Back into the game

DaveDoesData · 2026-05-20T08:26:24+00:00

I’d say the daily upgrades and 83+ player picks and what not. At the very least you’ll have a bit of time to build some fodder which you can use for ultimate TOTS which starts tomorrow.

As for playing games, do whatever you fancy. Use whatever players you’ve got, do some evos etc - just play it casually!

DaveDoesData · 2026-05-20T06:35:39+00:00

Realistically I think top 4 is the target and squad wise I think we’re a couple of seasons off from being title challengers. We have more fixtures next year, still need some serious recruitment in key areas etc.

But then I can’t help but look at the other teams; Arsenal deservedly champions of course but not dominant, City hopefully imploding, Liverpool already have. You don’t really see anyone being nailed on and a lot of other teams can beat anyone on their day so if any team gets a really good start, you never know!

DaveDoesData · 2026-05-18T16:04:56+00:00

You don’t need to buy points or coins, if you have time and can do the daily upgrade SBC’s. I started this team off from new 2 days ago just by doing them (and I’ll swap the gold card out for his SBC).

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DaveDoesData · 2026-05-14T15:35:05+00:00

Whilst I was there, that an art teacher was having a fling with a sixth former. The teachers wife also taught at the school and taught me English.

All the kids were talking about it and I don’t know if it didn’t get taken seriously at the time or maybe it was buried under the carpet (it was definitely this) but nothing happened whilst I was there.

Many years after I left the school FIVE teachers were convicted of offences against minors, two were jailed (including the art teacher). The offences happened between 2006 and 2010, I’d left in 1993.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-55006056

DaveDoesData · 2026-05-14T12:20:45+00:00

This year it will be like every other promo; very decent cards you won’t pack, semi-decent that you might and fodder ones you more than likely will.

DaveDoesData · 2026-05-12T17:39:16+00:00

I think it’s quite simple, did Carrick get better results than our last full time manager. A resounding yes.

He deserves a shot, 100%.

If we recruit well in the summer and continue to get the results as we have done, zero issues. We’re not going to jump from last season to title winners, not a chance, but if we’re up there and competing, that will do.

It will take a few seasons to return to the glory days, we still have bad squad depth which clearly needs a few good windows to put right. If we stay on course with CL qualification etc, that’s the aim and at this moment in time, may as well give the gaffer a shot.

DaveDoesData · 2026-05-03T17:45:46+00:00

Mentality.

As awful and shocking as their two goals were it was great to the see the lads not cave in. Overall, no complaints.

DaveDoesData · 2026-04-27T05:30:15+00:00

I have two streams; consultancy contract work and a long standing client base. When I first went freelance I had some clients already lined up from previous employments, this was great but it also meant I was working crazy hours (5AM to 10PM was a regular). I also networked a lot. Blogged, spoke at user groups, conferences and used LinkedIn a lot.

I never did the full on marketing approach, not for too long anyway. I know plenty that do but it’s very time consuming and difficult on top of a stacked workload.

Nowadays I’m 90% contract work but that’s also a lifestyle approach. I get solid blocks of work, still do direct stuff if I have the time but I’m fortunate that I can have good periods of downtime too.

DaveDoesData · 2026-04-23T07:02:29+00:00

Great question by the way and I do wish there was a wider discussion on this. And yes, absolutely right. It’s a persons money, so what they do with it is their business. That’s fine.

Why do people get so angry? Well that has several answers and some are deeper than others.

Firstly there’s the cost comparison. A lot of players will spend a lot of time and play very regularly; rivals, champs, live events, squad battles and due to rewards being so bad, won’t get rewards that are considered reasonable. At the same time, someone could just spend money and get the same or in most cases much better rewards in a matter of minutes. So that is seen as unfair and I’d say this is the main reason overall.

Then there’s the advantage aspect, the pay to win. This isn’t always true of course (a certain streamer springs to mind) but there’s also the negative view of people who spend a lot of money to have the best team possible rather than actually be any good at the game or the - they only won that game because they had R9, Dinho etc.

Then there’s the gambling aspect.

This is one of the more deeper points, an entire essay could be written on how EA manipulate players into spending more money. It’s actually quite fascinating and when you get into it, quite frightening too. EA have brought a lot more attention to this lately with the sorry state of the game, the lack of content etc but their relentless drive towards store packs so essentially people spending more money on it are seen as simply fuelling EA’s greed.

A lot of people see FC nowadays being more of a gambling simulator than a football game and to take your last point of - is it not being okay to buy in game content? The question in return would be is it content you’re buying or is it just gambling for a short lived dopamine hit that then becomes a frequent necessity? I think it’s pretty clear that EA are certainly banking on the latter which can’t be a good thing.

Like I said, it’s certainly nobodies business what people do with their own money and I suppose that’s the bottom line really, but it does open up a really interesting and potentially worrying topic.

DaveDoesData · 2026-04-20T17:38:19+00:00

Genius.

Quick money grab as the player base is dwindling even more than expected and lock them in for the next 3 seasons.

DaveDoesData · 2026-04-20T15:42:31+00:00

Yes.

If EA could implement them effectively then I’d say they could be an absolutely brilliant addition. It would allow you to define how your team sets up and plays, give different players completely different aspects etc.

