FIFA 16 Ultimate Team Thread

[Scutch]

A dedicated thread for all things FUT.

How you doing so far? Post up your teams, suggestions, advice or anything else related to Ultimate Team in here

Here's my team I've just assembled using 230k coins. Wanted Lacazette up top in a 4-3-3(4) formation, so worked around that.

Got 100 team chemistry and every player on an individual 9 or 10 chemistry, too. LW Konoplyanka linked to both N'Zonzi and Tremoulinas at left back

Was a tough choice for either Lloris and Mangala or Courtois and Kompany but went with saving money in the end and Mangala is actually really good. Alessandrini at RW with his 91 pace is perhaps a weak point, but it was difficult getting another player in there cheap and good enough to link with Lacazette up top chemistry wise. Griezmann sitting behind in CAM.

Selection of Belgians on the bench includng Batshuayi, Vertonghen, Januzaj and some more Frenchies Biabiany, Remy, Rabiot and Mandanda.

Turns out I could have bought Otamendi for 25k coins yesterday and that would have still given me 9 individual chemistry along the back playing him as RCB. He's now selling for over 50k! Doh!

 

[chiefrocka4real]

Hey cool idea!

Well, I still have my shit team with chemistry 38 and I keep playing the offline seasons and tournaments until I have a better team to play online.

What I do though is, trading contract cards.
I can do that while I´m in the office so I buy contract cards cheap in the morning and sell them in the evening like 100 - 250 coins more to make some money.
It takes a few minutes only.

And in a week you can make like about 20.000 coins.

I like the FUT system. Team chemistry and all and also with the contracts and everything.
And you necessarily don´t really have to spend real money on it.

What I find a little exagerrated though is those boost cards like you have with your ST for example.
HWK = Hawk. Doesn´t that make him a lot more pacey?

I don´t know how it is in FIFA 16 but that was one of the reasons I stopped playing FUT on FIFA 15 cause I couldn´t defend against those hardcore pacey strikers.

 

[Placebo]

First one or two FUT had like sticker albums where you could put in the players you collected similar to a Panini football album, even though I didn't play the mode that was really fun, sucks they removed that

 

[*aLe]

First one or two FUT had like sticker albums where you could put in the players you collected similar to a Panini football album, even though I didn't play the mode that was really fun, sucks they removed that

Yeah, that would be a huge thing to bring back.

Currently I'm playing with this:

I'm trying to do a pack only season just for the sake of it, so I must adapt to whatever comes in the packs unfortunately.

 

[Scutch]

Hey cool idea!

Well, I still have my shit team with chemistry 38 and I keep playing the offline seasons and tournaments until I have a better team to play online.

What I do though is, trading contract cards.
I can do that while I´m in the office so I buy contract cards cheap in the morning and sell them in the evening like 100 - 250 coins more to make some money.
It takes a few minutes only.

And in a week you can make like about 20.000 coins.

I like the FUT system. Team chemistry and all and also with the contracts and everything.
And you necessarily don´t really have to spend real money on it.

What I find a little exagerrated though is those boost cards like you have with your ST for example.
HWK = Hawk. Doesn´t that make him a lot more pacey?

I don´t know how it is in FIFA 16 but that was one of the reasons I stopped playing FUT on FIFA 15 cause I couldn´t defend against those hardcore pacey strikers.

Pace isn't as OP as it was in previous years. It's all about passing on this one. That's not to say pacey players aren't a bonus to have, because they are, but the old "chipped through ball" isn't anywhere near as effective.

 

[*aLe]

Yeah, it's not that OP anymore. Now you can still run away with pacey players but you need to know what to do and when (hint: flick that bloody right stick with the right timing).

I like that now FUT plays more similar to H2H (at least for now): if I were EA, though, I'd have the 9-chem players perform like they would in H2H, the 10-chem players (fidelity or manager bonus)just a little better than that and all the players with chemistry lower than 9 perform worse than their H2H counterparts.

 

[chiefrocka4real]

Pace isn't as OP as it was in previous years. It's all about passing on this one. That's not to say pacey players aren't a bonus to have, because they are, but the old "chipped through ball" isn't anywhere near as effective.

