FC 27's First Balance Patch, 95 Depth and Beating the High Press

Transcript

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

Charlie: Before anything else. Before the welcome's even cooled down. Macca, the bet.

Alex: Kev, mate, there's a running order. The bet lives in your Desk. Forty minutes from now.

Charlie: No, no. Say it now. Say the numbers.

Sam: I can say them for him, if he's shy.

Alex: I'm not shy. Fine. Ten Finals games each, this weekend, my four-two-one-three against Javi's four-four-two. I went five and five. Javi went six and four.

Charlie: Six and four! The four-four-two! The formation my dad played in the park!

Sam: Mira, five weeks I've been sitting here saying two banks of four and two strikers is enough. Five weeks you've been beating me. This weekend the basics beat the fashion.

Alex: It's one weekend. One. And I lost two of mine to the same bloke playing ninety-five depth, which we'll get to, because it's the whole week.

Charlie: Oh, he's making excuses already.

Alex: I'm not making excuses, I'm giving context. There's a difference.

Sam: There is a difference. The context is you lost.

Alex: Right. I'll take my medicine. I've had worse. Javi wins the bet, and I've got a whole show to win my dignity back. Tonight on Half-Space. EA have finally said what's in the first gameplay changes, and what isn't.

Charlie: I've read every line. Twice.

Alex: Then ninety-five depth, the high line Reddit wants gone, and Javi's Coach's Tip is his answer to it.

Sam: An answer. Kev decides if it's the answer.

Alex: Then What's Working, Kev's question from last time: playing out from the back when someone's pressing you to death. The Picks, Worth Your Time with three menu calls, and Kev's Desk, where he tells us honestly whether the homework worked.

Charlie: I will be honest. You might not enjoy it.

Alex: Last time, Kev promised he'd bring us the high press, and it turns out the whole internet brought it too.

Charlie: Can I just say, while we're doing the intro, how I played this weekend? One ear on the baby monitor. Ollie's five and Jess says the monitor's for me now, not for him. When he was in nappies I once paused a Rivals game at one-all in the eightieth minute to change one. Came back, conceded.

Sam: That's a real pause. Not a rage pause.

Charlie: Not a rage pause. A nappy pause. The dog's bed was safe.

Alex: And for the record, I played thirty-odd games this weekend. I do every Champs weekend, Rivals warm-ups and all, mostly so I'm not talking rubbish on here.

Sam: Thirty games. I have twenty paid students a month, Division Six to Elite, and none of them is allowed to play thirty games in a weekend. My best one got to the top two hundred, and he never played thirty in a weekend.

Alex: He doesn't have to talk about it on a podcast.

Sam: Neither do you. You just like it.

Alex: Right. This Week in FC, the game and only the game. Four things: EA's first patch, ninety-five depth, the new Scream team, and the rest of the week in one go. And one story ate the week. Kev, you're vibrating.

Charlie: Because it's the thing I've been asking for. EA put out their first proper gameplay notes on Wednesday our time. And there's a fix in there for loose-ball switching. The exact setting I changed on air last week.

Alex: Javi read them with a pen. I watched him do it. Javi.

Sam: Then let me do it properly, because the details matter. First, a month of their data. People score from more of their chances with fewer shots, pass completion is up slightly, successful tackles are up, and no formation is running away with it.

Charlie: Get to the switching bit.

Sam: The next title update, in the middle of November. Five things. Full-backs hold their line more consistently and track runs only when there's a real threat.

Charlie: That one I'll take.

Sam: Attackers read the offside line better, supporting runs around the box get more purposeful, and the line holds higher after a kick-off.

Alex: Higher after kick-off. About time.

Sam: And the switching fixes, after a slide tackle, a header and a missed shot.

Charlie: Now say what's not in it. Go on.

Sam: High lines, the collisions between big and small players, some shot types and keeper positioning. All under investigation. No change promised.

Charlie: Under investigation.

Sam: Which is what they told us at launch: very measured with core gameplay. And their words now: subtle and targeted.

