Published on by FutEconomist 19 Comments

In terms of gameplay skills, I am not an exceptional FIFA player. I freely admit that I am, at best, slightly above average. This is especially true for my finishing ability, which my roommate claims is, “literally the worst he’s ever seen.”

Right about now, you’re probably thinking that this is a rather odd way of establishing ethos if I’m meant to be writing a post about how to do well in the Weekend League. Ironically, it is precisely my lack of skill that makes me qualified to write this post. To compensate for what is often a lack of skill, I’ve learned to adopt a number of tactics that help me grind out wins in Weekend League. In fact, the other week when I was on Spring Break/Holiday and finally found the time to complete all 40 games (my first time doing so since November), I managed to finish 1 game off of Elite 2.

In this post, we’ll be covering a number of things that I’ve learned to that help me make up for my lack of skill, including; how to control your emotions and win the mental game, maintaining concentration, and how to hold leads (yes, for better or worse that includes time wasting tactics).

Control Your Emotions

If there is one piece of advice that I could pass on, it’s that one’s ability to control their emotions while playing FIFA is incredibly important.

Adrenaline is Your Enemy

When we get angry, an experience all too familiar to the average weekend league warrior, the main hormone responsible for how we feel is adrenaline. Adrenaline is usually useful because it helps us make quick decisions, but that does not necessarily mean it will be the right decision. In addition, while adrenaline gives a significant boost to our gross motor skills (the ones that involve large muscle groups and are responsible for major body movements such as running, charging, etc.), the efficiency of our fine motor skills (responsible for the fine movements required for handling a controller) take a heavy hit. In summary, adrenaline causes FIFA players to quickly make poor decisions that are likely executed incorrectly. Doesn’t exactly sound like a recipe for success. So, let’s talk about a couple ways to control adrenaline…

Pause after conceding: After you concede, especially if the goal was bullshit, pause the game and let the full 30 seconds timeout. During this time, do whatever you have to do to collect yourself. You need to physically calm your body down and allow it to come off the adrenaline induced high. I usually take a couple of deep breaths, but I’ve been told that drinking water is particularly helpful.

Don’t yell: Verbally shouting has been linked with increased adrenaline levels.

Take breaks in-between matches: After a game, especially one that didn’t go your way, take a sizable break. For me, I usually go and trade/monitor the market for ~5 minutes before going back into a game.

Listen to music: The cheers and chants of the crowd are designed to raise excitement levels. This excitement, a.k.a. adrenaline, can be avoided by playing with the sound off, or by listening to music.

Laugh at the game: This is a tough one, but it’s helped me tremendously. If something happens in the game that pisses you off, try and see it a funny light. Did Butland just let the ball roll through his legs? Try and see that as something goofy or funny. Even if you have to fake it, studies have shown that even forced smiles and fake laughter improve mood and reduce anxiety/stress levels.

Keeping Perspective

There is bullshit in this game. Any game with this much AI control combined with highly variable user input it going to have it. At times, it can feel like the game is against us. When the odds seem stacked against you, it can be easy to get frustrated. To help cope, I like to keep track of all the times I’ve been lucky. That way, when something goes against me, I can better remember that statistically, over a large enough sample of games (40 for example), the bullshit will even itself out between you and your opponents.

Keeping Concentration

Staying focused for 40 games is difficult. However, in terms of earning successful records, it’s importance is criminally underrated. So, let’s talk about ways to improve/maintain it…

Get Enough Sleep

This is probably the most important piece of advice I can offer here. As an incentive to get good sleep, let’s rattle off a number of the negative effects of drowsiness…

Reduced reaction time: Studies have shown that drowsiness (which, in this study, was defined by less that four hours of sleep) reduced reaction time by 7%.

Impaired problem solving/creativity: One of the first things to go when we get tired is our ability to quickly process and creatively solve complex problems. And if you think about it, that’s what FIFA is, a complex problem that you are competing against an opponent to solve. The big hit here is the lack of creativity. Stale, repetitive gameplay is very easy to defend.

Increased emotional volatility: When we are low on sleep, it’s hard to control our emotions. Like we’ve already covered, controlling our emotions is vital.

Take 24 Minute Naps

If you find that you are drowsy but are falling behind on your game schedule, take a 24 minute nap. It’s been proven that this is the optimal short nap length. In fact, NASA astronauts take daily 24 minute naps because of it. To be clear, this is 24 minutes of time asleep. You’ll need to adjust your alarm according to how long it takes to fall asleep on average.

Play Actively

This is going to be tough to explain, but it’s important so I’ll do my best. Just like you can read text without actually reading/comprehending it, you can play FIFA in cruise control. Don’t let yourself coast in a competitive game of FIFA, you won’t like the results. To help avoid this, you can do a number of things;

Constantly think 1-2 passes ahead.

