Back to Basics | FUT IN REVIEW - The FOOTBALL ULTIMATE TEAM PODCAST

Daniel and John aka TalkingFUT, return to talk about how to handle those post-Team of the Year frustrations. There's also a new patch to talk about, as two major scoring mechanics seemingly receive a giant nerf. On top of that we've got plenty of mailbag questions, plus we look over the latest Road to the Final content.

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[00:00.000 --> 00:30.000] Hello FUTIs and thank you for joining us once again for FUT IN REVIEW where we've been bringing you leading analysis and opinion on all things FIFA and AFC since 2019. Today's show is proudly brought to you by footcoaching.com, your number one place for you to get better at FC24. Also, if you want to help support this show directly, please consider joining our Patreon at patreon.com forward slash foot in review. You get a range of benefits including exclusive merchandise, coaching discounts and much, much more [00:30.000 --> 01:00.000] including ad free access to the show which means you won't be hearing this very advertisement. However, we realize that time's a tough. So simply leaving us a five-star review where ever you listen to us will be greatly appreciated as it helps the show grow. We'd also like to thank our Skybox holder, Peter for his exceptional support. Now, let's get to today's show. Hello FUTIs, welcome along to your latest dose of AFC Ultimate Team podcasting goodness. We are FUT IN REVIEW, powered by footcoaching.com. [01:00.000 --> 01:29.960] I am joined by John A.H. talking foot and we have got lots to get over. As we record this on Tuesday, the 6th of February pre-content time loads to get into. We're going to close the book finally on Team with the Year with some of our thoughts. But more importantly, we're going to look to the future. We'll look at how everybody can kind of reset, move on whether they've had a great or not so great Team of the Year period. And of course, lots of news to get into including a new patch. We've got new content to dig into. Your questions in the mailbag. [01:30.000 --> 01:37.000] And so, so much more. So, John, let's get into it my friend. How are you? Excellent. Thanks very much, Dan. Thanks for helping me on. [01:37.000 --> 01:46.000] And, yeah, loads to discuss today. How are you? Yeah, I'm not so bad. Thank you. It's weird. I mean, I recorded two podcasts in the space of about 12 hours last week. [01:46.000 --> 01:51.000] And it seemed like the world was crumbling at that time. You know, we had the frustrations around not packing Team of the Year's. [01:51.000 --> 01:59.000] And then we had Messygate. And it's actually quite nice to have stepped away from the microphone for a few days because now I can kind of chill a little bit and had a bit of time. [01:59.000 --> 02:09.000] To reflect. I thought the guys did a fantastic job over the weekend sort of running through the key nuts and bolts of Team of the Year and where it went right and where it went wrong. [02:09.000 --> 02:15.000] And I don't want to rehash all that again for you, John. But I mean, how did you find the whole experience of Team of the Year? [02:15.000 --> 02:22.000] For me personally, I would say it was a win. But that's because I've now got three Team of the Year players in my club. [02:23.000 --> 02:38.000] So from that point of view, it's a win. But trust me, I get the frustrations of facing nothing but good players facing great teams, looking at a coin balance, grinding and grinding and grinding, which I'm not a man you play. [02:38.000 --> 02:47.000] The scouting so many players because I just can't be bothered, recycling anymore. It does take its tone, you're mentally, but glad without that phase. [02:47.000 --> 02:58.000] Yeah, using my analogy from last week's show, you were in that nice winter wonderland log cabin with a nice hot chocolate feet up and all, you know, whilst watching people playing outside. [02:58.000 --> 03:01.000] I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. [03:01.000 --> 03:07.000] Yeah. Well, fair enough. And look, as John was saying, other John was saying on the show that he's happy for those people that got Team of the Year. [03:07.000 --> 03:14.000] And I mean, exactly the same, but I wish everybody had got it. And I'm, you know, as we said, myself and Shaq, our hope was that most people really enjoyed Team of the Year. [03:14.000 --> 03:21.000] But it was a very frustrating period for others. I mean, I in the end didn't pack any team of the years other than the giant asterisks. [03:21.000 --> 03:24.000] Of course, I mentioned in the emergency show, I did get them messy. [03:24.000 --> 03:29.000] So I came out of Team of the Year with a real mixed bag of emotions that I didn't feel like I'd earned it. [03:29.000 --> 03:35.000] It was the first team of the year that I hadn't actually walked away with the team of the year through my own sort of grinding. [03:36.000 --> 03:44.000] And I hammered every SBC. I hammered every objective. I even bought a couple of store packs, not with points. I used coins. [03:44.000 --> 03:52.000] Just came out empty. But, you know, it is what it is. I've been very lucky in previous years and I have walked away with one of the best attackers in the game. [03:52.000 --> 03:55.000] Rightly or wrongly, Messygate is over. It's in my club. [03:55.000 --> 04:04.000] I think the thing's on just a close book on Messygate as well, John, is that I don't know what your experience has been, but I think I've faced a guy about two or three times in 40 games. [04:04.000 --> 04:07.000] It's really not as widespread as I thought it was going to be. [04:07.000 --> 04:17.000] Sorry. I have also got Messy from the Messygate and I would put a caveat that John talked about before in the right hands, Messy is brilliant. [04:17.000 --> 04:25.000] In my hands, not so much. So again, when you see a Messy, do not panic thinking he will destroy you. [04:25.000 --> 04:33.000] It depends on the person behind the controller. So on that point, but facing him, I've not done. [04:33.000 --> 04:38.000] We can leave, but I have done lots of rivals. I've faced him half a dozen times. [04:38.000 --> 04:42.000] So yeah, it's not as many as people maybe think that is. [04:42.000 --> 04:50.000] Yeah, I'm exactly the same as you. I've used him. He's my cam in a 4-2-3-1. I think he's a very good player and he's scored some absolute fantastic goals. [04:50.000 --> 05:02.000] But I got 12 wins again. I got 12 wins. I think the week before or 13 wins the week before, he's not a complete cheat code in my hands because I don't know a lot of 5-star skill moves. [05:02.000 --> 05:10.000] And he still gets bullied by Virgil van Dyke. So still faces the same problems as when I had gold piteus in that position before it. [05:10.000 --> 05:20.000] I'm still in the same rivals league I was before team in the season and I'm still in the same one. So even with my three blues, take it and leave it. [05:20.000 --> 05:31.000] Yeah, so it's good. Look, we are closing the book now on the team here and we'll kind of get into where our teams go from here and some of the strategies and things we're going to be looking forward to in the second half of this game cycle. [05:31.000 --> 05:41.000] But John, we're going to start with some of the big news today in the EA released a title update notes, which was slightly surprising because it wasn't that long since title update number eight came out. [05:41.000 --> 05:51.000] But the big news in this one seems to be a nerf to outside the foot shots and Trevella shots. Now these have been used as a big way for people to score goals from outside the box. [05:51.000 --> 05:59.000] Love them or load them. They've been growing in popularity over the last few weeks, especially since the finesse shots were nerfed a month or something. [05:59.000 --> 06:06.000] About six weeks ago, maybe a longer ago now time time flies, but I'll read out the patch notes on this and what they've said. [06:06.000 --> 06:13.000] They've seen their reducing the effectiveness of outside foot shots of players with or without the Trevella play style and play style plus. [06:13.000 --> 06:22.000] They've also been moderately reducing outside the foot shot accuracy and they've reduced the maximum potential amount of top spin the ball can have for an outside the foot shot. [06:22.000 --> 06:28.000] So your initial reaction when you saw this nerf incoming to Trevella's. [06:28.000 --> 06:30.000] Glad. [06:30.000 --> 06:37.000] Honestly, glad I'm not the greatest player, but you can clearly see when I'm playing in my rivals or chance games. [06:37.000 --> 06:42.000] There might be people that are trying or lining up for an outside Trevella shot. [06:42.000 --> 06:48.000] It's massive. I know at the start of the game, it was all about finished plus. It's now moved to Tevera Plus. [06:48.000 --> 06:54.000] There needs to be a balance where you don't have one thing that is to go to. Your game should be a mix. [06:54.000 --> 06:57.000] So yeah, personally, I'm quite delighted. [06:58.000 --> 07:05.000] Yeah, I was never massively effective with the Trevella shots. I have had a couple of players with that Trevella play style plus. [07:05.000 --> 07:09.000] I have old Fran Kirby. She had it. My old Gareth McCleary had it as well. [07:09.000 --> 07:19.000] And I personally struggled. I think it was one of those skills, a bit like the finesse shot where if you knew that specific angle and that specific area of the pitch, you could be lethal with it. [07:19.000 --> 07:23.000] And I did face players that were, I don't want to say abusing it because it did take skill. [07:23.000 --> 07:36.000] I thought it took a bit more skill than the finesse shots because I was conceding so many more finesse shots than I was Trevella's because, again, you do have to get into kind of a more in closer in range, it seemed to score those