Look Forward to some more Career mode

As you remember I started a career mode a while back with Albus Dumbledore. Well I just went back and read through that post and it inspired me to go back to it because I think the mode can feel very personal which is fun. I also think you'll enjoy reading about this more than the usual ultimate team upgrades and run-throughs.

So in my next post hopefully we will get Albus to the top of the league he is in to show Van Gaal that he is meant to stay at the top of world football, and you know if Van Gaal doesn't feel that way we'll just have to speak with Ricardo, Albus' agent, to get transferred to a stronger team perhaps in a different league, or maybe a different team in the BPL so that we can get payback against Manchester United.

You es ayy

Every year I always end up making a team made up of USA players. There's not many options for creating a team, fortunately this year Fifa has added two new legends from America. One being Landon Donovan, and the other is Alexi Lalas. Lalas was a pretty controversial addition to the legends already in the game. Many people were disappointed because in real life Lalas was not that sick and that EA just thought that another good USA option was needed. For my team I did not have the funding to buy either of these legends so there is two silvers in their place.

So if you remember from my last post, silver players are actually usable and in this team it's hard to pick out the silvers/golds while playing. As you can see I also have two informs, Clint Dempsey(LS) and Fabian Johnson(LM) both were really quite cheap. It's hard to say if there are any standouts in the team. After about 8 games I would probably say Fabian Johnson and Michael Bradley(CAM). 

I was thinking about selling the team because it's not the most fun to play with because it's really pretty bad. Although I did win a few games in the higher divisions, I have way more fun using a good team. I would've been able to use the coins to buy some good players for my other teams, but I decided I'll keep it and maybe a nation tournament will come out and I can just use the USA team, plus I have to represent my country. If any players come out that I could upgrade the team with I'll probably get them. 

This Game Makes no Sense

What I am about to talk about is an issue which has been in Fifa for all the time Ultimate Team has been a thing. Now I have talked about how ratings work and everything but there are many times when it seems like Fifa says screw the ratings we're gonna make this silver guy fresh. This can be very fun in some cases because it makes these "bad" players actually playable. But this can be extremely frustrating on the other side of things when you can't beat a silver team with a full gold team.

This man here by the name of Alexander Esswein was the best player in Fifa 14. Better than Messi, better than Ronaldo. If you wanted to win all you had to do was put Esswein at striker and you're all set you're gonna win. Sure 91 pace is very good but other than that he is equal to or below average in every other stat. He just shouldn't be as good as he is. 

In my opinion I think fifa does this with many players to make sure there is variety. If they didn't allow silvers to be good then you'd be playing with and against the same teams every game. I honestly don't mind it that much I get more frustrated with some of the low rated golds which feel unstoppable because that just shouldn't happen. I actually made a USA team with a few silvers I will make another post about that soon.

Gareth Bale...

I have picked up my fifa playing again and I just had to write a post about the main man Gareth Bale. Gareth Bale is a Welsh soccer player who plays alongside Ronaldo at Real Madrid. Growing up not only a soccer star but also a track star his speed and stamina is second to none. I have had him in the squadron for quite a while now and my appreciation over the past few days has climbed exponentially.

Bale may not have the highest speed in terms of stats but he feels like the fastest player in the game. He will run past any defender in the game. His size is also pretty good too, he is not pushed off the ball easily. His skill moves feel really good too. 4 stars are very good combined with speed and size. 

Over the course of this year in Fifa Bale has earned himself not one but two team of the week cards. These cards have been boosted in the stat department and they look absolutely sick. I have been saving up some coins to maybe buy Messi and move Bale into the striker position. But now I am actually considering switching up where my budget is put. Bale's 89 overall card(+2 from his standard 87 card) is around 500,000 coins which is cheaper than Messi by a decent amount and I honestly think this card might be better. The only real reason why I would choose Messi over 89 bale is that it's Messi c'mon he's the best player in the world and that would be pretty fresh to have him on my team.


As I am writing this I think my decision on who to buy is changing. I can only imagine the wonders his 89 card could do for me. It will save me money and I guess Messi can wait.

TEAM OF THE YEAR!>

Within the next few days Fifa is announcing its team of the year. The eleven best players from the past calendar year. These cards will be the best in Fifa and they are going to be quite expensive. I am gonna run you through the past years team of the year and what we can expect for the 2015 team.

Fifa 13's team of the year was dominated by the BBVA. 11/11 players coming from the spanish league. Obvious inclusions are Messi, Ronaldo, and Sergio Ramos. The one player that stands out as a player you wouldn't expect is Falcao, the Atletico striker had a very strong 2012 season which catapulted him into this position. Today I could not see any possibility of him making a spot in a TOTY. I could see however any of these defenders making an appearance as well as obvious players in Messi and Ronaldo.

Here we have the Team of the year from the 2013 season(Fifa 14). It is a pretty similar team as Fifa 13 including 6/11 of the same players. I like this team because it includes some variety. Three leagues are showcased in this team of the year. New additions to this team were Ibrahimovic at striker, Franck Ribery at left midfield, Thiago Silva at center back, Philip Lahm at right back, and Manuel Neuer in goal. Neuer has managed to bring himself into the same category with Messi and Ronaldo. I would give him a pretty good shot to be seen again.