Ah cool.
That´s what I thought and hoped

 

[Chris Davies]

Is dribbling easier (and defending harder) in Ultimate Team this year (compared to the other modes) or is it just me?

I said this in the FIFA thread earlier today, but I feel like when it comes to defending my only choices are to A) commit to a tackle that always misses, or B) let the player force my defender back all the way to the box, at which point they shoot and score with ease...

I find that with Seasons too but nowhere near as much...

 

[Scutch]

Is dribbling easier (and defending harder) in Ultimate Team this year (compared to the other modes) or is it just me?

I said this in the FIFA thread earlier today, but I feel like when it comes to defending my only choices are to A) commit to a tackle that always misses, or B) let the player force my defender back all the way to the box, at which point they shoot and score with ease...

I find that with Seasons too but nowhere near as much...

Tactical defending is a fine art which is bloody frustrating if you can't get the hang of it.

You can switch to Legacy defending against the CPU in FUT, but Tactical is compulsory against another human player online

 

[Chris Davies]

You can switch to Legacy defending against the CPU in FUT, but Tactical is compulsory against another human player online

Yeah I know, I'm lost without it against another person.

I don't dislike tactical defending in theory - I just don't understand what I'm supposed to be doing to win the ball. I press A, hit the invisible barrier... Then what? I'm too far away to tackle, and if I let go of the pressure button I run off in a random direction.

(Slightly off-topic sorry but again, I find this more pronounced in Ultimate Team and I wonder if anyone else experiences the same thing - I was thinking maybe the "Team Chemistry" function boosts dribbling / cripples opposition defenders?)

 

[Shearer_God]

I'm trying to do a pack only season just for the sake of it, so I must adapt to whatever comes in the packs unfortunately.

Liking this idea! Building a team now, missing a GK and a RW but about to open a few packs.

 

[Scutch]

That team in the OP has faired pretty well both offline and online. But I decided to change my formation as I wasn't particularly confident with only 1 main striker. Played with a 4-3-1-2 for a while (3 CM's) and won a few games but it was extremely narrow, so I've now opted to go for a 4-1-2-1-2 formation:

Cheeky Ben Arfa with 5* skills on the RM, and I originally proposed Nasri on the left side of midfield (83 rated) but I read a few reviews saying he's much better infield or as a LF rather than LM/LW, so I put Konoplyanka back out there and tried to somehow get the individual chemistry up to at least 9 (both him and Lacazette were a 6, due to no link at all between them - the rest of the squad were all on 9's and 10's).

Turns out there's a way to get those elusive 9's by simply swapping Lacazette and Remy and then taking Remy out and replacing him with a French player who plays in Spain. Step forward Karim Benzema. That sorts everything out, or so I thought...

Another player who would give 9 chemistry with Konoplyanka would be Jackson Martinez, who is an absolute beast and has the playing for a Spanish team link to build the chemistry up.

So now I have a choice; either Benzema for 70k or Martinez for 37k. I currently have 85k coins, so will decide later. I think I'm going to go for Martinez, just because he's so well rated on FUT (finishing 88, good pace, speed, shooting, heading is phenomenal too and 85+ strength).

 

[Shearer_God]

Got my 'pack only' team together.

And I have about 30k coins waiting to open a few more. I've been quite lucky that I've packed players to help me build a good chemistry team but haven't really had any great pulls. I did get Mertens that I sold on for 18k though.

 

[chiefrocka4real]

This is mine now:

Love playing with Defoe. He scored some great goals.
Lennon is a beast on the wing. So agile and fast.
But getting the ball off him is not difficult.

Just bought Gerrard but haven´t played with him yet.
Can´t wait to test him.

I have to say that I really enjoy FUT so far.

Started playing online and the matches have been very exciting.

No high scores so far except for that 1:6 FUT draft I played recently.

But it´s a lot of fun building up a nice team.

 

[Chris Davies]

I'm having real trouble in Ultimate Team keeping the defensive line back where it should be. Even when I use the D-PAD to switch to the "defensive" options, they seem to love the half-way line.

There's no way to improve that in Ultimate Team, is there (no pre-game strategy options)? Other than individual player instructions (that don't fix it, for me).

 

[chiefrocka4real]

Hmmm, I never really had an issue with that.

