Future Stars Academy, Espart and the Hall of FUT: What's Worth Your Time in FC 27

Transcript

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

Charlie: The four-four-two won. The bet's done, mate. Javi went ten and five over the Finals weekend. Macca went eight and seven. With the pros' shape!

Alex: Sorry, go on. Say it slower, I want to feel every word.

Charlie: Ten and five. Two banks of four. Two blokes in the middle who never go anywhere. And the man with the four-two-one-three, the formation every pro on the planet plays, lost to it. I've been waiting all week to say that out loud.

Sam: The fashion lost to the basics. I will not make a speech. I will only say this: Patri Guijarro stood in front of my back four for fifteen games, and nobody ran through the middle once.

Alex: I'll take my medicine. Two of my seven were the same goal: Rodri and Hasegawa both upstairs, one ball over the top, and my centre-backs facing the wrong way. That's not the shape's fault. That's mine.

Charlie: That's the most honest thing you've said on this show. Write it down, Javi.

Sam: It is already on my napkin.

Alex: And it's tonight's theme, funnily enough. Future Stars has landed twice, there's a free Academy, a pile of SBCs at thirty-five to fifty grand, and EA owned up to something about Champions. So: what's worth your time, and the habits that win you games whatever shape you play. Tonight on Half-Space: Future Stars, two teams in a week and a catch in February, then EA owning up that the first Champions weekend paired people wrong. Javi runs the Coach's Tip, a keep on picking the right shot and a try on the fake shot. The big one is Worth Your Time: the Academy, Espart, Touchline Magic, the second Gauntlet and the Hall of FUT, where Javi's got a receipt. Javi's back with what's working, then the picks get a second look, and Kev closes with his Desk.

Sam: One about me, since we do this every week now. After my knee, I studied sports science here in Seville, and I did one year abroad, in Michigan. Minus twenty in January. And the parents there asked "why" about everything. Why does she stand there, why does he pass back. It made me explain every single thing I believed. That is where the coach started.

Charlie: One from me. Mia's seven, and she plays in an under-eights team now. Ollie's five and comes to every game, mostly for the oranges at half-time. He's had more oranges than touches this season, and he hasn't played yet.

Alex: And mine. I turned pro at twenty. I won an online qualifier from my bedroom in Salford, on a desk that was an ironing board with a towel on it. My mum still has the ironing board. She irons on it, which feels disrespectful.

Charlie: Last time, my homework was the corners keep and the switching try, and I said I'd bring a question on defending corners. I've got all three, and the numbers aren't all pretty.

Alex: You'll get them at the Desk. First, the week. This Week in FC. Six stops tonight: Future Stars, the Champions pairings, Team of the Week, Pina's price, the Hero SBC, and then Bug Watch. Future Stars first, and the context matters. EA's post says these cards upgrade from one thing only: domestic league matches. Four league starts gives plus one, eight starts another plus one, capped at eighty-six and then eighty-seven. Then a PlayStyle Plus and a five-star weak foot for goals or clean sheets. Tracking started on 9 October. The upgrades arrive on 3 February.

Charlie: February. That's about four Christmases away in FC time.

Alex: It is. Team One landed on the ninth with the free Academy, and Team Two landed at 4 am on Saturday, our time, with Gisele Thompson leading it. And here's the catch nobody puts in the thumbnail: a card that comes out at eighty-seven or higher can't gain overall from starts at all. The cap is already under him.

Charlie: So the shiniest ones are the ones that can't get any shinier. That's very EA.

Sam: So, mira, the rule for every Future Star is simple. You buy him for how he plays tonight, in your team. Not for February. Maybe he starts every week for his club, maybe he gets injured on Tuesday and sits out a month. If he is not good enough now, the upgrade is a lottery ticket with a nice picture on it.

Charlie: And if I've got sixty-five grand and I want one?

Sam: Then you ask one question: does he fix a hole in your team today? If yes, maybe. If the answer is "he looks nice", no.

Charlie: He does look nice, though.

