Is The Party Over?

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[00:00:50] Hello FUTs, welcome along to your latest dose of FC24 Ultimate Team podcasting goodness.

[00:00:56] We are FUT IN REVIEW, powered by FUT Coaching.com.

[00:00:59] My name is Dan Wimbich, I am joined by the Scout Nathan Downs for episode 598.

[00:01:05] We're recording this around lunchtime on Tuesday the 26th of March.

[00:01:10] Thank you very much indeed for taking the time to join us, lots to get into as FUT birthday

[00:01:14] rolls towards its conclusion.

[00:01:15] You know they're not quite kicking us out the door yet but you can see the staff lingering

[00:01:19] around the edge of the room with their bin bags getting ready to tidy up the party.

[00:01:23] But there's still lots to get into from a busy weekend, plenty of good SPCs, thrust

[00:01:28] of mull over giving our views about whether you should be completing them or not.

[00:01:31] And we've got a bumper mailbag as well with things ranging from what kind of SPCs should

[00:01:36] I be doing to get back into this game after a long time away.

[00:01:40] Thoughts on shorter friendlies and much more plus.

[00:01:42] We will be giving our views on a rather interesting climax to the E-Prem event and much

[00:01:49] much more.

[00:01:50] A big question for you my friend.

[00:01:52] How are you?

[00:01:53] I'm very good thanks Dan, thanks for having me back on again.

[00:01:57] Step it into a good friend, Shaq Shoes, well he's out and about.

[00:02:01] But no, looking forward to talking all things for it.

[00:02:03] It's been quite a mixed week or so including some coat with yourself, some coat with John

[00:02:09] which I'll apologise to the discord guys that I had an absolute tantrum when I wasn't

[00:02:13] playing well in Storm Dwayne.

[00:02:15] My birthday party was over for a good few hours at that point but looking forward to getting

[00:02:19] into it today.

[00:02:20] Hey, it's your party you can cry if you want to.

[00:02:23] Look as said, low skill into of course we've got a tweet that did the rounds as well

[00:02:27] apparently showing a big drop off in numbers of players we're going to be explaining why

[00:02:31] it's not all as it seems as well so before we get into all that I want to jam through

[00:02:35] content really really quickly Nate.

[00:02:37] Lowes are great SPCs out at the moment, a couple of fullbacks, big focuses of attention.

[00:02:42] First of all we had car Chowee getting a twin version SPC of course the five star

[00:02:47] week foot versus the five star skill move version.

[00:02:50] I looked at this and I think this just falls into the category of we've had so many good

[00:02:54] leftbacks lately there was just nothing, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the card

[00:02:59] but there wasn't quite enough to make me think yeah I need to really fit this player into

[00:03:03] my team.

[00:03:04] Hundred percent.

[00:03:05] I mean this goes into some of my content rage at the moment is we have so many leftbacks

[00:03:09] at the moment and to be fair we do have quite a few rightbacks but leftbacks in terms

[00:03:14] of releases of the squad's SPCs especially it's a bit overkill because you can only play

[00:03:19] one leftback or sometimes they have that alternative possession but so many good players in

[00:03:25] there and like you say she's fine she's very fast, she looks a bit of an all rounder

[00:03:29] physicality a bit low.

[00:03:31] It's a skit for me just purely because I think there's better alternatives out there as

[00:03:36] well nothing wrong with the card itself just a bit of bit may compare to some of the

[00:03:41] other options.

[00:03:42] Yeah look we've talked about this in you know over the last couple of months when we've

[00:03:45] been talking about player reviews both you said being new and well I'm on with Shaq as

[00:03:48] well we're not raining on the parade of these cards it's just when you look at it for 650K

[00:03:53] compared to what you've probably already got is there an overwhelming reason to go out

[00:03:57] and get this card probably not unless you really need the links for one reason or another

[00:04:01] of course you've got sure many outs of that helps with Frank Rivery being out as

[00:04:04] SPC as well this might help you sort of all get that nice synergy of chemistry in your team

[00:04:08] but the weak star the weak star the weak foot version the weak star version which is technically

[00:04:14] the weak foot version because it's got a weakest star so you know I've talked to myself

[00:04:18] into a new phrase there but the weak star version is the one I would be going for it is

[00:04:22] the slightly more expensive one though is around 650K compared to 550K for the skill

[00:04:29] move 5 star skill move version of the card so they're both out there and while we're talking

[00:04:33] about kind of luxury cards well come on see the fallback in a second but what we're talking

[00:04:36] about luxury cards I think this has you card this has you icon card name again just falls

[00:04:41] into that slot it's around half a million coins very very good card is it worlds better

[00:04:47] than the cards like Ziko that a lot of players already have again I'd probably say not massively

[00:04:52] no I don't think you'll do your own well he's in your squad I think he's fine but again

[00:04:59] you know just to be that negative nearly we had as he the last few years as well like there's

[00:05:04] plenty of icons that haven't had a species and hadn't been sort of souped up induced like

[00:05:09] like they could be I think you'll be good fun the dead ball in place L-plus for me is always fun

[00:05:15] I really like that but again there's plenty of other options out there the Romanian nationality

[00:05:22] although it's Nike on the Romanian nationalities not going to do much for other players who try

[00:05:25] to bring in but yeah if you've got 500K for the of Dupes somehow it'd be you definitely

[00:05:32] do a job but I don't think this is one that you'd really see to anybody go out and you must do

[00:05:37] yeah again with that between Tukly Shea very fun card certainly won't do you wrong and if you are

[00:05:42] in that market for an upgrade in your camp and look even if you've just been using Ziko for a long

[00:05:46] time and I'll just compare the two but and you just want to change this card is not going to let you

[00:05:51] down at all everything is so crowded for a moment we've got the 84 by 5's we've got the 80 plus player

[00:05:56] pick you've got rewards coming out the cut these boosted rival rewards it's not really going to

[00:06:01] cost you anything it's just a case of whether you're someone that a bit I know you're a bit like

[00:06:06] me Nathan we're players that like to hold on and really hold that fodder and so there's a big card

