FC 27 Ultimate Scream, Defending and Six Menu Verdicts

Transcript

Alex: Welcome to Half-Space, the show that makes you better at FC. I'm Macca, with Javi and Kev. Dominik Szoboszlai is a right-back. Raphinha is a number ten. Somebody at EA has had a very fun week.

Charlie: A midfielder at right-back is just what happens in my Sunday league when Dave doesn't turn up.

Sam: It is Ultimate Scream, Kev. The Halloween cards. The new positions are the point.

Charlie: Right, so the point is that nobody's where they should be. I'll feel right at home.

Alex: And whether your club should care about any of it is the whole show. The Halloween cards are out, the menus are full, and the three of us have three very different budgets.

Charlie: One of us has about sixty-five thousand coins and a parking permit.

Alex: Right. Let's do it properly. Here's what's on today. This Week in FC: Team of the Week 6, the Ultimate Scream cards and their one-week full moon, Season 2, and a proper row about whether defending is broken. Then Javi's Coach's Tip: a keep, your first touch away from the presser, and a try, the one-two around the box. Then the big one, Worth Your Time: the Gallery, the Scream cards out of position, the evolutions, the SBCs and the Halloween store, six verdict rounds. Javi's back for What's Working with two defending basics, then we re-rate last time's picks, and Kev's Desk has penalties.

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

Alex: Thanks, Kev. Last time we set the rematch for these Finals, and you'll hear how it went at the Desk. Something you don't know about me: the match I still think about is a quarter-final I lost on penalties. I was three-one up with five minutes left.

Sam: Three-one, Macca? With five minutes?

Alex: Three-one. I'll tell you the rest when Kev asks about penalties. It's not pretty.

Sam: Then one from me. I have a UEFA B licence, and on Tuesday and Thursday evenings I coach the girls' under-15s. So if I sound tired on a Thursday, now you know why.

Charlie: Mine. I started on FIFA 14, then I quit for six years. Work, kids, life. I came back hard on FC 25, and I've been catching up ever since. Every year the game changes and I'm still learning last year's.

Alex: Six years off and you came back to the hardest version of the game.

Charlie: That's my whole approach to life, mate.

Alex: This Week in FC, and it starts with the in-forms. Team of the Week 6 landed at 4 am Thursday our time. Luis Díaz at eighty-nine, Lauren James at eighty-six, and Yan Diomande, Griezmann and Oyarzabal at eighty-five.

Charlie: And where was Haaland, Macca? Because last episode you put your money on Haaland. On air. I've got it written down.

Alex: I know. I said Haaland, I got Luis Díaz. I've got the base Díaz on my bench, so I'm calling it half right.

Charlie: You're calling it wrong.

Alex: Fine. Wrong. I'll take that one on the chin.

Sam: Lauren James I love. She plays like the ball is part of her foot. And Griezmann at thirty-five, still in the team of the week. People always ask me if they should chase the in-forms, and I say the same thing: only if it is your position, not because the card is shiny.

Charlie: And they matter to me for one reason this week. There's an upgrade SBC that hands you one of them. That's the only way I'm ever getting an in-form. I've never packed one. Not in FC 25, not in this one. Mia packed one on my account once, by accident, and I was so proud I didn't even tell her off for spending the coins.

Alex: Worth Your Time has that one. Javi, something else is happening this weekend and you can't stop smiling.

Sam: El Clásico, Monday 7 am our time. And my problem is this: my main squad is full of Barcelona and Madrid players. Pedri, Cubarsí, Koundé on one side, Güler, Rüdiger, Militão on the other. And I am a Betis man. My father would want both of them to lose.

Charlie: Can both of them lose?

Sam: In my house, they can. A draw, nobody happy, that is my result. And then on Tuesday I play my Barcelona players in my team anyway, because Pedri is Pedri.

Alex: That's the most Javi sentence ever said. Back to the game. The Halloween promo. Ultimate Scream Team 1 went into packs at 4 am Saturday our time. EA's post says it runs two weeks, with the position changes, a token store, and a full moon upgrade. And here's what's different this year: from the 24th of November, every Scream card transforms for one week. One face stat goes to ninety-nine, and they get full chemistry in position. Then it goes back.

