)my formation is boss.  basically a 2 4 2 2  - an attacking box and a defensive box.  playing left and right midfielders as fullbacks for pace, stamina and shooting.

-------------------------------CB(sainsbury)--------------CB

RB-----------------------RDM(budz)-------------------LDM (mooy)--------------------LB


---------------------------RAM------------------------------------LAM

---------------------------Maclaren--------------------------Fornaroli


when a full back or cdm brings the ball up i can slide it across the field and there are 4 or 5 passing options lined up across the front of the box. their fullback comes in and i slaughter them with the extra man, training everyone on shooting. they can all bang them in.

and i get 2 stoppers in midfield doing all the defensive work. the CB's do nothing but stay central. everything has to come down the sides which is covered by the pacey FB's  and sliding DM's.  i only ship goals when i get carried away in attack, which happens once you get 3 or 4.

first full season on legendary.  just belted tottenham in the FA cup semi 5-0. with melbourne city - although only budz and fornaroli are left in the first 11.  - im not that great a player, i put it down to the formation and the personnel.  ive spent every cent on young talent and they are coming good at the end of the season.  only league one but we picked up 109 points and about 120 goals.  off tap.

i sold up every spare man and paid a fortune for ross barkley on the bosman.  we are going to kill the championship and then all my young fellas will be huge by the time we hit the EPL. im expecting a euro slot in our first EPL season.

Suddenly I'm scoring so much and I've become more patient in defence. It's annoying that when I do a through ball,  my opponent defender never sprints to keep up. It's the same when my opponent breaks,  they sprint like crazy and I need to really keep up. 

or when you swap players and use the R2 or whatever to keep the close player applying pressure and then they back off the pace and let the attacker go

Yep, that only works if you are prepared to give the player away as part of another signing.

I may be saying something you already know?
So start of every season i would sign a few of the cheapest possible players I could find and purchase them with the "banked wage player" as part of the trade.

You also have to offer the cheap player you are buying want reasonable terms or he will refuse. As in if you offer him a starting role in a great team he will refuse the contract saying he doesn't believe you can offer him the role.

Besides that "cheat" I play much more like Benjamin especially as far as buying/scouting players without looking online for those videos. I know you say in real life you have access to internet etc but only one club can sign that player too in real life too as opposed to every club having their own copy to sign.

It's all personal taste though. I used to turn off important games i was losing and justify to myself it's coz i was distracted or something so it was fair to do it but have stopped now.

Will buy Fifa18 in January once it halves in price as I always do, glad some attention has been given to career mode it seems at least

It happened again. 

First half of season - averaging over 2 points and 2 goals per game, conceding an average of 1 per game.  On fire.  6 points clear at the top of the Championship.
Second half of season - averaged just over 1 per game in each category.  Comedy shooting. Missed automatic promotion by 5 points.

Added four new players, all better than their replacements - started next season in worse form than second half of last.  Quit after 10 games with only 1 win on the board (again).  Tried different formations, different styles, different players.

The difference between the first half of the season and the second?  Lee Cattermole (who was averaging about 7.3/game and hadn't scored all season).  I can only assume FIFA thinks he is some kind of a God, which demonstrates that they haven't seen him play.

That's three career modes in a row now where everything has fallen apart and I've had to quit to save my sanity.

FIFA17 career modes on Legendary I've won multiple Premier League titles, Euro Leagues/Cups, etc., so it's not as if I can't play the bloody game!

does the game AI adjust to your playing style?

if you have money left at the end of the season - say a few million - does it now carry over?  ive got cash this season, but no one i want to spend it on.  i want to get more money and buy someone better next season.

finish the first season with melbourne city in england div 3.  smashed it. over 100 points and about 120 goals. lost to chelsea in the FA cup final and have been given a euro slot. the team is probably on par with say huddersfield in the EPL, maybe a bit better.  2 x 77's 2x 76's 3x 75's and im expected to get to the last 16 of the euros..

anyway. i shifted the rest of the A league into the championship gave them each a couple of the top free agents.  

brisbane roar came in 2nd and got automatic promotion into the EPL!

the bottom 11 of the championship were

wsw
adelaide
bristol
perth
brentford
wellington
sydney
burton
central coast - relegated
jets - relegated
victory - wooden spoon and relegated!!!!!!!! loool.

It's possible, but I do try to alter my style - switch to a different formation every few games and play a lot more direct and down the wings (I'm finding crossing and heading a lot easier on 18 to 17), then go back to my close-passing game through the middle (the old driven finish across the keeper isn't as easy as it was, which is good).