Here we have the team of the year from last year Fifa 15. Again Messi, Ronaldo, Ramos, and Iniesta make the team. We see reappearances from Phillip Lahm and Thiago Silva. Somehow we see a Arjen Robben's first appearance in the Team of the Year despite being a beast. This team of the year definitely will have some players in this years team. 

Here is my prediction for this years TOTY. All the players have been in a previous team of the year except for Neymar, Pogba, and David Silva. I am really hoping to get this right because futhead.com is having a competition with the top three winning TOTY players, and the top spot winning the whole team.

Be a Pro?

This week I did something a little different in Fifa 16. Fifa 16 offers another game mode known as career. When selecting career the first decision you have to make is whether you want to be a player or manager.

PLAYER
With a player career you create your own player and sign with whatever club you choose. Then you play in the games locked as your player. Every week you are able to different drills to build your players stats in shooting, passing, dribbling, defense, and physical.

MANAGER
With a manager career you create your manager and sign with a team. You are then in charge of all of your teams duties whether it be dealing with contracts, trades, or setting the lineup for the next game. As the manager you are able to put different players through drills and boost their stats. And you also have the choice to play as your team in the games themselves.

CREATION OF ALBUS DUMBLEDORE
I decided to go for a player career and my player, will be know as Albus Dumbledore, named after the great headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Being able to choose any team in the world; we wanted to head straight to the top. So Manchester United it was.

Being a forward Albus was excited to join the strike force of Rooney, Depay,  and Martial. However his dreams were quickly slowed when the manager, Louis Van Gaal refused to play such a young and inexperienced player and requested that Albus be sent on loan. Being loaned means you are still owned by the original team however you play for another team who has purchased your rights for a certain amount of time.

Albus received multiple offers from leagues below the Barclays Premier League. After initially refusing to sign with another club on loan, Albus eventually gave in to West Brom Albion.

After playing a few games Albus has felt stronger than most of the other players in the league. In my opinion Albus was ready for the big time. But he'll have to go through the lower leagues before he is reinstated at Manchester United.

HIGHLIGHTS
Dribbling is probably Dumbledore's biggest weak point right now, he started without any skill or ability but has recently broken through to the next level of skill dribbling which will definitely help in his quest to prove his worth to Manchester United.
As for goals Albus scored a fairly average 3 goals in 5 games, and recorded 1 assist. Not amazing numbers however with a very base player without any upgrades I am confident that he will soon become a serious threat in the lower league.

FUTURE
His obvious goal for the future is playing for the top club Manchester United, but his near goals include becoming the best player in the league. In order to accomplish this he will need to improve his ability and stats with drills, and perhaps with good stats in the league Albus will be noticed by the USA manager and be asked to play for the national team.

Fifa for Noobz

It has come to my attention that some of those who read my very popular blog may not actually know about Fifa and the world of ultimate team. So this post will help all of those people!

BASICS

The first thing you need to know about ultimate team is that every professional soccer player in the world has a card in ultimate team. And each of these cards has ratings. Ratings are given mainly for speed, shooting, passing, dribbling, defense, and physical, but there are tons of other stats that make up those main stats. Every player also has a main overall determined on how good his other stats are. 

Within ultimate team you can purchase players you earn through playing the game, and build a team with the players you own. There are a number of playing formats which will earn you coins, including tournaments, seasons, or just a single game.

HOW DO YOU EARN COINS?
Coins are earned after every game depending on performance, but there are a few different ways to play games.

Seasons
Seasons is a game mode within ultimate team. You have 10 games to determine whether you will be relegated to the lower division, stay in the same division, or be promoted to the next higher division. There are 10 total divisions. Everyone starts in division 10 and can work there way up to division 1. Winning a game will earn you 3 points, a tie - 1 point, and a loss - no points. Every division has a set amount of points needed to achieve each of the outcomes listed above. After each season you will receive a coin reward based on your performance, winning the title will get you promoted as well as receive the highest coin reward.

Tournaments
Another way to earn coins is by playing tournaments. You can enter a tournament and play, winning four games in a row will earn you the trophy of the tournament as well as a reward(usually coins but sometimes a pack<- more on packs later). 

Single Game
Single game is very standard and doesn't offer you much. If you play this you will only receive the coins you earn for playing the game, which you get for every other mode. So there's no good benefits for playing a single game.

PACKS
Packs can be bought in the ultimate team store. There are a number of different packs of different price depending on what is inside. In a premium gold pack(most popular pack) you will get 3-5 players and a number of random items such as contracts and jerseys. The packs typically never pay back for the price you pay to open the pack.

TEAM/CHEMISTRY
When building a team you need to keep in mind the chemistry of players. Players will play their best on the max chemistry of 9. To earn chemistry players need to be linked to other players from the same league, team, or country. Green links show strong chemistry, orange links show weak links, and red links show no chemistry. As you can see in the picture the links are all green and orange because the team is made fully of players from the same league.

DIFFERENT CARDS
Also something to keep track of are special cards. EA releases upgraded cards for different players that play well in real life. These cards are called informs. Their stats are slightly higher and therefor they are more expensive.