FIFA 14 - BPL Squad Review

Player reviews:

Goal Keepers
Cech was the main keeper, De Gea was only the reserve for when Cech had low fitness or was injured. Cech did far the better job making loads of double and triple saves, by far the better keeper, though De Gea was good as well.
Cech - 9.5/10
De Gea - 8/10

Full backs
Gibbs and Enrique were both inconsistent, where some games they would defend well and never advance too much, others they were too far up the pitch and left Mertesacker exposed. Gibbs felt slightly better overall though, with him never misplacing a pass and generally being a little more solid.
Gibbs - 7/10
Enique - 6.5/10

On the other side, Sagna was the original RB and Ivanovic the reserve, but Sagna was too disappointing to keep in the first team. Ivanovic was much more solid defensively, and his heading & strength were a real boost. Sagna was also going forward a lot more, which I didn't like in this squad.
Ivanovic - 8/10
Sagna - 7/10

Centre backs
Not your usual combination at the back, however they were very solid, and I feel the worked very well together. Mertesacker had the height to attack the corners, while Terry's heading was better at defending them. Defensively Terry felt a lot better because Mertesacker was often inconsistent, but he was still good at creating a problem for attackers, as slide tackles would always cause danger with his 6'5 height.
IF Terry - 9/10
IF Mertesacker - 7.5/10

Defensive mids
Essien was a lot more of an all-rounder, as can be seen from the stats, however he only scored 1 goal in 30 matches, which was disapointing. However Leiva's workrates often created too big of a gap between the defence and attack, which I didn't like, whereas Essien was helping the attacks a lot more with better passing and ability to find space.
Essien - 8.5/10
Leiva - 7/10

Centre mids
Lampard was a lot better than expexted, as his shooting was phenominal. In about 40 games he scored 16 goals, which was incredible. Compared to Gerrard who only scored 1 goal in 25 games, who was a complete let down. I'm not sure what happened to Gerrard, but he was quickly replaced by Cabaye in the first team whose dribbling was fantastic! Cabaye's shooting was inconsistant though, because he scored 2 hatricks, but other than that he only scored one other goal, because in some games he would be invisible.
Lampard - 9.5/10
Cabaye - 7.5/10
Gerrard - 4/10

Attacking mids
Ozil I feel was overpriced compared to the difference in price/performance with him and Eriksen. They were both great players in this position, with Ozil being a lot better at passing & finding the strikers, while Eriksen had mixed performances, where some games he couldn't be touched, would dribble through everyone and then score, others he would mess up everything. Both players were good at shooting, and had 4* skills which was crucial for this position.
Ozil - 8.5/10
Eriksen - 8.5/10

Strikers
3 similar strikers in this team, with them all going through phases of good and bad. In the first 5 games, Jovetic didn't score a single goal, while near the end Negredo dipped off a little with some poorer performances. Soldado was generally consistant all the way through, however he felt a little worse than the other two. All three of them however, had great finishing and their ability to find the goal was proven sucessful from outside or inside the box, either with power or finesse. They were all great at getting that ball in the net.
Jovetic - 9/10
Negredo - 9/10
Soldado - 8/10


--------------------------------------

Overall I played about 50 games with this squad, winning about 30, in divisions 8-6 and also in gold cup where I reached the semi-final twice in three attempts. It was a very fun squad for me to play with, as it was very unique. Only once did I come up against regular Mertesacker, and never against Terry, as they certainly are not your typical premier league CB's. However they performed very well, and they worked well with eachother. It was very good going forward, with lots of players who can score goals, and others who can find good passes to open up some more space. The weaknesses are that there were only 3 players with skill, and two of them are in the same position, so on the pitch the maximum you could have at once is 2 of them; so it is not a team to build if you are a skiller. Also the average pace is a lot less than your typical team, so if you like pace, this is not for you.

However it was very good to play a possession game with, because all the players have good ball control and passing abilities, so you can toy with your opponent by not letting him have the ball for ages, and then stunning him when you score a beautifully worked Barca-style goal.

I think that the overall rating for this team for me will be 8/10. This is based on a number of factors - ability to win games, enjoyment through playing the games, and performance of individual players. While the team is not the most effective for winning, it was great to be able to use it and have good success with it, along with trying out a number of good players that I hope to use again in the future.

If you are quite rich and have a spare 100k laying around, I suggest you use this team for at least 5 matches. See what you think of it, as it certainly will surprise you with what it can do. Remember that when you use it, you can't expect to play a fast paced game, and defensively you will have to be very switched on to ensure that you aren't caught on the counter, but as long as you are aware of all this, then you should be good to go, and have fun!

If you don't want to use the team however, I would recomend that you use these players in a future squad:
IF Mertesacker
IF Terry
Ivanovic
Lampard
Eriksen
Negredo

I hope you enjoyed reading this review, and I hope I inspired you to use this team in the future! Good luck with all successes you will undoubtedly have with it!

good review garrod, nice to see a BPL team that isnt a 41212 pace team with eto'o, sturridge and david luiz etc

Great review, and kudos for the no standard BPL team

I think i will give a try to this team. Can you please give me the personal tactics for this team ?

Thank you.

CR7fifa wrote:I think i will give a try to this team. Can you please give me the personal tactics for this team ?

Thank you.

Tactics, hmm
Defending
-Wherever possible, when you get the ball with the full backs, always pass it forward rather than moving forward with them, so they retain their position more to cover the CB's.
-When being attacked on the counter, the player i manually controlled was either the CDM or one of the CM's, which ever one was nearer. Never manually control the defence unless it is around the box, because then it becomes harder for the attack, and allows the big CB's time to react to the situation, and when you do come to controlling them, they are in a good position to make a nice tackle
-Unless you're losing with not long left to go, don't play in attacking or ultra attacking, or else the defensive mid and full backs will be too high up the pitch, leaving you potentially very vulnerable
-When defending a header, if you are able to choose who to be there to head it clear, Terry is always your man. Never try to use Mertesacker to defend them, because he often won't jump
-Generally when defending i found that there would always be around 8 players back helping the team, so as long as you don't get caught on the counter too much, you should be ok with enough bodies back

Attacking
-Use slow build up play. The midfield are all good at ball control & passing, and never be afraid to pass it backwards to the defender if you need to. That ball retention is crucial, as long as you don't give it up easily, you should be ok
-Look for gaps in the defense - often you will see a wide hole on one side of the pitch, especially if you are having large amounts of ball possession, and then a CM or ST can run into this very easily - Lampard and Cabaye did this a lot for me, despite their medium workrates. Also when you do see this space, always do a ground pass/through ball - never do a chip pass, because it will take some time to control the ball, and usually the other teams defense will be fast enough to catch up before you get a shot in
-Don't be affraid to shoot from unlikely angles - Lampard, Negredo and Soldado were the three especially who could score from anywhere, Lampard more than most. If you have a little space in front of him, take a few steps and power it - you'll be surprised how good it is

I can't advise you on who is better/worse at attacking headers, because in 50 games i think i only crossed it 4 times (not including corners - but i never score from them what ever team i have, so they're irrelevant) and i think 2 crosses went in, 2 didn't. But not really enough info to give advice on really


Hope that helps you play with it a little?
Remember, ball possession is your whole game! Think like Spain! You don't have to rush around the field 24/7 looking to score a goal in every minute. As long as you have the ball, chances will come, and then the goals & victories will follow

Good luck with it, and i'm glad someone is using it!
Give us some feedback after a while of how it goes for you