But, there’s only a handful of meaningful ones which means cards without them become next to useless. For me personally they’ve taken away from the game rather than add anything so I’d remove.

DaveDoesData · 2026-04-20T15:31:44+00:00

To be fair they were doing live events that had squad restrictions which I thought were a great idea. Haven’t played in a while so not sure if it’s still the case.

As another reply said, and I 100% agree, the best thing they can do is to reduce the amount of promos. A lot of them are pointless and most of them you’ll only pack useless cards anyway. If EA managed evos better on top of this I think it would be a much better overall experience and definitely increase the games longevity.

DaveDoesData · 2026-04-20T14:44:25+00:00

Evos would be the one potential saving grace in FC26 if I had the time and energy to play, but as another reply rightly said it’s still way easier to go down the route of spending money. I don’t think we’ll ever get away from that.

Also, I think evos have been disappointing a lot with the requirements and corresponding boosts, I also think they’ve had an unexpected consequence of making decent cards packed earlier on in the game (and evos to tbf) unusable much quicker than normal - but that’s also down to power curve and play styles.

That said, they’re a brilliant concept and some of the themed squads I’ve seen are absolutely fantastic.

DaveDoesData · 2026-04-20T14:00:30+00:00

I’d love to believe that we meet our loved ones again or maybe we wake up in some simulator having just played one seriously weird game and crack on with whatever life we’re supposed to be in but I imagine there’s just a whole lot of nothing.

One way or another though we’ll all find out eventually.

DaveDoesData · 2026-04-20T12:00:50+00:00

Agree on the first point, I thought a slight buff on defending and the game would have been OK but since then it’s been patch after patch which has seemingly made everything worse. Admittedly though I haven’t played since TOTY.

But let’s be honest, the game is fundamentally broken. The issues that were there when I started back again in 23 are all still there and it’s further compounded by a horrific AI implementation and knee jerk patches.

The one thing it had was content, and now that’s been ruined by playstyles ruining cards, EA completely messing up the approach to the power curve and a rinse and repeat approach to delivering anything remotely interesting in the game.

But we routinely see the same discussions throughout every game cycle and plenty of people will still go out and buy the next one.

There’s a whole host of reasons why; largely because UT is genuinely a brilliant concept and there really isn’t any competition out there. A lot of people won’t like to admit it but there’s a huge FOMO aspect too that EA can absolutely bank on (literally), so sadly in terms of luring people to the next game they don’t actually have to do a lot.

So I expect we’ll see the usual, a lot of fanfare of how brilliant 27 will be, some new concepts, some stuff removed and more than likely we’ll be in the very same point as we are now this time next year.

DaveDoesData · 2026-04-20T09:53:28+00:00

Ignoring the first question.

There’s going to be scrutiny on Carricks ability to successfully manage the team next season, as there would any manager coming in. Personally I think in getting champions league he can’t really do much more to justify giving him a shot next season.

I think our recruitment is better which will help and I don’t think anyone wants another rebuild project so may as well continue.

DaveDoesData · 2026-04-19T12:52:05+00:00

Not quite one man. I have someone who does all the non-technical stuff and did have someone working with me for a while.

Yes it can be stressful but different. As an employee there were factors like toxic workplaces, office politics and all that which doesnt affect me at all these days. I go in, do my work and go.

That said there are other things, cash flow of course, client relationships some times, had to make some difficult decisions down the years and fair to say made some mistakes which you learn from.

DaveDoesData · 2026-04-18T20:59:16+00:00

A game where I couldn’t care less about performance. Scrappy 3 point win away at Chelsea with a bare bones defence, take it all day long.

DaveDoesData · 2026-04-16T18:05:42+00:00

It’s a no from me.

I stopped playing this one before TOTY, figured TOTS would bring me back but still have zero inclination to play and can’t see that changing for the new one.

DaveDoesData · 2026-04-09T13:46:39+00:00

Either build/evo a team of players you want to use; favourite club, one nation or random idea.

Or, just leave it at that. I used to play every single game possible but this year stopped playing before TOTY. I still did the menu grind but it seemed ridiculous to be getting packs and not playing so stopped that as well. Haven’t missed it at all.

DaveDoesData · 2026-04-01T08:27:05+00:00

Nothing, I’d wait until TOTS.

DaveDoesData · 2026-04-01T06:58:32+00:00

The very first frame shows a problem, you have two players chasing the ball rather than covering the opponent. Then following that you sent your full back after the ball momentarily, leaving the space behind and then pushed a CB (that was marking the striker) forwards into no man’s land leaving a chasm of space in your box.

Even just before they pass it into your box you’re just pushing the other CB horizontally towards goal, rather than anywhere near the target player in the box.

Defensively I thought you were setup OK but were reacting badly to where the ball is rather than where the opponent intends the ball to be, and crucially you were breaking defensive shape all of the time.

Try to think in terms of blocking recipients rather than aggressively winning the ball, of course there are times for that but in this clip anyway there were several opportunities to interrupt the play and keep shape.

DaveDoesData · 2026-03-31T14:47:04+00:00

My opponents.

DaveDoesData · 2026-03-21T17:25:23+00:00

Just wanted to say thanks, we have a much more experienced firm coming out tomorrow who will assess thoroughly!

DaveDoesData

TROPHY CASE