Alex: Small. Good. Small is what I wanted. And the data bit is me, by the way. Fewer shots, more goals. This month I've stopped shooting from thirty yards with my number nine, and I walk it in. My shots are down and my goals aren't.

Sam: Exactly. And that matters for your game more than the patch. If everyone round you is getting more efficient, the player who still shoots from everywhere is the one falling behind. That's why the keep today is about the shot, not the patch.

Charlie: And the kick-off one. I've conceded straight from a kick-off this month. Twice. They go long and my line's dropped off.

Sam: That's one they're changing: after a kick-off the line will sit higher. But that's November. Until then it's the game you have, so the kick-off is the moment to be awake, not the moment to have a drink.

Charlie: Noted. No tea at kick-off. Right, so. I'm half pleased. The switching fix, lovely. But last week I said the one thing I want is the second defender stepping up when I've committed the first. I read every line of those notes like a council report. It's not in there. A month of my twenty minutes a night, and the thing I asked for isn't in it.

Alex: And I'm the opposite. I was glad they didn't touch it. Every early patch makes the people who learned the game learn it again. That's part of why I retired. I got old at twenty-five relearning the game every November. So when I read subtle and targeted, mid-November, after a month, I'm relieved. Full-backs holding the line? Nobody has to relearn that. That's just the full-back doing his job.

Charlie: You're relieved because you've got thirty games a weekend to adjust. I get one patch note and six games.

Sam: Mira, last week I said I'd judge the notes by one thing: can people learn the game. And Macca, I don't care that it's small. I care what's in it. A full-back who holds the line, I can teach: today my students lose goals because the full-back drops and plays the striker onside. That's the right fix. But the high line, the one everyone's losing to this month, is still under investigation. Right size, wrong order.

Charlie: Right size? Small is how they get away with it. The fix is my centre-back stepping up when Kim Min Jae's already gone to the ball.

Alex: Kev, you'll get your second defender one day. Not in November. And Javi, wrong order is just your order. I'd rather wait for any of it than relearn the game twice in a season.

Charlie: I'm still on the side of the Reddit lot on this one. Not the shouting, just the point. It's late, it's missing the thing that actually costs me goals, and the biggest thing everyone's shouting about isn't even in it. Small is the problem, not the answer.

Sam: And for your game, today: nothing changes this weekend. You play the game you have. Learn this one, and in November the full-backs get a little bit kinder.

Alex: So I'm glad it's small, Javi says right size, wrong order, and Kev says small is the problem. Three ways, and we're all playing the same game on Saturday. And the thing that isn't in the patch. Kev, you've been waiting all week for this one.

Charlie: Ninety-five depth. Two of my six Rivals games this week, the same story. I play the ball forward, the whole back four steps up together, flag. Offside. Again. Offside.

Sam: I know the setting, my students lose to it every week. What I haven't seen is this Reddit row. I don't go on Reddit. It's bad for my blood pressure.

Alex: Then let me do it, because I've played against it all weekend and it beat me twice. Ninety-five depth isn't a glitch. In custom tactics, if you pick the Aggressive defensive approach, the line height sits at ninety-five by default. The line steps up instead of tracking runners, and the offside trap comes with it. It's a setting. Then on Wednesday, the Reddit thread on EA's notes filled up in an hour, sixty-odd comments, and the top ones were basically: fix ninety-five depth, fix the auto offside trap. And EA's answer, in the same notes, is that high lines are under investigation. No change promised. So it's in the game in November, at least.

Charlie: And this is where I get annoyed. Because the answer I keep hearing is learn to beat it. Learn to beat it. Mate, I've got twenty minutes. The people telling me to learn the counter have got all day to learn the counter. I'm not losing to a better player, I'm losing to a slider.

Alex: And I'm sorry, Kev, but it's a setting with counters. If a high line is broken, then pace is broken and passing is broken. It's skill. The bloke beat me twice because I kept playing the ball to feet into his press. That's me. That's not EA.

Sam: Kev, I understand the twenty minutes. I really do. But a high line is old football. Sacchi's Milan did it with real people. Anyone can learn to beat it, and the beating is not hours, it's two habits. Time the pass, and go over the top. I'll show you both in about five minutes.

