A Bronze Team Went 15–0 in FC 27 Champions: What Actually Wins

Transcript

Alex: Welcome to Half-Space, the show that makes you better at FC. I'm Macca, with Javi and Kev.

Charlie: Fifteen and nothing. In Champions. With a bronze team. Tekkz did that on Monday and I've watched it twice.

Alex: Sorry, go on. Bronze? Same Tekkz who started the weekend with a team that cost more than my flat?

Charlie: Same bloke. On Friday he's chasing the first Rank 1 with the dearest cards he can buy. By Monday he's put the lot on the bench and gone fifteen and nothing with players I could buy with my lunch money.

Sam: Mira, this is my whole job in one video. He knows where to stand. He knows which pass is on. The cards don't do that for you.

Alex: Right. I'll be honest, when I was playing I'd have called that a stunt. But fifteen wins against people trying their hardest is not a stunt. That's a man who doesn't need the pace to know where the space is.

Charlie: And that's my question for tonight. Is it the cards, or is it the shape and the habits? Because I can't afford the cards.

Sam: Then you are lucky. You have to learn the habits first.

Alex: That's the episode, really. What actually wins: the shape, the habits, and a few clever cards that cost nothing. Tonight. The first Champions weekend and the Form matchmaking row. Then the women's cards argument that's all over the community. Javi's keep and try: picking the right shot, and aiming your corners. Then what's working in our own squads: two holders, rest defence, and why pace beats a PlayStyle icon. Three cheap picks, and the menus.

Sam: And because it's the first one, something about me. I grew up in Triana, in Seville, by the river. Betis on my dad's side, which nearly caused a family war. That's why my second team in this game is all Betis: Isco, Fornals, Abde.

Charlie: One from me. I grew up in Cronulla playing rugby league. Didn't care about football until the 2006 World Cup. Then I was gone, and now my second team in this game is Sydney FC, Tisserand at the back and all.

Alex: And me. I grew up in Wythenshawe. My dad took me to Maine Road once, aged four, and I cried at the noise. Which is why my other side in this game is all City, Haaland up front.

Charlie: No last time yet. One thing about my week, though: I qualified for Champs. Ten games, after bedtime.

Alex: And how those ten went is at the end. First, the week.

Charlie: Saturday night, kids asleep, my one window all week. Two wins, two losses, and the next bloke I get is ten and four. Ten and four! I didn't get a touch for five minutes.

Sam: Ten and four? What happened? I was with my family all weekend, I didn't play.

Alex: Right, quick version. FC 27 matches you in Champions by Form. Form starts at zero every run, goes up one when you win, down one when you lose. The matchmaker looks at three things: where you are, your current Form, and your platform and cross-play settings. Not your division, not your squad value. And the record you see on the screen after the game already includes that game, so the gap was smaller than it looked. And when there aren't many people on, it widens the search.

Charlie: So it's worse at the time I play.

Alex: When the servers are quiet, yeah. It has to look further to find you someone.

Sam: Hmm. Okay.

Alex: And I'll defend it. When I was on the circuit, every weekend worked like this: you win, the next one's harder. That's how you find out if you're any good. And your ten-and-four bloke lost four games too, Kev. He's not a god. He's you with a better Saturday.

Charlie: Here's what that misses, mate. At eleven at night in Sydney, Europe is asleep and America's at work. The pool is tiny, so the search goes wide, and the only people still on are the ones grinding all night. I'm not losing to the system. I'm losing to the time zone.

Sam: That is a real point. The system is fair on paper and unfair at eleven at night.

Alex: Then play Saturday afternoon.

Charlie: Saturday afternoon is Mia's football and the shopping, Macca. People with all day telling people with twenty minutes when to play. That's the bit that gets me.

Sam: I see the other side of it with my students. They lose two, they get angry, and then they want to tank games to get easy opponents. I tell them no. You lose rewards forever, and the Form resets every week anyway.

Alex: That's the one thing we all agree on. The lads I knew on the circuit who tanked games never won anything. Never tank.

Sam: And decide before the weekend how many games you play in one sitting. Five, then a break. Have a second tactic ready for when you're losing. The ones who tilt are the ones who play eight in a row at midnight.

Charlie: Eight in a row at midnight is my only option, Javi.

Sam: Then four, and bed. With my students, the ones who stop at four finish higher than the ones who play eight angry. Every weekend, same story.

Alex: So we don't agree. I think Form is earned, Kev thinks it's a lottery at his hours, and he's got a point about the pool. What helps you either way: never throw a game, and if you can, play when it's busy.

Charlie: Mia asked me on Sunday why a man on the internet says the girls shouldn't be in the game. I didn't know what to tell her.

