INTRO:

Hey FIFA fans,



With the FIFA 19 season in full swing, we have another edition of the Pitch Notes, this time covering the changes contained in the fourth title update for FIFA 19, which is available now for all PC players and is targeted for release on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in the near future.



As part of our continual effort to provide clarity around the changes that we make in the game, we will be focusing, in this article, on a few of the key changes in this title update, primarily around some of those that were made in gameplay. This article will only be touching on some of the changes in this title update, for a full list of everything contained in this update, please check out this post.



GAMEPLAY

In this title update, we have focused on changes to AI Teammate defending, the effectiveness of a well timed tackle in separating the dribbling player from the ball and the effect that defensive pressure has on a player's fatigue.



AI TEAMMATE DEFENDING

We have heard the feedback from the community that it, at times, didn't feel like manually controlling your defending players was rewarding enough, and that letting the AI defend was effective enough that the reward of controlling your defending players wasn't always worth the risk. To make controlling your defenders a more rewarding and effective method of defending, we have made a couple of changes to the way that an AI Teammate will defend during the match.



Before we dive into the specific changes that were made to the defending that is done by an AI Teammate, we first need to define what an AI Teammate is.



An AI Teammate is any player on the pitch that is not being controlled by either a human, or who is not a CPU AI Controlled Player, a term we have covered in previous Pitch Notes articles, that you can find a refresher on at the bottom of this article*. So, for example, in a FUT Champions Match, where there is a human controlled player on each team, the AI Teammates would be every player on the pitch, except the two players that were actively being controlled by the humans at any given time.



Given the above, here are the situations where AI Teammates exist:





AI Teammates exist in the following circumstances: On a team with no human players. For example, the CPU-controlled team in Squad Battles. On a team with a human controlled player(s) that are not locked to specific players. For example, both teams in FUT Division Rivals. On a team with a human player(s) that are locked to specific players, that also has CPU teammates. For example, a Pro Clubs team with less than 11 human players.

AI Teammates do not exist in the following circumstances: On a team full of human players who are all locked to specific players. For example, a Pro Clubs team, with 11 human players.



With that in mind, let's focus on the two changes that were made to AI Teammate Defending in this title update.



AI Teammate Defender Shot Blocking