FC 27 Season 2 Reset, Corners and Cheap Future Stars Picks

Transcript

Alex: Welcome to Half-Space, the show that makes you better at FC. I'm Macca, with Javi and Kev. Nine and one. Nine wins, one loss, in Rivals this week, in Elite, and I was flying.

Charlie: And tonight it all gets wiped.

Alex: It doesn't get wiped, Kev. It gets, sort of, gently relocated.

Charlie: To Division 2, mate. You're being relocated to Division 2.

Sam: Macca, this is the first time I have seen a man win nine games and look like he lost his dog.

Alex: Because I know what's coming. Season 2 starts tonight our time, everybody drops, and I've got to go and beat a load of lads who've been sat in Division 2 all month waiting for people like me.

Charlie: I went three and three, so honestly they can't drop me much further. That's the good thing about living downstairs. Nobody pushes you down the stairs when you're already in the basement.

Sam: Eight and two for me. I'm quite calm about it.

Alex: You're calm because your four-four-two thinks every reset is a chance to teach someone a lesson.

Sam: Mira, every reset is a chance to teach someone a lesson.

Alex: Right. That's the show in one sentence. Let's do it properly. So, tonight on the show. This Week in FC: Season 2 lands on Thursday, everyone drops, the Champions token store turns over, and we argue about whether that's fair. Plus The Grounds gets an Archetypes reset, and Future Stars Team 2 is in packs. Then Javi's Coach's Tip, a keep and a try: corners into a zone, and your first touch away from the presser. Javi's also got What's Working, three things: the corner mini-game in the box, free kicks, because Kev asked, and the low driven finish. Then The Picks, three cheap Future Stars cards, and one of us has bent a rule. Three menu verdicts in Worth Your Time, and Kev's Desk to finish.

Charlie: And last time, for the record, Javi's four-four-two won the bet.

Alex: Thank you, Kev, nobody asked. Last time Javi beat me ten wins to eight over the Finals weekend, and I want the rematch this weekend. Something you don't know about me, by the way: I played two FC Pro events, and the best I ever did was a top eight at a European cup. Top eight. Not top four. I'm still not over it.

Sam: Top eight in Europe is very good, Macca. A lot of people would cry for a top eight.

Alex: My mum cried. Different reasons.

Sam: Something about me, then. I learned my English at school, from American textbooks, and from American television. Friends, every afternoon, after training. So if I ever say "could this BE any more of a meta", now you know why.

Charlie: That explains a lot. Mine is short. Jess, my wife, thinks FC is, quote, the game where you open the packets. That's it. That's her entire understanding of my hobby.

Alex: She's not wrong, Kev. She's got the gist. This Week in FC, and it starts with the big one: Season 2, tonight.

Sam: Wait, tonight? What actually happens tonight? I have been at training with the girls all week.

Charlie: Right, so. Season 1 finishes on Thursday, and Season 2 runs to early December, so six weeks. At the reset everyone in Rivals drops from the division they finished in. EA doesn't say how far, but going by last season's numbers most people drop two: Elite goes to Division 2, Division 5 goes to 7, Division 8 goes to 9, and 9 and 10 stay put. The Champions token store shelf turns over at 5:59 pm Thursday our time, fifteen of the sixteen items leave, but your tokens should carry over. Season Points and the Season 1 objectives reset too, and the leak says the new reward track is thirty levels of old Ultimate Team cards.

Alex: Gently relocated. See?

Sam: Ay. Two divisions. Okay.

Charlie: Two divisions, every six weeks, for a bloke who plays twenty minutes a night.

Alex: I love it. A reset's a race. Everyone starts lower, the better players climb, and you find out who actually belongs where. Same thing I said in episode two about seeding the good players low: they climb out in weeks, and the better player rises. Nothing's changed. The first week of a new season is the most honest week in the game.

Charlie: And same thing I said in episode two: the early divisions are a wall for ordinary players. Here's the bit that gets me. If you finish in Division 8, you restart in 9, and by the tracker maths, the Champions points to qualify from down there take about thirteen weeks. The season is six weeks. So the ordinary player never gets there. That's not a race, mate. That's a treadmill.

