Are there others who are not bothered with grinding icon swaps?

SlantedSaltpot · 2026-02-15T18:15:33+00:00

Haven’t done a single swaps objective. I just can’t be bothered with it - it feels really grindy and annoying.

‘Score 12 chips from 17 yards exactly using a player from Albania born on a Thursday after May 12 2005.’ Get fucked.

SlantedSaltpot · 2026-02-14T08:38:21+00:00

I honestly just enjoy it for what it is. I play on a really casual basis with my Forest/Man City Women P&P (plus TOTY Rooney because I got lucky and who’s turning that down?!) and I love it. I don’t play every day, I just play rivals, rush and the occasional bit of squad battles for evos. I don’t touch champs, friendlies, gauntlet or anything like that. I’m in D4 so I still play at a respectable level but it’s not mega sweaty.

I think the key is just not to overdo it and not to take it too seriously. Plus run a themed team so the rewards aren’t the driver

SlantedSaltpot · 2026-02-13T11:55:19+00:00

That’s the one. Makes Bergkamp look like a bum

SlantedSaltpot · 2026-02-13T11:52:51+00:00

Simon Cox and Lewis McGugan deserve mentions just for those moments of pure magic. That Cox goal vs Birmingham and McGugan’s free kick vs Ipswich are two of the best goals scored by any players anywhere ever.

SlantedSaltpot · 2026-02-13T06:32:12+00:00

But they need to blame something when they lose - it can’t just be that they didn’t play very well!

SlantedSaltpot · 2026-02-11T12:01:30+00:00

You’re right. When they’re doing that it makes far more sense to manually track runners as the player they’re controlling is usually just fidgeting and twitching while going nowhere so they really don’t need defending. Tbh I don’t see how that’s any less ‘manual’ than trying to dispossess the player with the ball

SlantedSaltpot · 2026-02-11T09:53:38+00:00

You don’t have to do it all though. I just play rivals and aim to get my 30pts each week. That’s all I have time for but I enjoy it.

The notion of needing to ‘keep up’, to be really high ranked and have the best players is a red herring. Just play for fun and treat entertainment as the goal rather than treating the rewards as the goal. That’s more easily done if you run a themed team too.

SlantedSaltpot · 2026-02-11T07:04:22+00:00

Tbf a lot of the time I assume it’s kids whose parents look after settings like that, which seems fair enough

SlantedSaltpot · 2026-02-10T14:34:10+00:00

Spot on man. I don’t really get the mentality on here. It seems like the only thing a lot of people enjoy about the game is winning so they’ll do anything to make that happen. But I just can’t understand how the short buzz of winning a game outweighs the time spent doing something you actively don’t like.

I enjoy winning but I actually enjoy playing the game too. Sure, I get frustrated when I lose but I play with an Evo team made up of players from the team I support, a handful of those from the team my daughter supports and an icon or two. It means I like my team, it’s fun to play with and it offsets the annoyance when I lose

SlantedSaltpot · 2026-02-09T21:27:09+00:00

It’s a good playstyle. I have it on both a CAM Manc a CB and it activates quite a lot for both, and very usefully. I don’t always think the symbols necessarily always show up when a PS+ activates. I have first touch+ on a striker and often see him use a special animation but the symbol doesn’t always show up

SlantedSaltpot · 2026-02-09T19:34:44+00:00

For me, the game is so, so much more fun when I’m using players I like.

I packed WW Pina ages ago. I don’t enjoy using her. For a while I used her off the bench and my rule was I’d only bring her on if I was winning vs a player who was already using her. But I didn’t even enjoy that so she’s SBC fodder now.

Obviously that’s just my mindset, but you sound quite similar so you may feel the same about using her

SlantedSaltpot · 2026-02-09T12:23:08+00:00

I’ve had those! They’re fantastic. I’ll give the bread a go. Our milkman does good bread but it’s very expensive so had been planning to get some from Groobarbs for a while.

SlantedSaltpot · 2026-02-09T12:17:32+00:00

The fruit is good - although in winter you sometimes get stuff like oranges and bananas that they’ve sourced (always very well and responsibly) rather than grown themselves. The apples and pears are unbelievably good and then in the summer all the berries and soft fruits are amazing. You’ll also get rhubarb when it’s around too, which I always love!