[00:06:10] that comes out and that's that works to my advantage because I've just been able to go out and do

[00:06:15] Claude Maccalailly and Schumany without breaking a sweat or you know spending any I think I've

[00:06:20] spent maybe 50k between those two cards because I have been avoiding things like gambler species

[00:06:27] I have been having been going after some of these more fun cards so but if you want to do it from

[00:06:32] scratch it's probably not even going to cost you 46 you know few days of gameplay and you get it done

[00:06:36] pretty easily yeah absolutely no it'll go on to what we're talking about later on but it's fine

[00:06:43] I managed to do much like you but I didn't do Maccalailly did Roberto Caroleus as well which

[00:06:48] didn't cost me anything but it's you know when you mentioned at the opening about drop off it makes

[00:06:54] the games a lot harder so I'm very much in the mindset now that it's got to come straight into my

[00:06:59] team and improve my team massively compared to just being a touch up because you know defone rivals

[00:07:04] you don't get nothing for for slight improvement it's kind of got to be their missing length

[00:07:08] that you're needing to elevate your game so this I don't think elevates my game but if you played

[00:07:13] in probably central can would be amazing because of the five star fives are the past in the shooting the pace

[00:07:18] I think it's it is well rounded if you use them in the right direction right position sorry but

[00:07:22] again like we're saying I just think there's other options that you know either hold your hold

[00:07:27] your folder for a rumoured massive laliga SPC that's coming or you know there's certain other

[00:07:33] cards out there that could potentially be more worthwhile yeah exactly look we're getting to the

[00:07:38] stage of the game as well where you really can build and the key phrase of this entire game

[00:07:42] mode is ultimate team and to me I admired had you as a player but never really massively connected

[00:07:50] with him so I don't see a particular reason to go out and do this you know there are lots of cards

[00:07:54] you can evo to get up to kind of these levels now with these juiced up foot by foot birthday evos as

[00:07:59] well you know you've been playing with my team I've got a couple of redding players back into the

[00:08:03] folder hoping to get another couple in as well before the end of this promo if not shortly afterwards

[00:08:08] so look again never gonna knock EA for putting these kind of SPC's out there I love that it's

[00:08:13] affordable and it is an icon so please go out and complete it if you want to before we talk about Reese

[00:08:18] James just very quickly there was another showdown with Limbombay against Forbes again this is an

[00:08:25] E erudavisi contest not a real life one but now both these cards just fodder but you know they might

[00:08:31] be useful for the cup yeah absolutely I mean I've completely gone so with them I've not even done

[00:08:36] any of them it might be worth doing just to get a bit high rated fodder but it's mostly the fodder

[00:08:40] is quite low in price anyway so it's not not one of those must go out and get but if you're

[00:08:46] belgit needing that belgit and botchial length then maybe but again it's not something that you know

[00:08:51] that's a must do I mean we think Forbes is all but certain to win I think they've got a very much

[00:08:56] stronger he erudavisi side at iaxe so you know that could be an 89 again if you still hold on to

[00:09:02] that evo as well you know you could turn this into a 90 red card that's five star skill moves

[00:09:07] four star week foot and then you're looking at you know shooting above 90 pace 95 is dribbling

[00:09:11] a B around 9th 3 night for his passing so it would actually be a fantastic card to put in I'm

[00:09:16] actually more talking myself into this but I've done the evo since and again I'm using players

[00:09:22] that I really want to use but if you are and I know we got a question later I mentioned about

[00:09:27] someone that's coming back to the game again great card of card if you're looking for an RTG or

[00:09:31] even if you're just looking for a fodder dump you know there's only good cost you 34k to do

[00:09:36] and it will turn into it's almost certainly going to be an 89 red card so that's one to do but

[00:09:41] let's get to the big one nath reest james we had a question from neurotic who of course

[00:09:46] is part of our fantastic discord the discord is open for all the link to it will be posted on

[00:09:52] the show notes or of course you can message us on our socials foot coaching should you want to

[00:09:56] to uh to check us down he's asked a question is reest james a must do for the price the key question

[00:10:04] I think just taking price out of the equation they if I know you've already done this card did

[00:10:09] you do this card because of the price did you do it because you think it's a cracking looking card

[00:10:13] neither I did out a juke from doing chimney to be honest and we had a chat last night I've been

[00:10:19] rocking kaffee there which everyone seems to have so kaffee is my defensive fullback on the other side

[00:10:26] I have a vertical carolist in my attacking one but james has always been a bit opian in FIFA

[00:10:31] iterations so I was very very tempted regardless um what's nice he's got the whip pass and jockey play

[00:10:38] cell pluses but it's also play styles are you know incisive pass long ball block bruiser relentless

[00:10:43] long throw so he's got the right sort of play styles you want for even if you do keep a bit more

[00:10:49] defensive I think I've put an anchor on him to just you know increase that speed a little bit

[00:10:54] and the physicality I think he's I think for 180k he is a must do um I really do think so if

[00:10:59] you can link him in I think he's he's excellent so far he feels very good I like the whip pass

[00:11:05] for your crossings um I think he's a very good all-rounder um I don't think you'll do you much

[00:11:10] harm at all I think if you've got 180k he's only two teams as well I think it's 8786 so

[00:11:17] most of these if you do a couple of these eight ye four times five so you'll have there or there

[00:11:21] about so anyway um so definitely want to want to look out for and I would I would recommend on the

[00:11:27] the very limited game time I've had using him yeah completely agree I think if you've got any

[00:11:32] intention of going out of Premro of course Prem Tots only going to be a matter of weeks away

[00:11:36] perfect card to stash into your club very versatile it's going to hold his own

[00:11:39] through the next couple of months like you said for an 86 and 87 squad just seems like a bit of

[00:11:44] a no-brainer to me it's you know is he going to be that much of an upgrade on the likes of Kaffoo

[00:11:49] or Pedro Poro probably not a great deal but I think the links will be more helpful um being

[00:11:55] English and Premier League of course Poro Spanish and Premier League maybe a bit of a washing

[00:11:59] Kaffoo's got the icon so maybe his links aren't better but I'm more talking in sort of the bigger

[00:12:03] picture if you are running at Premside it will give you a give you a big hand so great price as well

[00:12:09] from EA this could have easy prices card in the kind of quadrado range they've kept it reasonable

[00:12:15] so yeah that gets a massive thumbs up from me Nathan absolutely and and for my time using Poro I think

[00:12:20] he is he's actually feels night and day ahead of Poro to be fair um not so much with Kaffoo

[00:12:26] because everybody knows that Kaffoo is a bit of a brick wall when he's defending and he's really

[00:12:29] hard to get past but I think he's a big improvement on Poro even though you know feast stats you might

[00:12:34] not look at it and say yes he is but just just the general feeling games is definitely better.