Sam: For me, with a teacher's money, the only one I touched is the free Academy. I started mine on Thursday for Abde's partner up front, and I told my students the same thing: free first, coins later. We'll do it properly in Worth Your Time.

Charlie: Right, so, can we do Champions? Because I've been waiting two weeks to say this. On the record, I said Champions pairing is a lottery that throws two-and-two players at ten-and-four opponents. And this week EA basically put their hand up.

Sam: Wait, put their hand up for what? I was on the pitch with my girls all week. What did they say?

Alex: Right, here's what happened. On the seventh, EA's direct account said they were investigating the Champions matchmaking tuning and wanted a fix before the weekend that made it stricter. Then on the thirteenth, in their big feedback update, they spelled it out: the first weekend's matchmaking was broader than they intended, because of an issue in the tuning, and they deployed the fix on 9 October. So the first Finals weekend, the one Kev played, was pairing people wider than the design. One player wrote up his weekend: at six and one, he got a two-and-four. At seven and five, an eleven-and-three. That's not Form. And EA still hasn't published a maximum gap between two players.

Charlie: So it wasn't just me.

Sam: Ah. That is a relief, honestly. Three of the people I coach in Division Five came out of that weekend and told me they had got worse. They did not get worse. The pairings were wrong, and they spent a week doubting themselves for nothing.

Alex: And I'll still defend Form. Two weeks ago I said Form pairing is fair, and nothing here changes that. What broke was the tuning, not the idea. On my best Champs weekends as a pro, every bloke I met late on was on the same record as me, and every game I lost, I lost to my own mistake. That's what Form gives you when it works: nobody to blame but yourself. I loved that. I still do.

Charlie: Mate, I believe the idea. I don't believe the machine. They told us it was fair, and it wasn't, and we only know because people posted their scores online. I've got ten games a weekend if the kids sleep. When two of them are against a bloke on eleven and three, that's a fifth of my weekend gone, and Sunday night I'm sitting there thinking I'm rubbish.

Alex: But they fixed it! Inside two days, before the second weekend. That's a system working. That's exactly what you want from them.

Charlie: It's a system that got caught. If nobody had posted, would they have found it?

Alex: They'd have seen it in the data, Kev. They're not blind.

Charlie: Then why did it take a bloke with a blog?

Sam: Okay. I am with Macca on the design, I still am. Form is fair: you meet someone on the same run as you, whatever his division or his team value. But I understand Kev. When I tell a student a drill works and it doesn't, it takes me a month to get him to believe the next one. EA has that month now. For my students it matters one way only: if your first weekend was a disaster, do not judge yourself by it. Judge yourself by this one.

Charlie: And I'll judge EA when they put the gap in writing.

Alex: Here's the bit that's actually useful, though, now it's working as designed. Form goes up one for a win and down one for a loss, and you're paired with people near your number. So if you start nought and three, your next opponents are people who also started badly. The weekend gets easier, not harder.

Charlie: So the worst thing I can do after three losses is quit for the night?

Alex: For the pairings, yes. Your next game is against a bloke as fed up as you are. The ones who climb back are the ones who keep turning up.

Sam: But not angry. Three losses, you stand up, you get a glass of water, you walk round the kitchen. Then you play the fourth. Angry, you lose it before kick-off.

Charlie: Glass of water. My Champs routine is a cold cup of tea and a nappy change.

Alex: So we're split, honestly. Me and Javi think the design's fair and the fix proves it, Kev thinks it's a lottery until EA shows the rules. And for your game: if the first weekend wrecked you, throw that result away and look at this weekend's. Team of the Week five: Russo and Patri Guijarro, both eighty-nine, and Elliot Anderson at eighty-five, in packs till the twenty-first.

Sam: Both of them are in my main team. And Patri's goal against the USA, from miles out in the third minute, head up, hit it clean: that is a session I teach my under-fifteens. I won't buy the in-form. My Patri already does the job.

Alex: Pina. Javi, your call's due.