Sam: One week only. Last year the full moon gave a permanent Role upgrade, and people kept the card for that. This year it is a short boost.

Charlie: So it's a rental. You pay full price for the card in October and EA lends you the good version for a week in November.

Alex: Honestly, I don't mind it. The base cards are strong anyway, and nobody buys Raphinha at ninety for what happens in a month. You buy him because he's Raphinha now.

Charlie: You buy him, Macca. I watch him score against me.

Alex: And it's a big first team. Cristiano Ronaldo's in it, Salma Paralluelo at striker, Cole Palmer, and the Heroes in packs are Zola and Jaap Stam.

Sam: Jaap Stam as a centre-back, eighty-eight. I watched him as a boy. He was a wall, and nobody went past him twice.

Charlie: And in week two there's something called Ghoul Fest, where the rules are off. No offsides, no fouls. EA's actual words.

Alex: No fouls. Kev, that's your Sunday league again.

Charlie: Dave would love it. Dave's been playing that mode for fifteen years.

Sam: For me the honest point is this: if you were waiting for the moon to make a card worth it, this year don't wait for that. Judge the card as it is today.

Alex: Fair. And the value calls are all in Worth Your Time. Season 2 started on Thursday, 6 pm our time. It's called FC Heritage, all the old favourites. The free Season Pass ends at Level 30 with Allan Saint-Maximin, the premium one with Marcus Rashford. There's a five-event single-player circuit against the computer, and the Daily Knockout is back.

Charlie: The circuit's the bit I like. Five events against the computer, and you go up in difficulty as you unlock them. The Kick Off, then Semi-Pro, Professional, World Class, then a tournament with a Legendary final. Nobody online, nobody doing a celebration in my face after a goal.

Sam: And the Daily Knockout is online, every day, with a Heritage player each week for the people who do well. That one is for Macca.

Alex: That one's definitely for me. And the reset happened on Thursday too. Most people dropped two divisions.

Charlie: I'm in Division 7 now. Which, I'll be honest, has had its advantages.

Alex: We'll hear about those advantages at your Desk.

Charlie: Can I raise something? Because the forums have been full of one thing this week, and it's defending.

Alex: I haven't read a forum since I retired, Kev. What's the actual complaint?

Sam: I can tell you, because half my students sent me the same threads. This week on EA's own forums, players say the AI defenders do nothing, they don't step in, they don't tackle, and some say EA won't change anything for months. And EA's position is clear. On the 13th of October they wrote that manual defending is a deliberate learning curve. They said they are keeping a close eye on the data and the feedback. They did not promise a change.

Charlie: So the answer is, learn it.

Sam: For now, yes. That is the answer EA gave.

Alex: Good.

Charlie: Of course you'd say good.

Alex: I'll say it properly, then. The better defender should win the game. For years the AI defended for you. You could sprint at the ball, mash tackle, and a teammate tidied it up behind you. Now if you dive in, you're beaten. That's not broken. That's a skill gap, and it's the one the game needed.

Charlie: It's a skill gap for someone who plays six hours a day. I play twenty minutes. I already learned to defend once, in FC 25. Now I have to learn it again, from scratch, in the three games a night I get. That's not a skill gap, mate, that's homework. And I don't trust EA to leave it alone either. Last year they changed dribbling in October and changed it back in November.

Alex: That was dribbling, not defending.

Charlie: It was relearning. Same thing for me.

Sam: I understand both of you. But I'll tell you what I see. Two of the players I coach were exactly where you are, Kev. Division 6, losing every game to a man who dribbles at them. We fixed two things. Two basic things, nothing clever. In two weeks, both of them conceded half as many goals. So for me, it is learnable. It is not broken. It is new, and nobody taught it.

Charlie: Two weeks with a coach. I've got you once a week on a podcast.

Sam: Then I will teach you the two things on the podcast.

