maybe you could go all australian or a-league?

i found brandan from melbourne city an absolute gun. 68 rated max. played him on the right side of a front 2 and he hit about 25 goals in the championship -in my reserves team and as a sub.  only 1 goal off the golden boot. unfortunately in the EPL the strength of all the defenders means he struggles. he just gets knocked off the ball every time.

also jamie maclaren with his pace and high high work rate is a beast. ive only trained him in shooting and he has picked up to 81 and is getting about 20 goals a year in the epl and last year in the championship.  also on the right side of a front 2.  here's the kicker - almost 30 assists in his last 3 seasons and topped each league in assists.

also ive found a back 3 actually works this in fifa18. it's been a fairly useless formation in fifa until now.

I have a custom squad set up with all of our (Sunderland) summer signings removed and returned to previous clubs - which means I always start with a pretty thin squad and not much cash.  Never take the bonus cash boost or world class scout options.  Try to make it really hard.  Legendary, default sliders.

Started a new career in which I can't put a player on the pitch if he is rated over 70, and I can't sign anyone rated over 69.  Have also decided that I need to achieve the financial goals the board have given me (not to raise salary by over 15%) - so have to be careful who I sign.  Sweden and Norway have been big for recruiting!

Sold 6 70+ players in pre-season, and have four more burning the bench (2 of them are negotiating deals at the moment outside the transfer window).  Have now got about 16-17 players rated 66-69 and a shed-load of cash in the bank, with more to come.

Currently just outside the play-off places and have knocked Liverpool out of the League cup (1-0, breakaway goal in the 82nd minute).

Little update...  Won 9 of the last 10 games to earn promotion from the championship in first season on u70 career.  (I only play late in the evening so it takes a while to get through a season - especially as I can't skip games in this career because my team is terrible on paper!).

Top scorer in the league, golden boot winner (Knudsen, 29 in the league), plenty of cash in the bank.  Board set the target of keeping salary increase below 15% and I had it at 5%.

Sold Lens, Khazri, Djilobodji and Borini in the summer - along with a few fringe players.  Signed a few cheap squad players to replace them.  Now have about 50 million in the bank and only 1 player ranked over 70 in the squad (Djilobodji, who I've agreed to sell about 5-6 times only to see the deals collapse).

2 games into Premier League season - won 1, drawn 1.  Enjoying it - can't switch off for a second.  Because there's so many players ranked 66-67 I'm now buying them based on their haircuts half the time!

Depending where I finish in the league this season I may drop my u70 rule to u65!

After their 8:0 murder by PSG I started from scratch with Dijon. Ligue 1 is actually reminiscent of the Bundesliga 10 years ago. A few shabby looking clubs and stadiums but soon I think it'll be quite a modern league with all 18 clubs.

France actually has a number of great well established clubs. Interesting is how many clubs were formed not all that long ago compared to other countries. The ligue 1 theme song is pretty epic.

I signed Cahill Sainsbury as free agents while I got Smith on loan and dealt well to get Federici and Jedinak after my 8 million keeper did his arm and Amalfitano failed to get things going. 

Ulloa from Leicester was a handy signed as was Moritz Hartmann from Ingolstadt. Their side has very few wide men with good passing. Ollie Banks from Oldham, now Swindon has served me well on the years. Great tall passing midfielder. Cheap Rogic version.

From the original Dijon side, midfielder Marie is a handy type while I'm starting to enjoy Yambere in defence for his heading and strength. Djilobodji is still on loan from Sunderland but I won't keep him.

It never happens by the first September wherever I've managed but this time after 3 reboots I got Australia as a national team job. I'll go to 2018 with Cahill. 

Wow that'd definitely be a big change. If I remember correctly 14 to 17 was quite similar. 17 18 had a few changes. 

It's hard for me to enjoy the premier league. I absolutely hate the TV graphics in sky blue and all of that. I know it's genuine but it's a bit of an eyesore.

Lower leagues in England appear a bit more economical. I also feel the premier league gets easy once you get a gun side and City, Chelsea etc barely take it to me. Bundesliga always say Bayern as a massive challenge. 

Stand-off a little more - don't dive in and make them pass it through you.  They don't shoot particularly accurately.  Beyond that, focus on scoring more than them.  On previous FIFA games I've gone through a 38 game season scoring about 40-50 goals but only conceding about 20 (spells where 1-0, 0-1 or 0-0 seemed to be the only result I could get).  Now I'm on about 60-70 goals per season, conceding 40-50.  Got promoted from the Championship with 80plus goals scored and over 50 conceded.

Quick update...  The reality of playing with in the EPL with an awful set of players is setting in...  Fighting relegation (not in the relegation zone though).  Have had to drop a couple of my better players because their ratings got up to 70.  Certainly keeping the challenge real.  Every time I score there's a genuine sense of achievement, every time I concede it's a hammer blow.  Defensively I'm reasonably sound - it's just my finishing that's letting me down (poor strikers).