Sam: I said she would be cheaper to build before her challenge closes. Two weeks on, she is not: still about one point two two million. So for now, I am wrong. It is open until 2 November, and I keep the call.

Alex: And the eighty-six base hero upgrade ended Wednesday: about eighty-seven grand, and two in three heroes in it were worth less. You missed nothing. Bug Watch. Clips are going round of goalkeepers scoring straight from a free kick in their own box. No reply from EA yet. Players also say the Future Stars Academy objectives aren't counting some matches, so check the tile after every game. And Title Update one point oh point four fixed the Service Unavailable error after FUT matches, with no gameplay changes. So: buy a Future Star for how he plays now, throw away your first Champions weekend if it was a mess, and Javi's Pina call is still alive. Javi's been drawing on a napkin since the hook, I've seen it. Coach's Tip, Javi, it's yours.

Sam: Two things tonight: one keep, one try. The keep is the shot. Kev, two weeks ago your homework was to say every shot type out loud before you take it, and you passed. Now it becomes a habit you keep.

Charlie: The one where Jess asked who I was talking to. She's stopped asking. She just shuts the door now.

Sam: Exactly that one. Here is why it matters more in FC 27. Every shot type has its own flight. And this year the game scales the finesse and the low driven by the shooter's own numbers. So the old habit, one shot for everything, usually finesse from everywhere, is weaker than ever. Every chance asks a question, and the shot is your answer.

Charlie: Go on then. What are the questions? And keep it in English.

Sam: Four of them. Close range, inside the box: standard shot, or low driven. That is B on Xbox, Circle on PlayStation, and for the low driven you press it again after the power bar. Diagonal angle, far post open: finesse, RB and B on Xbox, R1 and Circle on PlayStation. Keeper rushing at you: chip, LB and B on Xbox, L1 and Circle on PlayStation, soft. And space at range: power shot, LB, RB and B on Xbox, L1, R1 and Circle on PlayStation.

Alex: And one detail people miss: you can't add the low driven to a chip. The second press does nothing on a chip.

Charlie: Four questions, four answers, and about nine buttons. I've got two thumbs, mate.

Sam: You don't need all four tonight. You need to look before you press. That is the whole habit. The buttons come by themselves after a week. In my team, Pajor is the low driven in the box, every time. Russo is the near post with the finesse when she comes in from the left. Two strikers, two different answers, because they arrive in different places.

Alex: Mbappé's the same. From the left channel it's finesse far post. In the six-yard box he just hits it low and hard. When I was playing, the lads who scored most weren't the ones with the best shot. They were the ones who picked the right one.

Charlie: Can I do it now? I'll call it while I play.

Sam: Go. Squad Battles, one attack. Say it before you press it.

Charlie: Right, Endrick, edge of the box, the keeper's coming. Chip! LB and B on Xbox, L1 and Circle on PlayStation. Oh, that's lovely. Over him. It's in.

Sam: You see? You named it, then you did it. The name forces your eyes to look at the keeper first.

Charlie: Again. Gordon cutting in from the left, the far post's open. Finesse. RB and B. And it's wide. By a mile.

Sam: That is still the right answer, Kev. Gordon is a good finisher, but wide left on his right foot, the angle was tight. The answer was right, the execution was not. Those are two different problems, and only one of them is in your head.

Charlie: Two weeks ago I'd have smashed both of them at his chest, so I'll take one from two.

Sam: And the most common mistake is still too much power inside the box. Close to goal, a controlled finish is better than a full bar. The drill, and this is a keep, so it is a count you keep doing: one game, name the shot type out loud before every shot. Count your goals per shot and how many different types you used. Three types and thirty percent is the target. Now the try. This one is new, and it is a skill move that every outfield player can do. One star. The fake shot.

Charlie: One star. Finally, my level.

Sam: Here is the why. In FC 27, the AI tackles much less for the defender. So the man in front of you is a person, holding a button, and when you shape to shoot, his first instinct is to block it. The fake shot sells him the shot that never comes, and while he blocks the air, you go round him.