Trevella Plus shots. [07:36.000 --> 07:45.000] So look, I think it did need a little bit of a tweak. I did think it was overpowered because, yeah, when people did get into those positions, it was almost a guaranteed goal. [07:45.000 --> 07:54.000] And it was an unrealistic guaranteed goal as well because there was a Trevella scored in real life, not so long ago. And I struggle to think who it was now, but one popped up. [07:54.000 --> 08:00.000] And people were posting highlight reels. And you've noticed how rare a Trevella goal actually is in real life football. [08:00.000 --> 08:11.000] And I know we're still playing a video game and everything, but it was a little bit, takes you out of the football moment when you're seeing someone score from 35 yards and your goalkeeper just seemingly stood there like a lumper pudding. [08:12.000 --> 08:18.000] I know in a career in that, it's like I was watching Gorilla stream a couple of nights ago and he was doing a challenge. He was a pure silver team and champ. [08:18.000 --> 08:30.000] So goalie, no, no Evo is just brilliant. And I know he lost an early game and he was 9-1 at one stage, but just about, just about if they go with a silver player outside for their screen time Trevella. [08:30.000 --> 08:40.000] And that's brilliant because the guy is the skills to do that. He's got the skills to do that. But it just, like you said, so from a gameplay perspective, he's a low rated player, 35 yards. [08:40.000 --> 08:43.000] Boom, boom, boom. It's not realistic. [08:43.000 --> 08:52.000] Yeah, absolutely. So I don't mind that week. Now, the other tweet they've made in this will probably make a lot of people happy, but I'm a bit cautious on this one. [08:52.000 --> 08:59.000] They've said they've improved AIT make positioning and marking decisions making in cutback scenarios. [08:59.000 --> 09:06.000] Now, I suppose the initial reactions, this one is going to be, yay, they're going to cut back on cutbacks. Hooray. [09:06.000 --> 09:19.000] But if you couple this with reducing Trevella shots and the inherent dropback nature and the way that the AI coding behind next-gen consoles pushes people back, [09:19.000 --> 09:25.000] John, I'm a little bit worried here that they're going a bit too far to stop people scoring goals. [09:25.000 --> 09:34.000] I don't really want to go to a game scenario where, you know, everyone's just parking the bus and games are just ending 1-0, 2-0, 2-1. [09:35.000 --> 09:48.000] Yeah, that's the thought as well. And we talked about it with finesse plus being, or finesse being nerfed as well. So you're now looking at potentially, excuse me, 3 nerfs there in order, you know, in finesse, Trevella and cutback. [09:48.000 --> 09:55.000] So where do the goals come from? Now, you have to create, ideally you want to create a bad passing and move in style. [09:55.000 --> 10:02.000] Maybe some skill moves. Not everybody can do that very well. And I'm not quite because you should be the next move is. [10:02.000 --> 10:10.000] And from that point of view, Dan, I would like to think part of that problem is direct passing maybe needs to be changed because that pushes people back. [10:10.000 --> 10:20.000] So the dropback isn't necessarily because people play on 25 deaths. It's because people play over 45 deaths and then direct passing, which pushes people's defence back. [10:20.000 --> 10:24.000] So I think that's what needs changed more than the cutbacks. [10:24.000 --> 10:31.000] Yeah, and this is that this is the worrying thing for me is that there appears to be no real defensive nerf to go along with this. [10:31.000 --> 10:41.000] A couple of other issues they've mentioned is they've updated player selection logic when using secondary contain, which again seems fairly good on paper. [10:41.000 --> 10:47.000] Adjust the other following issues, improve referee foul cutting logic inside the box. What do we have clearance attempt? That's pretty good. [10:47.000 --> 10:54.000] Sometimes the attacking player could have unintentionally stumbled over a slide tackling defenders arms while it seems to avoid them. I think that's happened to most of us. [10:54.000 --> 11:02.000] And in some situations the goalkeeper could have incorrectly picked up the ball after it was passed by teammates for I did see that once or twice where I thought I swear that was a back pass. [11:02.000 --> 11:03.000] Yeah, I've seen that a lot. [11:03.000 --> 11:14.000] So, I mean, all of those seem very good. But yeah, there's no real detail on any kind of defensive nerf. So they've taken, like you said, two or two. [11:14.000 --> 11:19.000] And when you're at the Finesses, they've taken away three main, you know, the three main ways in our armory to score goals. [11:19.000 --> 11:31.000] I was going to say, I think it's possibly because the attackers have gone forward at such pace in bappy gold all the way to play a team of the year. [11:31.000 --> 11:41.000] And all those players, Smith, you've got great attacking midfielders, you know, the blind up, tell us the list goes on. [11:41.000 --> 11:48.000] It's all attacking. Yeah, throwbacks, people are using an overlap, great passing, great crossing, whip crossing. [11:48.000 --> 11:53.000] But if you look at the center back side of things, that hasn't really moved forward. [11:53.000 --> 11:57.000] Outside of team of the year, right. [11:58.000 --> 12:09.000] Obviously, the key one would be Virgil Van Dyke. We ride a great centerbacks for still using ETA, Blanc, for still using ETA, Blanc, for still using ETA and gold Virgil Van Dyke. [12:09.000 --> 12:14.000] They haven't really moved in the scene with the midfielders, wingers, and attackers have moved. [12:14.000 --> 12:16.000] So I wonder if it's just to try and manage that perk. [12:16.000 --> 12:22.000] Yeah, but my argument will be, and again, I will admit to my own skill level, I'm an 11 to 14 win player. [12:22.000 --> 12:24.000] I'm currently in DIV 3 in rivals. [12:24.000 --> 12:31.000] I still find gold Virgil Van Dyke and Laurent Blanc's base cast to be very, very good defenders, especially Van Dyke, [12:31.000 --> 12:34.000] whose reach is still ridiculous, his strength is still ridiculous. [12:34.000 --> 12:42.000] And that is whilst using, you know, thunderstruck your Sabio, team of the year, Messi, and Player of the Month and Bape. [12:42.000 --> 12:45.000] Those defenders still make tackles. [12:45.000 --> 12:51.000] I don't feel my attackers walks through them or, and I don't feel, even though I've got players now like Chavi and Messi, [12:51.000 --> 12:55.000] with exceptional passing skills, it's not like the balls are just going through them easily. [12:55.000 --> 12:59.000] Maybe it's a problem at the very top end, or possibly even the very low end, [12:59.000 --> 13:03.000] and I'm not discrediting anybody that thinks a different way to myself. [13:03.000 --> 13:07.000] But yeah, I mean, the proof, I say this is on so many shows, the proof is going to be in the pudding here, [13:07.000 --> 13:11.000] and I'm very curious to see what games look like after these changes come in. [13:11.000 --> 13:20.000] Yeah, hopefully these attacking tweaks are small and not massive, so the game doesn't get, I don't know, thrown out the cover. [13:20.000 --> 13:24.000] Yeah, so we will see anyway that those patch notes came out this morning. [13:24.000 --> 13:30.000] We're recording this just after lunchtime on Tuesday, so as far as we know the patch isn't actually rolled out yet, [13:30.000 --> 13:34.000] but I'm sure the guys on Friday night show will be discussing that in depth. [13:34.000 --> 13:40.000] Hopefully they've had some time, and I'm sure John in particular, head of foot coaching John will be delving into that [13:40.000 --> 13:46.000] and some of his thoughts. And, you know, it's a great reason, though, to join the Patreon, because we've got people [13:46.000 --> 13:52.000] like Artium working non-stop, and I'm sure he will be beavering way as soon as the patch is announced to find formations [13:52.000 --> 13:57.000] to get players into better positions to score, if cutbacks are inherently nerfed, if they're not. [13:57.000 --> 14:01.000] And again, patreon.com forward slash foot in review, if you want to support the show. [14:01.000 --> 14:05.000] Of course, one of the benefits we've handed out to everybody now, the Discord is open for business. [14:05.000 --> 14:11.000] We've had so many new members join, it's been great to see some old faces, new faces, new voices in the chat, it's been fantastic. [14:11.000 --> 14:18.000] If you do join that page, John, even if you just consider it a tip jar for the work we do here, we very much appreciate it, [14:18.000 --> 14:25.000] but it's not just a tip jar, you do get fantastic benefits from it, including access to that meter than Crete and much, much more, [14:25.000 --> 14:29.000] so I won't do any more plugging than that, that will come up in the mid break. [14:29.000 --> 14:33.000] But John, let's move on from patch notes to content. [14:33.000 --> 14:39.000] Not been a huge deal since Friday, I think the two players that people are really considering at the moment, [14:39.000 --> 14:42.000] two attacking players, two Argentinian attacking players. [14:42.000 --> 14:45.000] And the sorrow Martin has been to Milan, has got a road to the final card. [14:45.000 --> 14:53.000] And Carlos Tevers is a UCL heroes card, got a revealed, say revealed, it's already been out. [14:53.000 --> 14:55.000] We got pushed as an SBC as well. [14:55.000 --> 15:00.000] Just the simple question here is, if you had choice of doing one of the two, which one would you be doing? [15:00.000 --> 15:06.000] Tevers, because it's Tevers, it's just for me more iconic being in the UK. [15:07.000 --> 15:10.000] Yeah, why wouldn't you? [15:10.000 --> 15:11.000] Yeah, welcome. [15:11.000 --> 15:15.000] Are you going to pop up a big spillboard for him? Welcome to