Charlie: Two habits I learn while the kids are asleep, for one setting I keep running into.

Sam: And you're right about one thing, Kev. The counter costs practice, and practice is time. That part is real. And Macca, the setting is fine, but the auto offside trap doing the stepping for them, that I'd let EA look at. The line should be a skill, not a button.

Alex: It's a button you can beat.

Sam: Everything is a button you can beat. That's not the question.

Alex: Can I tell you what it looked like from my side, though? The two games it beat me, I kept playing my striker into feet, with his back to goal, right into their press. The games I won, I left him on the shoulder and waited. Same player, same setting. The difference was me.

Charlie: That's you, with your striker. With Endrick on the shoulder, I'm not waiting, I'm getting flagged. And Kim Min Jae is not catching anyone at the other end when it breaks down.

Sam: That's fair, and that's why the answer is the timing, not the player. Endrick doesn't need to be faster than their line. He needs to be level with it when you pass.

Alex: I'll say it straight: I want people to stop calling a tactic a bug. And I've got a coffee on Javi showing it's beatable in five minutes.

Sam: For your game: it's there this weekend, whoever's right. Learning the timing doesn't make Kev wrong. It just makes your Saturday better.

Charlie: And I'll learn it, and I'll still say it should go. Both.

Alex: So: Kev wants it nerfed, I'll defend it, Javi wants the button gone and the line kept, and it's in the game in November either way. Quickly, the rest of the week, starting with the packs. Ultimate Scream Team 2 replaced Team 1 at five on Saturday morning our time. What EA said when the promo launched: two teams, then a week from the twenty-fourth of November when the Scream cards upgrade. The Team 2 list everyone's playing with is leaks: Olise, Messi, and the old Spurs winger from the nineties as the Hero. Not a word of it from EA.

Charlie: So I'm not selling Endrick because a leak says some Scream striker is coming for his slot.

Alex: Exactly. Team 1 is out of packs since Saturday morning. If you use him, keep him. I've got base Olise on my bench and he's staying there whatever the Scream one does. So: keep the cards you use, and ignore the leaks.

Sam: And the Scream SBCs, Bellerín and the others, came in cheaper than buying most of the packed Team 2 cards early on. We'll come to Bellerín in the menus.

Alex: Icons are going the other way: Bergkamp from about four hundred and thirty-five thousand to six hundred and fifty this week. Which is exactly why my next big card is Jill Scott from the token store, and not one from the market. Team of the Week 7 went in on Wednesday: Madrid's number nine at ninety-two, Gabriel ninety, and Klara Bühl eighty-nine on the right wing.

Sam: My Bühl. Well, the normal one, on the left, and she was the best player in my team on Saturday.

Alex: LaLiga Player of the Month is due next week, Madrid's number nine the favourite over Lamine Yamal, which, if it's him, I'll be staring at. And Tekkz is through to the eEURO Finals for England: eight players, one day, knockout, BBC Studios in London on Saturday the twelfth of December, with Denmark's man, RvPLegend and Emre Yilmaz in there too. An Englishman in a London final in December. That's the best thing on my calendar.

Charlie: Bug Watch?

Alex: Bug Watch: nothing new reported this week. First week in a while. So: the first gameplay changes land in mid-November and they're small, ninety-five depth isn't in them, and the counter is yours to learn this weekend. And speaking of the counter. Javi's been tapping the table since I said "learn this weekend". Coach's Tip, Javi, it's all yours.

Sam: Thank you. Two things today, like always: one to keep, one to try. The keep first, and it starts from Kev's homework last week. Kev, you did twenty low driven finishes.

Charlie: Fifteen on target. I'll tell you properly at my Desk.

Sam: Good. So the low driven is in your hands now. The danger is that you fall in love with it and shoot it from everywhere. So the keep is: pick the shot for the situation. Four situations, four shots. Close to goal, in the box: the standard shot or the low driven. Shoot, then shoot again before he strikes it, B then B on Xbox, Circle then Circle on PlayStation. An angle where the far corner is open: finesse, RB and B on Xbox, R1 and Circle on PlayStation. The keeper rushing at you: chip, LB and B on Xbox, L1 and Circle on PlayStation. And space outside the box with time: power, LB, RB and B on Xbox, L1, R1 and Circle on PlayStation.