Alex: The better you are at blocking, the harder you fall for it. The best defenders I played against all fell for it once a game, because their reaction was so quick.

Sam: The buttons. B then A on Xbox, Circle then Cross on PlayStation, pressed one straight after the other, while you hold the left stick where you want to go. If you hold no direction, it becomes a fake shot stop, and the ball stops dead. That is a different move, so hold your direction.

Charlie: Shoot, pass, stick. Right, so, let me try. Musiala, edge of the box, the bloke's square in front of him. B then A on Xbox, Circle then Cross on PlayStation, stick right. He bought it! He went down to block and Musiala's walked round him. Look at that. That's the best thing I've done all month.

Sam: Beautiful. And notice when you did it: the defender was square, close, in front of you. That is the only time it works. Fake with nobody near you and there is nothing to sell. Fake in your own half, and if you lose it, it is a counter.

Charlie: And if I do it every time, the bloke works it out by the second half.

Sam: Exactly. Mix it. Fake once, then shoot the one after. The fake is only good because the shot is real.

Charlie: What if I've got a player with no skill stars at all? My centre-back's not doing this.

Sam: Your centre-back should not be at the edge of their box. But one star is enough, everyone has one star. It is for the players who arrive there: your striker, your ten, your winger cutting in.

Alex: Bellingham's my best at it. He's got the size to hold the defender off after the cut, so even if the bloke recovers, he can't get to the ball.

Sam: So the challenge for the try: one game, use the fake shot only when a defender is square in front of you inside twenty-five yards. Count the fakes that beat him and the fakes that lost the ball. Two to one is the target.

Alex: So: keep naming your shot before you take it, and try the fake shot only when a defender is square in front of you. Two habits, one game each. Worth Your Time, the menus, the big one tonight. Five on the board: the Future Stars Academy, Xavi Espart's SBC, Touchline Magic, the second Ultimate Gauntlet, and the Hall of FUT, with a receipt from Javi. Every one gets a verdict from all three of us: do, skip, wait or only if. The rest of the menus is in the show notes.

Charlie: Five verdicts. My wallet's already nervous.

Alex: Number one, the Future Stars Academy. It's free. You pick a striker or attacking midfielder born on or after 9 October 2003, eighty rated or under, and you take him through four steps of normal matches. Step one is five levels, one match each, and the fifth one has to be a win. At the end of step one you choose a path: pace, shooting or dribbling. Step four landed this morning, and it takes him to eighty-five. My verdict: do. It's free, and I'll buy a cheap young striker for my City side and give him a run. Eighty-five for fifteen games I'm playing anyway.

Sam: Do, for me as well. And I like it for a reason that is not the card. It makes you choose what your striker is for.

Charlie: Only if. Only if you've got a young striker under eighty sitting there. I had to look, and my Endrick's already starting. I'm not benching my starter for a kid, and I'm not spending money on a free Evolution. That's the bit that gets me: it's free, unless you haven't got the player, and then it's not.

Alex: Fair. A cheap young striker's a few hundred coins, though, Kev.

Charlie: A few hundred coins and fifteen games, and fifteen games is two weeks of my nights. I'll do it if one turns up in a pack.

Alex: And one warning from the forums: people have deleted the Evolution by accident, and EA says it can't be put back. Don't touch it once it's running.

Sam: Can I stay on that choice for one minute? Because it is the real lesson. Pace, shooting or dribbling: most people pick the biggest number. But the game moves your striker by his role, and each role has a job. If your striker plays on the shoulder and runs in behind, you take pace. If he drops into the pocket and turns, dribbling. If he lives in the box, shooting.

Charlie: How do I even know what his job is?

Sam: Go to your Tactics, then Roles, and look at his position. If there is a yellow exclamation mark, he is out of position, and the game simplifies how he moves. Put him where he has the Plus or the Plus Plus in that role, and the AI does half your thinking.