Charlie: I'll hold you to that. But I'm not moving. For a bloke with twenty minutes, it's broken until someone shows me it isn't.

Alex: So we don't agree. Kev says it's broken for a busy player, I say it's the skill gap we wanted, and Javi says it's learnable if someone teaches it. And for your game, the two things that fix most of it are coming up in What's Working.

Charlie: I'll believe it when Khusanov stops sprinting into midfield.

Alex: So: the in-forms feed this week's upgrade SBC, the Scream moon is a one-week boost this time, Season 2 dropped most of us two divisions, and defending is a fight we'll settle with the basics later. Right, Javi's been drawing a back four on his napkin since the hook. Coach's Tip, it's yours.

Sam: Thank you. Two things. The keep is your first touch, away from the presser. The try is new: the one-two around the box. The keep first. Last time this was the try, and Kev reports on it at his Desk, but I'll tell you now: he made the target on the second night. So it becomes a keep. Here is why it matters even more this year. In FC 27, EA took away some of the help the receiver used to get. Some passes used to make the first touch cleaner for you. That is gone. So your own touch decides everything.

Charlie: And I used to hold sprint as the ball arrived. Every time. I thought sprint made everything faster.

Sam: Everybody does. Sprint makes the touch heavier, so the ball runs away from you, often towards the defender. So: before the ball arrives, you look 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 arrives. Not RT on Xbox, not R2 on PlayStation. Just the left stick, away from him.

Charlie: And if he's right behind me? I tried away from him and there was nowhere to go.

Sam: Then you don't turn. You touch it sideways, to the open side, and you look up. Or you play it back first time. A pass back is not a failure, Kev. A turnover in your own half is a failure.

Alex: When I watch good players, they've turned before the defender even arrives. The skill move is decoration. The touch is the house.

Sam: You stole my line, Macca.

Alex: It was a good line.

Sam: In my side, it is Pedri. He is not fast. But he never receives facing his own goal with a man on his back, because he has already looked. Here is the drill for the keep, the same as last time because it works. In 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. Three or fewer.

Charlie: I can do that one. Jess has stopped asking why I talk to the telly. She just closes the door now.

Sam: Now the try. The one-two around the box. Mira, everybody this year wants to dribble through five defenders. But with manual defending, the defender is watching the ball. So you give the ball, you move, and you get it back before he looks round. Simple is hard.

Charlie: What are the buttons? Spell it out, because I'll forget.

Sam: The one-two is LB plus A on Xbox, L1 plus X on PlayStation. The passer plays it and runs for the return. Then you press A again on Xbox, X on PlayStation, to play it back first time. And there is a new one in FC 27, the pass and follow: LB plus RB plus A on Xbox, L1 plus R1 plus X on PlayStation. The passer follows his pass into the space.

Charlie: Let me try it now. I'm in a Squad Battles game. Nico González has it at the edge of the area. Musiala is in front of him, back to goal.

Sam: Good. Nico plays it into Musiala with the one-two, LB plus A on Xbox, L1 plus X on PlayStation. Then the moment it arrives, Musiala lays it back first time, and Nico is already running.

Charlie: Into Musiala. Back first time. Oh, he's through. Nico's through on the keeper. He's, no, he's put it wide. But he was through!

Sam: That is the try. The finish is a different lesson. You were through, Kev. Two passes, and the defender was watching the wrong man.

Charlie: Again. Gordon on the left this time, into Musiala.

Sam: Same thing. Give it and go.

Charlie: Right, so. Gordon to Musiala. Musiala back. Gordon, shoot. Saved. But it was a shot. Two attacks, two shots. That never happens to me.

Sam: And look where it happened. Not from thirty yards. From the edge of the box, because you went through them, not round them.

Alex: When I was playing, the one-two was how you beat a back five. Not tricks. Two passes and a run. The lads who got stuck were the ones who held the ball and waited for something to happen.

Charlie: But when do I do it, instead of just running with Musiala? He's my best dribbler. It feels like a waste.