Are your CB´s, LB´s and RB´s set on "stay back on attacks"?

That´s what I put on my wing defenders (the CB´s were set on that automatically).

Also, what tactics do you use? Mine is set to "counter attack".
I´m not sure but in that menu you can set your tactics individually and maybe also set the defense line.
Can´t say for sure, need to check.

 

[Chris Davies]

Hmmm, I never really had an issue with that.

Are your CB´s, LB´s and RB´s set on "stay back on attacks"?

That´s what I put on my wing defenders (the CB´s were set on that automatically).

Also, what tactics do you use? Mine is set to "counter attack".
I´m not sure but in that menu you can set your tactics individually and maybe also set the defense line.
Can´t say for sure, need to check.

That's how all my defenders are set, too.

When you say your tactics are set to "counter attack", do you mean you select that as soon as you kick off? Or can you change those tactics pre-game somewhere?

I have found that "counter attack" keeps the defensive line back, but then the midfield goes too far back as well (for my liking)!

I wish we could alter line height etc. individually for Ultimate Team games (I know they're blocked to prevent exploits being found and everyone playing 5 in defence and 5 in attack, but it'd be nice if a balance was found where we were given a little bit more control).

 

[Eastwood]

@chris Davies

I've read in another forum that offside trap (in the custom tactics) is switched on as standard. I did not play Ultimate Team, so i'm not sure if that's true.

 

[chiefrocka4real]

When you say your tactics are set to "counter attack", do you mean you select that as soon as you kick off? Or can you change those tactics pre-game somewhere?

No, it´s set in the tactics menu where you can set your formation and everything.

 

[Chris Davies]

@chris Davies

I've read in another forum that offside trap (in the custom tactics) is switched on as standard. I did not play Ultimate Team, so i'm not sure if that's true.

It´s set in the tactics menu where you can set your formation and everything.

Had no idea you could do this outside of the game, how have I not found it?!

How do you access it from the formation screen? I press triangle / Y, but all I see are player instructions and player roles?

 

[chiefrocka4real]

Had no idea you could do this outside of the game, how have I not found it?!

How do you access it from the formation screen? I press triangle / Y, but all I see are player instructions and player roles?

Wait, don´t let me tell you crap.

It must be there next to player roles.
Or is that in the normal online game only?

I was sure I set that in FUT as well.

Let me check tonight when I get home.

 

[Scutch]

What are your defenders workrates? If they're H/H then they will be all over the field trying to do everything. Best to have defenders with M/L, M/M or M/H rather than H/H. Although if one defender is M/L or M/H then the other can be H/H as the first one will mop things up.

 

[spektarm]

About the custom tactics:

I haven't played FUT on 16 yet, but the way I did it on 15 was as follows:

Start an offline game with your FUT team. You need to reach the formation screen and switch to the Tactics tab (after Player Instructions).

There you see possession, counter attack, etc. and you need to pick Custom and press X (on Xbox) to bring up the sliders. Set them up however you want and then go back to whatever you want to play (e.g. FUT online seasons).

The tactics will be saved for your current session - until you quit FUT or the game. Next time you play you need to repeat this process. Write them down or make a screenshot until you remember them.

Here are my tactics from 15 - I used a narrow diamond formation for my team and wanted my backline to sit deep and be compact - that's why pressure and team width are so low. Also not a lot of crossing because I had no wingers.

http://i.imgur.com/66RFRNd.png

It's really worth it to use custom tactics, they made a big difference for me on 15 and I'm sure they will on 16.

 

[Scutch]

This is my current team which I've just finalised today on the transfer market. Sold Lloris to fund it as I had 140k coins too. Bought Lahm, Boateng, Hummels and Aurier.

https://www.easports.com/uk/fifa/ultimate-team/web-app/show-off?showoffId=dz6mtTCebOx:FFA16XBO

Got 100 Team Chemistry and Individual 10's across the board except for Aurier whose only link is Ben Arfa as they both play in France. He's on a 6 or a 7 individual chemistry. It'll do for now.

 

[mfmaxpower]

I haven't tried FUT online yet but I'm wondering, do you guys find yourselves matched up against super-powered teams much?

My concern is that I don't see myself getting into the trade market enough to build a rare gold team, and it'd suck if I'm constantly over-matched.

