OTHER CRUCIAL T

IPS
How to deal with annoying players
We all know that playing FIFA can be a frustrating game, especially online when y
oure playing
someone else in the world. Many pads have been smashed, many TVs broken an
d many discs,
broken! A huge part of winning games consistently on FIFA is the ability to stay c
alm under
pressure and, probably more importantly, when your opponent is trying to wind y
ou up. There
are various ways in which people try to do this, and, if were being honest we see
why. If they
manage to get under your skin youre more likely to dive in to tackles, try to win t
he ball back
when you dont need to, move your players out of position. These are just a few
of the things
of about a hundred, what you can do when you lose your cool. Read below for inf
ormation and
tips on how to stay cool when the other person is trying to wind you up.

WATCHING REPLAYS!!

Definitely the most common form of winding-up that there is, on FIFA. You know
the ones
were talking about. Watching EVERY cut scene, watching every replay of EVERY i
ncident, when
all you want to do is get on with the game. The truth behind this is, if theyre the t
ype of person
who make you watch replays, then theyre the type of person who is going to get
very annoyed
with you doing the same back to them.
If you concede early on and they watch all the replays, dont watch. Look at your
phone for a
minute, check Twitter/Facebook or just focus on what youre going to do to get ba
ck into the
game. (If they decide to click through then youre the team kicking of so dont w
orry about
missing the restart). Then, when you hopefully get back in the game, make them
watch all the
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replays. As we said, they are likely to be the type of person who will get frustrate
d if you make
them watch your goals or yellow cards etc. Its a bit of a poor thing to do, but, if t
heyre going to
waste our time, were happy to waste theirs. Particularly if it means theyre going
to start diving
into tackles and not playing their usual game. The key is to stay calm and not let
watching the
replay annoy you.

Pausing the game at key moments

This method isnt as frequently used as the above, but is still very annoying. Som
e people will,
when they receive the ball in a dangerous area, (they might be in on goal near yo
ur GK, or 1 v 1
with the last defender) pause the game. They do this to try and catch you of gua
rd when they
restart the game and to try and annoy you. The good thing about this is that the
y are limited to
the amount of times they can do this, per game.
So, what do you do to combat getting annoyed by this? Obviously, if you concede
because of
this then its going to be annoying as its kind of cheating. What you need to do to
stop them
gaining an advantage: you have two choices. You either resume the game straigh
t away OR
wait for the timer to run down. We tend to resume the game straight away. You th
en need to
continue what you were going to do, by this we mean before they paused. If you
were going to
run to the left and jockey, continue to hold those buttons. If you were attempting
to win a
header in the box, continue to press the shoot button and hold the direction to att
ack the ball.
Simple, but still annoying.

Abusing the strong game mechanics

This might confuse you but its a really simple explanation. People who arent see
n as FIFA

purists get a lot of stick in the community, which we feel is a tad harsh at times.
If you dont
use the overpowered game mechanics to your advantage, youd be daft. Whats
annoying and
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extremely frustrating, however, is the players who ONLY use that method to try a
nd score
goals: On FIFA 13 it was pace and the OP near post finish; On FIFA 14 it was the s
printers on the
wing and the cross for the headers (as well as the lobbed through ball); on FIFA 15
is was the
pacey dribbling and, of course, lobbed through balls.
The only way to deal with this annoying you is, learn to defend against these met
hods. Not
only will this help you in the future versions of the game, it will make you a strong
er, more
rounded player. Because we were forced into defending crosses into the box over
10 times a
game on FIFA 14, we now hardly concede any headers at all because we had to a
dapt and
evolve our methods. We break down each area of the game in vast detail in our d
efending tips
pages so be sure to check them out.

Breaking the rhythm of the game

This is one of the most annoying things our opponent can do. Mainly because it u
psets any

rhythm you get going. Its not so much the waiting time, its the fact that it break
s up our style
of play. The way they break the game down is to take the maximum time (or as c
lose to as
possible), for every break in play. Goal-kicks, GK with ball in hands, throw-ins,
free-kicks, you
get the idea. This can turn, what should be a 15 minute game, into a 25 minute g
ame, which is
obviously, very annoying.
What can you do to stop this? Well, try to keep the ball in play and in your posses
sion as much
as possible is the first step. Also, as we mentioned in the replays section, if they
are the type of
person who is going to be doing this, they are going to be the type of person that
will get very
annoyed with someone else doing it to them. So, change your kickers, take your t
ime over
throw-ins. They will soon start diving in and you can force your way into the gam
e and make
them make mistakes.