Sam: Good question. If there is space in front of him, he runs. If a defender is standing in front of him, square, waiting, then you play the one-two. You don't dribble into a man who is ready for you. You go round him with the ball, not with Musiala.

Alex: That's the bit that took me years. Against a good defender who's set, the pass is quicker than any player in the game. Musiala's fast. The ball's faster.

Charlie: The ball's faster. Right. I'll write that on the parking permit. What's the mistake, though? There's always a mistake.

Sam: Two mistakes. You pass and you stand still, so the defender only has to watch the ball. Or you try the one-two with a man right behind the receiver, and he steals it. Play it to the man who is free, give it and go. And here is the challenge. One session: at least five one-twos or pass and follows in the final third, and two of them have to end in a shot. Not a goal, a shot. The goal comes later.

Charlie: Five one-twos, two shots. I can do that in one night.

Sam: Keep the first touch, try the one-two. Back to you, Macca.

Alex: So: keep your first touch away from the presser, say where he is, touch the other way; try the one-two around the box, five in a session and two ending in a shot. Worth Your Time, the deep dive, and it's a big one. Six verdict rounds today: the Gallery, the Scream evolutions, two SBCs, the puzzle objective and the Halloween store. Plus the Scream cards out of position. Everything else is a row in the notes. The Gallery first, because Season 2 brought its first big expansion. More than sixty new sets, including MLS, NWSL and the Saudi league. And Season 2 is built around Hall of FUT, so the token players still matter.

Sam: Like my David Luiz. Five hundred in Gallery tokens, and he still wins every header next to Marc Roca.

Alex: And Pato and Hulk are seven hundred and fifty each, if you've got the patience.

Charlie: Hulk. I remember Hulk. Big legs, shot like a cannon. That's a Heritage card if I've ever heard one.

Sam: And this is why the Hall of FUT theme matters for the normal player. You don't need the coins. You need the cards you already have, and a bit of time in the menu.

Alex: Verdicts. Season 2 Gallery expansion. Mine's a do. My City side fills a club set for nothing.

Sam: Do. Every card in my Betis side came out of my own packs. It was made for this.

Charlie: Only if you've got the leagues. There's MLS, there's NWSL, there's Saudi, but there's no A-League set, so my Sydney lads earn me nothing.

Alex: That's harsh on Sydney.

Charlie: It's always harsh on Sydney.

Sam: But look anyway, Kev. Ten minutes in the Gallery, and you might find a set your main team finishes by accident. Your Premier League players, your Bundesliga players.

Charlie: Fine. Ten minutes. Not twenty.

Alex: Now the Scream cards out of position. Szoboszlai at right-back, Fabinho at centre-back, Raphinha as a number ten. Javi, does a midfielder at right-back actually work?

Sam: It works when the card is in the position the card says, with a role he knows. That is the basic: play players in their position, and in a role they are familiar with, Role plus or Role plus plus. The card's position is not decoration. If Szoboszlai's card says right-back, he is a right-back in your team, and he gets the chemistry and the role there.

Charlie: My Matheus Nunes is a midfielder who plays right-back. Does that count?

Sam: It is the same idea, Kev. He is a right-back on your card, so play him there, and give him a role he knows. The mistake is the other way round: you buy a right-back card, then you play him in midfield because he used to be a midfielder in real life. Then he is out of position, and you lose what you paid for.

Alex: My Ona Batlle is a proper right-back, and I wouldn't swap her for a Scream midfielder. She knows when to go and when to stay. That's the role.

Charlie: But here's my worry. Half the fun of a Halloween card is the weird position. If I have to check roles and chemistry and all that, it's homework again.

Sam: It is one check, Kev, not homework. You look at the card, it says the position. You look at the role, it has the plus or not. Ten seconds.

Charlie: Ten seconds I can do.

Sam: And for the Halloween cards, look at the role, not the name. A Scream card in a new position with no familiar role is a famous name doing a job he does not know.

Alex: And I'll be honest, that's how I lost a Rivals game on Thursday. I put Hasegawa at centre-back for a laugh. Lovely passer, no idea where to stand.