Charlie: Slow down. That's four buttons and I've got two thumbs.

Sam: That's why it's a keep. You don't learn four shots this week. You learn to look before you shoot. Why it matters in FC 27: each shot type has its own animation and its own path, and the game scales the finesse and the low driven by the shooter's own stats. So the one magic shot from last year is weaker than ever. The right shot from the right place is stronger.

Alex: And the pros do exactly this. When I was playing, the best finishers I knew weren't the ones with the best finesse. They were the ones who never took the wrong shot. You'd watch them in the box: low, low, chip, done.

Charlie: Right, so, let me try it. Squad Battles, World Class, my main team. Musiala's got it on the edge, there's space, nobody closing.

Sam: Space outside the box, time. Which one?

Charlie: Power. LB, RB and B on Xbox, L1, R1 and Circle on PlayStation. And... it's over. It's in the car park.

Sam: Right shot, wrong strike. The choice was right. Again.

Charlie: Endrick, in the box now, keeper's come out to him.

Sam: Keeper coming.

Charlie: Chip. LB and B on Xbox, L1 and Circle on PlayStation. In! Over him! Mate, that's my first chip in FC 27!

Alex: Look at his face. That's a man who's going to chip everything for a week.

Charlie: One more. Gordon on the left, cutting in, the far corner's open.

Sam: Angle, far corner. Which one?

Charlie: Finesse. RB and B on Xbox, R1 and Circle on PlayStation. Off the post. Off the post and out.

Sam: Right choice. The post is the game, not you. That's the keep: you looked, you picked, and the pick was right. A right shot can still miss. Keep picking it.

Alex: And look, finesse is a good shot from the right man, from the right angle. My number nine, I'll finesse when he cuts in. My left winger, I go low and across, because that's what he scores for me.

Sam: That's it. Know your shooters. Your Musiala and your Endrick are not the same player. And that is the danger. Chip when the keeper comes, not when you're happy. The drill: one game, before every shot, say the shot type out loud. Out loud. Low, finesse, chip, power. Count your goals and your shots, and how many different types you used. The target is three or more types and thirty percent of your shots in.

Charlie: Out loud. Jess is going to think I've gone mad.

Sam: Jess already thinks the game is the one where you open the packets. It can't get worse. Now the try, and this is the answer to Kev's ninety-five depth. When the line is high and the pass along the ground is covered, there's grass behind them. Lots of grass. So you go over the top. The lofted through ball: LB and Y on Xbox, L1 and Triangle on PlayStation.

Charlie: I've tried that. It goes to the keeper.

Sam: Because you aim it at your striker. Two things. First, the aim: this year aim and power matter far more than last year. So you aim at the space where he's going to be, not where he is. Second, the power. The most common mistake this year is too much. A little touch of the bar is more than you think.

Charlie: And the offside? That's the whole problem.

Sam: The striker has to be onside when the ball is played, not when it lands. So the run goes first: you send him with LB on Xbox, L1 on PlayStation, or the curved run, LB and RB on Xbox, L1 and R1 on PlayStation, and the moment he's level with the last man and moving, you play it. Not before. If he's already past the line, he's offside, however good the pass.

Alex: And that's the bit people miss when they say ninety-five depth is broken. The high line is a bet that you can't time it. In Champs I let them step up twice, three times, just to see the rhythm, and on the fourth I go.

Charlie: Right, so, Kundananji's my new runner. Squad Battles again. Their line's on halfway.

Sam: Send her first.

Charlie: LB on Xbox, L1 on PlayStation, she goes. Nico González has it in midfield. She's level with the centre-back. LB and Y on Xbox, L1 and Triangle on PlayStation.

Sam: Small power.

Charlie: Small power... She's onto it. She's through. And... she scores. With her left.

Alex: There it is. That's the counter.

Charlie: That's the counter against the computer. My Rivals is a person. I'm not taking any of it back.