Talking Foot FC? [15:15.000 --> 15:20.000] No, no, because I have Messi, that's my Argentinian star. [15:20.000 --> 15:25.000] I'm loving Bobby Charlin now, I'm using gold, killing Mbappe. [15:25.000 --> 15:28.000] I've got the English on the bench. [15:28.000 --> 15:31.000] Sorry guys. [15:31.000 --> 15:35.000] Yeah, this is, again, I think there will be lots of city in the United States. [15:35.000 --> 15:38.000] I've got lots of city in the United fans, maybe in West Ham fans, [15:38.000 --> 15:40.000] and Argentina fans that will be loving. [15:40.000 --> 15:41.000] I mean, he's a good card. [15:41.000 --> 15:46.000] I had his base hero on the second account, which I haven't played with for a good few weeks now, [15:46.000 --> 15:48.000] but I find it to be very, very good. [15:48.000 --> 15:52.000] Very, very rigidly have a nice balance of power and skill. [15:52.000 --> 15:56.000] He's got that technical plus play style as well, which is a big plus to it as well. [15:56.000 --> 15:58.000] Very good shooting as well. [15:58.000 --> 16:01.000] But I mean, for one point, what is he? [16:01.000 --> 16:03.000] 1.2 million coins at the moment? [16:03.000 --> 16:10.000] Being inflated, I would still rather go out and start grinding my way towards Usabeu than this card. [16:10.000 --> 16:11.000] Yeah, yeah. [16:11.000 --> 16:12.000] And on that, I have to take it. [16:12.000 --> 16:16.000] I was asked a question when the last pod was on, based on Usabeu, and I said, [16:16.000 --> 16:20.000] best, I think maybe I haven't got your humble pines at Usabeu. [16:20.000 --> 16:22.000] So, yeah, I would do the same. [16:22.000 --> 16:26.000] I'd put my coins in and use, or my father in Usabeu, over to Perez. [16:26.000 --> 16:31.000] Yeah, I mean, if you're a big skiller, I mean, the advantage that Tevez has over Usabeu is that 5-star skill moves, [16:31.000 --> 16:33.000] whereas Usabeu has the 5-star weak foot. [16:33.000 --> 16:35.000] So, he has that 5-4 versus 4-5. [16:35.000 --> 16:39.000] So, definitely depends on where you land in that regard to some people. [16:39.000 --> 16:43.000] I'm not a skiller, so I need that 5-star weak foot more as a pure striker, [16:43.000 --> 16:45.000] but Tevez would certainly be better. [16:45.000 --> 16:48.000] You can use this Tevez card in a more variety of roles. [16:48.000 --> 16:52.000] You could use them out wide as a wide cam or even just as a normal cam as well. [16:52.000 --> 16:53.000] He's got the stats. [16:53.000 --> 16:56.000] He's a great card. He's an absolutely great card. [16:56.000 --> 17:00.000] And if you were to pack on, you would be absolutely delighted. [17:00.000 --> 17:04.000] But I don't know if I put 1.1.2 million into him. [17:04.000 --> 17:07.000] Yeah, 93 aggression in 95 stammer as well. [17:07.000 --> 17:11.000] The guy's going to be a bulldog that goes on and on and on all day long. [17:11.000 --> 17:13.000] So, that one is out there. [17:13.000 --> 17:16.000] Now, Martinez is a lot cheaper in comparison to do. [17:16.000 --> 17:20.000] He's coming in at around about 400,000 coins on console at the moment. [17:20.000 --> 17:24.000] 90 rated and more importantly, John, two playstyle pluses. [17:24.000 --> 17:27.000] Again, the technical plus, great half. [17:27.000 --> 17:30.000] The only unfortunate one is he's been given that flair plus trait, [17:30.000 --> 17:34.000] which to me is the most useless playstyle plus in the game. [17:34.000 --> 17:36.000] So, that's a bit of a negative. [17:36.000 --> 17:38.000] But if Interboard to go the whole way in the competition, [17:38.000 --> 17:42.000] he would get three playstyles and Inter doing very well in Syria. [17:42.000 --> 17:45.000] They look like they are, of course, to win the Skidato there. [17:45.000 --> 17:48.000] So, they are a team that has potential to go far in this tournament. [17:48.000 --> 17:53.000] But again, I just don't massively like this card. [17:53.000 --> 17:56.000] I think the lack of shooting traits is a big one for me. [17:56.000 --> 17:58.000] Yeah, I totally agree. [17:58.000 --> 18:01.000] And again, to get those three playstyles and all those upgrades, [18:01.000 --> 18:04.000] you're talking about me and me. [18:04.000 --> 18:07.000] You're round the corner from the team of the season. [18:07.000 --> 18:15.000] So, I'm measuring a fan, an Argentina fan, a Syria player, [18:15.000 --> 18:19.000] that's where you're basing your foot around. [18:19.000 --> 18:22.000] Sorry, I just don't see me doing it. [18:22.000 --> 18:25.000] I just don't see that many people doing it unless they're desperately [18:25.000 --> 18:27.000] putting somewhere, they're putting a fodder. [18:27.000 --> 18:29.000] And then obviously it's cheaper than Tevez. [18:29.000 --> 18:33.000] Yeah, I was going to say, I mean, with the 83 by 10 returning as well, [18:33.000 --> 18:36.000] this week, and of course, 82 plus picks, not picks, packs. [18:36.000 --> 18:38.000] We'll round about that in a second. [18:38.000 --> 18:43.000] Only an 87 and an 86 squad, an 85 and an 84 as well. [18:43.000 --> 18:45.000] So, reasonably cheaper. [18:45.000 --> 18:47.000] I mean, the only reason it's up as high as it is, [18:47.000 --> 18:49.000] is because 87 and 86 is so high. [18:49.000 --> 18:53.000] I think you could quite easily see this card dropping down significantly [18:53.000 --> 18:55.000] within the next couple of weeks. [18:55.000 --> 18:57.000] I mean, it is available for another 10 days. [18:57.000 --> 19:00.000] So, this could be one that, like you said, maybe if you've got a bit of spare fodder, [19:00.000 --> 19:03.000] maybe you go and complete like an 85 or an 84 squad of it. [19:03.000 --> 19:05.000] And then see where you are in 10 days. [19:05.000 --> 19:09.000] Would you rather do Martinez, guaranteed 90 or would you rather [19:09.000 --> 19:13.000] round about the same coins and go for another icon gamble? [19:13.000 --> 19:15.000] Give me my luck on... [19:15.000 --> 19:19.000] Give me my luck on icon gambles this year? [19:19.000 --> 19:22.000] Probably I'd take Martinez because I have had absolute stink. [19:22.000 --> 19:26.000] I think, look, I've had my usual blend of pretty good pack luck this year, [19:26.000 --> 19:30.000] but my icon picks and packs have been utterly, utterly woeful. [19:30.000 --> 19:32.000] I rinsed my club last night. [19:32.000 --> 19:34.000] My nephew, Kaden, who's in the Discord was round, [19:34.000 --> 19:37.000] and my brother was round, and we all did the icon pack. [19:37.000 --> 19:39.000] Now, the icon pick. [19:39.000 --> 19:43.000] And I got ETE, ETE9, Cameron, what it was. [19:43.000 --> 19:47.000] And the big one was Yashin, who's my third untreatable Yashin. [19:47.000 --> 19:49.000] Yeah, I got big leather as well. [19:49.000 --> 19:51.000] But I've got Cassius already. [19:51.000 --> 19:54.000] So, I mean, I might try him, you know, just because the hat, [19:54.000 --> 19:55.000] I'm sure the hat is OP. [19:55.000 --> 19:57.000] That's what I started and pleased I won. [19:57.000 --> 19:58.000] I mean, absolutely. [19:58.000 --> 20:00.000] It's basically the hat should be a playstyle plus. [20:00.000 --> 20:02.000] Absolutely. [20:02.000 --> 20:04.000] Coolness, 100%. [20:04.000 --> 20:06.000] Indeed, get the hat playstyle plus out. [20:06.000 --> 20:08.000] So, look, those two options are there. [20:08.000 --> 20:12.000] I'm guilty, perhaps, being a little overly negative on cards, [20:12.000 --> 20:15.000] and I kind of said this when I was talking with Shaka about cards, [20:15.000 --> 20:17.000] like Davies and Sauer and things like that. [20:17.000 --> 20:20.000] And I think it's, again, I think it's fantastic that a card, [20:20.000 --> 20:24.000] like Tim, as a five-star, four-star top player. [20:24.000 --> 20:28.000] I mean, this card, John, is still a top 25, [20:28.000 --> 20:30.000] probably attacker in the game? [20:30.000 --> 20:32.000] Yeah, you could maybe push that a little bit more. [20:32.000 --> 20:35.000] Five-seven gets on that low consent by gravity. [20:35.000 --> 20:36.000] Do you know what? [20:36.000 --> 20:37.000] It's a great card. [20:37.000 --> 20:40.000] I just think sometimes it's a relation to both your club is. [20:40.000 --> 20:41.000] Yeah. [20:41.000 --> 20:47.000] So, with, like I said, Messi, Kenny, Chaot, and Papi, [20:47.000 --> 20:49.000] it's not something I need to look at. [20:49.000 --> 20:53.000] If I had absolutely zero luck, I only got the game at Christmas, [20:53.000 --> 20:55.000] got a lot of bad coins, got some fraud. [20:55.000 --> 20:56.000] I never got a team of the season. [20:56.000 --> 20:57.000] You know what? [20:57.000 --> 20:59.000] I haven't packed the name back yet. [20:59.000 --> 21:01.000] It's definitely something you might look at. [21:01.000 --> 21:03.000] So, everything's always relative to who you are. [21:03.000 --> 21:04.000] Sorry. [21:04.000 --> 21:05.000] Yeah. [21:05.000 --> 21:09.000] It's that brutal 89-rated squad that really makes you feel the pain [21:09.000 --> 21:13.000] on getting Tevez done, because that is about 400,000 coins of the cost. [21:13.000 --> 21:16.000] But this card, again, this is out for a long time as well. [21:16.000 --> 21:18.000] This is out till the early March. [21:18.000 --> 21:20.000] So, you've got a long time to do it. [21:20.000 --> 21:24.000] We could easily see EA drop some more best of packs into, [21:24.000 --> 21:28.000] best of cars back into packs or something that drives Fodder right back down again. [21:28.000 --> 21:33.000] So, you know, this card comes into that range and you're building up a lot of high-rated cards. [21:33.000 --> 21:35.000] It might be a different equation. [21:35.000 --> 21:36.000] But as of right now, I think I agree with you. [21:36.000 --> 21:38.000] It is a little bit too expensive. [21:38.000 --> 21:40.000] Just running out of some of the other content as well. [21:40.000 --> 21:42.000] We