Sam: Hasegawa is a midfielder, Macca, her card says midfielder. The Scream Fabinho is different: his card says centre-back. EA moved him there on purpose, and gave him what a centre-back needs.

Alex: So the card decides, not my sense of humour.

Sam: The card decides. Your sense of humour can play in the Sunday league with Kev's Dave.

Charlie: So before I get excited about a midfielder at right-back, I check the card says right-back and he's got a role there.

Sam: Exactly. Check the position and the role. Then check the price.

Alex: The evolutions. The Scream store has two. The Haunted Wall costs five hundred Scream tokens and upgrades a player's defensive stats. Wicked Winger costs nine hundred and gives a right winger a PlayStyle plus. And there's Center Spectre for midfielders, eighty or under, up to eighty-one, with a big jump in defensive awareness and short passing.

Sam: And here is the principle before we judge them. In this game, the numbers on the card matter more than the little icons. Pace first, then the attributes for his job. PlayStyles are a bonus, not the card. So an evolution that adds the attribute your player lacks is worth more than one that adds an icon.

Charlie: So the Wicked Winger, the icon one, is the worse deal?

Sam: Usually, yes. Unless your winger already has the numbers and only lacks the plus.

Alex: The Haunted Wall. Mine's a skip. My back line is Upamecano and Mapi León, they don't need help, and I'm saving everything for a Hero.

Sam: Do, for me. Bartra in my Betis side reads the game but can't tackle. It is the cheap end of the store, and it fixes exactly what he lacks.

Charlie: Wait. I want to see what my nights actually earn me before I spend any of it. If I spend it on a defender and then I can't afford anything else, I'll be annoyed for a fortnight.

Sam: That is fair, Kev. And for Wicked Winger, I would only do it if your best right winger is missing his PlayStyle plus and you will never reach a Hero.

Alex: And Center Spectre's in the notes. Good for a passing midfielder who can't defend, but the guides don't list the cost, so check your menu first. The SBCs. Woltemade first, the Scream number ten. It's about fifty-one to sixty-seven thousand coins, and it's gone at 6 am Saturday our time. Mine's a skip. Bellingham is my ten, so it's sixty grand burned for a player on my bench.

Sam: Only if you have no ten. At Betis, Isco does that job, and Lo Celso is my spare. So for me, no. But if you play two strikers and nobody behind them, he is a real number ten for the money.

Charlie: Skip. That's a whole Kev club for a card I can't sell, and Musiala's my ten.

Alex: And it's untradeable, remember. Whatever you put in, you never see again.

Charlie: That's every SBC to me, mate. Coins go in, nothing comes out but a card I can't sell.

Alex: Next, the 81 plus TOTW 1 to 6 Upgrade. It's about twenty-seven to thirty-one thousand coins, and you get one in-form, rated eighty-one or more, from the first six Teams of the Week. The reward's valued at about forty thousand. Mine's a do, and I've got the receipt. The spare cards were sitting in my club from the Elite rewards. I did it on Friday night and packed Team of the Week Elliot Anderson.

Charlie: You already had Anderson.

Alex: I had the base Anderson. Now I've got the in-form, and he went straight into my City side next to Kovačić. Played four games with him, and he wins every second ball.

Sam: Do, for me too. Six weeks of in-forms in the pool, and my untradeable cards are just sitting in storage doing nothing.

Charlie: Only if the fodder's already yours. I'm not buying thirty grand of cards for a lucky dip. If you've got it in your club, fine. If you have to buy it, you're gambling.

Alex: That's fair. It's a do with spare cards, not a do with coins. Also in the notes: Spooky Nights, under three thousand; Marquee Matchups, about seventeen thousand for packs listed at about eight; Diao, and the Ligue 1 Player of the Month. The objectives. The Ultimate Scream Puzzle Completionist: six cheap puzzle SBCs, Spooky Nights first, and they pay Scream tokens. Mine's a do. Ten minutes with my duplicate golds before the Finals.

Sam: Do. The cheapest way into the whole event. Spooky Nights is under three thousand coins.