Sam: Of course. That's why it's a try. The drill: one game. Every time the other team's line is past halfway, try at least four lofted through balls into the space, to a runner who is already moving. Count how many your runner gets to first. Two from four is a pass. Over, nothing. Under, nothing. Two from four. That's the tip, Macca.

Alex: So: keep picking the right shot for the situation and say it out loud, and try the lofted through ball over a high line, runner moving first, small power, two from four. Now the long one. Kev, last week you promised you'd bring us your question, and Javi's been carrying a napkin around all week. What's Working, Javi.

Sam: It's true. It's in my pocket. So, Kev's question: how do you play out from the back against the high press, when the other team is pressing you to death. Three things are working, in this order: one, safety first, recycle the ball; two, keep it deep, because their press can't bite in your own third; and three, a bit of edge, the keeper's lob over the press. Kev, first, tell me what happens to you.

Charlie: My keeper's got it. He rolls it to Kim Min Jae. Their striker runs at him. I panic, I hit it forward to Musiala, Musiala's got two on his back, they nick it, they score. Every time. That's my whole problem in one sentence.

Sam: That's the most common goal my students concede. I keep a notebook, you know this, of every goal they concede. Most of them are the same five goals. This is number one. So the first habit is simple. Simple is hard. Before every forward pass in your own half, you ask one question: is this pass eighty percent safe? If not, it goes sideways or back, and you start again. The pass forward into Musiala with two men on him, that's forty percent. So it goes back to Kim Min Jae, or across to Khusanov, or back to Urbig.

Charlie: But then they just keep pressing.

Sam: Let them. Calm passing beats panic. And this year, the through balls and the passes into feet follow your stick exactly. So a forced pass goes exactly where you pointed it: into their man.

Charlie: What do I press, though? I always press too hard.

Sam: Tap the pass, don't hold it: A on Xbox, Cross on PlayStation, a short tap for a short pass. And let go of the sprint, RT on Xbox, R2 on PlayStation. Calm is a skill too.

Alex: That's how I play Champs now. Back to the keeper as often as it takes. The bloke pressing me gets bored before I do.

Sam: In my team, Pedri does this all day. He drops between my two centre-backs, they press him, he plays it back, they press again, he plays it back, and on the third time Patri Guijarro is free because everybody went to Pedri. The drill: one game of Rivals or Squad Battles. Count the times you lose the ball in your own half from a pass you forced forward. Two or fewer is a pass.

Charlie: I'd lose six. Easy.

Sam: Then six is your start, and two is your target.

Charlie: And if I'm losing, and there's five minutes left?

Sam: Then eighty percent becomes sixty. Recycling is for when the score lets you. Losing late, you take the risk on purpose, not in a panic. That's the difference. The second thing is a bit more advanced, and it's the one that changes how you feel. In FC 27, the Team Press instruction does nothing while the ball is in your defensive third. EA changed it after the beta. So their team can't squeeze you there as a unit.

Charlie: So the whole team running at me...

Sam: Isn't being told to, not in your third. So in your own third you can be patient. Five passes between your keeper, your centre-backs and your holding midfielders before you go forward, on your first three possessions. Short ones, A on Xbox, Cross on PlayStation. When a line opens, the driven pass breaks it: RB and A on Xbox, R1 and Cross on PlayStation.

Alex: And people say the press fades late, because the Aggressive setting drains stamina. I've felt it a bit, the second half against a ninety-five depth side gets easier. But I'd call that a maybe, not a fact.

Sam: Right, that is a hypothesis. Some people swear the press dies at the hour. Maybe. What is a fact is the defensive third. So the habit doesn't depend on the stamina. Be patient in your third because you're safe there, not because they'll be tired.

Charlie: My two holders are Anderson and Nico González. Last week you told me I kept sending Nico forward.

Sam: And this is why they stay. Anderson and Nico are your exits. Kim Min Jae to Anderson, Anderson back to Khusanov, Khusanov to Nico. Five passes, and you haven't given them the ball once.