Alex: That's not the reset's fault, though, that's the bottom of the ladder's fault. Win more games.

Charlie: I'll let the kids know.

Sam: I'm in the middle, a little, but I keep my position from episode two. The better player rises, and that is fair. The reset sorts everybody again, and if you are good, you are back in two weeks. But I think about two of my students. Both Division 6, both worked so hard to get there. Tonight they go to Division 8, and they lose the rhythm they built. For them the reset is fair, and it still hurts.

Alex: Fair and it hurts. That's football, Javi.

Sam: That is football. But a coach sees the rhythm, not only the table. When you climb, you play opponents a little better than you every week, and that is how you learn. When you drop, the first two weeks you play people you beat easily, and you learn nothing. It is lost time.

Charlie: For me it's simple. Twenty minutes is three games, if the kids sleep. You don't climb two divisions in six weeks on three games a night. You do if you're Macca.

Alex: I'll take that as a compliment.

Charlie: It wasn't one.

Sam: Can I say one thing for the busy player, though? The Champions points don't only come from the weekly rewards. Squad Battles counts too. So if you drop, and you only have twenty minutes, you are not stuck. You can play against the computer at night, quietly, and still move towards qualifying.

Charlie: That's actually useful. Squad Battles at eleven at night, nobody to rage at, nobody to rage at me.

Alex: And the reset helps you there too, Kev, because the lads you were losing to are about to be two divisions away from you for a fortnight.

Charlie: So my plan is to win while the good players are busy climbing past me. Brilliant. That's my whole career.

Alex: Then we don't agree, and that's fine. Here's the practical bit for everyone, though. If you're one win off a promotion right now, play it today, before the reset: it's the last chance to change where you start. And your Champions tokens: keep them unless there's a specific item you want before 5:59 pm Thursday. There's no cost to waiting; the items change, the tokens don't.

Charlie: I've got eleven tokens and they're staying exactly where they are.

Sam: And the new season has new campaigns coming, the leaks say a Halloween one and a Hall of FUT one, so there will be things to spend on. Nobody needs to panic-buy at a quarter to six on a Thursday.

Alex: Second bit of news, The Grounds. EA posted on Monday that some Archetype attributes were classified wrongly, so the Attribute Point costs were off.

Sam: Ah, the Pro Clubs mode. With the Archetypes.

Alex: That one. EA says it's adjusting the costs to match how each Archetype is meant to feel, and it's removing Attacking Positioning as a requirement for the Specializations. It lands by 8 pm Thursday our time, everyone's points get reset, and you redistribute them. Your level stays, your total points stay.

Charlie: And there's compensation, and I read it like a council report, top to bottom. If you'd already made a Pro, you get five thousand Club Coins and a 1.75 times experience multiplier for six matches.

Sam: The Finisher changes the most, I think. Six attributes cost more, four cost less. So if you built a striker who only finishes, you will feel it. And the midfielders, the Maestro, the Creator, they have a lot of costs moving in both directions.

Alex: Honestly, I don't play The Grounds, I'm an Ultimate Team man to my bones. But I like that EA owned it, said it was their classification, and gave the reset for free. That's how you do it.

Charlie: For me that's the best part. A free respec is the only free thing anyone's given me this week.

Sam: Some of my students play it to learn positions, and I like it for that. You are one player, you cannot switch, so you have to understand where to stand. If you play it, plan your build tonight, on paper, before you spend a single point. Then use the multiplier on your first six games.

Alex: Last bit: what's in packs. Future Stars Team 2 is in until Friday. The headline cards are silly money: Rayan about 1.69 million, Mainoo about 2.56 million.

Charlie: Two and a half million. That's forty Kev clubs.

Sam: And remember the rule for the February upgrades: these cards grow with league starts, plus one at four starts and plus one at eight, but anything rated eighty-seven or more can't go up. So you pay the big price for a card that is finished growing.