mentioned the E3 by 10 is back. [21:42.000 --> 21:44.000] Where were you over team of the Year 83 by 10? [21:44.000 --> 21:45.000] We missed you. [21:45.000 --> 21:50.000] Unfortunately, the 82 plus upgrade is here and it's not a pick. [21:50.000 --> 21:51.000] So, that's a bit lame. [21:51.000 --> 21:53.000] For me, it's been an 82 simulator. [21:53.000 --> 21:55.000] John, I don't know if you've done many of them. [21:55.000 --> 21:57.000] No, because I don't necessarily have that much for done. [21:57.000 --> 22:03.000] And, like you said, the way the pack week seems to be since team of the, [22:03.000 --> 22:05.000] what I say, team of the Year, since team of the Year, [22:05.000 --> 22:07.000] team of the Year, what I say, team of the season. [22:07.000 --> 22:10.000] But since the pack week seemed to drop, even now, [22:10.000 --> 22:14.000] pack week seems to have not packed a special on any of my accounts. [22:14.000 --> 22:20.000] Since the start, I just keep thinking, what's the point of doing it too? [22:20.000 --> 22:22.000] Because if I did it, I'd just put the pack in my club. [22:22.000 --> 22:23.000] No, we didn't love it. [22:23.000 --> 22:25.000] Yeah, four errors, three comments to get this done. [22:25.000 --> 22:28.000] And that said, I've done it, you know, a dozen or so times [22:28.000 --> 22:30.000] and got mostly 82s from it. [22:30.000 --> 22:33.000] But somewhere else to recycle cards from off leagues, [22:33.000 --> 22:36.000] I would still advise people to go through the league SBCs [22:36.000 --> 22:38.000] ahead of going through this 82 plus. [22:38.000 --> 22:40.000] But again, I'm never. [22:40.000 --> 22:44.000] Yeah, never upset about having more options and more menu grind. [22:44.000 --> 22:48.000] So even though the pack weight still remains utterly, utterly miserable. [22:48.000 --> 22:51.000] But I'm going to do my best not to moan about that for the rest of the show. [22:51.000 --> 22:55.000] Look, we've got, we're going to be talking about what we are going to be doing with our teams going forward, [22:55.000 --> 22:58.000] how we approach the next sort of few months of the build up to team of the season. [22:58.000 --> 23:01.000] And we're going to be answering your questions in the mail. [23:01.000 --> 23:04.000] We've got some great ones in from all of you out there this week to get to. [23:04.000 --> 23:07.000] But before we do that, let's take a very quick break. [23:07.000 --> 23:11.000] You're listening to foot in review, proudly brought to you by footcoaching.com. [23:11.000 --> 23:15.000] Remember, you can help support this show directly and receive a host of benefits, [23:15.000 --> 23:20.000] including ad-free access to the show, exclusive merchandise and access to our meetups, [23:20.000 --> 23:23.000] which this year is happening once again over in Crete. [23:23.000 --> 23:27.000] Simply sign up at patreon.com forward slash foot in review. [23:27.000 --> 23:32.000] Also, if you have any feedback on the show, please follow us on our socials at Footcoaching. [23:32.000 --> 23:34.000] Anyway, let's get on with the show. [23:34.000 --> 23:35.000] Right. [23:35.000 --> 23:37.000] Welcome back to foot in review part two. [23:37.000 --> 23:41.000] I hope the little ad break with my voice didn't do too much to put you off. [23:41.000 --> 23:44.000] However, if you want to skip the ad breaks entirely, again, [23:44.000 --> 23:45.000] it's one of our patreon perks. [23:45.000 --> 23:47.000] So patreon.com forward slash foot in review. [23:47.000 --> 23:51.000] I said I would plug it again, but sorry, folks, I did lie slightly. [23:51.000 --> 23:53.000] Let's move on then, John. [23:53.000 --> 23:55.000] So team of the year is over. [23:55.000 --> 24:00.000] We're now at a point where there are some people that have probably just put their controller down. [24:00.000 --> 24:02.000] They've moved on to a different game. [24:02.000 --> 24:04.000] They've said I've had enough. [24:04.000 --> 24:08.000] There will be other people, perhaps in your camp, that have got some shiny new team of the years, [24:08.000 --> 24:11.000] or they've got some SBCs they've completed done. [24:11.000 --> 24:14.000] And there will be other people that are just somewhere in the middle. [24:14.000 --> 24:19.000] What would be your number one tip now for people that are sitting there staring at the club saying, [24:19.000 --> 24:21.000] right, what do I do now? [24:21.000 --> 24:25.000] What are the kind of things that you're going to be looking forward to doing over the next two or three months [24:25.000 --> 24:29.000] before the next big milestone in this game, which will be team of the season? [24:29.000 --> 24:31.000] Breathing and relaxing. [24:31.000 --> 24:34.000] If I can do such a thing with food. [24:34.000 --> 24:40.000] Yeah, so I played on Thursday and grained it out my rivals wins. [24:40.000 --> 24:45.000] Haven't played Friday, didn't play Saturday, didn't play Sunday, and only played on Monday [24:45.000 --> 24:47.000] because my friends came round. [24:47.000 --> 24:51.000] And in the episode of a couple of games on my account, because we jump accounts. [24:51.000 --> 24:54.000] And I just thought that was great and nice to relax. [24:54.000 --> 25:00.000] And because I think I could be wrong, Dan, you'll keep me right here. [25:00.000 --> 25:05.000] Most people, even though John says you shouldn't, most people play further awards, right? [25:05.000 --> 25:09.000] So if the rewards are poor, in this case, they're a step down from what we've just had, [25:09.000 --> 25:15.000] there's not the same pressure to play or the same ambition to play. [25:15.000 --> 25:20.000] So I'm just taking a wee step back down and what I'll do is I'll just pick myself back up. [25:20.000 --> 25:26.000] So we refresh our club stock, maybe log in, do a couple of objectives, get some XP on the seasons, [25:26.000 --> 25:30.000] and then I will build myself back into that proper grind, champs, whatever. [25:30.000 --> 25:35.000] But the minute I'm just like two days, next weekend away from it, it was just nice. [25:35.000 --> 25:37.000] What's your plan? [25:37.000 --> 25:40.000] Yeah, I'm very, very glad that the FOMO factor was gone. [25:40.000 --> 25:44.000] I talked about this a little bit on the shows during team of the year. [25:44.000 --> 25:48.000] And it was certainly a feeling I felt during 2023's team of the year, [25:48.000 --> 25:52.000] where I was almost feeling just almost physically sick. [25:52.000 --> 25:53.000] And it sounds dramatic. [25:53.000 --> 25:58.000] I was almost physically sick by just spending so much time hunched over my phone or on a keyboard [25:58.000 --> 26:02.000] or behind a controller grinding upgrades, grinding upgrades. [26:02.000 --> 26:03.000] It would dominate my thoughts. [26:03.000 --> 26:06.000] And I'll freely admit, this is not the most healthy behavior. [26:06.000 --> 26:08.000] I'm not saying it's a good thing. [26:08.000 --> 26:09.000] But it was dominating my mind. [26:09.000 --> 26:10.000] It was like, I've got to try and find that way to get a blue. [26:10.000 --> 26:12.000] I've got to try and find my way to get that blue. [26:12.000 --> 26:15.000] And whilst I don't know whether it was the as bad this year, I was still finding myself [26:15.000 --> 26:18.000] in every bit of free time on the phone, grinding a league upgrade. [26:18.000 --> 26:20.000] I sat there just really hoping. [26:20.000 --> 26:23.000] And I'm just glad that FOMO is on because I look at this promo. [26:23.000 --> 26:25.000] Yeah, there are some nice cards out there. [26:25.000 --> 26:27.000] I'd love a Raphael Liao who wouldn't. [26:27.000 --> 26:29.000] But I'm not bothered by it. [26:29.000 --> 26:30.000] And that's just freed me up. [26:30.000 --> 26:34.000] And like you said, because I'm not, I'm not like, I need to get the best rewards, [26:34.000 --> 26:37.000] give myself the best chance of getting a team of the year card. [26:37.000 --> 26:40.000] I played week in league and I just played without much pressure. [26:40.000 --> 26:44.000] I was almost getting stressed and I got to 11 wins a lot easier than I had done in the past. [26:44.000 --> 26:48.000] I then hit the usual roadblock I get to where I couldn't get past 12. [26:48.000 --> 26:49.000] But that was very free. [26:49.000 --> 26:54.000] And I dipped into rivals and I've not really played a lot of rivals because I'm in a division [26:54.000 --> 26:56.000] that I don't feel I should be in. [26:56.000 --> 26:59.000] I played a session yesterday in DIB3. [26:59.000 --> 27:04.000] And I don't know whether it's that a lot of people have stopped smurfing and sandbagging. [27:04.000 --> 27:07.000] But the level of opponents wasn't that high. [27:07.000 --> 27:10.000] And I got my seven wins without too much effort. [27:10.000 --> 27:13.000] And the other thing I freed myself up to do was, [27:13.000 --> 27:17.000] and this is my big tip to everyone is, I was trying different players because there are players [27:17.000 --> 27:23.000] that I've picked up over the last few months that I've never really given that much game time to. [27:23.000 --> 27:30.000] Players that I'd completed SBCs of just to complete them to burn through fodder, players like Suke, Bobby Moore. [27:30.000 --> 27:33.000] And I just thought, you know what, I'm just going to give these guys a go. [27:33.000 --> 27:35.000] I'll give them a bit of game time and see how they are. [27:35.000 --> 27:42.000] I experimented with different defensive combinations and it was just nice to just play the game [27:42.000 --> 27:45.000] just to play the game rather than to play for the rewards. [27:45.000 --> 27:49.000] So I absolutely get what you're saying in terms of, for a lot of people, it's a great time to step back. [27:49.000 --> 27:56.000] But for me, it was a good time to sort of reset and play the game for the right reasons, if that makes