[00:12:39] But Poro does have one more plus one coming probably on Wednesday and should Tottenham put

[00:12:45] four goals past Luton um he might be well beginning another plus so he could be a plus two

[00:12:50] on that one so don't write off Senua Pedro Poro just yet my friend don't write him off

[00:12:55] and of course he gives you that a vernal link which most I think judging by my weekend league I think

[00:13:01] 95% of the player base runs vernal upfront so there you go um just quickly on the other

[00:13:08] content bits and pieces we did have a mini release not much to really shout about on this one

[00:13:13] almost to the players are already at discard value uh Hugo Sanchez got a twin icon version

[00:13:19] he's hovering around about 300k and there was a cassimero card that came out that's nearly 400k

[00:13:25] five star five star version like you like this card as a bit of a sleeper yeah I do I think

[00:13:31] cassimero of FIFA is another one like James that always kind of plays fairly well um I've packed him

[00:13:36] I've not used him yet um because I was doing too many but he's got bruise a plus along

[00:13:40] wall pass so he can set deep and sort of spread the plays passons pretty pretty uh pretty decent

[00:13:45] to be fair he's got 90s short and long passon um he's always pretty good uh always pretty good

[00:13:51] five star five stars really nice as well so um while I'm not saying he's elite level he

[00:13:56] he definitely isn't you know gods good to you but if you need a Brazilian link

[00:14:00] prem link or you're not a bit of a fan of cassimero who I was before he joined united as well

[00:14:05] kind of going off him now he's at united to be fair even though that's my team um but I do think

[00:14:09] that you know if if you pack him if you do pack him you can use him and he's not gonna let you down

[00:14:14] I don't think at all yeah I just don't like too too many of those face stats are in the low 80s

[00:14:21] rather than the mid to high 80s and it's again it just screams at that card that soon as tot

[00:14:26] comes out will be out of there but yeah look I don't think I think it's gonna be a bad option for

[00:14:31] the next couple of weeks but uh and of course those are things really to talk about content-wise

[00:14:36] the cup is back shorter halves and we've got a question about this again uh in the mail bag from

[00:14:42] the same man in fact and you're asking you know quite quite like so short matches got battles

[00:14:46] and friendly do you think it'll come to rivals and champs too uh before we answer that question

[00:14:50] specifically have you been enjoying the cups so far the football day cup?

[00:14:55] I can't say I've enjoyed it I've been doing it I did it for the XP um I think I'm

[00:14:59] I did it yesterday and today some five wins and so far um played by ten games just this morning um

[00:15:06] it's fine um I've had to tweet formations because it's you know because it's short of half

[00:15:11] you see people seem to try and go really aggressive so I've adopted your favourite formation

[00:15:15] down the 4 triple two which seems that although you know uh John um our founder hard leader

[00:15:22] um doesn't like two CDMs I think in the cup it's quite a good thing to have um and then you can

[00:15:26] set spray it forward um the rewards are definitely worth it in terms of the packs you get back

[00:15:32] the place that you get from these packs um you know aren't probably going to be that much worth it

[00:15:36] but the cups find the short of halves um I agree with Newer's I think the short of halves is definitely

[00:15:41] a bonus same with squad battles um although you do sometimes it's the first time I've kind of

[00:15:47] thought oh I could have done an extra couple of minutes in this game um you know both sides

[00:15:51] I've scored in the last few minutes and uh conceding the last few minutes and you feel like

[00:15:54] the games over before it starts so sometimes that that can be good and it can also go against you

[00:15:58] but I am a fan um I don't think it'll go into rivals that I quite like rivals that can be a

[00:16:03] little bit more tactical you feel you sort of find in these shorter games that is a little bit more

[00:16:07] healthy leather um whereas I think in Ravels although you know it gets sweaty in certain divisions

[00:16:13] but I quite like that that you can actually play a bit more football or try and play a bit more

[00:16:17] football. I'd kind of like a nice balance between the two I think six minute halves are too long for

[00:16:22] things like weak and league and rivals three is too short so I would go to five I think Pes used

[00:16:29] to have five minute halves back in the day and that felt right and it feeds back into you know topics

[00:16:34] we've been talking about over the past few weeks of this whole feeling of when you've played a game

[00:16:37] like that especially rivals and you've ended up with a draw or defeat you're starting thinking

[00:16:41] I've spent 20 odd minutes and what have I got for it even if you just take you know the equivalent

[00:16:46] of that may be reduced it down sort of through four minutes cumulatively I think this makes a big

[00:16:51] difference get through games quicker you know if you've had a negative experience you can try and

[00:16:55] get to your next positive and you've had a positive experience again you can get onto that next one

[00:16:59] quicker so I'd like to kind of next here or maybe just run we've discussed this idea in the past

[00:17:05] things like having a Champions League, Europa League, Conference League version of weekend league

[00:17:10] you get to pick which one you enter and maybe you know one of those versions is shorter halves

[00:17:15] or something like that so just giving people more choice different play modes is better I certainly

[00:17:20] like it in friendlies it's making the the facts that I've got to play skill based matchmaking

[00:17:25] in division two and I know you're in division one it's making that that little bit easier

[00:17:29] and also the 10 game limit much better you're finding the very very best players I've already

[00:17:34] got through their games I mean we're talking we're in today three or four of this cup now so

[00:17:38] and they only need what 10-11 wins I think to get the best rewards naith? 10 wins I think is a lot.