Charlie: Do. The bronzes off my Sydney side's bench finally earn their keep.

Alex: And the Ultimate Scream Token Store itself. Jill Scott is fifteen hundred Scream tokens, a Hero holding midfielder. Verón is nine hundred. And there's a Team 1 guarantee pack at eight hundred, any rating. On the Ultimate Scream Token Store, mine's a wait. I'm saving for Jill Scott, a Hero holder next to Rodri, and the store stays open a week after the event ends, so there's no rush.

Sam: For the store, only if you will reach nine hundred for Verón. And I disagree with Macca a little. For a normal player, the evolution is the smarter spend, because it fixes a player you already use. A Hero is lovely, but if you are two hundred short on the last day, you have nothing.

Alex: I won't be two hundred short. I'll be playing the Flash Rush events twice a week. That's what they're for.

Sam: You will. Kev won't. That is the difference.

Charlie: He's right, Macca. Plan for the tokens you'll actually get, not the tokens you'd get if you didn't have a job. Skip the guarantee pack in that store. Any rating means any rating, and I've been burned by any rating before. I'd rather the defender evolution, once I know what I've got.

Sam: And there is the Heritage Circuit, five events against the computer. Kev, you did it.

Charlie: I did the Kick Off and the Semi-Pro on Thursday night, against the computer, after the kids went down. Two nights, no stress, and the Kick Off gave me a pack with two seventy-nines. Nothing exciting in it, but it was free and nobody shouted at me.

Alex: So: the Gallery's free if you've got the leagues; check a Scream card's position and role before its name; the evolution that adds an attribute beats the one that adds an icon; Woltemade's a skip unless you need a ten; the TOTW upgrade is a do with spare cards. Do the puzzles, and save your tokens until you know what you're saving for. The rest is in the notes. Javi, you promised Kev two things for defending, and he's been sat there with his arms folded since the row. What's Working, it's yours.

Sam: Two things working, both basics: jockey, don't lunge; and keep your centre-backs home, press with a midfielder. First, the jockey. EA made manual jockeying faster this year, and the AI teammates don't auto-tackle any more. So if you lunge and miss, there is nobody behind you. You hold LT on Xbox, L2 on PlayStation. You stay between the attacker and the middle of your goal, and you walk backwards with him at his pace. You are not trying to win the ball yet. You are trying to be in front of him when he gets it wrong.

Charlie: And when do I press tackle?

Sam: When he takes a heavy touch, or turns away. B on Xbox, Circle on PlayStation, only then. Not while he is facing you with the ball close.

Charlie: Let me try it. Squad Battles, they've got a winger running at Balde. I'm holding the jockey. Backing off. Backing off. He's, he's cut inside, heavy touch. Tackle. Got it. I got it! I actually waited.

Sam: You see? You did nothing for two seconds, and then you won it. That is defending this year.

Charlie: Again. Same winger. Holding. He's, oh, he's gone the other way. He's past me.

Sam: That is fine. Look where Balde was: between him and the goal, or beside him?

Charlie: Beside him. I let him get level.

Sam: Then that is the lesson. Stay goal-side, a little in front. If you are beside him, you are already late.

Alex: In my side it's Upamecano. He's quick enough to jockey all day, and the goals I concede are when I get bored and dive in. Every time.

Sam: In my main side, Cubarsí is young and he loves to jump in. I play him on the jockey, LT on Xbox, L2 on PlayStation, and he is better. Here's the drill: one full game, every time someone dribbles at your defender, hold LT on Xbox, L2 on PlayStation, and back-pedal until he takes a heavy touch. Count the times you got dribbled past after diving in. One or none. Second thing. Your centre-backs stay in the line, and the pressure comes from a midfielder. The classic mistake: the ball goes into their striker, you grab your centre-back and you charge up to him. If you miss, there is a hole straight through the middle. And this year the AI will not step across to fill it.

Charlie: That's Khusanov. That's exactly what I do with Khusanov. I grab him and I go.