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Time wasting as soon as they go in front

This one is self-explanatory. No matter when they score a goal, their mindset cha
nges and all
they want to do, is time waste. They use the above method in conjunction with th
is, which can

be very frustrating. They pass the ball around their defence and generally dont e
ven try to go
forwards and score. You need to make sure that you dont lose your cool. Just pla
y your
normal game and, if they are just keeping the ball, try to force them forwards tow
ards more of
your players. If you try to condense the pitch into your half, youll soon be winnin
g the ball.

Psychological factors
Each area we are about to discuss can help to enhance performance. As weve m
entioned over
and over again, improving each area of the game (even if its only a really small p
art), will only
be beneficial to your success. This area of sports has seen a growing interest in r
ecent years as
sports teams and individuals look to squeeze out every little bit of performance to
improve in
their given sport. Look at 100m sprinters, for example. The diference between fi
st

nishing 1 or
th

6 in their races can be as little as a 0.2 seconds. They have to try everything to
take vital
hundredths of seconds of their time as that could be the diference between winn
ing a medal
at a major tournament or not. You might think were daft for comparing FIFA to th
is but
believe us, it works!

Concentration
Concentration is a key factor in FIFA. Even more so with the fast paced nature of
FUT and Pro
Clubs game modes. You must eliminate any factors that are going to be a distract
ion when
playing the game. Youll find what works for you. We have this set-up: we make
sure the lights
are turned of; phone is on silent; door of the room were playing in is closed and
were fairly
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close to the screen. We also listen to music/radio/podcasts as we dont particularl

y like the
repetitiveness of the commentary and find it annoying.
Taking a break from the game is vital. Playing 3 or 4 hours straight (possibly mor
e) is only going
to mean your concentration levels dip and your results and performance will sufe
r because of
this. Many moons ago, when the majority of the FIFA Expert team were studying
at school we
all received this type of information below.

This is just a really simple way to show how the average persons attention declin
es over a
period of time. This is the same with FIFA.
We recommend that you take regular breaks, even if its just to go make a drink e
very couple of
games or go on your phone for a couple of minutes. Whatever it is that lets you r
elax and takes
your mind of FIFA for 5 -10 minutes, do it. Youll be less stressed, anxious and yo
ull see better
results for having had a small break.

Be patient
Having a great deal of patience when playing FIFA is essential. We will have all co
me up against
the type of player who likes to watch EVERY SINGLE replay and CUT SCENE. Dont
let this annoy
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you. If you allow yourself to become stressed and anxious then this will hinder yo
ur
performance, this is a FACT. If you do come up against someone who is watching
the replays,
stay calm, dont let it frustrate you and if you do score then you know what to do,
watch every
replay of your own. If they are doing this to you, they are the type of player who i
s likely to
become very annoyed by this so beat them at their own game.

If you lose your patience then this will lead to decreased focus and attention (whic
h we talked a
bit about earlier). Read below for more detail in these areas.

Attention and focus

As we saw in the graph above, having a high level of attention and focus is vital t
o your success
on FIFA. There is always so much going on on-screen and the pace is often very
frantic so the
more focused and attentive you are, the better your results are likely to be. Ther
e are two
main types of focus you need to be aware of, these are: external focus and intern
al focus.
External focus is looking at the whole picture, relating this to FIFA, this is the whol
e pitch and
everything that is happening on-screen. We talk about the use of radar and its
importance in
depth in the guide. Internal focus regards the persons feelings and emotions. Thi
s is where
staying calm and trusting in your ability helps hugely. This links in nicely with con
fidence.
Confidence
This is all about trusting your ability and playing to your strengths. A lot of people
will focus on
what the opposite team is like and how good their players are. This shouldnt be
your initial
thought as negative thoughts arent conducive to playing well on FIFA. You must
play to your

strengths and trust in this to help you win the game. If youre good at dribbling t
he ball, then
dribble the ball. If your strength is playing possession football, then pass, pass, p
ass.

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Goal-setting
Setting performance goals is a really underused tool and can really help to focus a
nd help you
play to your strengths. Sometimes, these goals wont be achieved but it helps to f
ocus your
play. The goals we set for each game are as follows: achieve, at the very minimu
m, 52%
possession; keep the opposition from under 8 shots per game and under 2 goals p
er game (we
trust our ability to score more than 2 in each game); achieve a pass accuracy of 8
0% minimum.
These goals force us to try and pass and keep more possession. It is easy to slip i
nto bad habits
and try to force the play, sometimes this is what is needed but we try to keep the
ball on the
floor and play a nice brand of football.