Alex: Which is why the cheap 85s are the story, and that's The Picks later. Team of the Week 5 had Russo and Patri Guijarro at eighty-nine, and Elliot Anderson at eighty-five.

Sam: Two of my starters. Russo and Patri. I have the base cards, and I'm so proud I could frame them.

Charlie: I've got the base Anderson. I'm claiming partial credit.

Alex: And Team of the Week 6 lands at 4 am Thursday our time. My money's on Haaland. Two goals on Saturday against Ipswich, seven wins from seven, and he's in my City side.

Charlie: He still sulked about the VAR one, didn't he?

Alex: Seven from seven and he still moans about a VAR hat-trick. That's my lad. So: Season 2 drops everyone tonight, play your promotion game today and keep your tokens; Grounds players, plan the respec; and the cheap Future Stars are where the value is. Right, Javi's been drawing on a napkin since the hook. Coach's Tip, it's yours: one to keep, one to try.

Sam: Thank you. And yes, I have the napkin. Two things this week. The keep is corners into a zone. The try is your first touch, away from the presser. The keep first. We taught it in episode one, and corners are what everybody is talking about this week, so we keep it. In this game, crosses go into space more often. They don't find your man for you. Aim and power decide where the ball lands. So you stop aiming at a player. You aim at a spot, you hit it the same every time, and then you get your man to the spot.

Charlie: So I pick a spot and just, stick with it?

Sam: One spot. For most people, the penalty spot. About three bars of power, every time. You aim with the left stick, and you hit the lob cross, X on Xbox, Square on PlayStation. The mistake is aiming where your big striker is standing right now, like last year, and expecting the ball to find him.

Alex: That was me in week one. I aimed every corner at Mapi León's head and she spent the whole month waving at it.

Sam: Mapi is a centre-back, Macca, she should be attacking the spot, not standing on it, but okay. In my side, Patri Guijarro takes them, she delivers to the penalty spot, and Russo arrives. Same spot every time, so Russo learns where to be. That is the point: the zone is not for the ball, it is for your team. If the ball always goes to the same place, your attackers always know where to run.

Charlie: Does the foot matter? Left foot, right foot?

Sam: A little. If the taker curls it in towards the goal, aim a bit nearer the goal line. If it curls away, aim at the penalty spot and let your man meet it. But do not think about this too much at the start. One spot, one power, until it is automatic.

Charlie: Let me try one. Corner on the right, Musiala's taking it. Aim at the spot. Three bars.

Sam: And where is it going?

Charlie: It went where I put it. That's, honestly, that's never happened. Khusanov didn't get there, but the ball went where I said.

Sam: That is the first half. The ball goes where you said. The second half, getting your man there, is What's Working. Here is the drill. In one game, choose one zone for every corner, the penalty spot, and use the same three bars each time. Count how many land in your zone. Seven in ten is the target.

Charlie: Seven in ten. I can count to ten. Mostly.

Alex: That's the keep. Now the try.

Sam: The try is new, and it is for everybody. Your first touch, away from the presser. Mira, in this game some of the help is gone. Last year certain passes made the receiver's touch cleaner for you. That is removed. So your own first touch matters more, and most turnovers I see are not bad passes. They are bad touches. The ball arrives, you hold sprint, and the touch goes two yards toward the defender.

Charlie: That's me. That's exactly me.

Sam: So before the ball arrives, you check where the nearest defender is. Then as the ball arrives, you push the left stick the other way, into the space. No sprint while it's arriving. Not RT on Xbox, not R2 on PlayStation. Just the left stick, away from him.

Charlie: Okay, let me try it, live. I'm in a Squad Battles game. Nico González has the ball, he's playing it into Musiala, and there's a midfielder coming from Musiala's left.

Sam: Where is the defender?

Charlie: His left. So I push the stick right, as it arrives. No sprint. Oh, that's lovely. He's just, he's turned. He's facing forward, and the midfielder's run straight past him.

Sam: You see? The space was there. You just touched it into the space instead of into the man.