Sam: A man said what? I've been offline all weekend, I haven't seen any of it.

Alex: Right, here's what happened. A big creator, RTFM, posted last Tuesday that the women's cards are the best cards in Ultimate Team because short players have way more agility and responsiveness. And he said they should have their own Women's Ultimate Team instead. That post went past one and a half million views. Then on Sunday John van Uden, a coach with a weekly podcast, came at it the other way: keep everyone in, but the game counts eighty strength on a five-foot-five player the same as eighty strength on a six-foot centre-back, so make strength scale with body size.

Sam: No. You don't tell anybody they don't belong in a football game. I coach fourteen girls who play this game. You tell them they go to another pitch?

Alex: Hang on, Javi, read what he's actually moaning about. It's not who's in the game, it's that the small cards are broken. And on that bit, he's right. I play Hasegawa and Mapi because they're the best cards in my club, not to make a point. The engine loves anyone five-foot-five.

Sam: No, Macca. He asked for them to be taken out. That is not a balance note. When you ask to remove people, it is about who belongs.

Alex: And when a tiny winger beat me in a qualifier, I didn't ask for her to be moved. I learned to jockey. That's the bit I can't stand, the excuse. But don't tell me the engine's fine. It isn't.

Charlie: You're both right and it's doing my head in. My Khusanov is six-foot-something and a little winger spins him like a top, and that's not fair. And Mia sees Pajor in Javi's team and thinks it's the best thing in the world. I want my centre-back to win a shoulder he should win, and I want her heroes in.

Alex: Which is the body-size thing. Same strength, bigger body, the bigger body should win the shoulder.

Sam: Then fix the bodies. That I accept. Make it fair for the bodies, and never make it about who is allowed in.

Alex: Fine. You're right about what the post asked for. I'm right about the engine. We land on the same fix for different reasons, and we still don't agree on him.

Sam: Jockey, LT on Xbox, L2 on PlayStation. Stay a yard off, show the quick attacker to the touchline, and let her take the long touch. A small player turns fast, but she still can't turn through the touchline.

Charlie: So I stop sprinting at her with Khusanov.

Sam: You stop sprinting at her. A big centre-back sprinting at a small winger is the goal you concede.

Charlie: EA's update on Friday was fixes only. Moments loading, Squad Battles settings, skill moves in the Grounds. Nothing on gameplay, and that suits me: I haven't got the hours to relearn the game every fortnight.

Sam: Which is what they told us. They said they will be very measured with gameplay changes, and they meant it.

Charlie: Bug Watch: there's an unlimited pack trick going round, and people have been banned for this sort of thing before. Don't. And connection drops in Rivals and Champions are still being reported. One dropped game when you get twenty minutes is a third of your night.

Alex: So: Form is fair on paper and hard on late nights, the women's cards row ends on the body-size fix with us still split on the post, and EA's week was fixes only. Next, Javi's tip.

Sam: Mira, two things this week. One to keep, one to try. The keep is the most basic thing in finishing, and nobody does it: pick the shot for the situation.

Charlie: I've got one shot. Finesse. From everywhere.

Sam: That's the problem. In FC 27 the game scales finesse and low driven by the shooter's own stats, so the one magic shot doesn't exist this year. Every chance asks you a question. In the six-yard box, just hit it: B on Xbox, Circle on PlayStation, or tap it again for the low driven. Diagonal angle, far post open: finesse, RB and B on Xbox, R1 and Circle on PlayStation. Keeper rushing out: chip, LB and B on Xbox, L1 and Circle on PlayStation. Room at range and a shooter with the power: LB plus RB plus B on Xbox, L1 plus R1 plus Circle on PlayStation.

Alex: That's the power shot everyone's crying about, by the way. It's not a cheat. It's the right answer to one question, and the wrong answer to the other three.

Sam: My Pajor scores from everywhere because I don't ask her to finesse from the six-yard box. Simple is hard.

Charlie: Give me one from my team. Endrick, through on goal, keeper comes out.

Sam: Keeper comes out, you chip. Keeper stays, you go low, across him. What you never do is finesse it from twelve yards when he's already on the ground.

Alex: The best finishers I played against never had a favourite shot. They had a favourite question: where's the keeper? Answer that, and the button picks itself.

Charlie: And the power shot, when?

Sam: When you have the time and the room, and the shooter has the stats. Your Endrick at the edge of the box with nobody near him, yes. With a defender in his face, no, he puts it in the stand.

Charlie: So what's the drill?

Sam: The drill: one game, before every shot, say the shot out loud. Chip. Low. Finesse. Count how many types you used. Three or more types is a pass.