Charlie: I've had a yellow mark on Savinho for a fortnight. I thought it was a notification.

Sam: It is a notification. It is telling you he is unhappy.

Alex: That's why Mbappé plays as an Advanced Forward in my team, on the shoulder. Put him as a False Nine and he wanders about looking for the ball like a tourist.

Sam: In my team, Pajor runs in behind and Russo comes short. Two roles, two jobs. So for your Academy player: pick the role first, then pick the path that serves the role. The drill if you want it: before your next session, check every starter. In position? Plus or Plus Plus in the role you set? Fix every yellow mark. Zero is the target.

Alex: Number two, Xavi Espart. A Future Stars SBC at about thirty-three to thirty-seven thousand coins, and the one everyone's raving about. Do, for me. I've got a pile of untradeable eighty-fours from my Champs rewards sitting in the club doing nothing. That's free for me, basically.

Sam: Wait. His upgrades come in February, from league starts. So I watch for two weeks if he even starts for his club. If he starts, then yes.

Charlie: Skip. Thirty-five grand is half a Kev. Half my whole club, for a card that doesn't fix a hole in it. My midfield is Anderson and Nico González, and I'm not moving either of them.

Alex: Half a Kev's a bargain for a Future Star.

Charlie: Half a Kev is a left-back, mate. Or a keeper. Or two months of not arguing with Jess about FC Points. And Espí's the same deal at forty grand, and Manzambi landed tonight at about fifty. They're all in the notes.

Sam: And this is the thing, Kev is right for his club and Macca is right for his. The same card can be a do and a skip. The question is never "is he good". It is "is he good for me".

Alex: Number three, Touchline Magic. An Evolution for a winger, left or right, eighty or under, with eighty-six pace or less. Twenty thousand coins or a hundred and fifty FC Points. Four levels, one match each, you don't even need to win, and he comes out an eighty-four with eighty-five pace, Technical and Quick Step, and four-star skills. The unlock window closes around the nineteenth. Skip, for me. Yamal and Vini are my wingers. Nothing at eighty goes near them.

Sam: Only if. Only on a cheap winger you will actually start. My Betis wingers, Abde and Antony, are both eighty-one, so they are not even allowed in. Not for me this time.

Charlie: Wait. Twenty grand's a lot for my club, and they keep putting out free wing ones every couple of weeks. I'd rather see what else comes out first. Savinho's my right winger, and he's not the problem in my team. The problem is the bloke holding the pad.

Sam: And because we are talking wingers, here is the thing I see in every student's replays. They get to the byline with their quick winger, and they float a cross to the back post. And there, the striker is standing between two centre-backs.

Charlie: That's me. That's every attack I have.

Sam: In FC 27 the cross goes into space, where you aim it. Get it a little bit wrong and it misses everybody. But when your winger runs at the byline, the defenders turn to face their own goal, and the space at the penalty spot opens. So you look back before you look up. Cut it back along the ground with a simple pass: A on Xbox, Cross on PlayStation. Hard along the floor, to the spot.

Alex: My Yamal does it every game. He gets to the line, the full-back turns, and the cut-back goes to Bellingham arriving at the spot. Half my assists this week came from that.

Charlie: So the winger's not there to cross. He's there to drag them back.

Sam: Exactly. And who arrives at the spot matters. In your team, Kev, Musiala arriving late is better than Endrick standing still.

Charlie: Gordon to Musiala. I've been looking at the back post for two years.

Sam: When you get to the line, the goal is not at the back post. It is at the penalty spot. The drill: one game, every time you reach the byline, look for the cut-back first. Cross only if your striker clearly wins in the air. Count shots from cut-backs. Two or more is the target.

Alex: Number four, Ultimate Gauntlet two, landed today. A different team every match, and the group rewards are two Future Stars, Enciso and Gruda. Do. My bench is deep enough to put out a new team every game, and two free Future Stars is two free Future Stars.

Sam: Do, for me too. My Betis side is a second team already. Isco, Fornals, Cucho, everybody I packed myself. So the Gauntlet is just my two clubs taking turns.