Charlie: Again. Anderson into Musiala, defender behind him this time.

Sam: Behind him is different. Then you don't turn into him. Touch it sideways, to the open side, and look up.

Charlie: Sideways. Right, so. Okay. That's, yeah, that one went wrong. I sprinted. I held sprint out of habit.

Sam: That is normal, Kev. The habit is old. This is why it is a try, not a keep yet. Here is the challenge. One game: every time you receive in your own half, say out loud where the nearest defender is before the ball arrives, and touch the other way. Count how many times you get tackled within two seconds of receiving. Three or fewer is the target.

Charlie: Out loud. Jess is going to think I've lost it. More than usual.

Sam: Out loud is the trick. If you say it, you looked. And simple is hard: looking before the ball comes is the whole thing. In real football we call it scanning, checking your shoulder. The girls in my under-15s, I make them say "man on" or "turn" before every pass in training. They hate it. Then in the match they don't lose the ball.

Charlie: Does it work for the good players too, or is it a beginner thing?

Sam: It is everybody. Watch Pedri in my side. He is not quick, but he never receives the ball facing his own goal with a man on his back. Before the pass comes, he has already looked, and his first touch takes him away. That is why a ninety-rated midfielder who is slow still plays in my team. He wins the half second.

Alex: And the pros, when you watch them, the first touch is half their dribbling. They don't beat you with a skill move, they beat you because they've already turned before you've arrived.

Sam: Exactly. The skill move is the decoration. The touch is the house.

Alex: I'll be honest, that's the one I never learned properly as a pro until late. I'd get away with it on reactions.

Sam: You got away with it because you were twenty-two and quick. Kev is forty-two and tired. He needs the touch.

Charlie: Cheers, Javi.

Sam: Keep the corner zone, try the first touch. Back to you, Macca.

Alex: So: keep the corners into one zone, three bars, seven in ten; try the first touch away from the presser, say where he is, touch the other way. Javi, you're not done, you've got What's Working this week, and I'm told it's three things.

Sam: Three things working: the corner mini-game in the box, free kicks, because Kev asked, and the low driven finish inside the box. So, the keep was where the ball goes. This is what you do in the box, because this year the corner is a little game of its own. When you choose the delivery, the camera moves to the box, and you get a short window to move your player. And here is the change: nobody moves to the landing spot for you any more. If you stand still, you lose.

Charlie: I stood still all of last month. I thought it was a cutscene.

Sam: Many people did, Kev. So: in the window, you start a step or two behind the spot, never on it. You hold RB on Xbox, R1 on PlayStation, that's the Avoidance, and your player slides through the crowd. When you're free, you hold LT on Xbox, L2 on PlayStation, to shield, so nobody steps in front of you. Then you go late, and you arrive moving.

Alex: The arriving late is the bit people miss. If you're on the spot early, the defender just stands on your toes. I score more corners with Upamecano coming from behind than with anyone standing still. Trust me, a centre-back arriving at speed is a different animal.

Sam: Exactly. And one more thing in the menu before the corner: set your best header as the target player. Then defending is the mirror. Find the attacker the opponent is controlling, put your best header on him, go with him, and protect the near post first.

Charlie: How do I know who he's controlling?

Sam: There is a marker over his player. Watch the marker, not the ball. Most people watch the ball, because the ball is exciting. The ball does not score. The man scores.

Alex: In my side it's Mapi León who goes with him. She's not the tallest but she reads it. And honestly, half the corners I concede are near post, when I've got nobody there because I was busy watching the far side.

Charlie: There's been a whole argument this week about Aerial Fortress. Does it help you score headers or not?

Sam: By the game's own description, it helps you in defensive aerial duels. Jumping higher, more physical, when you're defending. It is not a striker's PlayStyle. For scoring headers, you want height, jumping, and the timing we just said.

Alex: So the lads paying double for Aerial Fortress on their striker are, technically, buying a defender's hat.

Charlie: What about short corners? I see people do the little one-two.