Another quick update...  Fought relegation right through to game 37, at which point I was safe.  Finished 16th.
Released a bunch of 66-68 rated players who wanted huge pay increases due to being in the EPL, despite still being very average players.

Only problem with my Season #3 targets from the board is their insistence that I make a 26 million profit by the end of the January transfer window - because I have no assets I can sell for much over a million, and anyone I sell has to be replaced.  Suspect I won't make half of that.  It won't get me sacked, but it will be a fail on my record.

I've sold a few lads who had 'developed' to '70' and couldn't be picked again, and pretty much anyone else I got a 7 figure offer for.

Meanwhile, have signed a fresh bunch of nobodies, and will sign another 4-5 before summer transfer window closes.  No one in the squad is earning over 10k/week.

Targeting bringing in a new 'u69' ranked team 1-11, on Bosman deals, during the January window.  No reason other than to see if I can.

could you loan out some high potential players, bring them back from loan and sell them?

that way you are not playing them.

i started a new game with huddersfield - finally on legendary with no slider adjustments.  it was difficult at first but it's now january and im in 5th place.

so i deleted all my games and thought i should start again. i want to use a couple aussies but the good ones are too old for a long campaign.  i wish you could adjust the ages and tinker with the potential.  

i started a game with st pauli and then fc basel in the championship.  basel was too easy and im over the st pauli squad from last fifa.

im lost with what to do now. i always use melbourne city from league one or two but im a bit over it.  it sucks that you can't sell the players.  one of my favourite things about career mode is getting a new team, stripping out all the deadwood and using that cash to build a solid team to get by until you can afford some big hitters.  but now you can't sell shit and the team just feels stagnant.

Long term I have no cash problems - I'm spending a fraction of what I get from being in the EPL.  Profits are healthy - just no way to get that quick profit to keep the board happy.  20-25 million in 2 months when you've got no-one to sell is hard going!!  I failed that little challenge, but still battling through on the pitch.
It's funny, but as a Sunderland fan my interest in FIFA always dies off after a few seasons because once we're top of the league with a team full of 80+ players it doesn't feel at all like Sunderland...  But in this game, constantly selling anyone who gets 'too good', signing rubbish, and battling away for an occasional victory to keep me out of the bottom 3...  This really FEELS like watching Sunderland!

Half way through 3rd season now - 16th in league, 3 points above relegation zone.  Just signed 9 Bosmans for next season.  Board rating is down in the 60s, they are expecting 'mid table', I better string a few results together!  I'm curious to see how many seasons they give me before they expect European qualification.

the board expectations are such bullshit.  they give you no money and expect you to finish mid table in the EPL or something immediately after being promoted. even worse is coming up from league one to the championship and the board expect immediate promotion. when does that ever happen?  maybe if a new owner came in and loaded you up with cash.

I could meet their expectations easily if I played the game the way 'normal' people do.  But because I'm an idiot who insists on doing things the hard way...  

I think I've proved my point (to myself) on the current game - promoted to Prem, then stayed there, and look like staying up again this season - without any player ranked over 69 in any team I've picked (played all the games too - no sims).  Have my squad set for next season but don't know if I can be bothered to play another struggling year - even if it does genuinely feel like the real Sunderland.

you could always stack the sliders towards the AI and actually make the game more difficult.

Going to try this. Once my team gets chemistry, victory is quite easy. Need to have the feeling I need to tackle like crazy and really move the ball.

Quit Dijon to rescue Huddersfield. Waiting to offload their deadwood and develop Juric, Glover and Elder. Got Socceroos in the first September so 2018 WC is on .Qualifiying had finished. Aus, Saudi, India and China got in. Australia had heaps of simulated draws but smashed teams when it mattered. Brought Meredith in as reserve LB and he's quite good.

On Meredith... he is good

I have just started a career with Millwall.

Meredith is quality banging down the left side and is good at crossing as well.

With all the happy vibes going around Millwall atm how could I not get all wrapped up in it and start a career there and transfer Cahill in. I also transferred Arzani in as well

i did the save hudders thing and it was too easy in the end. i was able to get a euro spot in the first season just by dumping all but 4 of the starters and bringing in youth signings.

starting with $30 million or so made it really simple to build a killer squad under 20.  lafont, brereton, barco, sarr are all great cheap signings. - gomes, fruchtl, fry, sessengon, good cheap signings as well.  brereton was one of the best in the game until they cut his potential.  not the greatest striker, but sensational as an attacking mid. gomes had a massive potential but they cut it and now he plays better - stronger on the ball.

alphonso davies is a great signing as well. $2k salary. fuck all.  i play him as a wingback and he is a boss.  carves through the field cuts in and overloads the front 3rd.

Moving the sliders can give the AI better passing, shooting, sprinting, etc., than me...  But that's ultimately no different to me forcing myself to pick inferior players who pass and shoot less accurately, move slower, tire faster, etc.