Charlie: Out loud. The kids are going to think I've lost it.

Sam: Now the new one to try, and it's new for everybody: corners. In FC 27 the cross doesn't lock onto your big man any more. It goes into space. So aim at a zone, not a player.

Charlie: I've been aiming at Khusanov's head all week and the ball goes to their keeper.

Sam: Because you aim at where he is, and he moves. Aim with the left stick at the penalty spot, and deliver with X on Xbox, Square on PlayStation, about two and a half to three bars of power. Same aim, same power, every time. Then you take control of your attacker and run him into that zone.

Alex: When I was playing, corners were free headers. Now it's a little mini-game. You have to actually move the runner, or nobody's there.

Sam: Yes. My Bühl puts it on the spot, and Russo arrives. That's the whole trick.

Charlie: Why the penalty spot? Why not the six-yard box?

Sam: The six-yard box is the keeper's. Anything there, he comes and takes it. The spot is far enough that he stays home, and close enough that a header is a real chance. And when you use the same aim and the same power, the ball goes to the same place every time, so you learn the run.

Alex: That's the bit people miss. It's not one corner. It's the same corner ten times, until your thumb knows it.

Charlie: My mistake was changing the power every time. A bit more, a bit less, and the ball went somewhere different every time.

Sam: Exactly. If the power changes, the zone changes. Same power is half of the try.

Charlie: And the challenge?

Sam: The challenge: one game, every corner at the penalty spot with the same power. Count how many land in the zone. Seven in ten is a pass.

Alex: So: keep picking the shot for the situation and say it out loud, and try every corner on the penalty spot, same power, seven in ten. Next, what's working in our own squads. What's working. Start with the shape, because the coaches and the pros all published the same two this week: the 4-2-1-3 and the 4-3-1-2. I play the 4-2-1-3. Rodri and Hasegawa sit, and that's why I can let Yamal and Vini go.

Sam: And I play a 4-4-2 with two holders. Patri on Holding, Pedri deeper. Different shape, same idea: two people who don't leave.

Charlie: I'm a 4-2-3-1. Anderson and Nico González in front of the back four.

Sam: Mira, the formation is not your problem. Not knowing it is. Pick one shape with two holders and play ten games with it. No changes. Count the goals you concede across the ten.

Alex: That's the drill. Ten games, one shape. I've watched Kev change formation three times in a night.

Charlie: Twice. What's the actual difference between the two? The 4-2-1-3 and the 4-3-1-2.

Alex: Width. The 4-2-1-3 has two wingers, so it stretches you and the full-backs get exposed. The 4-3-1-2 has no wingers at all, two strikers, and it lives through the middle. You give up the flanks and take the centre.

Sam: And both of them, look closely, keep two or three players sitting in front of the back four. That's the part everybody copies without noticing. The shape changes, the cover doesn't.

Alex: When I was playing, we'd change the front five every week. The two at the base never changed. That's where the games were won. I'll argue with you, though. Two holders is fine, but at Elite you need the 4-2-1-3's wingers, or you never break anyone down.

Sam: At Elite. Kev is in Division five. At his level the game is lost on the counter, not won on the wing.

Charlie: Thanks, Javi.

Sam: It's a compliment. Fix the back, then buy the wingers. And why two holders this year? Because the AI defending does less for you. When you lose the ball, nobody steps across on his own. Two players who sit are the cover the game used to give you for free. When I look at my students' losses this year, the thing I see most is no rest defence. While you attack, who stays home?

Charlie: Rest what?

Sam: The players behind the ball when you attack, so when you lose it, you're not naked. In FC 27 the AI defending does less for you, so the counter is where the goals come from.

Alex: That's the power-shot goal everyone moans about. It starts with your midfielder up the pitch when you lose it.

Sam: So: one CDM on Holding, or on a deep role, and both centre-backs stay. Don't trigger runs from your CDM. LB on Xbox, L1 on PlayStation sends a runner, and you send attackers, not your screen.

Charlie: What about my full-backs? Balde wants to go every time.

Sam: When you're winning, put the full-backs on a balanced role in the tactics. When you're chasing, let Balde go, but then one CDM must never move.

Alex: My Rodri doesn't cross halfway in a close game. He's the reason I sleep on a one-nil lead.

Charlie: And the runs stop on their own now anyway, don't they?

Sam: After three or four seconds, yes. So your attackers come back on their own. Your defenders are the ones you have to keep home.

Charlie: Right, so, I tried it Tuesday. Anderson on Holding, never pressed with him. I conceded two in three games, which for me is a miracle.

Sam: That is the proof. Keep doing it. Count the counters you face with fewer than three players behind the ball. Two or fewer is a pass.