Sam: A short corner skips the camera window, so none of this applies, you go back to the normal camera. It is fine as a change, once in a while. But if your opponent has a big header and you don't, short is a good choice: you don't have to win the duel at all.

Alex: And when I'm defending a short one, the mistake is sending my big header out to close it down. Keep him in the box. Send a midfielder.

Charlie: Back in episode two I got five out of seven corners to the spot and Khusanov scored one with his head. If I'd known about the late run I'd have had three.

Sam: Do this and you'll have three. Ten minutes in the corner skill game, then one match where every corner, you start behind and go late. Count how many times your man gets the first touch. Four in ten is very good.

Alex: And free kicks. Kev, it's your question, go on.

Charlie: Right, so. Last week I promised I'd bring free kicks. Here it is. Every free kick I take goes over the bar. Every one. Musiala, Gordon, doesn't matter. Over. Into the crowd. Some bloke in the third row has a collection.

Sam: Kev, this is the most common thing in the game. And the answer is almost always the same: too much power, and a different technique every time.

Charlie: I do try something different every time. I thought that was being creative.

Sam: Creative is the enemy here. You need one technique, and one power, and you practise it until it's boring. The system has not really changed for a few years: you aim, you move the marker on the ball with the right stick to choose the curl, and you hold shoot for power.

Alex: How much power, though, that's the question everyone gets wrong.

Sam: Less than you think. On the edge of the box, about one and a half bars. Further out, up to two and a half. And you aim just outside the post, and you let the curl bring it back.

Charlie: One and a half. I'm doing about four.

Sam: Four is a rocket over the stadium, Kev. And practise in Moments, before a match, not during a match. Ten free kicks from the same distance with the same technique.

Charlie: Does it matter who takes it? Because I just give it to whoever's nearest.

Sam: It matters. A player with the Dead Ball PlayStyle puts more curl and accuracy on it. If you have one, he takes every free kick. If not, choose the one with the best free kick numbers and never change him. The taker is part of the technique.

Alex: When I was playing, the lads who scored free kicks weren't the ones with the fanciest technique, they were the ones who'd hit the same one ten thousand times in practice. And they always had a taker who wasn't the best player, he was the one who practised.

Charlie: What about the wall? Do I try to go over it or round it?

Sam: Round the edge of the wall, towards the post, with the curl. If the keeper is standing in the middle of his goal, you aim at the far side of the wall and curl it into the space. Over the top is for the very good, and you are, with respect, not there yet.

Charlie: No respect taken. Can I try one now? I've got Moments open. Free kick, about twenty-two yards, slightly left of centre. Musiala's on it.

Sam: Okay. Aim at the far edge of the wall, the side near the post. Marker on the ball for the curl. And then, Kev, this is the important part, one and a half bars. Not more.

Charlie: One and a half. It feels like nothing. It feels like I'm passing it.

Sam: Trust the curl. Go.

Charlie: It's gone round the wall, it's dipping, it's, oh, the keeper's got a hand to it. But it was on target. It was on target, Javi!

Sam: On target! The first one in, how long?

Charlie: In my life, probably. Another one. Same spot, same power. Post. Inside of the post and out. But low enough. That's two I'd have been happy with in a match.

Alex: That's the thing, Kev. Two decent ones, same technique, same power. That's how it starts. The tenth one goes in.

Sam: And now you do it ten times before every session, for one week, and you do not change anything. If it goes over, you take power off, you don't change the technique. In my side it is Isco, in the Betis team. Every free kick, the same one, and I don't touch the stick. Simple. Here is the drill: before the game, ten free kicks in Moments from twenty to twenty-five yards, one technique. In the game, use only that one. Half on target is the goal, and nothing over the bar from inside twenty-five yards.

Charlie: Nothing over the bar. That's a big ask for me, but okay.

Alex: Third thing, and this one's been hanging around since last time: the low driven finish.

Sam: Yes, we carried it, so here it is properly. The low driven shot is back this year, and it's the best finish inside the box. You press shoot, and then shoot again after you power up: B then B on Xbox, Circle then Circle on PlayStation.