[00:17:43] 10 wins so most of the very best players considering they've had a chance to play 30-40 games

[00:17:48] have got them so now it's I think I was talking to the day it's it's the drags versus the drags

[00:17:54] this is where me and you can try and can try and compete so again big thumbs up for that on the

[00:18:00] EA front I don't know whether I don't expect to see such generosity repeated in the main competitive

[00:18:05] modes but I wouldn't be against certainly a little bit of a reduction and look we've got lots

[00:18:11] still to get into we're going to be talking to the competitive we're going to be talking about

[00:18:14] the E-Prem final and one of the most symptomatic goals of this entire game you will ever see you

[00:18:20] couldn't have picked a more fitting goal to settle it we're going to also be talking about those

[00:18:25] that tweet that came out for pride thing but trying to show should I say I can't even use

[00:18:30] more words I've been up since 2.30 am this morning please excuse me folks and this suggested that

[00:18:35] nubs player numbers are dropped 60% in the game we're going to explain why that tweet was erroneous

[00:18:40] and why but they did actually show something that is useful plus lots more questions in the mailbag

[00:18:46] and much more all after this short break hello everyone no ads from us to make money this time

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[00:19:44] make million cancer support by donating through the link in the notes. Eighth we've been there within

[00:19:50] watching a key cup final a big game comes down to the final seconds and a big dramatic goal goes

[00:19:59] in the commentators go wild just agony despair and joy but if you are watching the e-frame final

[00:20:07] unless of course you were on the man city or or bright teams you were probably just laughing at seeing

[00:20:13] the winning goal at this tournament if you've not seen it just just type it into x or or youtube

[00:20:21] not begrudging the quality of the winners I didn't watch much of this event Nathan I just can't

[00:20:27] I don't even want to do it for the packs anymore no disrespect to the competitors it's just

[00:20:32] I've got other things that I could be watching I've seen enough of it so far this season I know I

[00:20:37] did enjoy it the series they had earlier in the year but this wasn't for me but this goal

[00:20:43] goalkeeper jumps up palms are ball up in the air two defenders and fall over each other

[00:20:49] bull just get harland is able to just I think it's harland anyway just nods home for the winning goal

[00:20:55] in one of your show piece marquee events of the year just showing the absolutely useless

[00:21:02] AI on show um I mean take it away my friend yeah it's it's about the signal if it was to happen to you

[00:21:11] this is sort of things that you know control is consoles laptops whatever you play on we'd get

[00:21:16] launched out the window um it's really hard because I try to stay away from you know I criticize

[00:21:22] EA in terms of the menus but I usually quite enjoy the game like even if it's sweaty and I do have

[00:21:27] my own internal rage but the guy you know how long gets the initial header which I know

[00:21:33] that character itself has been banned I think in certain competitions because they play cell plus

[00:21:38] with his size and stuff but you know he does everything you want him to from the attacking sense

[00:21:43] but the keeper makes a decent save the fact that there's two of them then roll over the goalkeeper

[00:21:47] at the same time it just it's a bit of a fast and then I think the guys at EA must be holding their

[00:21:53] heads as well sort of saying this is good getting broadcast to you know this it was going out on

[00:21:57] their YouTube and the twitch I believe so it's getting broadcast a lot of people and obviously

[00:22:01] it went viral on on social media as well and it does it it it's it's sort of simplifies what's

[00:22:07] what's wrong with the game you know they can do you could have the other sort of 89 computerized

[00:22:12] minutes could have been you know the most perfect free-flowing attacking defensive football and then

[00:22:18] it's summed up by a win and go like that it's you know it's quite quite mortifying if you're kind

[00:22:24] of one of those guys there to be to be watching that or to be involved in that going like what is

[00:22:28] this like it's no the skill okay it was a decent cross-end and you know you use how and how you

[00:22:32] use how and so that was that was skillful if you like but there was no skill in the way the ball

[00:22:36] ended up in the back of the net like it was just a climate I'm not even going to say I've

[00:22:40] could be pretty honest I don't even know there was that much skill getting the ball in if you watch

[00:22:43] the little build up to I think it was a couple at least a couple of corners near post and I've been

[00:22:48] noticing in week I do have you've been noticing rather than weekend league as well these near post balls

[00:22:52] in to the big man our corners are causing me such problems at the moment because the defensive

[00:22:57] AI just doesn't seem to know how to deal with them so look it just showed off the worst of the game

[00:23:04] and you know it's impossible to take it seriously like you said it's not a free-flowing silky

[00:23:10] goal that makes you go I want to play FC 24 to be able to try and recreate that goal it is a

[00:23:16] shaking your head moment of that's exactly why I'd play to seven wins and I play to 11 wins or whatever

[00:23:22] your your sort of wheelhouses and week and league because when the game betrays you like that

[00:23:28] I think enough said about that but it does kind of lead into what we teased earlier talking about

[00:23:36] this tweet that perper that showed or claimed to show that there was a 60% drop off in player numbers

[00:23:43] from FIFA 23 to FC 24 now this of course went viral it was a spreadsheet in other language

[00:23:50] I think it was in Spanish originally so people just took it at face value and it did show a 60%

[00:23:55] drop off however it transpired that all of the spreadsheet was showing was the amount of games

[00:24:02] registered by footbin for players that had been traded on the market so basically it's only

[00:24:08] counting games played by players that have been transferred and of course they are any tradeable

[00:24:15] players the big thing is we all know that FC 24 has moved remarkably towards the untradable model

[00:24:22] with things like evo so in none he revives would count none of your first own players untradables

[00:24:27] will count in it so on the surface now I think 60% drop off a 60% shift towards untradables is

[00:24:36] pretty much what I would have expected yeah at least I mean the amount of time she lit up your games

[00:24:41] now and it's all first owners and you know we're not saying that people haven't bought these through

[00:24:45] the store packs or whatnot but the majority of squads are you know 11th or so in the players with

[00:24:50] 10 first owner players and you know as you're massively into your market this year's kills my kind