For FIFA19 I'd love them to bring in more realistic financial controls - or a slider for career mode to alter the club's finances.  It's too easy to build a squad of superstars.

i would like more depth in the game.   
-meaningful financial control over the club. 
-manager targets that you can influence without just having to win games.
-saveable team sheets!!!!! so you can actually change formaitons/tactics in mid game to a saved formation with tactics and player instructions that are pre set.
-saveable team sheest, so you can copy the team sheet and have a second team of youth/outer players that you use in cup games etc without having to swap the whole team out one by one before a game. 
-saveable team sheets,so you can take your prefered formation, tactics, player instructions into a new team.
-saveable team sheets, so you can load it up when you are playing multiplayer.
-broader training.  being able to group train and set areas of focus.
-being able to hire trainers and facilities that influence training. better trainers might be able to get better scores rather than the random A-F bullshit you get when you auto train.
-being able to hire med staff and facilities to influence injury recovery and prevention
-hiring youth training staff to improve/influence the development of the youth players. even focus areas - attacking, defensive, goalkeeping trainers with passing, shooting, tackling, etc stats of their own.
-Scouting of the league you are in and teams you play.  Maybe hiring scouts for this.  I call bullshit on not having scouting information on every team you play against in your league and in cups.  irl every team has week to week info on the teams they play. this scouting information should also be accessible to transfers.  the current scouting system is useless bullshit.  the only use it has is singling out a player for more information. the "global transfer network" is useless.
-fixing the "transfer has broken down" bullshit. any player that is flat told they are never going to be playing in your team would leave.

there's so much more.  career mode just feels neglected. the transfer cut scene changes this year are good.  clunky but good. at least you can negotiate in a day instead of waiting a week for a random outcome.

 

1st season - 1st in Championship
2nd season - 17th in Premier League
3rd season - 14th in Premier League

4th season - it's Christmas and if I win my next game I'll be in the top half of the Prem.  Scraping wins and draws, losing a few - and sometimes getting thumped, a couple of 4-0s defeats already this season.  LOTS of transfers collapsing due to not agreeing terms.  I'm assuming the players don't want to leave the Premier League.

Highlight of this season has definitely been beating Newcastle away, with a hattrick of near identical goals from a soon-to-retire Adam Rooney.

So...  For next season, should I...
(1) Keep going with the u70 model (which is beginning to get tiresome now)
(2) Sign a bunch of youth team players and see if I can put a youth team out in the EPL
(3) Sign a bunch of top class 80+ players on Bosmans in January (I've already scouted out a dozen just in case, and have the money to do it.

EA have all but admitted the transfer system is broken and they dont know how to fix it

You'd think there's got to be a part of the program that decides if the deal collapses or not...  Just change the probability on departing players from random to certain.  It would be better for all deals to go through rather than none.

Just fix the fucken thing. Not like they arent generating revenue. Surely they could sink a few more dollars into career mode

The bubble burst...

I'm not sure if there's some kind of all-important internal confidence setting for the players - but went from mid-table in January, closer to European qualification than to relegation, to a run of 12 defeats and 2 draws in 14 games, including a couple of 4-0/5-0 thrashings.  Couldn't string 3-4 passes together.  Depressingly frustrating.  Sacked in April.  Offered the Ackrington Stanley job (4 points adrift at bottom of League 2 with 3 games to play) - drew first game, sacked.  Rehired, win and a draw, finished last...  Game crashes.

It was a terrific challenge whilst it lasted and I'm sure I'm a much better player now as a result of almost 3 full seasons in the Prem with a bunch of League One quality players.

Next career mode may have to start in League Two with someone rubbish, and see how far I can take them...  Legendary mode - pre-set sliders.

Start with AFC Wimbledon (league 1) i went to kingsmeadow august last year and watched them play doncaster. Great club i love the histiory and amazing story really. How quickly they have come up after having to start from scratch.

There is definitely coding in there. Many times i've been absolutely flying and then get a run of absolutely shit results. Frustrating really

My pre season with Sydney went pretty well making the final of the pre season cup. 3 games into the new season and i've rolled WSW, Brisbane and City 4-0, 4-0, 3-0.

While none of that is overly interesting Matt Simon got plenty of game time in the pre season games.

Come to the first international window and the australian squad is named:

O'Neill
Brillante
Zullo
Wilkinson


Matt fucking Simon :lol:

Have gone for Yoevil.  As small as it gets and a funny part of the country.  Will see how far I can take them before a crash kills me off!

Have noticed that the game appears to assign the coach a random height (for sideline graphics) - had never noticed it until now when it appears to have decided my guy is about 5'5", all the other coaches tower over 'me' when they shakes hands after the game.  Hilarious.

I went to a couple of Wimbledon games back in the 80s when they were still at Plough Lane at the peak of the crazy gang days.  Horrible place to go, horrible team to watch, but a remarkable story.  I loved that when they went to Milton Keynes the supporters just started up AFC Wimbledon.