Alex: And it's not the cheat code it was. The little speed boost from the PlayStyle is gone, so now it depends on the shooter's real shooting numbers and the power you put on it.

Sam: So with a good finisher it's deadly, and with a weak one it's soft. And it's an inside-the-box shot. Ten to fifteen yards, into the bottom corner. Outside the box, it's the wrong shot, you need something else.

Charlie: What about the trivela? Everyone was going on about the outside-of-the-foot one.

Sam: The trivela is for distance, and it's a different shot. For you, Kev, inside the box, low driven, bottom corner. That's it.

Charlie: And I keep mistiming the second press. Sometimes it just goes normal.

Sam: That is the most common mistake. The second press comes after you have powered up, before the player kicks it. Too early or too late and you get a normal shot. Practise it twenty times and your thumb learns it.

Alex: EA said last week they're watching low driven shots near the post, but they didn't promise any change. So right now, it's in the game, it works, and they've said nothing about taking it out. With Mbappé it's silly. He's so quick through the shot, the keeper's barely down.

Charlie: With Endrick it's more of a polite request.

Sam: Then Endrick needs the bottom corner even more, because he can't beat the keeper with power. Here's the drill: twenty low driven finishes in practice from ten to fifteen yards, alternating corners, then use it as your default in one Rivals game. Seven in ten on target is the goal.

Alex: So: corners, start behind the spot, Avoidance then shield and arrive late; free kicks, one technique, less power, practise it in Moments; and the low driven finish is for inside the box, bottom corner. The Picks. One cheap card each, by the rules: a third of the price of the card it replaces, and under twenty-five thousand. Before we start, the reality check. The Future Stars everyone wants are Rayan at about 1.69 million and Mainoo at about 2.56 million. Lovely cards. Almost nobody is buying them.

Charlie: Why are they that much, though? What does a two and a half million card actually do that a cheap one doesn't?

Alex: Honestly, at the top it's small things. A bit more pace, a bit more strength, the right PlayStyles, and a name. And the market adds a premium for being new and rare. In a match, at your level, the difference between an eighty-nine and an eighty-five isn't two and a half million coins of difference. It's maybe a touch, maybe a yard.

Sam: And this year the gaps are smaller. EA said before launch they wanted the base cards closer to the special ones, and you feel it. A good eighty-five, used well, beats a great eighty-nine used badly every day.

Alex: So here are three cards that do a job for a fraction, and all three can still grow in February. Kev, you're first.

Charlie: Mine's a centre-back. Finn Jeltsch, the Future Stars one. About eighteen thousand.

Alex: And what's he replacing?

Charlie: The big Future Stars centre-back, Marc Pubill. He's about 1.12 million. So mine's, what, about one and a half percent of the price.

Sam: The numbers I can give you, Kev. Jeltsch is an eighty-five, a strong, physical defender. And because he's an eighty-five, he can still grow: the February upgrades give plus one at four league starts and plus one at eight, up to eighty-seven. Pubill is already eighty-nine, so he can't.

Charlie: That's why I like him. He's cheap now and he gets better while I'm not looking. That's the dream for me.

Alex: Who's he for?

Charlie: Anyone like me. Division 5 to 8, a club of about sixty thousand, who keeps getting done by a big striker. Not instead of Khusanov or Kim, I'm keeping those. As cover, and then we see how he goes.

Sam: It's a good pick. A physical centre-back is what lower divisions need, because the long ball over the top is half the goals down there. And with the corners we just talked about, a strong centre-back is a threat at the other end too.

Alex: Javi, yours.

Sam: Mine is a number ten. Peio Canales, Future Stars, about seventeen thousand. He replaces Dro Fernández, who is about seventy thousand, so it is a quarter of the price.

Alex: What's the job?

Sam: Passing. He plays the ball forward first time, between the lines, and he can grow too, because he's an eighty-five. For me, the number ten is the most important position for a player learning the game, because he's the one who has to see the pass before the ball arrives. Which is the try this week.