[00:24:56] of hunger for trading as much but we both know that the market has been absolutely kills because

[00:25:02] your players are either really really affordable but they're not going to improve you or the top-end

[00:25:07] players are extinct for six months or out like just so far out of your reach so it does demonstrate

[00:25:14] that the market is very quiet and most I'd imagine this is kind of this isn't coming from any sort

[00:25:21] of proof or evidence but I'd imagine the majority of players bought are for SPC so you'll buy them

[00:25:27] you chuck them straight into an SPC to do whatever player however we were talking before Dan

[00:25:33] and it does feel a little bit like there has been a drop off and again this isn't based off

[00:25:38] everything apart from every game in every mode seems to be a bit of a sweat now whether it's

[00:25:42] weekend leak you know there's I did a weekend leak for the first time in a while I just played to

[00:25:48] my nine wins and then gave up because of time time constraints but every game was a battle the

[00:25:54] fact I think I was one and two one and three to begin with and yeah it's just there's no casual

[00:26:01] really it seems left there's nobody there that can't play the game so that's how people maybe get

[00:26:06] this idea of a drop off whether it's it's factually accurate or not you know maybe people I learn

[00:26:12] in the mechanics people getting better at the game and it's just a hard to game but definitely feels

[00:26:16] like there's no no many casuals left and like you say before a scolvice match making maybe does

[00:26:22] does make you feel like that because you're kind of in the division with your with your kind of level

[00:26:27] yeah and look there's no real way to track player numbers the only kind of semi official

[00:26:34] metric we have to track player numbers is through the steam charts now again this is a very small

[00:26:41] sample but if you compared FIFA 23 to FC 24 in January of 2023 there were 59,000 59 and a half

[00:26:52] thousand players playing FIFA 23 compare that to January 2024 that number drops by 13,000 players

[00:27:00] so 46,900 February there were 37,000 players on average playing FC 24 however if you go back to

[00:27:10] February 2023 that number is 48,000 so just PC just on steam and of course lots of people may have

[00:27:18] just picked up consoles and things like that so it's impossible to say for sure but the numbers on

[00:27:22] PC have certainly dropped a large amount you're looking at what nearly 10, 10, 15, 20% drop off now

[00:27:31] so it does kind of lead weight plus said with the kind of opposition you're facing it does kind

[00:27:36] of lead a bit of weight just there has been a drop off in players yeah I'd fully expect that to be

[00:27:42] a drop off and you know there does seem to even on social media there's a bit of a release towards

[00:27:47] the game at the moment whether it's you know as we've touched on the fact that some of the the

[00:27:52] menu grinds a bit lazy in terms of the players coming there all left back so they're all players

[00:27:57] that have had countless pro-modes before even I think somebody had done this evolution of

[00:28:02] salad through this iteration and salad has been good but he's not been the best player on the

[00:28:07] planet by any means and he's got about eight promo cards or eight special cards at the moment

[00:28:11] which is which is wild so it just seems the probably will be a natural drop off but again

[00:28:20] where what a month away from tops maybe four or five weeks from tops that you generally seems to

[00:28:25] be a drop off and then a lot of people will come back for tops because it's very easy to craft

[00:28:29] either you know your RTGs your second teams people coming back for these super cool cards

[00:28:35] you know the grinds real at the moment the menu grind is never ending which is good and bad

[00:28:40] but people may be taking us to using this as a way to take away step back from the game and then

[00:28:45] you know they'll come back so I wouldn't read too much into it I think it's probably natural

[00:28:50] and to be fair to say at the game at the moment it probably is quite a normal time for folk to kind

[00:28:54] of take away step back from it yeah I mean again using those same steam charts as an example if you

[00:28:58] go back to FIFA 23 again the March number which we don't have yet for FC 24 of course but the average

[00:29:04] March number was around 39 just under 40 thousand on FIFA 23 it then jumps up back to 48 thousand in

[00:29:11] April which of course when tot starts and then drops off steadily goes down to 44 then 40 right

[00:29:17] through the summer until the new game comes out so again you do get that group of people coming back

[00:29:24] but I just again this is so anecdotally but I just don't sense as much hyper and this game and I do

[00:29:30] get this sense there's a lot of people that are just burnt out and over it that they don't fight

[00:29:36] and you can see in the top content creators they're openly saying and I've never seen this level

[00:29:42] and this amount of content creators just saying yeah the game's just not that good this year

[00:29:49] and while look I've enjoyed it enough to be still be playing it I will be I don't think I'm

[00:29:55] going to look back at this one Nathan have a lot of nostalgia for the gameplay at least

[00:30:00] yeah but it's hard because there was such a hype about it becoming FC 24 you know the

[00:30:05] women's game being incorporated which to be fair it's been pretty pretty good I think

[00:30:10] but there was also you know this big build up about how this is going to be like the showpiece

[00:30:13] and you know EA are really going to let go at now and I think we've touched on in the past

[00:30:19] there's been quite a lot of money grabbing and everyone going on tradable these ridiculous storebacks

[00:30:24] similar players I think there's lots of it that we've kind of thought maybe you know

[00:30:28] it would be wonderful if we were in the position that we can make these decisions but you

[00:30:31] would probably do things differently yourself and the mistakes are still there so not to be a negative

[00:30:36] nearly which I know I'm coming across as but I think with the hype and we all got super excited

[00:30:41] to begin with it's not really delivered but that being said I'm still really enjoying it

[00:30:45] my team's pretty good now I'm enjoying the gameplay I'm in a division where I probably

[00:30:51] should be because I'm kind of winning losing the same amount and it's obviously annoying when

[00:30:55] you're losing but at the same time I think you know I can't really complain it too much

[00:31:01] but I just think it's not quite kind of the well factor and it's not it's not pushed on to

[00:31:07] previous iterations of you know FIFA I think we've not had that next step to be like oh my god

[00:31:12] let's go and we need to do this we need to play that you know it's very similar to what we've

[00:31:17] had in the past it's not addictive game playing it's gameplay that will keep you going but it's

[00:31:21] not addictive I'm not like I can't wait to play my games it's more like oh play some games

