silly season. You're absolutely right, John, about that. Yeah, you get Grullet, for example. There are many good cheap cards here, so yeah. Grullet was 18,000 coins. 17, 18, 17, 18K. 96 pace. He's got 94 acceleration, 97 sprint speed. He's got rapid and relentless, of course, on him.

[00:51:13] And 96 stamina. Yeah, of course, his finishing isn't all that great, but everything else, this is, these cards are, okay, let me try to rephrase that improperly. Breathe and breathe, John. If you pack any of these cards, even if it are the cheap cards, they could replace most of the cards currently in the team, I think. Yeah, there's so many cheap, really good cards there, so.

[00:51:44] And Isco, I packed Isco, eh? The, he's 91 rated. He can play left midfielder or center midfielder or Kem. Of course, he can play all the roles, plus, plus on it. I'm going to mention the five-star, five-star, but he is reasonably fast, okay? His shooting isn't all that terrific, but his dribbling is, his passing is really good. He's got basically all the roles in the world, you can believe him, but he's got Trevella plus and incisor plus.

[00:52:13] Also a terrific card, I think. 50k. It's nuts. Yeah, I'm very, I'm very much convinced by this promo, happy by this promo. The fact we got some cheap packs again, 16 coins, and 16 coins I saw. The fact they are five-star, five-star, that really amps it up for me. The fact they're not putting in 11 players and hope you can get someone,

[00:52:42] but hey, here are like 30-something players, you probably pack something. They got heroes and icons and the regular team in it. Good SPCs out straight from the bat. Good objective players in Tommy Abram, right out. And I think there's something cool cosmetic going on as well, Yngwie. Yes, there is. There is some really cool cosmetics. I think that they are my favorite ones this year.

[00:53:11] Only thing is the price. That's a little bit annoying, but I really like the design they are the ones I kind of my favorites. It's the birthday retro 18, 19 and 20. So those are from those three years. And those design are so nice. I think I kind of want to buy all of them, but it's 50,000 coins each,

[00:53:41] so it's a little bit annoying with the prices. But it is cool. I just wish that they would be available for kind of like three months or something. Now it's 20 days, so you kind of have a little bit of pressure to buy them before they expire. That's a little bit annoying. But I really like the idea. I like the design. My favorite is, I think, the 18 one. Looks just really cool.

[00:54:07] And I'm kind of tempted to put the Roberto Firmino in that one. So from level 40. Looks really cool with that design. Yeah, all of them are like, they're really cool. They're just a little bit more expensive. If they were 10k each, I would buy them 100% all of them.

[00:54:36] Maybe I should introduce this as a new topic, but what's your first evening rating of this promo? Oh yeah, that's a good one. Just your first impression rating, something like that. With everything taken into consideration with the content, the team, the players, the amount, etc., etc., I would say it's a strong nine. Chris? This is the ability to be the best promo this year. This one.

[00:55:05] Because it will come at an era where it will absolutely change your team. This is what team of the year should be like. You know, an absolute celebration of football. So for me, this could be the best promo. Team of the season is always great, but it lasts for too long. This one, if they get team two right, this could be the best promo all year. Yeah, I'm very much inclined to agree. It starts right off a nine out of ten. And honestly, I don't know even what they could have done better so far.

[00:55:33] Design is on par as well. Yeah. And even the... No, it doesn't matter for non-content creators, but even the graphics from the backgrounds, from the food birthday callers, the stuff like that, I think even the thumbnails will scream celebration, and I am all for it. Chris, you had one question you wanted to ask, entirely wanted to ask already. Well, I've got two, actually. So Remo's put one in the chat. You get that, you get access to the chat. If you join the Discord for free,

[00:56:03] check us out at Discord Food and Review. He's put... Oh, there you go. That is quality for you. It shows you how old-fashioned I am. I was going to read it. He's put, Hello, guys. I'm playing a kickoff tourney, so any tips? Gameplay seems slower in kickoff than in foot. Any tips would be appreciated. Yeah, so normally my tip would be, if you're playing kickoff, at least start playing a little bit earlier on your preparation for it, because it is definitely slower

[00:56:32] because you don't have any chemistry boost, and the cards don't scale up throughout the year. We play a season tournament every year in Creed, Chris, and you know that if you play for a day or you practice a couple of matches, you get very much used to a very fast day. Yeah, it's good fun. That is good fun. Definitely. It's more balanced and a high-rated player or the players that can really make a difference, like a five-star, five-star, or an Mbapp-based players like that will definitely make a difference. So maybe my tip would be,

[00:57:03] except practicing the mode, search for those players in your team and get them the ball to make the difference. Yeah. Good tip. Don't try to play like you did in the last Cup, Cup 3 with no rules. So if you jump from that mode and then suddenly start hacking and slash, then you'll be in trouble, of course. But it's a very good tip to try to play that mode a few days before you go into the tournament.