Positive and negative thinking

The key here, is to not be too critical of yourself and performance. By all means, a
nalyse your

game play and watch goals back to see where you are making mistakes but dont
pin all the
blame on yourself. More often than not, you might have conceded a good goal or
the opponent
just needs to be praised for the good piece of play. What strongly suggest that yo
u dont blame
scripting or EA AIDS (which is a term we hate). Yes, it sometimes feels like ther
e are certain
bobbles of the ball or youll concede rebound goals. Its a computer game, there
will be flaws in
it and it isnt real life. Having said that, bobbles occur in real-life, decisions are so
metimes
wrong by officials and sometimes goals are scored that shouldnt. Look at the nu
mber of high
profile GK errors we see in real-life football (rant over!!).
Going back to your positive thinking, if you are too critical this is only going to lea
d to poor
performance. In turn, this will lead to making rash decisions when playing the ga
me. Whether
its diving into tackles, rushing out with your GK or rushing your build-up play and
shots. Weve
all seen the players who do this, dont be one of them. Talking more about negati
ve thinking,
having a negative or losing mentality before a game starts is only putting you at
an immediate
disadvantage. A brilliant example of this is on FUT. The opposition team will flash
up for
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around 5-8 seconds (dependent on connection). You should be using this to analy
se where
there might be weaknesses in their team, not saying to yourself: Oh, hes got Ag
uero and
Sturridge up front. Or whoever it may be.

To summarise
All these psychological factors will help to improve your game by a small percenta
ge. People
may think were going into too much depth for just playing a computer game. W
eve played
thousands upon thousands of games and seen, in person, how the psychological s
ide of the
game can give you a real edge. Remember the following points and youll definit
ely improve:

Think positive before the game begins;

Make sure the environment youre playing in is right for you;

Set goals to achieve during the game (stats);

Stay calm and be patient;

Be confident in you playing style and ability;

Allow yourself small breaks every 2 games (3 maximum).

Thinking in advance
Thinking in advance is definitely something that will help you improve your perfor
mance. If
youve read other areas of our guides youll realise how in depth weve taken thin
gs this year.

This part of the game is a simple, but efective tool to use to help you get better
at the game.
By thinking and planning your moves youll automatically be gaining an advantag
e over your
opponent. This will involve using the on screen radar as well as ensuring that you
have used
our best camera settings information. If you have followed these camera settings i
t will give you
a great view of the pitch so you can plot your next passes or your next defensive
movements
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well in advance. A great example of forward thinking can easily be explained usin
g switch of
wings. There are a few things you need to consider when switching the play to th
e opposite
side of the pitch:

Positioning of their defenders (on the radar and on screen);

The player youre playing the pass with (obviously better to do this with pla

yers who
have high passing stats);

Body position and space of the player youre going to play the pass with;

Power of the pass;

Pressure on the ball.

All this information simply cant be gathered and processed by the human mind w
ithout
forward thinking and planning. The same applies to several other scenarios in the
game:

Defending a counter attack;

Building up a patient attack;

Planning what to do on set pieces;

Keeping possession of the ball.

The list is endless really, weve just pointed out the main ones to highlight the im
portance of
thinking in advance.

Using the radar and onscreen info

This part of the game is, for us, one of the most crucial parts of becoming an Exp
ert on FIFA 16.
The radar is very underused having conducted some research and some people e
ven described
it as a nuisance. Crazy when you think about how much information it can give
you. We guess
that people just arent aware of what on screen information can tell you about you
r own
team/players as well as the opposition. It can be hard to concentrate on more tha
n just one
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thing when there is so much going on, on the pitch. If you are one of these peopl
e, you have to
break this habit ASAP. Try to just glance at the radar and player names (at the bo
ttom of the
screen) whilst youre playing. The more you do it, the more youll get used to it a
nd it will
become part of how you play the game (then you can thank us via email or on th
e website!).

Read on to find out just how useful this information is.

Assessing your team shape

Youll need to have a basic knowledge of how a formation looks and moves in atta
ck and
defence to understand what youre looking for here. The vast majority of players
will have this
knowledge already. However, if you arent confident in this area, our tactical guid
e will provide
you with EVERYTHING you need to know. It covers: formations; work rates; player
positioning;
strengths and weaknesses of formations and tactical knowledge.
Are there gaps in your formation?
When youre defending, by looking at the radar, you can see if your team shape is
correct and
sturdy. Each dot represents a player and if you constantly check the shape of the
se dots and
constantly question if the shape looks like the formation you chose before the ga
me, this will
only help you to defend more efectively and, ultimately, make you harder to scor
e against.