Sam: So instead, flick the right stick to select the midfielder, Elliot Anderson for you, Kev, and run him back towards your goal. Jockey with LT on Xbox, L2 on PlayStation, while you run back. If he is beaten, LB on Xbox, L1 on PlayStation, to switch quickly.

Charlie: So Khusanov just stands there? It feels wrong. He's my fastest defender.

Sam: He stands in the line, and he is fast for when the ball goes over the top. That is his job. Anderson's job is the pressure.

Charlie: Let me try that too. Their striker's got it, back to goal, outside my box. Normally I'd grab Khusanov. I'm flicking to Anderson. Running him back. Jockey.

Sam: And Khusanov?

Charlie: Standing there. Hating it. Oh, the striker's laid it off wide. And Khusanov's still in the line, so there's no gap. They've crossed it and Kim's headed it out.

Sam: That is the wall Macca was talking about. You didn't win the ball, Kev. You just didn't give them the hole.

Charlie: That's the most boring good thing I've ever done in this game.

Alex: Boring wins Finals, mate. When I was playing, the best defenders I faced barely touched their centre-backs. Pressure from the front, centre-backs waiting. You'd run into a wall you couldn't see.

Sam: The drill: one game where you never press with a centre-back above the edge of your own box. Use a midfielder for the first pressure every time. Count how many times your centre-back gets caught out of line. Zero or one. Back to you, Macca.

Charlie: Two basics. That's actually two things I can do in one night. I'm still saying it's broken, but these I can do.

Alex: So: jockey with LT on Xbox, L2 on PlayStation, and wait for the heavy touch; and keep your centre-backs home, press with a midfielder. The Picks, re-rated. Last time we each named a cheap Future Stars card, all eighty-fives that can still grow in February. This week, we each bought ours and played him. Kev, you first.

Charlie: Finn Jeltsch, the centre-back. I paid about eighteen thousand. Three Rivals starts, next to Kim, with Khusanov on the bench. And he's strong. The big striker problem, the ball over the top, he just bodied it twice. Not quick, though. Someone with pace runs off him and I'm in trouble.

Sam: That is the card. Strong, not fast. So you play him with a quick partner, and you keep him in the line, like we just said.

Charlie: He stays. Still a good pick. For a centre-back at eighteen thousand, I'd buy him again.

Alex: Javi.

Sam: Peio Canales, the number ten. Seventeen thousand. I played him in Squad Battles, twice, behind Pajor and Russo. The passes are lovely. First time, between the lines, always forward. But he is slow on the turn, and in Rivals I would still play Pedri. As a cheap brain for someone on a budget, yes. For my team, the bench.

Charlie: Would he work for me, though? Instead of Musiala?

Sam: Not instead of Musiala, Kev. Musiala beats a man. Canales finds a man. If you had no ten, yes.

Alex: Mine, then. Merveille Kanjinga. The bent rule, thirty-eight thousand.

Charlie: For the record, the rule Macca broke. Thirty-eight thousand is more than half my club, and I want it noted that I said so last time and I'm saying it again.

Alex: Noted, Kev. For the record. I played him in three Rivals games while I rested Mbappé, and he scored twice. Honest verdict: he's a good striker, he finishes, but he's not quick enough on the turn to be a meta card. For thirty-eight thousand he's fine.

Sam: Two goals in three is not medicine, Macca.

Alex: Then I'm keeping the medicine for later. So: Jeltsch stays for the strong-not-fast job, Canales is the cheap brain on a budget, and Kanjinga finishes but doesn't turn. Kev, you've got that look. The one where you've written something on the back of a council form. Your Desk, mate.

Charlie: It's a printout of the drop map, actually. Right. My week. Six Rivals games, five and one. In Division 7.

Sam: Five and one, Kev! That is your best week on this show.

Charlie: It is. And I'll be honest, it's the reset. Last episode I said my plan was to win while the good players are busy climbing past me. That's exactly what happened. I'm not proud. I'm not not proud. The one I lost, it was a bloke with Ronaldo already, Saturday morning, Halloween card in his team about three hours after it came out. He scored twice with him. I didn't even get angry. I just sort of admired the commitment.

