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.

Gareth Bale!

In a recent post I pointed out that I did not have enough coins to buy subs for my Bundesliga side. Well here is the reason. Gareth Bale. He is the most expensive player to ever be purchased by a team in pro football. And he also asks for a very large price in Fifa 16 as well. After buying him for 430k he just barely exceeds the price of Ibrahimovic. Fortunately after playing a few games with him, I am much more impressed by his play compared to Ibra's.

Naturally a right midfielder, I have switched him into a more attacking role of right forward, and placed him at striker of my BBVA squad. He has definitely proved to be more affective up top than he was at right mid. His stats are so all around for a striker its incredible. He is nearly as fast as Aubamayang. His dribbling, shooting, physical, and passing are all over 80, the only stat not over 80 is his defending. The least important stat for a striker. His career started out with being a left back however so his defending stat is still quite respectable.

This guy can literally hit the ball with a big touch, run past his defender and get to the ball again. There are videos of him doing this in real life, and the game is no different. He has two of my favorite player traits in speed dribbler and long shot taker. Although despite his good shooting abilities I have preferred dribbling into the box with him and making things happen there. 

I am hoping his price doesn't go down too much because the expensive players are where you lose the most money. For now he will definitely stay in the squad, because I can't think of anyone in the BBVA worth replacing him with.

Back to my Old Ways

I know I said I was switching to a one team format, however I quickly found myself getting bored using the same players over and over. So to counter this I decided to make a second team. First I wanted to create the team with subs, but unfortunately my budget didn't allow for this. So for now we are playing back and forth. So while one squad plays, the other gets their fitness back up for the next game.

For my second squad I decided to go for a Bundesliga/German team. In a 4-1-2-1-2 formation I have set up the perimeter players from the Bundesliga, and I chose two German players from the BPL that I really like in Ozil and Schweinsteiger. The players calling for large prices were Aubamayang(right striker), Muller(left striker), Ozil(center attacking mid), and Schweinsteiger(center defensive mid).

Aubamayang with his 95 pace and good size and physical ratings are the clear reason for his 40k price. He has definitely proved his worth however with 8 goals in 8 games.

Muller on the other hand has not impressed me quite as much. With an asking price of around 26k you would expect a very quality player. But he feels a little sluggish and I have had a hard time getting any shots off with him.

Ozil and Schweinsteiger have held down the midfield really well. Ozil can dribble so fast and is so quick, that he has the ability to take it himself every time. While Schweinsteiger is able to play balls up and play defense when he needs to.

The squad feels really good after a few games. I have not lost many and with Aubamayang getting an inform this week I may look to acquire that at some point in the future.

Top 5 Players So Far...

Bobito United has gone through a few different teams. This far through the game I am bringing you my personal top 5 players I have used in game.

5. Carlos Vela

Carlos Vela's big win for himself is his dribbling and his finesse shots. It's very easy to go down the right wing with him and cut in on the baseline then place a finesse shot off the back post. To go along with all that 4* skill moves compliment his play nicely.

4. Konoplyanka

New to Fifa this year. This player has crazy skills for the game. He is rocking 92 pace which in Fifa is always somewhat important. In game he feels very quick, he also feels like a very strong dribbler. He comes in at number four because of those reasons.

3. Sergio Ramos

Sergio Ramos may be the best center back in real life and in Fifa he really feels the same. His defending ability is obviously superb, but he is also a threat in the oppositions box. He is a really all around player with 60+ shooting, don't be afraid to rip one with him. He is currently one of the most expensive defenders but the price tag is worth it.

2. Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Zlatan is just made for this Fifa. Big, strong, and good at dribbling and shooting. He is a dangerous anywhere within 35 yards of the goal. Take a long shot with him or play a ball over the top and let him hold off the defender and get on the ball. The only thing holding him back is really his speed. If EA had not dropped his skill moves from 5* to 4* I think he would be at number one.

1. Javier Pastore

When you see this name you're probably saying how could an 84 overall center midfielder be the best player in the game. Well until you use him you won't understand. Pastore has sneaky speed and can take a touch past a defender with ease. Then after that he can quickly put a long shot into the top corner. All that plus great passing, dribbling, and 4* skill moves, makes Javier Pastore the best player I have used in Fifa 16.

One Squadron, One Team, One Goal

Recently Bobito United has switched their strategy, and converted from a multiple team format to a single team which involves substitutes. In order to create a strong and united team the Bobito management had to choose from players of a single league or nation. They decided to go with the historically powerful Liga BBVA. A league which has had powerhouse teams such as Barcelona and Real Madrid.

The new team has a few standouts. Newly acquired Sergio Ramos, who came to Bobito United for a pretty high price tag of $96,000, was quickly given the arm band and is now the captain of Bobito United. His world cup victory and consistent Top 11 votes will surely back his performances in his new club.

Along with Ramos the team has an outstanding midfielder in Isco. The Spanish midfielder has proven he can not only create chances but he can also put his chances away.

Up front is Karim Benzema. The French forward is renowned for his abilities in front of the net. Last year he was one of the strongest players in the game and this year Bobito is hoping he delivers a similar performance.

Lastly on the wing, the game changer is Yevgen Konoplyanka. New to Fifa this year, his stats are promising with 92 pace and 77 shot.