Charlie: Very neat, Javi. Did you plan that?

Sam: A little. He suits a four-two-three-one, or a four-four-two with a deep runner, at any division. And he's not in my eleven. Pedri is my brain, Canales would be the cheap brain.

Alex: Why not just buy the Dro Fernández, though? Seventy thousand isn't mad money.

Sam: For you, no. For Kev it is his whole club. And what the expensive one does better, a little more pace, a little more shooting, does not matter much for a number ten whose job is the pass. This year the numbers on the card matter more than the little icons, so you look at the passing and the vision, not the PlayStyles, and Canales has the passing.

Charlie: That's the bit I like about all three of these. They're the same rating as the expensive one in the promo, more or less, for a fraction, and the cheap ones can still go up.

Alex: The cheap brain. Brilliant. Mine, then. Merveille Kanjinga, the Future Stars striker. About thirty-eight thousand.

Charlie: Hang on. Thirty-eight? That's over the rule. The rule is twenty-five thousand, Macca. That's not cheap, that's more than half my club.

Alex: I know, I know. I'm bending it, and I'm owning it. Here's why. He replaces Paris Brunner, the big Future Stars striker, who's about three hundred and seven thousand. So Kanjinga's about an eighth of the price. He's an eighty-five with upgrade room, and Brunner, at eighty-eight, can't move. At thirty-eight thousand, that's the best value striker in the promo.

Charlie: It's still over the limit. For the record: Macca broke the rule.

Alex: Fair. One bend per episode, and I've used it, and I'll take my medicine if he's rubbish.

Sam: For Macca's level, I believe it. A two-striker shape, or a lone nine, Division 4 and up. Not for a beginner. A beginner should spend thirty-eight thousand on two defenders.

Charlie: Or not spend it at all.

Alex: That's the Kev economy. Nobody spends anything and everyone's happy.

Charlie: Everyone in my house is very happy.

Alex: So: three cheap Future Stars, all eighty-fives with room to grow: Jeltsch at eighteen thousand, Canales at seventeen thousand, and Kanjinga, with the bent rule, at thirty-eight. Worth Your Time: three menu items, three verdicts each. First, the Max 87 Hero upgrade. It costs about a hundred thousand to a hundred and twenty thousand in cards you burn, it gives you one Base Hero up to eighty-seven, untradeable, from a pool of sixty-one, and about a third of that pool is worth less than what you put in, mostly strikers and keepers. Mine is only if. I've got a pile of untradeable cards from my Elite rewards, and I'd only want a centre-back or a holder.

Sam: Mine is wait. A third of that pool is strikers and keepers I would never start next to Pedri. Wait until Sunday, see what people pull, then decide.

Charlie: Skip. The bill is nearly two Kev clubs, for a card I can't sell. Jess would call it the game where you open the packets, and for once she'd be right.

Alex: It expires 5 am Monday our time. Next, the midfield evolution chain: Centre Stage. It's free, six matches, no win needed, it makes a midfielder up to eighty-five, adds up to thirty strength, jumping and aggression, and pace stops at seventy-seven. It's skip for me. Nothing in my midfield is under eighty-one, so the slot's wasted.

Sam: For me it's do. Marc Roca, in my Betis side, has the passing and no body. Centre Stage gives him the body. He is the perfect card for it.

Charlie: Do, for me. It's free, no win needed, and six games is two nights of my twenty minutes. And if you've got a really low-rated midfielder, start Middle Management before 4 am Friday our time, it needs twenty-four hours, and Zoomaestro is the free one in between.

Alex: Last one, Ultimate Gauntlet 2. Eight of ten challenges gets you Future Stars Enciso and Gruda, untradeable, and every round needs a completely different squad. Mine's do. I've got two full squads and I love a hard bracket against the early-week sweats.

Sam: Mine is only if. Only if you have a second eleven, and here is the trap: people report that if you claim the reward at eight, the last two stop tracking. EA has not confirmed it. So if you want all ten, don't claim at eight. It closes at 3:59 am Saturday our time.