Alex: Three hours. That's dedication.

Charlie: That's money, mate. That's not dedication.

Alex: That's the most honest five and one I've ever heard.

Charlie: The keep from last time: corners into one zone, the penalty spot, same power, seven in ten. I got six in ten. Close, not there. The ones that missed, I went to four bars because I panicked.

Sam: Six in ten is good. Three bars, every time. When you panic, the bars go up.

Charlie: The try was the first touch away from the presser, three or fewer tackled within two seconds. First night, I got tackled four times. I kept holding sprint. Second night, I said it out loud every time, Jess walked out again, and I got tackled twice. Two. Made it.

Sam: That is why it is the keep now. Two nights and you changed a habit.

Charlie: And the bet. Macca's four-two-one-three against Javi's four-four-two, over the Finals. We agreed ten games each. Macca went nine and one. Javi went seven and three. Macca wins the rematch.

Alex: Nine and one! The pros' shape, the pros' result.

Sam: Seven and three is a good weekend, Macca. And over the season the four-four-two is still ahead.

Alex: Over two weekends we're level, Javi.

Sam: We'll check the napkin.

Charlie: And my question. Last time I said I'd bring penalties. I've missed my last three. I go for the corner and the keeper just waits for it.

Sam: Good question. Tell me what you do. Do you shoot straight away?

Charlie: Straight away. I want it over with.

Sam: That is the problem. In this game, when you take a penalty there is a composure ring. When you shoot with a big ring, the shot is less accurate. When the ring is small, it is accurate. So you wait. You aim with the left stick, you wait for the ring to go small, and then you shoot. B on Xbox, Circle on PlayStation.

Charlie: And the power?

Sam: Firm, not maximum. A bit over three bars is fine if the ring is small. And you aim at the corners, and you change sides. Not always the same corner, or a good player will learn you.

Alex: This is my reveal, isn't it. That quarter-final. Three-one up, five minutes left, they score twice, and it goes to penalties. And I took my first one like Kev. Straight away, full power. Over the bar.

Charlie: You missed?

Alex: I missed. Nerves, a big ring, and I didn't wait. I've never shot a penalty quickly since. Trust me, the half second you wait is the whole penalty.

Sam: You see, Kev? The ex-pro did it too.

Charlie: That actually makes me feel better. Not about you missing. Well, a bit about you missing. Can I try one now? I've got practice open. Endrick's on the spot.

Sam: Aim at the bottom left corner. Then wait. Watch the ring. Do not press anything until it is small.

Charlie: It's big. It's, still big. It's getting smaller. Waiting. Now. In! Bottom corner, the keeper went the right way and it was still in.

Sam: Because it was accurate. When the ring is small, even a keeper who guesses right cannot reach the corner. Now the other side. Same thing.

Charlie: Bottom right. Waiting. Waiting. Now. In. Two from two. Javi, I've been rushing penalties for two years.

Alex: Two from two in practice. Now do it on Sunday night in a shootout with your heart going.

Charlie: Thanks, Macca. Very supportive.

Sam: Here is the drill. In practice, ten penalties, waiting for the smallest ring, alternating corners. In a game or a shootout, never shoot with a big ring. Four out of five is the target.

Charlie: Four out of five. Done. And next time I'll bring crosses at the back post, because I concede from them every game and I don't know why.

Sam: Good. Bring the last three you conceded.

Charlie: Done. Back to you, Macca.

Alex: So, today we did Team of the Week 6, Ultimate Scream, Season 2, whether defending is broken, and six verdict rounds. The one thing to do this week is the drill. Keep this: your first touch away from the presser, say where he is, touch the other way, three or fewer tackled within two seconds. Try this: the one-two around the box, five in a session, two ending in a shot. And Kev's penalties: wait for the small ring, four out of five.

Charlie: On the record: the four-two-one-three against the four-four-two goes again over the next Finals weekend, and I bring crosses at the back post.

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've got a Hero to save for and a penalty to take slowly. This has been Half-Space. Wait for the small ring.