 

[mfmaxpower]

Had no idea you could do this outside of the game, how have I not found it?!

How do you access it from the formation screen? I press triangle / Y, but all I see are player instructions and player roles?

No, you can't access it from the main formation screen. You can only adjust instructions like you said.

But just prior to a match you have something like 30 seconds to adjust your team, and that's where you set your tactics. Or at least that's how it worked when I did online drafts.

I don't know about setting them in an offline match and them remaining the same throughout a session,but that'd sure be helpful.

 

[Scutch]

I'm having real trouble in Ultimate Team keeping the defensive line back where it should be. Even when I use the D-PAD to switch to the "defensive" options, they seem to love the half-way line.

There's no way to improve that in Ultimate Team, is there (no pre-game strategy options)? Other than individual player instructions (that don't fix it, for me).

Yes, there's a sneaky way of applying Custom Tactics. I say sneaky; When you load up Ultimate Team, challenge the Team of the Week. On the squad selection screen, go to Team Management. From there, you can switch tabs to team instructions and then choose a Custom Tactic. Once done, simply ok it and then back out of the TOTW Challenge. Your custom tactic is now saved for Ultimate Team games online or offline. This will be deleted once you exit Ultimate Team game mode. So you will have to redo it all again if you exit and return to UT.

I haven't tried FUT online yet but I'm wondering, do you guys find yourselves matched up against super-powered teams much?

My concern is that I don't see myself getting into the trade market enough to build a rare gold team, and it'd suck if I'm constantly over-matched.

If you choose an UT seasons mode, you play teams in the same Division as yourself. Obviously others don't know how many games you need to win or draw to survive/get promoted etc. so you are basically playing an unknown who is in a similar situation to yourself. You won't play any Division 1 teams while in another Division though - that's just an unfair advantage the opposing team. However, do be warned that some players can spent a fortune or time building an 83/84 rated team and then take it into Division 10 to start off. So you will play some very daunting looking sides - even though the guy controlling them is still a Division 10 player.

I'm currently in Division 8 and I have an 83 rated side. I usually play 79-82 rated teams with varying chemistry levels. In my 20 games or so, I've played 1 side that was equal to my own in terms of rating (83).

It is worth trying to assemble a decent side though, at least 79 rated with 100 Chemistry.

 

[chiefrocka4real]

I haven't tried FUT online yet but I'm wondering, do you guys find yourselves matched up against super-powered teams much?

My concern is that I don't see myself getting into the trade market enough to build a rare gold team, and it'd suck if I'm constantly over-matched.

I´m in division 10 still and haven´t really played against overpowered teams.
They were kind of like mine but some had quite some low team chemistry.

Played against one who had Ronaldo on loan but he couldn´t do crap with him.
Maybe also due of his low team chemistry or he just sucked.

But the player itself also doesn´t seem overpowered.

EDIT:
I played FUT on FIFA 15 only for a couple of matches as I quickly got frustrated with pacey overpowered players that just easily ran past my defense.
This is not the case with FIFA 16.
That´s why I´m still enjoying it quite much.

 

[Scutch]

I´m in division 10 still and haven´t really played against overpowered teams.
They were kind of like mine but some had quite some low team chemistry.

Played against one who had Ronaldo on loan but he couldn´t do crap with him.
Maybe also due of his low team chemistry or he just sucked.

But the player itself also doesn´t seem overpowered.

EDIT:
I played FUT on FIFA 15 only for a couple of matches as I quickly got frustrated with pacey overpowered players that just easily ran past my defense.
This is not the case with FIFA 16.
That´s why I´m still enjoying it quite much.

Yeah they've proper nerfed the pace whores this time around. Defenders have the ability to actually react and catch up. Obviously it's not instant and the faster players will get away, but if they don't knock the ball on and sprint, there's a great opportunity to get your defenders back.

 

[Scutch]

I also must add, Mats Hummels is absolutely phenomenal at the back. I bought him and Boateng for my team (86 and 87 ratings respectively), and they've been incredible. Hummels has a very high standing and sliding tackle stat, so you very rarely give away silly freekicks, albeit if you time it correctly. He's been a rock for me, blocking and intercepting everything. Really happy with that purchase, and he was only 35k.