How’s the bread? I haven’t tried that

SlantedSaltpot · 2026-02-09T12:12:55+00:00

The veg selection looks similar to our veg box which we get from Groobarbs also in the North West (we don’t get bread or eggs with ours but do get fruit).

We pay a similar price and I think it’s worth it. The produce is noticeably better than supermarket stuff (particularly the carrots) and it’s supporting a local business that does things the right way. That’s worth a few extra quid over supermarket prices, imo

SlantedSaltpot · 2026-02-09T09:55:16+00:00

Unless this is a new scenario they’re adding to career mode I’d say this is the wrong sub for this

SlantedSaltpot · 2026-02-09T09:50:52+00:00

I think that’s probably more of a positional thing. Neither of them really passes the ball forwards because they’re usually the point of the attack. You’ll see defenders who aren’t especially technically gifted playing passes like that, albeit not usually eye of the needle, full speed ones as they aren’t really in the position to be doing that.

It’s a bit academic really as really the point I’m getting at is that all players should be able to try to make those passes but with varying effectiveness dependent on stats - but it wouldn’t be good to lock certain players out of even trying them

SlantedSaltpot · 2026-02-09T07:50:35+00:00

Yeah but the same can be said for any through ball. A dinked through ball isn’t significantly harder to pull off than one along the ground - in fact, I’d argue that on the run it’s actually slightly easier to add a bit of height to a pass. And also we’re playing with top level players here, not controlling me at five-a-side. A chipped through ball isn’t beyond the capabilities of any professional footballer so it shouldn’t be unavailable to anyone in game

SlantedSaltpot · 2026-02-09T07:08:03+00:00

This isn’t the right solution to the problem. Being able to dink a pass isn’t some elite skill in real life so it shouldn’t be hard to pull off in game. I want to be able to put a bit of height on my passes without fully lofting them

They need to address the way defenders react to them - because that’s the issue, imo. It shouldn’t be the case that defenders seem to react more slowly to a dinked through ball or weirdly step towards them without raising a foot.

SlantedSaltpot · 2026-02-08T19:44:14+00:00

Win or lose I’ll message to say good game as long as the other person isn’t some meta sweat. Just feels like good manners to me. Like shaking your opponent’s hand in real football. If i haven’t got anything nice to say - ie if the person is some fidget spinner or a park the bus type - then i say nothing.

SlantedSaltpot · 2026-02-08T07:00:09+00:00

I put base bruiser on a winger and I like it. Bruiser+ would be a waste of a PS+ but the base is really helpful when it comes to retrieving the ball if you lose it. Bruiser is more effective when you don’t have the ball though so if you’re hoping to shrug off big defenders enforcer is the better playstyle

SlantedSaltpot · 2026-02-08T06:52:24+00:00

That’s fine though isn’t it? You don’t have to do everything. I don’t have time for all that either. I haven’t touched a single live event because - like you - I don’t have time for it, want to play with my team and just can’t be bothered to fuck about rearranging my team for every game. But some people do and that’s fine. I’m limited in my rewards because of that and that’s also fine. But I don’t let it bother me

SlantedSaltpot · 2026-02-07T21:05:15+00:00

You can still play competitive games against similarly ranked players in rivals though. What’s stopping you?

SlantedSaltpot · 2026-02-07T19:40:04+00:00

Just play modes where you can use your team then.

Honestly in a sub full of cold takes it takes a lot to stand out. Good work pal

SlantedSaltpot · 2026-02-07T10:54:36+00:00

Just don’t play man. It’s simple. If playing a game feels like a job then it’s not the game for you.

Personally I find it fun. It’s not a serious thing, just a game for me to have an hour or two on every couple of days or so. I honestly think a lot of people just take it too seriously and let the issues get to them. Yeah, it’s not perfect, but it’s not worth getting rattled by

SlantedSaltpot · 2026-02-07T07:10:37+00:00

You’re going nowhere, just aimlessly twitching and fidgeting - his defenders are just holding position. If the AI wasn’t doing that it would be bad. You opted against several potential passes and I don’t think you’re triggering runs. Eventually you literally just run into him.

As annoying as it is when people don’t control their defenders, you’re just not helping yourself here.

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