sense. [27:56.000 --> 27:58.000] Absolutely. My enemy step back for me, it's not I'm stopping. [27:58.000 --> 28:02.000] I'm just scaling back for a week, maybe two. [28:02.000 --> 28:05.000] But I'm still playing. I've been just not focused on playing. [28:05.000 --> 28:09.000] But what you're doing is bringing some fun back in and just trying to go. [28:09.000 --> 28:11.000] Never use this, never done that. [28:11.000 --> 28:13.000] It doesn't matter if when I lose. [28:13.000 --> 28:17.000] I suppose it's out of your majormacy, it's a good time to tie in your tactic. [28:17.000 --> 28:23.000] There's loads of things like that you could do now that you wouldn't necessarily do where it's about. [28:23.000 --> 28:27.000] I need that 11 wins or 14 wins because I need the packs to get blue. [28:27.000 --> 28:29.000] It doesn't come anyway, which creates a disappointment. [28:29.000 --> 28:31.000] But that's all in the past. [28:31.000 --> 28:36.000] So yeah, now it's just a little bit of a, yeah, there's loads of different ways to play the game in a minute [28:36.000 --> 28:41.000] and then loads probably what the next promo, which has been leaked and we don't talk about leaks here, [28:41.000 --> 28:43.000] looks quite exciting. [28:43.000 --> 28:46.000] That'll bring the buzz back, the focus will come back. [28:46.000 --> 28:52.000] But it's that, you know, you've got a week, maybe two weeks, but you can just try different things, do different things. [28:52.000 --> 28:56.000] Yeah, and there are things like Evo's that have been bubbling away that were released over Team of the Year. [28:56.000 --> 28:57.000] It's a good time to start doing. [28:57.000 --> 29:01.000] I know lots of people didn't play as much because they were spending so much time on the menus [29:01.000 --> 29:04.000] or in competitive mode that they didn't have time to work on Evo. [29:04.000 --> 29:08.000] So it's a great time to catch up on some of those as well. [29:08.000 --> 29:12.000] And the menu content, as I mentioned earlier, I think is good again now that the 83 by 10 is out. [29:12.000 --> 29:14.000] It's a good chance to just restock that club. [29:14.000 --> 29:15.000] Yeah. [29:15.000 --> 29:18.000] Remember that the exchanges are still out as well. [29:18.000 --> 29:23.000] So if you're in a position where perhaps you can completely drain out all of your comments and your rares [29:23.000 --> 29:28.000] and you have a couple of high rated players, it might just be worth chucking them into the exchanges [29:28.000 --> 29:31.000] before they go away and just building up that little base. [29:31.000 --> 29:36.000] So if you can start doing things like marquee match-ups again, these puzzles are daily puzzle-less [29:36.000 --> 29:38.000] species that we've got coming out as well, through Jets as well. [29:38.000 --> 29:40.000] So it is a great time just to take this. [29:40.000 --> 29:42.000] And there's a lot of content, sorry, Dan, so I've dinted up. [29:42.000 --> 29:43.000] There's that. [29:43.000 --> 29:44.000] No, go for it. [29:44.000 --> 29:46.000] You can get kits and badges. [29:46.000 --> 29:47.000] Yes. [29:47.000 --> 29:49.000] And those kits and badges give you more packs. [29:49.000 --> 29:51.000] Now none of those packs are great in their own right. [29:51.000 --> 29:57.000] But like you were talking about, they might just put fodder back into your club for marquee match-ups [29:57.000 --> 30:00.000] or for an SBC, et cetera, et cetera. [30:00.000 --> 30:03.000] So there's still plenty of content to keep you engaged. [30:03.000 --> 30:04.000] Yeah. [30:04.000 --> 30:09.000] So all the FC Pro Live team kits and badges, I think you can, if you wear one of the badges [30:09.000 --> 30:11.000] for a couple of games, you get a two-ray gold pack. [30:11.000 --> 30:14.000] I don't think I could be bothered to do it, John. [30:14.000 --> 30:15.000] No, I'm not doing it myself. [30:15.000 --> 30:19.000] But I know my brother Mo's grinding through all when I'm like, all right. [30:19.000 --> 30:24.000] But again, there's a good chance for you to restock fodder and things like that in this game. [30:24.000 --> 30:26.000] So again, I can only approve of that. [30:26.000 --> 30:29.000] Did you have to watch any of the FC Pro Live finals? [30:29.000 --> 30:31.000] No, I didn't, actually. [30:31.000 --> 30:38.000] And I wish I had, because I'd watched some of the previous rounds and I found it quite entertaining. [30:38.000 --> 30:41.000] But I think I kind of brought day it was. [30:41.000 --> 30:43.000] But yeah, I think I just had it on the back. [30:43.000 --> 30:44.000] That's how it was. [30:44.000 --> 30:45.000] Yeah. [30:45.000 --> 30:46.000] So no, I didn't play. [30:46.000 --> 30:47.000] And it started. [30:47.000 --> 30:49.000] It was moving out with a good lady and stuff like that. [30:49.000 --> 30:50.000] No. [30:50.000 --> 30:52.000] Yeah, I watched a lot of it. [30:52.000 --> 30:59.000] The big talking point was Anders Vergang, who is fast becoming the bad boy of the FIFA scene. [30:59.000 --> 31:02.000] He's a bit of a Ronnie O'Sullivan maverick type. [31:02.000 --> 31:07.000] That's Nuka reference is probably going to go over the head of a lot of people here. [31:07.000 --> 31:12.000] But he is, or Zlatan maybe, kind of figure, love him or love him. [31:12.000 --> 31:13.000] He's got supreme talent. [31:13.000 --> 31:19.000] A lot of people not liking some, you know, there was some toxic behavior from him. [31:19.000 --> 31:21.000] But other people would say, well, no, that's box office. [31:21.000 --> 31:23.000] That's what we need to get people to view in the game. [31:23.000 --> 31:25.000] He lost in the very last minute. [31:25.000 --> 31:26.000] P. H. Sin. [31:26.000 --> 31:29.000] So if you had that van de Bouman card, you were in luck. [31:29.000 --> 31:31.000] He had long since got into an SBC for me. [31:31.000 --> 31:32.000] Yeah. [31:32.000 --> 31:33.000] But yeah, GG's to him. [31:33.000 --> 31:39.000] And also, again, I will have to give EA credit because yes, a lot of it was rewards driven. [31:39.000 --> 31:46.000] But I was watching a lot more than I thought, because in years gone past, I would just put the tab on, [31:46.000 --> 31:49.000] on mute or on as low as possible and just leave it. [31:49.000 --> 31:54.000] But I actually did find myself, I thought the studio presentations, I thought the presenting team did a really good job. [31:54.000 --> 31:59.000] So again, I think it's the most, and I'm not saying I'm following it each. [31:59.000 --> 32:03.000] These guys very closely, but they have put names on my radar now. [32:03.000 --> 32:04.000] Yeah. [32:04.000 --> 32:05.000] I think everything. [32:05.000 --> 32:08.000] I think the proceeds from the, yeah, no different situation. [32:08.000 --> 32:13.000] I think the whole proceeds messed up that, you know, if you didn't qualify, that you've done for pretty much a season. [32:13.000 --> 32:14.000] And I think that's all wrong. [32:14.000 --> 32:17.000] There's not enough competitions to keep pros active. [32:17.000 --> 32:21.000] That's a different conversation, probably one John could do with better than I can. [32:21.000 --> 32:26.000] But yeah, those games I watched in the earlier rounds, quarter-final, semi-finals, they were really good. [32:26.000 --> 32:31.000] Nine-minute-o-halfs, I think, it's good to watch, maybe not good to play for concentration. [32:31.000 --> 32:33.000] It was good to watch those length of games. [32:33.000 --> 32:39.000] And there was certain criteria where they have to play with a value of a squad, or they had to play with an SBC player, [32:39.000 --> 32:41.000] or they had to play with Ronaldinho. [32:41.000 --> 32:43.000] So, yeah, there's some things about it though. [32:43.000 --> 32:44.000] We'd all love to play with that. [32:44.000 --> 32:48.000] But that was the beast and execution around that. [32:48.000 --> 32:50.000] And I think that was actually really quite different. [32:50.000 --> 32:51.000] Yeah. [32:51.000 --> 32:52.000] Absolutely. [32:52.000 --> 32:57.000] And, yeah, again, we can't, you know, I've just given them some credit, but I'm going to have, you know, [32:57.000 --> 33:00.000] you know, we're fair and foul where it's needed, John. [33:00.000 --> 33:02.000] They did have a couple of cook-ups this week. [33:02.000 --> 33:06.000] The first big one, and it's not really foot related, but it did impact a lot of people. [33:06.000 --> 33:10.000] Pro clubs was effectively broken for three days this week, [33:10.000 --> 33:14.000] to the point where they had to put a patch out, sorry, an emergency maintenance window early today, [33:14.000 --> 33:16.000] Tuesday to fix it. [33:16.000 --> 33:19.000] Pro clubs just wasn't working full stop for three days. [33:19.000 --> 33:23.000] So, to have an entire mode of your game out for a few days is not a good look. [33:23.000 --> 33:25.000] It looks like it's been addressed now. [33:25.000 --> 33:28.000] John might be able to talk a little bit more about that on Friday show. [33:28.000 --> 33:35.000] But the other one was they couldn't help but make another fudge up on a release of a player, you know, [33:35.000 --> 33:40.000] Chris was talking about the muck up with Nathan Teller on Friday, accidentally releasing [33:40.000 --> 33:42.000] 99 rated versions of his Evo. [33:42.000 --> 33:48.000] This time, they released Mateo Guenduzzi, of course, a firm foot-favorite, an OP card from the past. [33:48.000 --> 33:53.000] He's now moved to Lazzio, but apparently Lazzio will have moved from Italy to France, John. [33:53.000 --> 34:02.000] I know quality control is absolutely like an gate at how many players on the database, right? [34:02.000 --> 34:07.000] Special cards, different versions, people do move clubs, et cetera, et cetera. [34:07.000 --> 34:13.000] But this game makes them billions of euros, dollars, pounds. [34:13.000 --> 34:16.000] It makes