[00:57:32] Because if you jump from Ultimate Team to that, it's going to take a few matches to kind of get used to the pace. I think that's probably the best tip you can give. Definitely. Yeah. I was just going to quickly ask, guys, I know it's been quite a long show and thanks to our listeners for sticking with us. Very quickly, is it now, I was listening to guys on Wednesday talking about trying to keep the game fresh, et cetera, is it really maybe now to start playing rivals with not your weekend league team, but actually put these cards in, you know,

[00:58:01] the Rabiotes of this world, you know, any football of the cards you get, just to freshen up the game for you. Maybe try a new formation as well. I mean, what is it, Matt? You're going to get your seven or eight wins or you need the 35 points in rivals. Would you guys consider that? I do that. I changed my team in rivals to try and see what could maybe fit the weekend league team. So, you get a good indication of who's going to be able to perform or not. And it's fun to try different players.

[00:58:31] Maybe not completely change the team, but maybe one or two players each time. So, you kind of keep the basic, strong, middle road going still in the team. So, then you can add and chop and change a little bit, see who fits that. So, that's fun. And there's also, you can do a build your foot birthday card evolution as well. So, you can do that while you're playing in rivals

[00:58:58] to see if this is a card that could be worth going in the second birthday evolution that costs 300,000 coins to make it a double five star. So, that changes things up a little bit and makes it more interesting. So, yeah, it should keep you on your toes at least. Yeah. And I, I would just advise if you pack one of these players to at least give him five matches before discarding him or selling him. Yeah. Yeah. Because I do,

[00:59:28] I just keep looking back at these, at these teams and I'm like, these teams, all these cards are terrific. And even Inviscats green now. Yeah. Just say, buy him, buy him. Just try it. Until you actually have used them, I think. And all since the LDS cards are at least five star, five star. For most position, it could already mean a huge boost. Not even comparing the stats. Yeah. I mean,

[00:59:57] you can't do this every week with a promo. I totally get this, but I'm hyped for every pink card that pops out. Yeah. It's fun. It's fun. It's a, that would be, you just see the pink flares. It's like, Oh, cool. I got a promo card that makes you a little bit more happy inside. I think. Exactly. No, definitely. I think, you know, I was listening to Shaq and I felt, you know, just thinking about that, you know, Shaq saying he felt it was a little bit stale of the game. I think if you do it in rivals and put, you know,

[01:00:26] have a look in your club, you may be surprised actually what players you've got there gathering dust that you've never even considered using. And when we did the Maradona SBC, I think what he started at the low 70s thing, maybe I'm right in saying that. Yeah. The evolution. Yeah. Yeah. And I used him in rivals and I did, to be honest with you, didn't really notice much of a difference, you know? So it was good fun. That card to this was rating 77 though, because that's, those stats weren't 77. No, I agree with you, John,

[01:00:56] but I just feel that this is maybe the time of the year that to get those cards in, keep the game fresh. Team of the season is just around the corner. It normally happens when we're on our way to Crete. So it's not long till we go there either. So, you know, definitely have a little bit of bash at it. Yeah, I agree. I definitely agree. It's going to be fun. I'm very much looking forward to just trying cards this week. Yeah. And I will. I've rebuilt my team. Of course, use Bonmati. I'm going to use Isco for a bit.

[01:01:25] I might use Alexander-Arnold, who were packed, except I got Lucy Prohn's, which I still think is better. And I packed an American centre back. Sam? Sam's? Sam's? Yeah. Sam's, he looks quite decent, although it's going to be hard to replace Saliba for him. Nevertheless, the rest of the cards look absolutely. I'm just hyped for this promo. It's bringing me back. I wasn't gone, but definitely want me to play on it now.

[01:01:55] Cheers, boys. Nice. That's going to be a fun weekend. And if you like this show, of course, and you don't want to be a patron, which of course we can totally understand. It's difficult and hard times. And it also means you can't join Creed. But still, if that holiday is on your schedule or on your wish list, this is the time to do it. Then go to patreon.com forward slash foot in review. But if not, tell your friends or family about it. If you tell at least one person about this show,

[01:02:25] that makes our week already. And of course, because that will make insane numbers. If I come to think about it. Yeah, just tell, I'm not going to tell anything else. Just tell one friend or family member or anyone, your wife, your partner about it. So check this show out. We would really much appreciate it. I'm going to appreciate this weekend. Guys, have a great weekend. It does leave us though, with one thing left to do. And that is to drop it. Drop it. Drop it. F-U-T.

[01:02:58] F-U-T. F-U-T. F-U-T. T. Give it to you. F.