Assessing their team shape

This is often the downfall of many players. They will chase the ball across the pitc
h with the
same man which will leave huge gaps (which you should be looking to exploit). T
his is where

the radar comes in handy. Each dot represents a player and, by constantly keepin
g an eye on
this information, you can see what their formation is looking like. Many players, p
articularly in
the lower divisions of seasons, will press with the same player and wont be adept
at changing
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their players. If this is the case, this has two main advantages: you can easily tire
out the
opposition players, which then makes them less of a threat when they attack; you
can exploit
areas of the field where you spot a weakness or see that the formation has fallen
apart.
Looking for gaps to launch counter attacks is an extremely efective tool and usin
g the radar to
do this is crucial, you can make your counter attacks even more efective using a
nother one of
our tips, which you can read below.

Stamina of opposition
As we briefly mentioned above, players tend to press and chase the ball in a desp
erate quest to
retrieve possession ASAP. This is one of the major downfalls of their play and if w
e look at the
stamina bar of the opposition and see they are sprinting and chasing with the sa
me player, this
is just what we want to happen. If this is happening, keep the ball and make them
chase it. This

isnt boring play, its sensible play and will only help you towards the latter stages
of the game.
Because they will have sprinted around the pitch chasing the ball, their players st
amina will be
minimal. You will find that you have more space to play your football AND it will b
e easier to
defend against that overused counter attack style of play which many teams use.
This isnt the only advantage of looking at the stamina bar. So, you should be loo
king at the bar
when you have possession but also look at their player names while they are pass
ing the ball.
This will also give you a heads up on the type of energy their players have left. D
o this at the
very start of the game and during the game at various points. If you arent comfo
rtable with
this, to start with, get used to looking at their defenders when they pass the ball a
t the back
and work your way forward. If you find that this is compromising how well you ca
n defend then
dont use it, obviously. As weve said over and over, get used to looking at the ra
dar and on
screen information and it will become easier and easier to gather all this useful inf
ormation.

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Look at opposition names

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This might seem like a strange idea but you can decipher lots of information by lo
oking at the
opposition names area (we mentioned this briefly already, talking about looking a
t their
stamina levels). The best piece of information you can get from this is, learning h
ow the
opposition is defending. You can then begin to start exploiting this to your advant
age. Before
we explain how to do this, it is important that you have a knowledge of the opposi
tion players
before the game starts and/or, you can easily recognize the players on screen. Th
is is how its
done.
1.

Watch if the players names are constantly change when youre passing th

e ball, if they
change to the man nearest the player who you have the ball with then you
know that
they are most likely using L1/LB to change player automatically each time.
This isnt a
bad thing as it isnt the most efective way to defend. You wont have too
much
pressure and will be able to take a fair bit of time to pick your passes.
2.

If, when you have the ball at the back, you see that their striker or attackin

g midfielders
are just staying on screen, you know that they are just pressing with the for
ward players
and they arent very clever when changing players. This enables you to tire
the
opposition players out quickly which we talked about above.

3.

When you have the ball at the back, you see a defender name or a CDM n

ame on their
screen.
4.

The have the player name on screen of the player in behind the closest pla

yer to the
ball. For example, if you are attacking down your right (their left). They co
ntrol the LB
but the LM is closest to the ball.

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The opposition power bar

This is something that we know will be overlooked by the vast majority of players.
You can gain
so much information from this power bar so we definitely thought it would be a
must include
for these guides.
When the opposition have free-kicks you can keep an eye on the power bar to see
what theyre
going to do. It will be displayed just over the players name. If the power button g
oes all the
way to 4 bars, you know theyre hitting a long ball and youre going to be contesti
ng a header.
If you see the power bar flicker slightly and only power up to 1 bar, you know ther
es an

opportunity to intercept the ball (as we discuss in detail over the next few pages).
From corners, you can also get loads of information about the type of corner they
re taking.
Anything under 1.5 bars of power is going to be a near post corner (or a short pas
s if there is a
man running towards, or already called in). 2 bars of power will see a ball towards
the center of
the goal and anything more than this will be a far post delivery. You can prepare f
or the ball in
and be ready to defend the ball. One more thing we should mention is what to ex
pect when
you see a full bar of power come up. If this happens, then it is DEFINITELY going t
o be a low ball
that is delivered. If you were to power up a corner fully, with the crossing/lobbed
pass button,
youd hit the ball over to the opposite side of the pitch. This is usually a tactic tha
t is used to hit
a ground pass, to the edge of the box, so if you see a full bar of power, be ready t
o hit your
change player button (to get onto the nearest defender) and be ready to try and
block the
impending shot, or pass.