Alex: My Rodri lives in that space. He doesn't go forward. Ever. He takes it from Upamecano, he turns, he gives it to Bellingham. If Rodri's marked, it goes back to my keeper.

Sam: The drill: against a team that presses, your first three possessions, complete five passes in your own third before going forward. Count the times you lose the ball in your own third. Zero or one is a pass.

Charlie: Can I try it now? Squad Battles, I'll put the opponent on a high press.

Sam: Go. Urbig has it.

Charlie: Keeper to Kim Min Jae. Their striker's coming. Back to the keeper. Keeper to my other centre-back. He finds Anderson, Anderson turns, back to the centre-back. That's four. Nico González drops in. Five. There's nobody near Nico. Where's everybody gone?

Sam: You made them chase five passes. Now look up.

Charlie: Musiala's on his own between their lines. Nico to Musiala. He turns. Oh, that's a lot of grass.

Alex: That's the feeling. My Rodri does the five boring passes every Champs game, and I still get a buzz when the door opens.

Charlie: It felt like I was wasting time.

Sam: You were buying time. Different thing. And in a ninety-five depth game, the time you buy at the back is the grass you get behind them.

Alex: And I'll add one thing from my own team, because I play against the high line every weekend. When they press me, my other midfielder drops next to Rodri, so there are two of them to pass to. One presser can't cover two. If you've got one holding midfielder against the press, you're a man short. Kev, you've got two, Anderson and Nico, both on Holding. Use both: in your five-pass drill, count that both of them touch it.

Sam: And the third, and I'm going to call it what it is: this is an edge. It's not a basic. When the other team pushes everybody up, the space is behind them and between their lines. So sometimes the answer is: don't play out at all. The keeper goes over the press. X on Xbox, Square on PlayStation, the lob from the keeper. Or the driven lob, LB, RB and X on Xbox, L1, R1 and Square on PlayStation.

Charlie: I thought we didn't kick it long.

Sam: Not always. Once a half. Aimed at a zone, not at a player, where your attacking midfielder or your striker can get to it. My keeper does this for me to my striker: if they come with five, he goes over all five. And remember, aim and power matter more this year. Too much and it's their keeper's ball.

Alex: I do that once a half in Champs. Do it twice and the bloke drops a centre-back and wins every header.

Sam: Exactly. That's why it's once a half. The drill: one lob per half from the keeper, aimed at the zone of your attacking midfielder or striker. Count how many you keep. Half is a pass.

Charlie: So in order. Ask if it's safe. Be patient in my third. And once a half, my keeper goes over the top.

Sam: In that order. Basics first, the edge last. And these three aren't extra homework. Your homework is still the keep and the try. These are for the day someone presses you to death. That's the napkin empty. Back to you, Macca.

Alex: So: against the press, recycle when the pass isn't safe, be patient in your own third because their Team Press can't bite there, and once a half let your keeper go over the top. Right, the Picks, the bit where we find the players nobody's talking about. The rules, same as ever: a third of the price of the meta card it replaces, or less, never more than twenty-five thousand, nobody picks his own starter. First, last week's three, after a week in our clubs. Javi, Diomande.

Sam: I put him in my four-four-two on the side the crosses come. In the air he is everything I said: he won every back-post header in four games. But I said don't play a high line with him, and on Saturday I forgot my own advice and pushed up against a fast striker. He lost the race twice. So: brilliant in a low block, not a high one. He stays on the bench behind Cubarsí.

Alex: Kev, Kundananji.

Charlie: You heard her ten minutes ago. She's my favourite player. Over the top, either foot. She started three of my six and scored in two. She's not Endrick in the box, she's better than Endrick in behind.

Sam: Better in behind, yes. But tell them the bad part too.

Charlie: The bad part. With her back to goal she's lost. If I play it into her feet with a defender on her, it's gone. So she's a runner, not a target. If your striker has to hold the ball up, she's not your pick.

Sam: That's an honest re-rating. The people I coach never tell me the bad part.

Alex: And mine, the French winger on the right. She gets to the byline, she cuts it back, and in my Rivals warm-ups she set up three. But she's a bench player in my team. I'll keep her for the fun side of the week and for one thing: the cut-back. Good pick, past me. Now the new three. Javi, you first.