them billions in a year. [34:16.000 --> 34:19.000] I don't know what size of team they've got working on it. [34:19.000 --> 34:25.000] But in my job, right, if we made mistakes like that, I would beat it off a job. [34:25.000 --> 34:31.000] Yeah, people heads would roll because customers look at you and expect a certain level of service. [34:31.000 --> 34:39.000] And it's a really small thing, but it's another small thing on the list of thousands of small things, [34:39.000 --> 34:41.000] and it all comes down to quality control. [34:41.000 --> 34:46.000] How do you go? One guy, two guys, ten guys, who vets it, who double vets it, who's double, [34:46.000 --> 34:49.000] who's checking the checker, seems like nobody. [34:49.000 --> 34:52.000] And that just is really annoying for my point of view. [34:52.000 --> 34:56.000] Yeah, and it seems to happen more with weekend content. [34:56.000 --> 35:00.000] It makes me think that a lot of the stuff is just scheduled. [35:00.000 --> 35:04.000] And like you say, maybe it's not, and I don't want to speculate too much about EA's business, [35:04.000 --> 35:05.000] because I don't know. [35:05.000 --> 35:12.000] But what I do know is they made $1.7 billion in live service sales in the last quarter. [35:12.000 --> 35:17.000] So don't tell me you can't spend 100 grand, 200 grand. [35:17.000 --> 35:22.000] Or pay for what, two or three, very good quality control people. [35:22.000 --> 35:24.000] Don't tell me you can't afford it. [35:24.000 --> 35:28.000] It's corporate laziness and greed, if you're not putting that. [35:28.000 --> 35:31.000] Because I don't even want to blame the people out there putting the mistakes. [35:31.000 --> 35:37.000] Because like you said, for such a big company, they should have safeguards in place. [35:37.000 --> 35:38.000] Everybody may. [35:38.000 --> 35:42.000] All of us make mistakes in our jobs and our lives, some more than others. [35:42.000 --> 35:45.000] But more often than not, there's someone there to say, [35:45.000 --> 35:47.000] oh, actually, that is. [35:47.000 --> 35:50.000] And the fact these mistakes, it's also the fact these mistakes go on for. [35:50.000 --> 35:51.000] That's what you see. [35:51.000 --> 35:53.000] Do you make a mistake in your job? [35:53.000 --> 35:55.000] Some do you spot set? [35:55.000 --> 35:58.000] You put a plan in place to make sure that doesn't happen again. [35:58.000 --> 36:01.000] But with you that happens again and again and again and again. [36:01.000 --> 36:03.000] It's like sort of, yeah. [36:03.000 --> 36:04.000] Yeah. [36:04.000 --> 36:07.000] I mean, look, we didn't mention it really during content, but there was a mini release as well out there. [36:07.000 --> 36:10.000] Gwen Doozy, one of those players out there. [36:10.000 --> 36:14.000] Other players with Carvedol from Manchester City, he's coming in around a million. [36:14.000 --> 36:16.000] Lucy Bronze from Barcelona. [36:16.000 --> 36:18.000] She's 320,000 coins as well. [36:18.000 --> 36:20.000] Right in from Chelsea, women. [36:20.000 --> 36:23.000] She is around 400,000 coins as well. [36:23.000 --> 36:26.000] So, I mean, some nice looking cards there, John. [36:26.000 --> 36:30.000] I mean, I would love Lucy Bronze to have been a centre back, [36:30.000 --> 36:33.000] although the five foot seven height, not idea there. [36:33.000 --> 36:35.000] Garvedol, we all know how good he is. [36:35.000 --> 36:41.000] But again, a million coins for defending the prices of all these cards are just still so high. [36:41.000 --> 36:44.000] Yeah, I think that's, you know, 87 rated. [36:44.000 --> 36:46.000] Yeah, four stars, four stars brilliant. [36:46.000 --> 36:47.000] But he's high, high, high. [36:47.000 --> 36:49.000] So he'll step out potentially. [36:49.000 --> 36:53.000] And obviously, he'll keep back, stay back on instructions. [36:53.000 --> 36:56.000] But the must be the upgrades have been built into that. [36:56.000 --> 36:57.000] Because what would he go? [36:57.000 --> 36:58.000] Yeah. [36:58.000 --> 36:59.000] 90, 91. [36:59.000 --> 37:00.000] Yeah. [37:00.000 --> 37:04.000] And again, I don't know. [37:04.000 --> 37:05.000] Yeah. [37:05.000 --> 37:08.000] The top cards in this game are just still too unobtainable. [37:08.000 --> 37:13.000] And Shaq talked about the aspiration, having players that are aspirational. [37:13.000 --> 37:19.000] And like, for most people, a million coins is going to be pretty much everything they have. [37:19.000 --> 37:24.000] And are you really going to want to try and grind away to get this card? [37:24.000 --> 37:25.000] I don't know. [37:25.000 --> 37:27.000] The market doesn't make a lot of sense to me at the moment. [37:27.000 --> 37:30.000] I mean, it makes sense in that I know why prices are high. [37:30.000 --> 37:32.000] We've all talked about the reasons for it. [37:32.000 --> 37:35.000] But from a game point of view, it's not. [37:35.000 --> 37:36.000] Going back. [37:36.000 --> 37:39.000] And I just wish that I should have touched on it with the road to the knockouts. [37:39.000 --> 37:41.000] I'm still better. [37:41.000 --> 37:42.000] Now we'll just go on better. [37:42.000 --> 37:46.000] I'd prefer the old one, but it was road to the finals from the start. [37:46.000 --> 37:50.000] And I still remember the Alonso card from Chelsea, the orange one. [37:50.000 --> 37:55.000] And he was, I determined the start and the qualified. [37:55.000 --> 37:57.000] And then they went through the group stages and so on. [37:57.000 --> 38:01.000] That card was, I think, 91, maybe 92 by the time we got the final. [38:01.000 --> 38:06.000] We were stopped usable as team of the season came round. [38:06.000 --> 38:07.000] That's brilliant. [38:07.000 --> 38:10.000] Again, my bitterness is that was a great. [38:10.000 --> 38:13.000] You did something early and you sort of grew nervous. [38:13.000 --> 38:18.000] Like you can pull this up to the group stage and then we'll reset and start again. [38:18.000 --> 38:21.000] And to me, that's just the money club. [38:21.000 --> 38:22.000] Yeah. [38:22.000 --> 38:24.000] No, I agree. [38:24.000 --> 38:25.000] And the pack weight is poor. [38:25.000 --> 38:29.000] The counter argument would be the year of actually giving us effectively [38:29.000 --> 38:32.000] given us all four free roads to the final cards. [38:32.000 --> 38:38.000] They're amongst the worst ones, you know, the likes of Dix and Buscagli and Danneres. [38:38.000 --> 38:42.000] I think three of those already went into my icon, SBC. [38:42.000 --> 38:43.000] They got me a duplicate. [38:43.000 --> 38:51.000] So unless you're a fan of that club player nation, realistically, [38:51.000 --> 38:55.000] who helps realistically Dan, who helps us keeping those cards and hoping they [38:55.000 --> 38:59.000] can upgrade and even if he goes from an 86 to 89. [38:59.000 --> 39:04.000] Who's going to be using them over the other 89 or nine, the one that they've got on their [39:04.000 --> 39:05.000] club? [39:05.000 --> 39:09.000] And I would rather have been in packs, John, because then at least you could have [39:09.000 --> 39:10.000] packed. [39:10.000 --> 39:13.000] You could have got yourself a handful of Dix in your packs. [39:13.000 --> 39:14.000] Okay. [39:14.000 --> 39:15.000] Materon. [39:15.000 --> 39:19.000] Don't know what you're laughing there in your packs and then sold them for even [39:19.000 --> 39:23.000] at min price, 10, 11 k each, as opposed to having one. [39:23.000 --> 39:25.000] So yes, they're free. [39:25.000 --> 39:26.000] So that's great. [39:26.000 --> 39:28.000] There's content, there's something for you to do. [39:28.000 --> 39:29.000] It's clubbing it. [39:29.000 --> 39:34.000] But for me, I just simply solemnize it's further for an SBC, rather than a card I [39:34.000 --> 39:35.000] want to use. [39:35.000 --> 39:36.000] Oh, yeah. [39:36.000 --> 39:37.000] 100%. [39:37.000 --> 39:41.000] I keep mentioning, but I mean, Dix plays for Kevin Hagen, who got Man City. [39:41.000 --> 39:43.000] So like he's not going to move. [39:43.000 --> 39:46.000] Look, is there a chance they get a draw in the first game? [39:46.000 --> 39:47.000] Anything is possible. [39:47.000 --> 39:48.000] So it could be an 87. [39:49.000 --> 39:53.000] Imagine that was our road to the finals, clear pick. [39:53.000 --> 39:54.000] Yes. [39:54.000 --> 39:55.000] Sure. [39:55.000 --> 39:56.000] What? [39:56.000 --> 39:57.000] Wow. [39:57.000 --> 39:58.000] That would be a different. [39:58.000 --> 40:03.000] No, we don't expect an 85 Dix, but what if you could have got a layout of that as a gamble? [40:03.000 --> 40:05.000] That's how we should do it. [40:05.000 --> 40:07.000] Get proper engagement rather than here. [40:07.000 --> 40:11.000] There's an 85 that unless you're coping here again, nobody wants. [40:11.000 --> 40:12.000] Yeah. [40:12.000 --> 40:13.000] Agreed. [40:13.000 --> 40:14.000] Right. [40:14.000 --> 40:15.000] Let's move into the mailbag then. [40:16.000 --> 40:18.000] Thank you to all of you who have submitted questions. [40:18.000 --> 40:21.000] Again, the best place to do so is the discord is completely free now. [40:21.000 --> 40:22.000] Follow the link. [40:22.000 --> 40:23.000] It will be on the show notes. [40:23.000 --> 40:24.000] It's on our socials as well. [40:24.000 --> 40:27.000] So great to see as many of you joining as possible. [40:27.000 --> 40:30.000] We're going to start with Natalie's bottom. [40:30.000 --> 40:35.000] Who says winning versus funny considering the fact that your team is wiped out every September. [40:35.000 --> 40:40.000] Isn't it more important to use players you like in real life to get maximum enjoyment out of the game? [40:40.000 --> 40:43.000] I hate losing at anything. [40:43.000 --> 40:44.000] Everything. [40:44.000 --> 40:45.000] Scrabble. [40:45.000 --> 40:46.000] Poker. [40:46.000 --> 40:49.000] Who who who murdered to on death and