Alex: Here's mine from Saturday. One-nil up, seventieth minute, I push Batlle on, Rodri follows him, I lose it, and Hasegawa is the only one home. One pass, one-all.

Sam: And who moved Rodri?

Alex: I moved Rodri. My fault. Trust me, I heard about it from myself all night. Third thing, and it's how I built my main side: pace first, PlayStyles second. This year a card can only have three PlayStyle Plus, and the game leans harder on the raw stats.

Charlie: That's why Khusanov's in my team. Eighty-two rated, eighty-eight pace. He's not pretty, but he gets back.

Sam: At striker, centre-mid and centre-back, look at acceleration and sprint speed before you look at the icons. My Koundé isn't the highest rated right-back, but he never loses a race.

Alex: Same in my City side. Doku and Cherki start because they're quick, Grealish sits. And before anyone asks, I packed every one of those lads, so whatever happens with the club's appeal, nobody's taking Haaland out of my team. That appeal will run for months.

Charlie: You're defending the club before you've even thought about it, mate.

Alex: Always. Back to the pace.

Charlie: My Balde's ninety pace and he's the one player who never gets caught on the counter. That's not a coincidence, is it.

Sam: No. With my under-fifteens, the quickest girl covers everybody's mistakes, and in this game it's the same. That's why I'd rather have a quick eighty-two than a slow eighty-six with three icons. The drill for this one is an audit, not a game. Write down your striker, both centre-mids and both centre-backs, with acceleration and sprint speed. If one of those five is under about eighty pace, he's the first one you change.

Charlie: Can I tell you what I changed? Because it's the only reason I went six and four.

Alex: Go on.

Charlie: I used to grab Kim Min Jae and charge out at the striker every time. Every time. And every time, the ball went past him into the hole.

Sam: Of course. In FC 27 the AI won't step across to fill the gap you leave. The defenders hold their position. A centre-back out of line is a free through ball.

Charlie: So now I press with a midfielder. Flick the right stick to Anderson, jockey with LT on Xbox, L2 on PlayStation, and Kim stays in the line.

Sam: Yes. Defend the wing with your midfielders before your full-backs, and never pull a centre-back to the halfway line.

Charlie: And if the midfielder gets beaten?

Sam: Then you switch to the next midfielder, not the centre-back. The centre-back is the last door. You don't open the last door to go and check the first one. I see this every week with my students. I keep a notebook of the goals they concede, and the same one comes back again and again: a centre-back steps out, the ball goes past him, and the striker is alone. Fix that one habit and half the notebook disappears.

Charlie: Half? Just from staying in the line?

Sam: Half. It is not glamorous. It works.

Alex: At both my FC Pro events, the lads who beat me never pulled a centre-back out. They sat, they waited, and I made the mistake, because I was the impatient one. Still am.

Charlie: And the aggressive line, the ninety-five depth everyone copies?

Sam: Only if you can defend the space behind yourself. For most people, it's a highway.

Alex: So: two holders, one CDM who never leaves, pace before icons, and centre-backs who stay in the line. That's what's working. Next, the picks. The picks. One each. The rule: a third of the price of the card it replaces, and under twenty-five thousand. And a quick reality check first: the pros' favourite striker was listed around three and a half million coins a fortnight ago. That's not a squad, that's a mortgage. So here's the value. Mine is Musiala, the eighty-seven CAM at about ten thousand coins. He stands in for the Akliouche Destined for Glory SBC, which costs sixty-five to seventy thousand.

Charlie: Musiala's in my team. Ten thousand. Best thing I've bought all year.

Alex: Then you know. And he's not your pick because he's your starter. It's mine because I'd never have looked at him.

Charlie: He's the only player who makes me look like I know what I'm doing. His job is to receive between the lines and drive through them: ninety dribbling, Technical Plus, Press Proven. He suits a 4-2-1-3 or a 4-3-1-2, Division six and up. And because through balls follow your aim exactly this year, Y on Xbox, Triangle on PlayStation, he needs you to aim the pass he makes.

Sam: My pick is Groß, the Player of the Month card. About eighteen thousand four hundred through the SBC. He's the deep passer: eighty-eight passing, Incisive Pass, Long Ball Pass, Tiki Taka, from a holding role.

Alex: Hang on. That's not a third. You're comparing him to Frattesi at forty thousand. That's nearly half. You've bent the rule on the first week.

Sam: I bend it. I don't care about the fashion. My students need one player who passes forward from deep, and Groß does that better than anyone at this price.

Alex: Fine, it's on the record as a bend. One bend a week, and you've used it.