Sam: Kim Little. The last price we found was about twenty-five hundred coins, and some lists had her even cheaper, so check before you buy. She stands in for Yui Hasegawa, about twenty-five thousand.

Alex: Who's in my team.

Sam: Who's in your team, yes. And she's very good. But Kim Little does the one job we talked about for ten minutes: she keeps the ball under the press. Press Proven Plus, eighty-nine dribbling. She takes it with a man on her back and plays the next pass. She's a holder in a double pivot, not a runner. She suits a four-four-two or a four-two-three-one, Division Seven to Four, if you build from the back.

Charlie: So she's the Anderson for people without Anderson.

Sam: She's the Pedri for people without Pedri.

Alex: Fine. Ten times cheaper than mine. I'll allow it. Kev, your pick. And remember, last week you told me you don't do numbers.

Charlie: I don't. I'll tell you the job, Javi can do the numbers. My pick is the quick Dutch centre-back. Because the other half of ninety-five depth is me pushing up too, and when they go over my head I need someone who turns round and catches them.

Sam: Jayden Oosterwolde. Seventy-six rated, eighty-eight pace, one metre ninety-two. The last price we found was around eight hundred coins. He stands in for the Brazilian centre-back at about twenty thousand.

Charlie: Eight hundred. That's about one percent of a Kev.

Alex: A rounding error on a Kev. And it's not one of your starters, Khusanov and Kim Min Jae are, so it's legal.

Charlie: He goes next to Kim Min Jae, who's better but slower. Kim Min Jae defends, the Dutchman chases. For any back four from Division Eight to Five on a budget. That's me.

Sam: And remember the seventy-six. He's a chaser, not a reader. Next to a good defender, not instead of one.

Alex: And mine. The meta reality check first, once, then I'll stop: the striker I'd want costs twenty thousand, and you don't need him to beat a high line. You need one thing: pace in behind. So, Julián Quiñones. Eighty-four rated, ninety-one pace, and the last price we found was about two thousand coins. He stands in for Bryan Mbeumo, about twenty thousand. One job: he's the runner for Javi's lofted through ball. When the line's on halfway, he's already gone.

Charlie: You're picking a ninety-five depth killer. After telling me to learn it.

Alex: I am telling you to learn it. And I'm giving you the striker to learn it with. For one-striker shapes from Division Six up, against high lines.

Sam: And none of us bent a rule this week.

Alex: Clean sheet on the rules. One to beat the press, one to cover a high line, one to run past one. Worth Your Time, the menus, three calls this week and everyone gives a verdict from his own club. First up, the Ultimate Scream SBC for Javi's right-back. About thirty-five thousand coins, and it ends on Wednesday at five in the morning our time. Javi.

Sam: Do. Bellerín plays in my LaLiga side, so I did it on Friday night with spare eighty-fours. Four games at right-back for that team: the pace held a ninety-five depth winger, and his crossing is ordinary. For that side, perfect.

Alex: Skip. I've already got a right-back I trust, and I'm saving every coin and every token for Jill Scott.

Charlie: Skip. Thirty-five thousand is more than half my whole club.

Alex: Next, Ghoul Fest, the Live Event with no rules: no offsides, no fouls, and it pays Scream tokens. Kev.

Charlie: Only if you're short of tokens. No fouls is chaos, and I've got twenty minutes. I'm not spending them getting kicked.

Alex: Do, for me. No offsides, no fouls, it's the most fun I've had all week, and the tokens go to Jill Scott.

Sam: Skip. It teaches the people I coach habits that cost them in Rivals. They learn to sprint through people.

Alex: It's a Live Event, Javi, not a coaching session. It's meant to be daft.

Sam: I know. And on Monday they play a Rivals game and they hold the sprint into a centre-back because on Sunday it worked. Daft has a price.

Charlie: I'm with Javi on the price, and with Macca on the fun. That's why it's only if. If you need the tokens, play it. If you don't, don't.