paradise. [40:49.000 --> 40:51.000] It doesn't matter what it is. [40:51.000 --> 40:52.000] I hate losing. [40:52.000 --> 40:55.000] So yes, I should go for fun. [40:55.000 --> 40:57.000] But I will always go for the win. [40:57.000 --> 40:58.000] It's just the way I am. [40:58.000 --> 40:59.000] Apologies. [40:59.000 --> 41:00.000] Yeah. [41:00.000 --> 41:05.000] This is a question that I struggle with because one of my players at the moment in my starting lineup is Gareth McCleary. [41:05.000 --> 41:09.000] I've evolved his car to I think he's 80. [41:09.000 --> 41:11.000] 485 rated at the moment. [41:11.000 --> 41:13.000] Stats above that. [41:13.000 --> 41:14.000] But he's not. [41:14.000 --> 41:15.000] He's four star four star. [41:15.000 --> 41:19.000] I could be playing somebody better in that position. [41:19.000 --> 41:20.000] But he's a four running player. [41:20.000 --> 41:23.000] And I love having that in my team. [41:23.000 --> 41:27.000] So I will sacrifice a little bit of skill level for that. [41:27.000 --> 41:31.000] And I get so much more satisfaction seeing his face pop up when his scores are going. [41:31.000 --> 41:33.000] I think that's a difference. [41:33.000 --> 41:34.000] It's that balance. [41:34.000 --> 41:36.000] So you're not going through fun because you're not running. [41:36.000 --> 41:38.000] You're not going to have to go. [41:38.000 --> 41:42.000] Reading past and present full of Evo's and potential heroes and icons. [41:42.000 --> 41:44.000] I don't know if there are any icons. [41:44.000 --> 41:45.000] Right. [41:45.000 --> 41:47.000] George Best played for a sponsor. [41:47.000 --> 41:48.000] There you go. [41:48.000 --> 41:50.000] So yeah, get your bestie in there. [41:50.000 --> 41:51.000] Right. [41:51.000 --> 41:54.000] But that's the proper fun is trying to do it fully like that. [41:54.000 --> 41:55.000] I don't think it can. [41:55.000 --> 41:57.000] It's like Samuel. [41:57.000 --> 41:59.000] This and the discord uses us. [41:59.000 --> 42:05.000] He does use a couple of seats players in his current 11 because of Evo, the Evo to the max. [42:06.000 --> 42:09.000] They're still they're not meta meta like you're McCleary. [42:09.000 --> 42:12.000] But they're good enough to say I can sacrifice this. [42:12.000 --> 42:15.000] Ninety rated for this eight to eight Evo. [42:15.000 --> 42:17.000] And feel good about it. [42:17.000 --> 42:19.000] But you can you can do that a living times. [42:19.000 --> 42:20.000] Yeah. [42:20.000 --> 42:23.000] An intriguing series to watch this year. [42:23.000 --> 42:25.000] I'm giving him the free publicity. [42:25.000 --> 42:30.000] I've been watching a pentas is road to glory that he's built with this Arsenal Evo team. [42:31.000 --> 42:34.000] And NEP seems to have this cycle that he goes to. [42:34.000 --> 42:38.000] He's admitted this cycle of good Evos come out and he can Evo these players and they feel [42:38.000 --> 42:41.000] like they're up with the power curve. [42:41.000 --> 42:46.000] And then they stagnate for a little bit and he starts getting beaten by players who he knows [42:46.000 --> 42:48.000] he could be beating if he was using meta players. [42:48.000 --> 42:52.000] And that's where your argument comes in, John, because when you're losing games that you [42:52.000 --> 42:54.000] know you could be winning. [42:54.000 --> 42:59.000] It gets frustrating, especially because this game is just not designed to reward you through [42:59.000 --> 43:00.000] just game play. [43:00.000 --> 43:04.000] There are no bonuses ordinarily for goals. [43:04.000 --> 43:08.000] There are fewer rewards just for playing games. [43:08.000 --> 43:09.000] So you get the feeling of great. [43:09.000 --> 43:13.000] I've just spent 20 minutes losing to somebody that I would have beaten if I'd just played [43:13.000 --> 43:16.000] Mbappe instead of McCleary, for example. [43:16.000 --> 43:18.000] So it's a really tough one to balance. [43:18.000 --> 43:19.000] I can see both sides. [43:19.000 --> 43:20.000] Yeah, absolutely. [43:20.000 --> 43:25.000] So from that point of view, I'll probably go off for the win, but I don't get me wrong [43:25.000 --> 43:27.000] if I could use a fun player. [43:27.000 --> 43:33.000] I would, but you know, I'm sort of kind of dropped out wish, but don't wish, I may say. [43:33.000 --> 43:37.000] And this is where, yeah, and this is where things like Tevers come back into play. [43:37.000 --> 43:41.000] Because if you were someone that watched Tevers, I think I really love the way Tevers played. [43:41.000 --> 43:44.000] He was a bulldog and I loved that about him. [43:44.000 --> 43:48.000] That's where you, if you're sort of in two minds about whether to do a player, that's where [43:48.000 --> 43:51.000] I think the whole fun thing comes into point of view. [43:51.000 --> 43:58.000] Like, Saliba versus Palomaldini's icon card at the moment, which one would you enjoy seeing [43:58.000 --> 43:59.000] more in your team? [43:59.000 --> 44:02.000] Saliba might be that little bit more meta, but do you have the same question? [44:02.000 --> 44:04.000] I think we are with some players. [44:04.000 --> 44:05.000] Exactly. [44:05.000 --> 44:06.000] Exactly this. [44:06.000 --> 44:13.000] And it's worth sacrificing perhaps that five to 10% of meta-ness to get a bit of enjoyment [44:13.000 --> 44:14.000] out of your team. [44:14.000 --> 44:20.000] But at the same point, I think if you do go too far in that fun camp, just losing constantly [44:20.000 --> 44:21.000] and losing more than you win. [44:21.000 --> 44:26.000] Unless you're someone that can absolutely sit there and say, I don't care about my results, [44:26.000 --> 44:28.000] in which case, yeah, definitely go for fun. [44:28.000 --> 44:30.000] The good is an excellent player. [44:30.000 --> 44:33.000] I mean, top-top-top-top level player. [44:33.000 --> 44:34.000] Yeah. [44:34.000 --> 44:38.000] Then you are running about with fun players, because you know what? [44:38.000 --> 44:42.000] I can beat the majority of people with my, I'm just going to use Red Dingo. [44:42.000 --> 44:44.000] You're seeing Johnston Team Jordan. [44:44.000 --> 44:47.000] I'm just going to go out there with our bronzes and spank people. [44:47.000 --> 44:50.000] I know what goes to you, but the rest of us mortals. [44:50.000 --> 44:51.000] Yeah. [44:51.000 --> 44:53.000] I have my fun in squad battles with those players most of the time. [44:53.000 --> 44:57.000] My full running pass and present is my squad battles warriors. [44:57.000 --> 45:02.000] Moving on, speaking of good players, Adam Gigi's who got 16 wins over the weekend. [45:02.000 --> 45:03.000] Well done, my friend. [45:03.000 --> 45:08.000] He says, my question for the pod, what percentage of weekend league does the host think hit [45:08.000 --> 45:09.000] each rank? [45:09.000 --> 45:13.000] And would they think, do what they say, it's gotten harder to get their standard rank this [45:13.000 --> 45:14.000] year? [45:14.000 --> 45:16.000] John, what would you say? [45:16.000 --> 45:18.000] I mean, yeah, what do you think? [45:18.000 --> 45:20.000] Where do people most feel finished? [45:20.000 --> 45:24.000] I'm going to say 11, but I've got no data to back that up. [45:24.000 --> 45:30.000] But the second part of the question is, I've only played weekend league half a dozen times [45:30.000 --> 45:36.000] this year, and I've the last four, I've hit nine wins quite constantly. [45:36.000 --> 45:40.000] Nine was the best I ever got in the last FIFA. [45:40.000 --> 45:43.000] And that was playing it all the time. [45:43.000 --> 45:48.000] So I would have said this gave us harder than the previous FIFA, but my chances outside [45:48.000 --> 45:53.000] the same, I'm in a higher rivals league this year than I was last year. [45:53.000 --> 45:58.000] But I'm not going to compose your other focus to go to 11. [45:58.000 --> 46:00.000] John through coaching. [46:00.000 --> 46:02.000] They'll tell me that all the time. [46:02.000 --> 46:05.000] So I'm in three too many games, 20 in a goal. [46:05.000 --> 46:06.000] And I'm out. [46:06.000 --> 46:07.000] I got about nine wins. [46:07.000 --> 46:12.000] I think most people get more than that because you have to be a certain skill level to get [46:12.000 --> 46:13.000] in. [46:13.000 --> 46:17.000] So there's no total donkeys at this game. [46:17.000 --> 46:19.000] If you're in champs. [46:19.000 --> 46:23.000] So I would say 11 is 14 is probably that good bracket. [46:23.000 --> 46:27.000] And then they've got the 969 and then 911. [46:27.000 --> 46:32.000] So if you want to go, I've got to try and slip that 9 to 14 is probably where everybody [46:32.000 --> 46:35.000] sets apart from the really good and the not so good. [46:35.000 --> 46:36.000] Yeah. [46:36.000 --> 46:40.000] I think if you're getting nine wins, I think you can consider yourself a good player. [46:41.000 --> 46:46.000] A good player because if you think about the players that you end up beating on your way [46:46.000 --> 46:49.000] to get to nine wins or 11 wins or 14 wins. [46:49.000 --> 46:52.000] And again, everybody's situation is different. [46:52.000 --> 46:56.000] I mean, you go at anybody that gets a number, whether you get one win or 20 wins. [46:56.000 --> 46:58.000] It doesn't, it doesn't matter to me as long as you have fun. [46:58.000 --> 47:03.000] But there are players out there that you do sit there and think either they must be very, [47:03.000 --> 47:04.000] very young. [47:04.000 --> 47:07.000] Like, you know, because I started playing football games and I was what? [47:08.000 --> 47:10.000] Eight, nine years old and eight, nine years old. [47:10.000 --> 47:11.000] I wouldn't be getting 11 wins. [47:11.000 --> 47:16.000] You know, I was struggling to beat the computer at like what, have a semi pro level or whatever [47:16.000 --> 47:21.000] it was so, but there will be kids that have managed to get through