[00:31:27] you know it's just you know you don't score that many different variety of goals it is harder

[00:31:31] to build up and play flowing football you do see the same kind of goals as mentioned about the

[00:31:37] e-prem final you do see nonsense AI that just makes you you know bang your head against the desk

[00:31:42] it's just it's just a game it's there the menu content I think has been up there with any

[00:31:48] game that we've certainly since I've been back in in this sphere in ultimate team it's fantastic

[00:31:52] can't knock it at all but yeah the gameplay wise there's a lot that they need to I think work on

[00:31:59] for FC 25 and of course if you are a member of the discord you can join this show as we record

[00:32:04] live waterman one of those to do so his i've used maybe five tradable players all year and

[00:32:08] he also points out there are so many more players in the game still they've managed to make the same

[00:32:13] promo cards over and over again what you said Nate like Salah and again EA are kind of in a

[00:32:18] stuck with the rock in a hard place with those because those are the players that sell packs

[00:32:23] ultimately people see a Salah a Neymar an Aldo and Bappé and go oh what a buy a pack as soon as

[00:32:28] you try make a Zerxy or someone like that nobody's that interested it's just the way it is and

[00:32:36] I have some sympathy for that and I think the ultra competitiveness helps

[00:32:42] dissuade people from trying out the lesser known players because

[00:32:46] you know why would you be giving Zerxy a run when you're having to sweat for your life in rivals

[00:32:51] you know there's just as we've other content creators and ourselves been saying there needs

[00:32:55] to be that mode where the pressure is off you can much more try these different names

[00:33:01] as opposed to going into weakening and thinking oh I need a Bappé to break down these defenses

[00:33:06] you know I mean 100% and you know we've said it in the past but the perfect place for that is this

[00:33:11] cup you know if they're going to limit your cups to five games ten games whatever I know it's

[00:33:16] 10 just now open up the matchmaking so you will have a sweat fest for you know three out of the 10

[00:33:21] but you can also have more achievable games for four five six games as well so I think that's the

[00:33:27] way to do it I think that would make people more fun you the only good thing about the cups is

[00:33:32] there or not the only thing they were words are very good but you are cap to eight rated players

[00:33:37] but everyone seems to have an eight rated fiera which I've must have missed somewhere

[00:33:41] so he's he's in pretty much 90% of the teams you do get similar you know similar players but

[00:33:50] I think it's quite good the fact that they are trying to mix it up but you know the matchmaking

[00:33:55] is just I don't know we're like a dog with a dog with a bone for this are we done because we would

[00:33:59] be like that sort of you know feet up let's go enjoy the game and try something different

[00:34:04] mate you've not mentioned the best thing about the cup version van Dyke is not in it the best

[00:34:09] is very true best thing no gold virtual all of you people that have been holding on using your

[00:34:13] gold virtual for six months no no version for you I'm I'm 100% bitter an irrational on it but

[00:34:22] yeah I just love not playing for your van Dyke um let's move through some of the other questions

[00:34:29] in the mail back then moving on to a dharma he says hay lads are enjoying a lot of the big lads

[00:34:36] recently sure many socrates bestone the new blonk not really abusing the crosses to giants though

[00:34:41] he says for my question is who would win in a match between all the giants versus team of minimies

[00:34:46] in an epic day with versus goliath battle assuming those playing had the same skill level so what

[00:34:50] you rather be doing would you rather be taking on sawloff harland and the gang would you rather be

[00:34:54] taking on messy Kirby and co oh giants for sure absolute giants I love nothing more than getting crosses

[00:35:02] then like not the sweat back sweaty cup backs but I love across always have I think since I've been

[00:35:07] backplayed FIFA I've tried to have some sort of cross an option so I'm playing the night you're

[00:35:12] eating canton out up top at the moment who's decent in the air um I'm being sent you not buying

[00:35:16] anybody but I love you know subbing on hemp to put that cross into canton out which is why

[00:35:22] also like having my full backs that can have their web fast so I would 100% go for crosses that

[00:35:28] being said I think if people are better level than me which there's millions of them um I think

[00:35:34] you probably do a lot more damage with this sort of nippy smaller yeah I was going to say the you

[00:35:38] know the the smaller small one in bull players would probably win if you've got good left stick

[00:35:42] dribbling if you're handy with our one technical dribbling um because they're the players that give

[00:35:46] me the most trouble because I am a more physical defender you know I've got two big guys I love

[00:35:51] the bruiser plus playstyle I find it much harder to get the ball off um after uh the players that do

[00:35:58] our one dribble really really well as opposed to players that you know try going toe to toe I'm

[00:36:02] much more happy with my manual defending and stepping in um as opposed trying to chase them around

[00:36:08] and be really patient with the jockey so I think again it depends what the same skill level is

[00:36:14] is the answer that question Adam when I'm sitting on the fence there but um I think it is very

[00:36:18] situational but an interesting one maybe we'll have to do maybe we'll get the guys to do that when

[00:36:21] they go to creep for the big meet up we'll have to get them playing the uh David versus Goliath line

[00:36:27] up so thank you for the question uh Nick says our chem styles still worth applying and any advice

[00:36:33] on where to put my 84 fodder nice chem styles absolutely yeah I mean we've seen even like

[00:36:42] too many given that we sprint boost tremendous uh Carolos put an anchor on him boost his pace it

[00:36:47] is strength sorry tremendous I think they just until you get into talks when you get into talks

[00:36:52] you generally don't really need chem styles because they're all that good but right up until the

[00:36:56] sort of final versions of cards I think you do need certain areas um which is why most especially

[00:37:01] the cards that we'll be finding attainable you know unless you get those pellets or I know you've

[00:37:06] got your messy which probably even he probably might need an anchor for his um his strength but you

[00:37:11] know you get those top two if you're not a jiki hot there you go um but yeah I think the majority of

[00:37:16] them do um well sorry John's just trying to call me huh thumbs up on him um unbelievable the boss I know

[00:37:26] middle of the collect and recalls I think he's trying to get we guest appearance I think but um 84s