Move your men when defending set-pieces

This is something that you can do both around your own area, when defending cr
osses or
corners. Also, it is extremely useful when the opposition is taking goal kicks or fre
e kicks

anywhere on the pitch. On a game mode such as Pro Clubs, when there may be 3
or more
human controlled players making runs of the ball it is vitally important that you g
et used to
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using to radar in conjunction with flicking your right stick to change players. Plea
se read on to
see more detailed examples of how to do this.
We should also mention that, the vast majority of players will try to play the short
pass and try
to guarantee keeping the ball. Even if they dont, by having your settings switche
d to air balls, if
they do go longer, then you have the time to adjust to this so you SHOULD DEFINI
TELY be trying
to cut of the shorter options of the opposition at every possible chance. If you do
intercept
from a goal kick it will ALWAYS result in a great chance to score. If you pinch whe
n they are
taking free-kicks, the majority of the time IT WILL lead to a great chance to
counter attack.
When you give a foul away or you may have been caught ofside, you have two c
hoices. The
first is to do as we suggested with the goal kicks and close down the near man. O
f course, the
opposition will have more than one short option to pass to so you arent going to i
ntercept the
ball every time. SEE THE DIAGRAM BELOW TO FURTHER UNDERSTAND THE NEXT
PART.

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Covering the short ball

We covered this earlier but just to recap, you need to be quick to cover the pass o
n the angle

but also be mindful to keep an eye on the opposition power bar. If you see the po
wer bar go
up to or more then you know they are looking to either play a longer pass on th
e ground or a
lofted ball (see the white lines on the diagram to indicate the opposition). This is
the time to
switch players OR let the air balls auto switch do the job for you.
The blue dotted movements show the options youll have to cover the short ball a
nd the player.
The black line indicates the two players you will need to switch between with your
right stick.
Youll notice that once you switch to the opposite player, then the player now cont
rolled by the
AI will start to jog back to the position you moved them from. Therefore, you sho
uld move the
man furthest from the player youre wanting to cover (player 2 in this particular s
cenario, on
the diagram) so you dont have as much work to do with the right stick switching.
The majority of players will look to play to their right or left rather than a man wh
o is front of
them so cutting this of is your priority. The more advanced players in the higher
divisions will
be wise to this so in this case you need to make a dummy run. SEE THE DIAGRAM
BELOW.
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The diagram shows you initially making the move with the darker blue line toward
s the player

but you then switch with the right stick to cover the other option (the lighter blue
line). Youll
start to get used to switching between these really quickly, the more that you do i
t. When you
become more able with this youll then be able to cover three options (more info
on this on the
defending goal kicks area).

Covering the long ball

To cover the long ball obviously will mean that you lose the opportunity to cut of t
hat short
ball. This is entirely down to you but if you start to cover the short ball and the o
pposition
player is going long every time then we would definitely recommend covering the
long ball by
following the instructions and diagram below.

So, as you can see above, the diagram shows where we have moved our player to
. This is just a

generic place to move the player. 10/15 yards deeper than your highest defender
s OR halfway
between the GK and the defensive line. We prefer the first option. This will give y
ou the
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opportunity to attack the ball and mean your defender can attack the ball forward
s (giving a
higher % chance of success), rather than back peddling and stretching to win the
header of
balance. If they play the ball too long, then youre in with a free ball for your GK
or the
defender you moved back. Dont worry about them using the wings as if they are
pumping the
ball long, in the air, the auto switch settings will still allow you to compete for the
header.
On Pro Clubs, this is something you have to do EVERY time, presuming that you ar
e taking
control of the rest of the team (doing any). You will have to be playing with at the
very least, 1
other player so they can close the short balls of. Using the diagram below to exp
lain, you will
notice that on pro clubs you will get the human controlled players trying somethin
g very similar
to the diagram we have produced.

Because the AI players will want to mark the opposition player runs, they can expl
oit this flaw in
the game by taking 2 or more players and moving them into advanced space with
, as you can
see on the first diagram, leaves a huge area of space down the middle of the goal
. They will
then make the runs you can see on the diagram and launch the ball down the mid
dle where
there players will be easily onside. Using the diagram above, this is how you can
stop this from
happening. As you can see, you have to be quick, use the right stick to change pl
ayer and cover
that run and place a player in the gap that theyre looking to exploit. If they do th
is with 2
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players, place your defender right in the center of the pitch (dark blue player), if t
hey just have
1, then position yourself, slightly to the side (light blue players), as the diagram s
hows. This will
stop being exploited by this and, once youre more comfortable with the techniqu
e, if theyre
using one player you can flick the right stick to move the defender back up into li
ne with the
other defenders and try to force an ofside. ONLY USE THIS ONCE YOURE USED T
O THE SET-UP.

To read a more detailed piece on defending opposition goal kicks, see earlier in th
e guide.

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