Sam: And who doesn't he suit? Anyone who wants a runner in midfield. He's not quick. Put him deep, next to someone who covers the ground, and let him pass.

Charlie: Mine's the cheapest pick you'll ever hear. Donyell Malen. The normal gold one, eighty-three, under two thousand coins.

Sam: Instead of the Player of the Month Malen?

Charlie: Instead of the POTM, yeah. That's about eighty-one thousand on console for two more points. The gold one does the same job: he lives on the last defender's shoulder with real pace and gets in behind. He suits a budget side, lone striker or two up top, Division seven to four.

Alex: Who doesn't he suit?

Charlie: Anyone who wants a target man. He won't win a header against a big centre-back. Play it into space, not into his chest.

Sam: Then he's a good pick. One job, done well, for almost nothing. Can I say one thing about all three? None of them is the best player at his position. Each one does one job, and the job is what your team is missing.

Alex: That's the whole idea. When I was playing, I had my team sheet taped under the monitor with one job written next to every name. Never a rating. Javi's the first coach I've met who does the same. If your team can't get the ball from defence to attack, that's Groß. If you can't get past the midfield press, that's Musiala. If nobody runs in behind, that's Malen.

Charlie: And if you've got all three problems?

Sam: Then you come to my coaching first, and you buy players second.

Alex: So: three picks. Musiala for ten, Groß for eighteen with the rule bent, and gold Malen for under two. We re-rate all three next time. Worth your time. Three this week. First, Goal Guardian, the free keeper evolution, plus five overall. Skip, for me. Courtois and Hampton don't need plus five, and Donnarumma in my City side is already eighty-nine.

Sam: Only if the keeper is tall enough to keep. My students put it on a small keeper and he still can't reach the top corner.

Charlie: Do it. It's free, it's a few games I'd play anyway, and my bench keeper Urbig needs it more than anyone in my club.

Alex: Free for Kev, pointless for me. That's the round. Second, Malen's Player of the Month SBC. About eighty-one thousand on console, and it runs to the end of the month. Only if you run a Serie A side and you've got coins sitting there. I have, and I still wouldn't pay eighty for two points.

Sam: Wait. You have weeks. My students always buy on the first day and regret it. Wait until the eighty-fours you need are cheap.

Charlie: Skip. Eighty grand is more than my whole club is worth. I'm playing the gold Malen for under two.

Sam: That's the most sensible thing anyone has said tonight.

Alex: Third, Tarciane, the Destined for Glory centre-back. Eighty-four rated, about seventeen to eighteen thousand, and it closes this weekend. Skip. Upamecano and Mapi start for me, so she'd sit on my bench.

Sam: Do it, for most people. For a student on a budget, a strong centre-back who can upgrade on clean sheets is exactly the right buy.

Charlie: Only if Kim Min Jae keeps getting turned on Friday. If he does, she's the fix I can afford. If he doesn't, I keep the coins.

Alex: So that's the three: skip, wait or skip, and only if. The rest of the menus are in the show notes, every one, with a verdict. Results. Kev, your first Champs.

Charlie: Ten games. Six and four. And I stopped pressing with Kim Min Jae.

Sam: Six and four in your first Champs, with twenty minutes a night. That is very good, Kev.

Alex: I went twelve and three with the pros' 4-2-1-3. Rodri and Hasegawa, Yamal and Vini, the lot.

Sam: And I went thirteen and two. With a 4-4-2. And two holders.

Alex: One game. One game in it, and he's going to talk about it until Christmas.

Sam: Only until next week.

Alex: Next weekend, then. My 4-2-1-3 against your 4-4-2, and we'll see who's laughing.

Charlie: And me, I'm aiming for seven out of ten next time. Same team, same shape, no changes.

Alex: So, tonight we did Form, the women's cards row, two holders, rest defence and three cheap picks.

Sam: Keep this: pick the shot for the situation, and say it out loud. Three types or more. Try this: every corner on the penalty spot, same power, seven in ten.

Charlie: That's my one thing to do this week. Both drills, one game each.

Alex: On the record: Kev's two drills, three picks to re-rate next time, and my 4-2-1-3 against Javi's 4-4-2 next weekend. Before we go: Half-Space exists because of Dan. He's a time-poor dad who loves FC but never has the hours to get properly good, and he was tired of the hype. He wanted something more reliable: the fundamentals and the game's own logic, a little and often, so he could actually improve. So he built his own podcast studio with AI. Everything you've just heard is generated: the research, the script and our three voices. Macca, Javi and Kev are characters. Every source we used is in the show notes, so you can check our working. That's the first one done. Keep two in the middle, aim at the spot, and we'll see you on the next Half-Space.