Charlie: Skip. A new team every match needs a club I haven't got and evenings I haven't got. I've got one team and a baby monitor. My second team is the Sydney FC silvers, and I love them, but they're not getting through a Gauntlet.

Alex: Your silvers would get through one game, Kev. On spirit.

Charlie: On spirit and a silver keeper. Then they'd go home.

Alex: Number five, the Hall of FUT, and Javi's got a receipt. Quick reminder: you can only buy these players with Gallery Tokens, and you only get tokens from grading your Gallery sets. Pato and Hulk are seven hundred and fifty. David Luiz is five hundred. Untradeable. And this week people are finally getting there, though some sets can't be finished yet because the players aren't out.

Sam: Two weeks ago I said David Luiz goes in my Betis side the day I have five hundred. On Tuesday I had five hundred. So I did it.

Charlie: And?

Sam: Three games. I played him at holding midfield, next to Marc Roca. He won everything in the air, every long ball they played. And the long passes, mira, he sprays them to Abde on the left like he is still twenty-five. My verdict is do. My sets filled themselves from cards I packed, and the tokens bought me a player for nothing.

Alex: Wait, for me. None of the three beats my starters, so I'm saving my tokens for whoever EA adds next.

Charlie: Only if. Only if the tokens come from games I'm playing anyway. I'm on about two hundred. Christmas, maybe, at my pace. And I like that it can't be bought. Nobody with a credit card gets there before me. That's the fairest thing in the game. Hang on, though. Why would you play a centre-back in midfield?

Sam: Because of something every coach calls rest defence. Before you attack, look back. When you have the ball, two centre-backs and one holding midfielder stay behind it, every time. Then when you lose it, it is not a crisis. Most of the goals my students concede start when they are attacking. Everyone ran forward, nobody stayed home.

Alex: That's the goal I conceded twice on the Finals weekend. Rodri and Hasegawa both forward, and nobody behind the ball.

Charlie: And that's the goal I concede when I get excited. Two-nil down, I send everybody, and it's three.

Sam: So you set it up in the Tactics: give one holding midfielder the Holding role, not Box-to-Box. And in the game, don't send runs from him. Keep him at home and let the attackers do the running. David Luiz is perfect because he does not want to go forward. He is a centre-back who stands in front of the centre-backs.

Charlie: My Anderson and Nico González are both on Holding. You told me that last time.

Sam: And you have conceded fewer since, yes?

Charlie: Yeah. I have. Don't make it a thing.

Alex: When I was playing that was the first thing the good teams taught you, before any skill move: three behind the ball. And on the pad it means one more thing. When you lose it, don't charge in with the nearest man. Jockey, LT on Xbox, L2 on PlayStation, stay goal-side, and let the three at home do the work.

Charlie: Jockey, don't charge. Even I can do that.

Sam: The drill: one game, before every attack, check that your holder and both centre-backs are behind the ball. Count the counters where you had fewer than three back. Two or fewer is the target.

Alex: That's the menus: the Academy's free and makes you choose a job, Espart's a do if the fodder's sitting there and a skip for Kev, Touchline Magic only for a cheap winger you start, the Gauntlet if your club is deep, and the Hall of FUT rewards cards you packed yourself. Javi, you've got the look of a man with another napkin. What's Working, all yours.

Sam: Two things working tonight: how to stop the ball over the top, and the narrow four-three-one-two everybody copied this week, with the rule underneath it. One for defending, one for shape. First, the ball over the top. This is the goal everybody is conceding right now. A midfielder gets a second with his head up, and he lifts the ball over your line, into the gap between your centre-back and your full-back. In FC 27 the lobbed through ball goes exactly where it is aimed, and your AI defenders don't recover on their own any more. So only the defender you already control gets there.

Charlie: That's how Macca's seven losses happened.

Alex: Two of them, Kev. Two.