Had two of the strangest things happen in the last couple of days...  I started a 3rd season on the (now Cattermole-less) career mode, bad form - had 8 points from 10 games played, then won one, lost 3, and cracked the shits, turned off without saving.  Put it on again yesterday - and I was on 6 points from 5 games...  No idea what happens to the other 5 games from my previous save.  I only have one save file too.  Really baffled.  Anyway, form returned, record yesterday was something like 5 wins, 3 draws, 2 losses.  Which is acceptable with my squad.  Really confused as to how a saved game could suddenly lose about a month of in-game history.  Not complaining, but still confused.

In other news...  During that horror run that lead to the exit without saving...  I had a moment of PS4 madness - keeper rolled it out to central defender, who did a Stevie Gerrard and just fell over the ball.  No buttons pressed as I was just going to collect it then lay it off to one of the fullbacks.  Just fell over.  Naturally whilst he was on the ground the other team's striker just ran in collected the ball and scored beyond a stranded keeper.  Never had that happen before...  New feature on 18?  

Oh well, season 3 and on the way back to the top of the table...  Maybe THIS time I can make the EPL!

there are still some kind of glitchy ways i think the game deals with staging who should win.  i get tackled by better teams from distance.  the players will be a few yards apart the ball just changes possession.

sorry to say but your sunderland squad must start of pretty weak.  im no flogging teams in the championship. but sunderland i beat 4-0 and 5-0 within the first month of the season. the only serious wins i have so far. they are in the relegation zone.

The real Sunderland team is piss weak - my Sunderland team has very little to do with it, especially as I'm in my 4th season now - and this one has been a reverse of previous seasons, started in disastrous form (lost 4 in a row - all high scoring games 2-3, 3-4, 2-3, 1-2) - but have turned it around now and am up to the play-offs...  Again.  Have finished 3rd, 3rd, and 6th, in last 3 seasons.  Refusing to give up or mess with sliders/skill level.  Don't mind not pissing every game - I'm getting older and the reactions aren't as quick as they used to be.

I've noticed a few funny incidents in games in FIFA18...  The previously mentioned Lamine Kone slip was the first, just fell over as the ball came to him...  Had another last night, in my favour this time...  Lovely cross to the back post, my forward wins his header but it's weak and straight down...  Keeper dives and ball bounces over him..  Then bounces again, defender trying to clear off the line can't stop fast enough so ends up trying to back heel it away, misses...  Ball bounces again, hits post and crosses line with so little power that it just stopped about a ball's width over the line.  Pandemonium.  Won 1-0.  

Loving and hating the game in equal measures.

looks like sunderland are going to get relegated in my second season..  it seems every team i proper belt gets a losing streak afterwards.

topped the group table in the euros in the second season - even though im still in the championship. the only real threat in the group was lazio who picked up a red card in the first 30 mins of both games.  drew them away 0-0 and did them at home 3-2 - although they drew it level at 2-2 after going straight down to 2-0 immediately after the red and the penalty.

my whole first 11 is now 75 - 78 except for barkley who is now on 85.  he's a bit of a one man show. bangs them in, top scoring for the team, but passes poorly and has almost no assists.  and is a bit slow.  maclaren however - in front of barkley - is topping the assist count because he lays so many back to barkley.

im looking at martial and emre can as bosmans.  the 4.5 mill from euros and the 8 mill for fornaroli should cover that with change.

also mooy.  is better rated this year than the last 3 but is not as good. missed every free kick.  a couple years ago he came with the machine trait or whatever the stamina trait was.  this year his tackling, passing, stamina and shooting are all lacking.  he seems quicker on the ball though. it might just be that im playing legendary though now.

Free kicks seem much harder in this version - which is possibly why Mooy's not doing so well for you this time...

I've played 4 seasons now - 3rd, 3rd, 6th, and 4th in the Championship - my own fault that I've missed out on automatic promotion because I sim a few too many games in the second half of the season once I 'think' I'm in a good position.

The biggest complaint I would have about the game is the finances.  Completely unreal and way too easy.  I try not to sign Bosman players because it's too easy - but when I do it...  Picking them up when in the Championship is a joke, re-signing first team players on lower wages than they were previously on, etc, and still too easy to pick up a superstar 18 year old on a free transfer.

That Download a fortnight ago has made the play more stable. Defenders chase my runners and passing 180 degrees is less accurate. 

Gameplay definitely improved - financial side is still shocking.  Another patch to fix that is unlikely though.  May have to switch to FUT soon.

3rd, 3rd, 6th, 4th (& won the League Cup)...  All in Championship.  Ready to kill someone.  Start 5th season - 3-0, 3-0 (with reserves in cup), 3-0, 6-0...  Think I may have finally cracked how to play the AI - which could mean a quick switch to FUT and playing humans online.