Charlie: Skip, for me. My second eleven is my Sydney FC silver side, and they'd get torn apart in round two. I love them, but they're not built for that.

Alex: There's one more in the notes worth a mention, Speed Bump, for a slow centre-back. Pace only goes up to seventy-seven, so it's for genuinely slow defenders, not quick ones.

Sam: Like David Luiz in my Betis side, if he were eligible. He is not, he is too high. But that type of player.

Charlie: I think Khusanov's too quick for it. First time anyone's called anything of mine too quick.

Alex: So: the Hero upgrade only with cards you'd burn anyway, Centre Stage is a do for a midfielder who needs a body, and the Gauntlet only with two squads, and don't claim at eight. The rest is in the notes. Kev, you've been scribbling on the back of a council memo all episode. Your Desk, mate.

Charlie: It's a parking permit, but yeah. My week. Six Rivals games, three and three. Not glamorous, but I'll take it. The keep from last time: name the shot type out loud before every shot. I did it. Jess came in during the second game and I was saying finesse, low driven, finesse, to the telly, and she just walked back out. I got to twenty-seven percent conversion, the target was thirty percent. Close, not there.

Sam: Twenty-seven is a big jump, Kev. What was it before?

Charlie: About twenty. So that's real. Saying it out loud stopped me shooting from silly places, because I'd hear myself say power shot from thirty yards and go, no, mate.

Sam: That is exactly why the drill works. The words make you choose. Most players do not choose a shot, they just press the button and hope. From twenty to twenty-seven percent in one week is not luck, Kev, it is a decision you now make before every shot.

Alex: And here's the bit that links it to this week. Half the shots you named were low driven, right? Inside the box?

Charlie: Most of them, yeah. Low driven in the box, finesse when I was at an angle.

Sam: Then this week you add one rule: the low driven only inside the box. If you hear yourself say low driven from outside the box, you stop. That is the thirty percent.

Charlie: So the keep stays, with one extra rule. I can live with that. The try was the fake shot: only when a defender is square, inside twenty-five yards, and the target was two that beat him for every one I lost, two to one. I got five that beat him and three where he took it off me. So not two to one. But Musiala walking round a defender is my favourite thing in this game.

Alex: Five and three is a lot better than I expected, honestly.

Charlie: Cheers. I expected worse too. The three that failed were all the same thing: I did it with a defender coming from the side, not square. Exactly what Javi said not to do.

Sam: Then the drill worked. It showed you the mistake. When the defender comes from the side, you don't fake, you pass.

Charlie: And the worst one, Jess walked in, saw me do the fake shot, and asked why my man didn't kick it. I said that's the point. She said, so you paid for a game where you pretend to kick it. I had nothing.

Alex: She's undefeated, Jess.

Charlie: She is. Twelve and nothing, lifetime. The rematch isn't done. Macca's four-two-one-three against Javi's four-four-two is this weekend, in the Finals, so we settle it on Sunday.

Alex: And I'm winning it back.

Sam: We'll see, Macca. Nine and one is not the Finals.

Charlie: And my question for next time. Penalties. I've missed my last three. I go for the corner and the keeper just, waits for it. I'll bring penalties next time and Javi tells me what I'm doing wrong.

Sam: Good question. Bring the last three you missed, and where you aimed.

Charlie: Done. Back to you, Macca.

Alex: So, tonight we did Season 2, The Grounds reset, the cheap Future Stars and three menu verdicts. The one thing to do this week is the drill: keep this, the corners into one zone, the penalty spot, same three bars, seven in ten. And try this: your first touch away from the presser, say where he is out loud, touch the other way, three or fewer tackled within two seconds.

Charlie: On the record: Jeltsch, Canales and Macca's rule-breaking Kanjinga get looked at again on Sunday, the four-two-one-three against the four-four-two is this weekend, and Javi still says the Pina SBC gets cheaper before it closes in November.

Sam: And Kev brings penalties.

Alex: 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 off to Division 2 to start again. This has been Half-Space. Wish me luck.