Alex: Fair. And for the record, I'm still playing it. And the third, the Ultimate Scream token store. It shuts just before five on Saturday morning the fourteenth of November, our time, and the tokens don't carry over. Jill Scott's fifteen hundred, the Argentine playmaker nine hundred. Do. I've got fourteen hundred tokens. I'm a hundred short of Jill Scott, and Ghoul Fest is where I'm getting them.

Sam: Do. Verón for nine hundred, a passer for my midfield. I wasn't waiting for anything better.

Charlie: Only if you've got the tokens already. I've got three hundred and I'm not chasing more.

Sam: And that's why I took Verón and not the Wicked Winger Evolution, same nine hundred. A whole card for my midfield, against one upgrade on one winger. El Mala and Le Fée are the same kind of value.

Charlie: Three hundred tokens. What does three hundred get me?

Alex: Tverskov's fifty. You could buy six Tverskovs.

Charlie: Six Tverskovs. My whole midfield. Done.

Alex: And one line: if you played FC 26 and FC 27 by today, the Pathway Evolution for the old Chelsea centre-back unlocks today in the Evolutions rewards. It's free. Everything else is in the notes table. So: Bellerín only with fodder you've already got, Ghoul Fest if you need tokens, and spend every token before the fourteenth. And now my favourite part, the part where Kev holds us to account. Kev, you've got a face like a council report. Your Desk.

Charlie: Right, so. Kev's Desk: the homework, the bet, and my question for next time. The homework first, honest, like always. The keep was Auto Switching on air balls and loose balls, Move Assistance off, and zero goals conceded from through balls and crosses in one game. I played the game. I conceded one. From a cross. I'd flicked to Jeltsch and he went to the wrong man. So not zero. Not yet.

Sam: One is a real start. You were conceding three of those a game. Tell me about the one.

Charlie: Their winger's at the byline. I flick the right stick to Jeltsch, like you said, before the cross. But I flicked too early. Jeltsch goes to the near post, their striker's at the back post, and he heads it in. Free.

Sam: So the habit is there, the timing is not. Look at where the striker is, then flick. Not the nearest defender, the defender nearest the danger. You picked a man; next time pick the right man.

Charlie: The right man. Not the nearest man.

Alex: That's the whole of defending in one line, Kev. Took me six years and a lot of shouting at my telly.

Charlie: I shout at mine too. Jess closes the door now.

Alex: Jess has the right idea.

Charlie: The try was the low driven: twenty in the Practice Arena, seventy percent on target. I got fifteen from twenty. That's seventy-five percent. Passed. And I scored two low drivens in Rivals with Endrick, which you've heard about, because I won't shut up about it.

Alex: How did Rivals go?

Charlie: Six games, three and three. Won the first three, lost the last three. The last three were after nine at night, and after nine at night I'm a worse player. That's not a tactic, that's a dad.

Alex: And the bet, Kev. Do it properly.

Charlie: The bet. You heard it at the top, but it goes in the book: Javi six and four, Macca five and five. Javi wins the bet. First time.

Sam: First time. I'm keeping the napkin.

Alex: Same again next Champions weekend. My four-two-one-three against your four-four-two.

Sam: With pleasure.

Charlie: And my question for next time. I've learned to hit the low driven, and now I keep conceding it, near post. Next time, Javi: how do I defend the near-post low driven finish.

Sam: Good question. I already have the napkin.

Charlie: That's the Desk. Macca, take us home.

Alex: Thanks, Kev. The one thing to do this week is the keep: before you shoot, say the shot out loud. Then, if you've got a second game, the try. Keep this: say the shot type out loud before every shot, one game, three or more types and thirty percent. Try this: the lofted through ball over a high line, runner moving first, small power, two from four. On the record: Kim Little, Kev's Dutch centre-back and Quiñones get re-rated next time. The bet goes again, my four-two-one-three against Javi's four-four-two. And my call: the mid-November update won't change ninety-five depth. If it does, I'll say so on here. Kev brings the near-post low driven. 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. I'm Macca, I lost the bet, and I'll be back with the four-two-one-three. That was Half-Space. Time your runs.