Charlie: And it's the goal I concede most. Sunday, Division Five, the bloke did it to me three times in one half. Same pass. I was on my midfielder every time, watching it sail over.

Sam: So, the habit. When their midfielder has time to look up, you take the last centre-back, before the pass. Flick the right stick to him, or LB on Xbox, L1 on PlayStation. Then sprint back with him, RT on Xbox, R2 on PlayStation, and when you are level, jockey: LT on Xbox, L2 on PlayStation. And the important one: leave your keeper on his line. Don't press the keeper rush, Y on Xbox, Triangle on PlayStation, on a long ball. That is how you get chipped.

Alex: The rule at the back used to be simple for us: if the bloke on the ball has time, you're already running. You don't wait to see the pass.

Sam: Some people this week are dropping the whole line very deep to take the space away. That is a choice, and it costs you up the pitch. The cheaper fix is your eyes: see the midfielder lift his head, and go. In my team, Cubarsí is the one I grab. He is quick enough to turn and run.

Charlie: Khusanov, then. He's my quick one.

Sam: Then Khusanov is your last man. The drill: one game, whenever their midfielder has time, take your deepest centre-back and start dropping before the ball is struck. Count the goals or one-on-ones you concede from balls over the top. Zero or one. Second thing: the shape of the week. The narrow four-three-one-two is everywhere. More people talked about it this week than any other formation, and one pro went fifteen and nothing in Champions with the narrow version.

Alex: Fifteen and nothing. I tried it on Sunday. I lost two out of three and went back to mine.

Charlie: I played against it four times this week. It's all in the middle, it's like trying to get through the school gate at three o'clock.

Sam: That is a very good description. Everything is in the middle, so the middle is full. But the pros don't win because of the code. They win because they know where every player goes, and people who copy it on a Friday night don't.

Charlie: So should I play it or not?

Sam: You should play one shape with two players who sit in front of the defence, and keep it for ten games. Your four-two-three-one with Anderson and Nico González is that. My four-four-two with Patri and Pedri is that. It won the bet, too. Simple is hard, but it is simple.

Alex: I'm aware it won the bet, thank you.

Charlie: And when I play against it, where's the space?

Sam: Wide. It has no wingers. So on the pad: when the middle is full, stop passing into it. Switch it with a lofted pass to your far winger, X on Xbox, Square on PlayStation. Then run at the full-back, get to the line, look back, and cut it back along the ground, A on Xbox, Cross on PlayStation. Your Gordon and your Savinho are the answer.

Charlie: So I've been passing into the school gate.

Sam: Four times this week, yes. Next time, count your passes into the middle against it. If the first three go nowhere, switch it. The drill: your next ten games with one formation and one tactic, no changes except the in-game switches on the D-pad. Count the goals you concede per game against the ten before. A lower number is the target. That is my two. Macca, back to you, and be gentle about the four-four-two.

Alex: So: when their midfielder has time, take your last centre-back and leave the keeper home, and pick one shape with two holders and give it ten games, whatever the pros are copying this week. The Picks. We made no new picks last time, so tonight's a second look at the three from week one, two more weeks in our own teams. Kev, you start, because one of them's yours and one of them's mine but plays for you.

Charlie: Musiala, Macca's pick. He's still my best player. Two more weeks, he still never loses the ball, and he's the one who did the fake shot just now. Ten out of ten from me, and he cost me nine and a half thousand.

Alex: I'll take that, because Bellingham still never gave him a game in mine. My pick lives through Kev.

Sam: Mine was Groß. He has been on my bench mostly, because Patri and Pedri do not come off. Two games as a sub, deep, when I was protecting a lead. Always the simple pass. Still eight out of ten. He is slow, and against the ball over the top, slow hurts. So for me he is a lead-protector, not a starter.

Charlie: And the gold Malen. He's on my bench now, behind Endrick. Two sub games, one goal. He's quick, and that's the whole reason he works: pace in a striker matters more than the little icons this year. But he doesn't hold the ball up. Seven out of ten, again. So if I'm buying a striker for my budget, I look at the pace before anything?

