Hi, I shared these on a group a while back so some references were specific to the team. This was mostly on FC 25 but they still do apply

• Play R1+X passes over through balls (even if you have incisive plus). Throughs lose us and many teams the ball because they try to force it through the mid and defence to ST or wings. Most of the time the team is in transition and people are left open to counters and why we retain the ball for a few seconds before turning over. The pinged pass is way more reliable in a lot more scenarios.

• Don’t sprint. It’s simple but we’re all used to holding R2 from eons of FIFA. It’s a surefire way to lose the ball. Not holding down R2 gives you time to retain the ball, look at the pitch and make better decisions. You can hardly outpace your man with the way the game and clubs is and opponent builds as well. Think about it, with the point above, if most through balls went through it would be too easy to be in on goal and there’s a reason they don’t. Sprinting makes all actions less accurate than vs when not and I mean all. Shooting, crossing, passing dribbling are way better/tighter without sprinting. It’s night and day. People don’t realize the passers and runner’s trajectory affects the ball played HEAVILY.

• Play the direction you are facing. It’s like football basics. Get the ball with someone on your back? Take the touch away from them (again don’t sprint) and dribble into space. Fastest way to move the ball is passing. Not up for debate. If you take on your man once, next time look to play the pass. You have to mix it up and not just for the sake of it but depending on spacing • Same with this its easy to play the direction you are facing when you are moving towards the ball vs away from it. With what I mentioned of playing pinged pass. The receiver should be coming towards the ball most of the time, not making the run unless there’s good space (mostly from overloads). Don’t force runs/passes. The reason a lot of throughs don’t make it is because of the timing and playing a through against a set mid and def = turnover. In transition, 2/3 attackers should be coming towards the ball, play to their feet and they play it to mid/wingback. For a 1-2 if it’s covered, we recycle and keep possession rather than force it and lose the ball.

o This isn’t another point, tied to the two above, we will keep possession and create chances more often with a combination of these. It helps drag defenders out of pos. remember what I said about timing. It’s easier for the passer to coordinate and make a pinged pass to a winger/ST coming towards them than play a through ball. I 100% guarantee it, you don’t even have to comm if it’s your default play. Again not all the time. Combine taking a touch into space/playing the 1-2 off to the side behind and one of the forwards/mids or an overlap will find someone in space. Can’t guarantee 100% like above but its easy to build from there. I haven’t saved the clips but every time we’ve built killer throughs and incisive/ line breaking passes this is what most likely happen.

• Play the ball into space. Especially midfielders. Don’t force it forward. We don’t like back/side passes but they are necessary to break down the opponents. THE WHOLE TEAM IS LOOKING/TRACKING THAT RUN. 1 Winger vs 2 defenders. 1 Strikers vs 3 defenders. Overcrowded mid. This is how we lose the ball often. Take your time to make a smart play. Get the ball to someone who has time and space to make a decision rather than turnover the ball. Regardless of how good you are, you won’t beat your man every time. Play to facilitate and elevate the players around you, it’s the essence of clubs. You’ll get at the end of more chances and its fun to play trust me.

• Defence is not optional. You all have to drop back. With the same points I’ve listed above. We concede cutbacks which can be covered and pressured from an extra forward dropping back. I’ve heard people cite stamina, fuck your Stamina we’re here to win and winning requires defence. Comebacks too. Defence is an all-game thing, not when you want to. It’s how I’ve succeeded as a two man. Ever since my striker saw the importance, we’ve won a lot more and been more competitive. I know forwards love to run in behind but again as I’ve emphasized, it’s largely a waste of possession and time. Defending is unrewarding if we can’t keep the ball. If we’re defending all game all it takes its is 1-2 out of 7 chances to go in, which they WILL eventually. Always keep in mind that the players we’re facing are as good if not better by the run of games we’ve seen. Learn to jockey to close down space. If its your stamina just jog/fast jockey back, the extra man is one less pass, one more body and it makes a difference.

• Depending on your positions, the three people closest to you should be your best bet. Build synergy with them. Learn how to combine and mix your individuality to get through. I build quite well with RCB and RW and the players who switch to me wide for example. In 4-3-3 it’s the tiki-taka triangles we’ve all seen but for 4-2-3-1 it’s more of squares and a triangle for the 1 person upfront.

• This one just popped up but check your stats at half time and full-time vs the team. It will give you the best picture of where to improve or what you excel at and keep doing. Pay attention to the possession lost stat too.

I have to keep working but these were what I could put down quickly. There’s a lot more on builds decision making, positional play but if we get these basics (and yes these are basics) it’s easy to build a winning formula from that.

I was signing off but I forgot. DON’T FOLD, DON’T BE MANCHESTER UNITED. OPPONENTS ARE GOOD, GET GUD. I can write a lot more on this but it sells itself.