[00:37:34] if they're not jups just hold them if they are jups what I've started to do is I've been put

[00:37:38] them into the 83 plus uh team of the week upgrades um I know a team of the weeks are overly expensive

[00:37:45] just now but at the same time it's you can never have too many team of the weeks and you can still

[00:37:48] pull the odd usable one from that so that's what I would do but Daniel more of a menu market guru what

[00:37:54] would you do with yours uh mate I think you've even heard it to be honest I've been doing that I

[00:37:58] think the team of the week picks are great because of course we've been needing them for a lot of

[00:38:03] the upgrades I'm sure they're to be by ten I'll be back soon and they need them uh and there might

[00:38:07] well be a repeatable hero or icon grind out again of course do you remember that repeatable icon pick

[00:38:13] made you know team of the weeks go to 40 odd K and were extinct and plus even if you're just doing

[00:38:20] just not the normal grind at the moment and you're not too concerned about the future a lot of the

[00:38:24] time from those two of the week picks you're getting 86 87 88 rated cards you can just chuck into

[00:38:29] the exchange you also get to tradable packs by doing them as well and you never know you know get

[00:38:34] a mixed players pack and I think it's a small electrome players pack or something like that that's got

[00:38:38] three gold three silver's you never know what's going to pop out of there and it is a way to just

[00:38:43] even if you are just focusing on untradables it is a way of just occasionally getting a you know a walkout

[00:38:48] or pop out and suddenly you've made 20 30 K or maybe something even bigger and you know you've made

[00:38:54] some coins so yeah that's where I would be saying to put your 84s right now uh moving on

[00:39:00] hooking us he said question i've been away for a few months and i'm thinking of dipping my toe back

[00:39:04] into the water are there any must do sbc's i should look at completing to get my team back to

[00:39:08] a competitive level i've got 200k and high rated fodder keep up the good work i've been listening

[00:39:13] even while not playing but starting to get that casual itch back well thank you very much for the

[00:39:17] kind words now he's giving us his team here nath couple there is one hole in it so far in central

[00:39:23] striker but otherwise i think this is a really good team at the moment he's got uh Werner for fantasy

[00:39:28] july's for fantasy card he's got Roy Keane's winter wild card george best team of the year icon

[00:39:34] marquizio base hero company base hero he's got Reese James at right back get thunder struck

[00:39:41] searsing go milley bright team of the year at center back and he's got who's that left back it's an

[00:39:48] evoed version of us captive here i think captive is hero 91 evolution nath if i face that team in

[00:39:56] weaken league i would still be thinking that's a very strong team as it is um but is there any players

[00:40:03] right off the bat that are available right now that you would say for someone with 200k and not a lot of

[00:40:08] fodder um bases he has got some high red fodder but in talking circumstances anyone you would be

[00:40:14] thinking out of the players available go and do them well obviously there's not a striker in the

[00:40:18] striker positions of potentially that um the other one i would be saying is probably keena marquizio

[00:40:23] you sent him into me need up upgrading then um i've got that keena i've then end up going to

[00:40:28] the new version of it all up be at the five star skill moose and you know the night you're eight

[00:40:32] keens very good and he's about 100 we've probably about 100ish cage us now um marquizio because it's

[00:40:37] the base one he's probably a little bit behind the car so they're the two that i would probably focus

[00:40:41] on um that being said they'll still definitely do a job i've seen hawkins uh games i've watched him

[00:40:47] a few times and you'd definitely be able to do some damage with that team anyway but yeah uh

[00:40:51] so i sent him it um you're mackael alien always 600k but it depends how much fodder you've got

[00:40:57] i would definitely recommend replacing your two center meds what would you say so you stand up for

[00:41:02] um i do i would go and get either a mackael alien uh or a shumani maybe even both to go and get

[00:41:08] the team i think you know we're going to talk about him in a minute because my my player review for

[00:41:12] the week but i think shumani is excellent gives that versatility as well to be able to put him

[00:41:16] in at center back or go plug him into cdm as well um again so i think socrates would be a half

[00:41:23] decent shout as well if you do want it to go big on that one even someone if you wanted to go for

[00:41:28] someone on a cheaper budget that would sort of get you competitive quite quickly i think that

[00:41:32] Fernando Torres went to well card would do a half decent job as a striker um again if you

[00:41:37] wanted to go even bigger you can play verna quite easy through the middle one go get that frank

[00:41:41] ribery card out wide but look i think if you're somewhere with a team like that that is still very

[00:41:47] competitive i don't think you need it a lot and i don't think uh it's going to need a lot of massive

[00:41:52] tweets it's all as we talked about with kashaw and kashaw is a good shout again a left back in

[00:41:57] as well instead of captive here there are so many players out there right now in sbc's that you

[00:42:02] can do that are very matter that will go and do a good job it's all just going to come down to your

[00:42:06] own personal preference how you want to build the team how you want to guide the team um so again

[00:42:11] our project is a bit of a sitting on the fence answer um but yeah i would definitely go out

[00:42:16] and do i said my top ones on there i said i need to go get a maca la la or if you can afford it i'd go

[00:42:21] and get uh get shumani done yeah absolutely that's like you see it's not milling mail

[00:42:27] off there's so many good ways of grinding players and cards and even you know if your father

[00:42:31] allows it to do some of these upgrade packs as well the 84 times five and such like

[00:42:35] that you're bound to get either hi-rated father or you know a few uh nice flares coming out of there

[00:42:41] and some of these cards are very usable if under under appreciated yeah agreed um and i'll talk

[00:42:47] about shumani now we'll do player review um because i think shumani is brilliant i've been playing him

[00:42:53] as a stay back CDM in a four triple two and he's great that everything he defends really well

[00:42:59] his passing is fine strong gets around the pitch very well he does everything that you would want

[00:43:06] a stay back CDM to do i've not really used him in any other role so far but i think i can

[00:43:12] you know i compare him well most recently comparing to maca la la he's superior to maca la la

[00:43:17] completely but not that i think maca la is bad i think i'd give maca la probably an eight out of ten

[00:43:22] so far and shu is getting a nine so far maybe a nine point five maybe that i'm trying to really