Sam: For a striker and your two centre-backs, yes: acceleration and sprint speed first, then the stats for his job, then the PlayStyles last. This year the little icons give a small push. The numbers are the engine.

Alex: So: three cheap cards, all still earning their place two weeks later. And the lesson from Malen: look at the pace first, the PlayStyle icons second. Kev, you've got the face of a man holding a spreadsheet. Kev's Desk, it's yours.

Charlie: Three things on the desk: my homework, the Finals, and my question. Homework first. The corners keep: every corner at the penalty spot, same power. Nine corners over the week, six landed on the spot. Sixty-seven percent. Just under the seven in ten.

Sam: Six from nine is close. Last week five from seven. You are holding it, and holding it is the keep.

Charlie: And the switching try. Two games with Auto Switching on Air Balls and Loose Balls, Move Assistance on None. I conceded one goal from through balls in two games. The target was zero, so I missed by one. But the first game I was terrible, I kept flicking to the wrong bloke, and the second game I didn't concede at all.

Alex: That's the two bad nights I told you about. The thumbs learn.

Charlie: The thumbs learned. I'm keeping it. Then the Finals. I said seven out of ten. I went five and five. Missed it by two. And two of the losses were the first weekend's pairings, so I'm throwing those away, like Javi said.

Sam: Five and five in your first full Finals is not nothing, Kev.

Charlie: It's not seven. But it's not nothing. And the bet you've all heard. Javi ten and five, Macca eight and seven. Javi's four-four-two wins.

Alex: And I want a rematch. Same shapes, next Finals weekend. My four-two-one-three against his four-four-two.

Sam: Accepted. Bring the pros.

Charlie: My question, the one I promised: defending corners. Now I can take one, how do I stop one? Because I still concede from them, and I just stand there watching the ball come in like it's a fireworks show.

Sam: That is the mistake, exactly: you watch the ball. This year the corner is a little game, and it works for the defence as well as the attack. Nobody is placed for you any more. So first: before the kick, find the attacker he is controlling. There is an indicator over his head.

Charlie: The little marker.

Sam: Yes. Then you take your best header and you go with him: flick the right stick to him before the kick. Hold RB on Xbox, R1 on PlayStation, to use Avoidance and stay with his run. Protect the near post first. And when it comes, B on Xbox, Circle on PlayStation, and head it clear. Win the contact first, think about the counter after.

Charlie: So it's man-marking. One bloke, the one he's driving.

Sam: Exactly. The others the AI will handle, mostly. The one he is driving, you handle.

Alex: From the other side, as an attacker, the corner I loved was the one where the defender controlled the wrong man. If you take the right man before the kick, you've already won half of them.

Charlie: Khusanov again, in my team. He's the best in the air I've got.

Sam: Then Khusanov goes with their controlled man, every corner. This is an advanced idea, so take it slowly. The drill: one game, on every corner against you, find their controlled attacker and put your best header on him. Count the corners where their man won the first touch. Thirty percent or less.

Charlie: Right. And next time's question, I'm bringing it now: free kicks. Every free kick I take goes in row Z, and Ollie has started cheering when it does. That's the desk cleared. Macca, take us home.

Alex: Free kicks next time. Noted. So, tonight: Future Stars landed twice and the upgrades wait for February, EA admitted the first Champions weekend paired people wrong, and the menus had one free must-do and a lot of thirty-five-grand maybes. Keep this: name your shot type out loud before every shot, three types and thirty percent. Try this: the fake shot, only when a defender is square in front of you inside twenty-five yards, two that beat him for every one you lose. If you do one thing this week, make it the fake shot. On the record for next time: Kev's two drills; my rematch, the four-two-one-three against Javi's four-four-two over the next Finals weekend; Javi's call that Pina gets cheaper before 2 November; and Kev's question on free kicks. 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. Name your shot, fake the defender, and leave your keeper on his line. That's Half-Space. I'm off to practise losing to a four-four-two.