Fixturing is hilarious if you qualify for Europe whilst in the Championship by the way.  I've just started two weeks of Saturday (league), Tuesday (league), Thursday (euro), Saturday (league) Tuesday (cup), Thursday (euro), Saturday (league).  Squad juggling ahoy.

If anyone is looking for a midfield machine - Olivier Kemen.  Played 90 minutes each on Saturday and Tuesday, and is still almost at full power for the Thursday game.  Worth about 30 million too.  Picked him up in my second season for about 3-4 million.

you cant sign 18 year olds on a free right?

Yep - if you go into the free agents after the first season there are always a few 17-18 players added to the list.  There's usually a couple of good ones hidden in there.  Takes a while to find them, but they are usually there.

Started a new career mode - wanted to try playing in the EPL on 18...  Liverpool.  Signed Messi for something stupid.  He's a joy to play as/with.  Makes dribbling so easy and so seems almost impossible to not score when he shoots.  I'm wondering if this is just a psychological thing about playing with him - I've had certain players in past versions who just seemed so much calmer than others (Cedric as a right back for example).

So i just started Career mode and i love it. So much more in depth then fifa 14 which was the last one i had.
Really enjoying the setout like optus sport and the breaking news on the side as well as all the negotiating for players.
One thing im finding hard is defending. It's completely changed its very hard. 

Seem to have cracked it now...  Flying in the championship with all my squad limitations (no free transfers, no Bosmans, no improving youths with training, no cash boosts, only signing players found by scouts, only two scouts, etc., etc.)...  Beginning to think I should up the sliders to make it harder.

I'm not that good - so I'm thinking that AI isn't as good on 18 as on previous versions...  It seems if you are super-patient and focus on keeping the ball, the chance will come eventually, and if you hit it low you'll score more often than not.  Anyone else finding that?

im just stuggling in general. in fifa 14 i use to run past defenders and get crosses in the box you can't seem to run past any defenders anymore and once i get near the box defenders easily shut me down it's hard to keep the ball. Do you find defending very hard ??

I used to be a dive-in tackler, headed off a lot of trouble that way - timing seems much harder on 18.  I've had to teach myself to stand-off.  If you can hold a line near the edge of the box you can be okay - but sooner or later they will weave into the box and forced you to make a challenge.  I get my timing right MOST of the time...  But still concede more than I used to.  I had seasons on 17 where I'd concede 17-18 goals in a full season, nothing like that anymore.

As for attacking, bursting past players down the wings seems to be a thing of the past now, but one-twos can still put you into good crossing opportunities - particularly with an overlapping fullback/wingback.

What do level do you play on? I find professional is too easy and world class is too hard. 
Player controls feel like they are playing on ice if that makes sense reactions are slow for attacking and defending. 

So im in late november of my first career as everton manager we are sitting pretty in 3rd position and i get a notification saying im not meeting my objectives.So confused me looks at my objectives didn't realise i need to be the owner, ceo and manager as well as football director.

All of the objectives are self explanatory apart from the profit how am i suppose to make 188 million worth of profit when im currently only at 3?? 

Help required Ben.

If your manager rating is high and so long as you meet league targets you should keep your job.  Don't worry too much about it.

I've never met all my targets but I've yet to be sacked in any version of the game.

Legendary.

the bugs are shitting me.  ive had to confirm the new update about 15 times.

and every game i play (now that i have won the season) they say that the trophy will be given out at the end - and its not.

they need to make it obviously clear when the season trophy is coming out.  the fact that you can press x or whatever at the end of a game and miss the trophy is bullshit. because you dont even know when it is coming out.  

also there is a serious issue with the AI squad selection/starting line up. you never play a full strength team. and it's obviously fucking up because at half time the AI is subbing on pogba or de bruyne or hazard straight away.  this is completely fucking the game. i also think the positioning stat of the players is limiting their use by AI unrealistically.

also i won my first EPL season with melbourne on 78 points. probably because the big teams have all their stars sitting on the bench.

go up to a harder level and adjust you sliders and bring them down as you improve.  ive gone from semi pro to legendary this way over the last couple years.  

also i find world class bullshit because the AI doesnt seem to play better - it just seems to stunt your team. where as in legendary the AI plays better and my team isnt as affected.

There's definitely something wrong with the game.  Took me a while to crack how to play the AI - had a couple of seasons where everything would be going fine, then I'd run into a brick wall and couldn't win a game to save my life...  Restarted the game and won back to back titles - Championship, then Premier League (squad average skill level around 75-76).  On Legendary, with sliders are default settings. 

Haven't played for a week or two.  Considering starting a new career - either with the sliders in the AI's favour, or possibly not allowing myself to have any player over a certain rating in my team - see if I can win the league with every player rated below 70...