[00:43:29] trying to think what i don't like about him and there's very little i can say nath i mean you're

[00:43:34] only just completed and be used to minko up with me i mean what did you think of him yeah he's very

[00:43:38] good um the only thing is that he doesn't really have any passion play styles which sometimes

[00:43:43] you kind of think oh and when he's paired next to maca la that potentially could be a bit of an

[00:43:48] issue but he's also very adequate with just his standard sort of basic passing he's got that frame

[00:43:54] so he's a cheaper version of the era and the long legs come out really well he's a bit of a unit

[00:43:59] to get past i think he's he's very good and i've gotten he if i ever went to my five back that i've

[00:44:04] been playing until the last week or so he's definitely the one that'll slot into centerbacks i

[00:44:07] think he'll be a bit of a handful as well plus plus the height is you can never do wrong with it

[00:44:13] what at least one sort of center mid or CDM with with a bit of height and physicality about him

[00:44:17] yeah i think he's six two um so you're definitely gonna win his fair share of balls in the air so who

[00:44:22] is the player you've picked for player review yeah so i've done Roberto Caroles who's my attacking left

[00:44:28] back who just like Chimenae I can sort of think of anything that i don't like about him apart from

[00:44:33] maybe maybe it's how you also say the things he's a bit small he's about a male but i managed

[00:44:38] to do him without spending the penny um he's one of my favorite fullbacks of all time um and it was

[00:44:44] a bit of a must do for me i'll i'llite him all the way through the last last year as well

[00:44:48] at the dead bowl is tremendous he just blasts it you literally just hit it and target in his scores

[00:44:52] um he's he's so fun he's got just the basic plate uh the hat power shot which is also fun

[00:44:58] from a random angle um he gets up and down well he feels so much quicker than then you think as well

[00:45:04] and that long long throw which is a bit of a cheat as well because people seem to still not

[00:45:09] understand that you can't be offside from a throwin so you can just put your big man like really

[00:45:13] far away and just throw up to him so i think he's really good fun the only thing is if you had five

[00:45:17] star skills would be super duper fun but you know he'll be in my team till tauts probably further

[00:45:22] into tauts unless a pack you know a top tier one just because i really enjoy enjoy the card itself

[00:45:27] yeah i am very tempted although i've just done i've just evowed base actually coal

[00:45:32] i've put him into the wingback evo and he's five star skills actually coal

[00:45:37] new hall of famer actually come you've got him in placed in the premier league hall of fame this week

[00:45:44] i don't think he's pretty good quick so yeah he's good he's good

[00:45:48] there you go look you haven't got a lex or a lex or on my side

[00:45:53] uh i see on my new technology is not liking me to be between john funner than in the Alexa one

[00:45:59] shambles look we are we are uh you know we are authentic in us you know what you see is what you get

[00:46:07] this and what's it says teaching the american that you can't be offside from a throw-in

[00:46:14] there you go maybe uh maybe we need to play games more americans and we can leak this

[00:46:17] in the network hopefully the amount of people the amount of people that do get caught out by the

[00:46:22] fact i will just select my player and run him ten you know ten yards offside and they don't seem

[00:46:28] to think that i'm going to throw it there um i don't know whether it's because they don't realize

[00:46:31] he's offside or they think it's a trick but it works far more than it should do and so if you are

[00:46:37] listening remember from a throw-in you can't be offside so there you go pro tip of the day for you

[00:46:44] but i think that is just about going to wrap up the show episode 600 rapidly rolling towards

[00:46:52] so it's 598 we're finalizing our plans for that 600 show but we're gonna make it worthwhile thank

[00:46:58] you those of you we are you know we are raising money for a very great cause in mullen cancer care

[00:47:03] thank you so those of you have been inquiring and getting involved in those fundraising efforts will

[00:47:07] have more information on that to come guys we're back over the weekend as well with another show

[00:47:12] number five ninety nine new promo on the way nath um i believe it's called something like galazo galazo

[00:47:21] lots of strikers then yeah indeed i just think of football italia and james richinson

[00:47:27] maybe the next juzimilin introduced the show then to you just shouting that one instead

[00:47:31] yeah i would bet on it but as if it's going to be a promo that's similar to trophy titans

[00:47:38] from last year if you remember that one it was lots of icons and heroes that had big bro and little

[00:47:44] bro versions so i would expect just generally you know i talked in the intro about you know

[00:47:50] the party isn't over but the staff are slowly making their way out with the bin bags

[00:47:55] i would expect EA to drop off on the content front in this next promo because the cycle we've seen

[00:48:02] all year do you remember after team of the year of course we had a real lull with fire and ice

[00:48:08] and road to the final they don't like they can't keep us too hyped for too long what they do is they

[00:48:16] tend to cool things down a bit to get people hungry and ready for tots so i would not expect this

[00:48:21] next promo to be brilliant i'd like to be proved wrong but going through the usual pattern of things

[00:48:27] i would expect things like pack weight to probably be down um probably not that many crazy sbc's out

[00:48:33] there so and there will be a good time maybe to step away get yourself ready because tots is going to

[00:48:38] be you know full on and you know walk completely transform our teams so and it's rapidly rapidly

[00:48:45] approaching so look the guys will be discussing all of that over the weekend show thank you so

[00:48:50] much for tuning in to us nath work and people follow you online uh ngdowns and twitter and

[00:48:56] and in our fantastic discord i think i'm just as neat and down so maybe ngdowns and that can't

[00:49:00] quite remember but i'm in both anyway yeah i am winby or winby 86 in most places thank you very much

[00:49:06] everyone giving me a follow and of course the following the socials at foot coach you remember

[00:49:10] the discord it's open access now but if you want to go that one step beyond the sports on patreon

[00:49:15] to get things like exclusive tactics the trading show and lots of other goodies including merchandise

[00:49:20] as well merchandise sent to you just with being a patreon member yet much sent to you and depending

[00:49:24] on your length of service patreon calls cause patreon.com for such foot in review for that

[00:49:30] only one thing left to do nath drop it we are going to drop it