to week and, to do that. [47:21.000 --> 47:24.000] There'll be other people that just aren't that good or people having bad weekends. [47:24.000 --> 47:27.000] I think if you're getting nine, I think nine, I would says the average. [47:27.000 --> 47:29.000] I think you were getting 11 good. [47:29.000 --> 47:30.000] I think we're getting 14. [47:30.000 --> 47:32.000] Very good. [47:32.000 --> 47:36.000] And I think anything above that, the only reason we see so many people, John and the people listening [47:36.000 --> 47:39.360] and the people listening to this podcast, the only reason you will probably see a lot of people [47:39.920 --> 47:47.280] talking about 14, 16, 18, 20 wins is because we really follow the game. We are really into this [47:47.280 --> 47:53.200] game. So our perception is warped because we're following accounts of content creators whose job [47:53.200 --> 47:59.200] it is to play this video game and whose followers are usually very, very into this game, people [47:59.200 --> 48:04.720] like myself and you. But I think if you looked at the most average punters, yeah, I would say [48:04.720 --> 48:10.160] probably no wins is about average. Cool. I'll take that. Excellent. I'll put you a step above [48:10.160 --> 48:15.040] that. It's a good one. Well, and that's what I would just say in the second part to Adam's question, [48:15.040 --> 48:20.960] for me personally, it has more often been harder to get to 11 than it was. Well, I consider myself [48:20.960 --> 48:25.360] a 14 win player by the end of FIFA 23 and I've only hit it, I think, once this year. So it's [48:25.360 --> 48:30.800] been harder for me. It just seems that when you do get into that positive ELO, four, five ELO [48:30.880 --> 48:36.400] territory for me, I'm facing a lot more. I look players up on footwiz. I'm facing a lot more verified [48:36.400 --> 48:40.880] players than I would have done last year. And I just think that the player base has constricted [48:40.880 --> 48:46.160] EA's by EA's own announcement. They have sold less copies of this game. So there are going to be [48:47.280 --> 48:52.720] less players. So I do think it is a more dedicated call. And I think ELO is also a big part of it. [48:52.720 --> 48:58.400] And it was just again, if I go back to Kerala's streamups watching, I didn't see his last day, [48:59.120 --> 49:04.560] but he went 9-1 with the silver team and then the ELO kicked in. And he does it himself once you [49:04.560 --> 49:09.840] start going to game 10 with a good ELO. It changes. And then he really struggled because, [49:09.840 --> 49:17.200] yes, he was beating great teams under up to 9-1. He was facing those same great teams, [49:18.160 --> 49:24.240] but he was facing a better player. And that becomes the challenge. Absolutely. [49:24.240 --> 49:28.080] All of a lot to do with that. I'm finishing off the mailbag today. This is from Homer. [49:28.080 --> 49:32.000] He says, do you guys think player instructions or game plans in general need to refresh? Apart [49:32.000 --> 49:36.320] from the old change like drop between centre backs being removed and deep lane playmaker being added, [49:36.320 --> 49:40.480] there hasn't been much change and pretty much everyone uses the same instructions. I find certain [49:40.480 --> 49:45.360] games boring coming from its same formation and instructions. Also, should we get formation freedom [49:45.360 --> 49:50.960] like in career or kick off mode where we can move the players to where we exactly want them. [49:50.960 --> 49:55.040] And before we got our thoughts on this, John had a foot coaching put his thoughts in this [49:55.040 --> 50:02.240] thread. He said, yes, but no, it's a free movement. It used to be possible, but we were always able [50:02.240 --> 50:06.560] to break the game. Just my two cents prefer to be tunable with steady positions. I thought I'd [50:06.560 --> 50:11.600] read that out just because I don't have the perspective of FIFA when it was for me. John, [50:11.600 --> 50:15.600] I don't know. Were you still playing the game around that time? No. If it was, I was playing [50:16.560 --> 50:22.000] just career type stuff. Yeah, I wasn't playing through. Yeah. So with the way that this community [50:22.000 --> 50:27.760] finds ways to break things, I think I agree with John on this one in the free movement, [50:27.760 --> 50:32.960] probably not possible. I could see some freakish things going on with people playing. [50:32.960 --> 50:39.280] Yeah, I don't think it's the play positions and instructions that necessarily change [50:39.360 --> 50:47.360] those mechanics of what these direct passing do. What does this the 44 depth versus the 45 depth [50:47.360 --> 50:53.840] do versus the 71, which creates the auto press and the shuffle across the pitch. That's the [50:53.840 --> 50:59.120] stuff that needs change, not that stay back on your feel back or balance on a feel back. That's [50:59.120 --> 51:06.320] the small tweaks. Yeah, getting behind, stay forward, stay central, just like that's all on paper. Yeah, [51:06.320 --> 51:11.280] that makes sense, doesn't it? It doesn't necessarily what? But on paper, that makes sense. But this [51:11.920 --> 51:17.760] depth thing, it's not a defensive depth. It's an attack or it's not an attack in depth. No, [51:17.760 --> 51:23.680] that's the bit that needs tweaked and re-jigged, re-hashed, re-done. But stay back, get forward, [51:23.680 --> 51:27.360] drift wide, that stuff, that's fine. I would leave that. Yeah, and if you watch [51:27.360 --> 51:31.760] Inception's various gameplay breakdowns, Stalin used to do them as well, [51:32.720 --> 51:38.080] pointing out the very broken things around attacking AI and things like that. Like you said, John, [51:38.080 --> 51:45.600] those are things that really need breaking down. I would love EA to take a team, either just take [51:45.600 --> 51:52.160] a year off from the game, or just take a whole team and say, right, rebuild this engine, break down [51:52.160 --> 51:57.280] this code. Because as others have said, this code and this edging, it's just been had this code [51:57.280 --> 52:03.360] built on top, on top, on top, on top, on top. And it's at the point where they can't change certain [52:03.360 --> 52:07.760] things because either they've lost the inherent knowledge of how that was built in the first place [52:07.760 --> 52:12.400] or it would cause the rest of the stuff built on top of it to crumble. But I would love them to go [52:12.400 --> 52:18.400] away and fully sit there, take the best bits from this and really re-code it to make it a more [52:18.400 --> 52:25.040] attacking, free-flowing, open game. But again, same reason I've talked about everything else, [52:25.120 --> 52:28.880] it's not going to happen because EA don't have the competition and they don't want to spend the [52:28.880 --> 52:34.320] money doing it. And if they make a record money? Exactly. So yeah, I think as Homer said, maybe [52:34.320 --> 52:39.280] just a little refresh of some roles and things like that. Maybe the best we can hope for. But [52:39.280 --> 52:43.600] I hope it's coming. I hope change will be coming. I still, whilst I don't think it's a bad game [52:44.400 --> 52:50.960] and I've enjoyed playing it, I'm not addicted to the gameplay of this game. And yeah, I do think [52:50.960 --> 52:55.840] it needs a big old jolt in the arm. But look, I think that just about wraps up the show for this [52:55.840 --> 53:01.360] week. We did have a couple of player reviews submitted as well. John submitted one from Maldini, [53:01.360 --> 53:05.200] but then we've run out just about run out of time. So I'm sure he will talk over that. So [53:05.200 --> 53:10.560] Pellet, not Maldini. I'm sure he will talk over that one on Friday show where they will have a new [53:10.560 --> 53:16.160] promo to talk about. I'm sure most of you listeners, if you want to go find out what that promo is, [53:16.160 --> 53:20.240] you can go and find it. We won't leak it here. But it's pretty much common knowledge what it's [53:20.240 --> 53:24.400] going to be coming next. They will discuss all through that. John, is there anything you [53:24.400 --> 53:30.320] wanted to add in before we finished up? No, I would just say enjoy your FIFA Ultimate team or [53:31.280 --> 53:37.440] sports. I'll call it FIFA. I'd say just enjoy it. Be that focused on the grind for your eight [53:37.440 --> 53:43.840] three times or some gameplay changes or tweaks. Take one weekend off, watch a bit of telly, [53:43.840 --> 53:46.960] whatever it is you do. Just enjoy it and remember, it's just a game. [53:47.040 --> 53:50.720] Indeed, indeed. Don't be worried that you haven't got that blue. Don't be worried if you're facing [53:50.720 --> 53:55.840] the players with God's squads and whatnot. You can just do what you've got to do. Nobody is going [53:55.840 --> 54:02.000] to judge you whether you're getting four wins, eight wins, 12 wins, 16 wins. It's the best I need [54:02.000 --> 54:06.080] to keep telling myself that you're only playing the game for you and for your own enjoyment. So [54:06.080 --> 54:09.680] if you do that, please go out and do it. As mentioned, plenty of ways to support the show. [54:09.680 --> 54:13.440] Leave us those five star reviews. Again, you can watch this as a video show. I've got a slightly [54:13.440 --> 54:19.440] different backdrop today as I've been exiled from the study. Also, you can listen to us wherever [54:19.440 --> 54:23.360] you listen to the show. Thank you for those of you who continue sports via Patreon and [54:23.360 --> 54:27.760] it's great to see again all those new faces in the discord. The link will be up to join us. [54:27.760 --> 54:33.280] In the meantime, only one thing left for us to do, John. Drop it. We're going to drop it. Transcription results written to '/home/forge/transcribe3.sonicengage.com/releases/20240205231104' directory