Look for open players on the minimap

Notice what players your opponent has selected on defense by how they are moving and try to avoid/confuse that selected player

Actively think about varying your gameplay style/build-up play in order to keep your opponent on their toes, etc.

Space Out Your Games

This is incredibly important. I would never recommend playing more than 10 games in a session. As you play more games in a row, just like in any mentally strenuous activity, your brain fatigues. The first aspect that you’ll lose in your gameplay will be your offensive creativity. This will make your attacks predictable and easy to defend against.

Hydrate/Eat/Exercise

This is another big one. You don’t want any ounce of brainpower, even if it’s being devoted to a primal instinct, worried about anything other than the game you are trying to win. * As a side note, as FIFA gets more competitive, you’ll notice that many of the pro players treat their bodies as if they were traditional athletes. This is because they recognize the positive effects it can have on their gameplay.

Avoid Distraction

This is obvious, but try and reduce outside distractions. That includes twitch streams, youtube, Netflix, etc. Even just having a roommate talking to you takes your mind off the game. And as I’m sure we all know, a momentary lapse in concentration can be costly, especially when you are playing top level players.

If you are playing in an environment that is always going to provide distractions, I find that listening to methodical, instrumental based music (limited lyrics) helps me focus. If you want to get really intense, you could even just play white noise in a pair of headphones, but that seems rather dramatic if you ask me.

Holding Leads

Let’s talk about holding leads. If you find yourself in the fortunate position of being in the lead towards the end of the game, your opponent is going to do everything they can to get back into the game. Let’s go over some tactics you can use to see the game out…

Don’t Go Into a Shell

The biggest tip that I can offer is that you don’t want to totally give up on your style of play. After all, unless you’ve paid off the FIFA gods, your play style is likely what earned you the lead in the first place. Just like real life, there is only so much pressure that a clearance into row zed can alleviate. We are just going to tweak a couple of things to make it more difficult to score on us.

Adjust Your Lineup/Tactics

Right after you score a late go ahead goal or when you are nearing the end of the game while holding a lead (I usually wait until the 70-75th minute to make these changes) pause the game. Once you’ve done so, it’s time to make some changes. Here are the changes I recommend;

Clog the Midfield : Switch to a formation that clogs the midfield. Personally, I prefer to switch to a 41212(2). Once you’ve done this, adjust the player instructions so that your CDMs and CMs are set to stay back while attacking (do the same for your left and right backs if you don’t normally play them as such).

: Switch to a formation that clogs the midfield. Personally, I prefer to switch to a 41212(2). Once you’ve done this, adjust the player instructions so that your CDMs and CMs are set to stay back while attacking (do the same for your left and right backs if you don’t normally play them as such). Custom Tactics : Switch yourself over to counter attack. This combo will help you keep a compact midfield to snuff out attacks, while keeping your opponent honest with your three attacking players on the brake (CAM and two strikers).

: Switch yourself over to counter attack. This combo will help you keep a compact midfield to snuff out attacks, while keeping your opponent honest with your three attacking players on the brake (CAM and two strikers). Tactical subs : In my opinion, bringing on defensive subs is overlooked by the competitive community. I highly recommend keeping two defensive minded midfielders as substitutes that can act as fresh ball winners. They should be replacing your attacking minded midfielders (or a winger depending on your formation).

: In my opinion, bringing on defensive subs is overlooked by the competitive community. I highly recommend keeping two defensive minded midfielders as substitutes that can act as fresh ball winners. They should be replacing your attacking minded midfielders (or a winger depending on your formation). Defensive Substitutes : Keep in mind that the advantage that these subs bring is speed and stamina that your opponent’s players won’t have at the end of the game. Accordingly, players like Kante and Renato Sanches are good looks.

: Keep in mind that the advantage that these subs bring is speed and stamina that your opponent’s players won’t have at the end of the game. Accordingly, players like Kante and Renato Sanches are good looks. Offensive Substitutes : This should be someone with speed and strength that can hold the ball up with shielding and keep your opponent honest on the attack. Martial comes to mind as a good option.

: This should be someone with speed and strength that can hold the ball up with shielding and keep your opponent honest on the attack. Martial comes to mind as a good option. Switch to Defensive: In my opinion, switching to ultra defensive or park the bus while your opponent is on ultra attacking or all out attack is begging for them to score a long shot. You get too compressed in the box on these settings and one missed tackle can lead to a wide open look for a long shot. Don’t reinvent the wheel at the end of the game, just be a bit more cautious.

Track Back with your attackers

In the beginning of the game, you should be cautious about defending with your attacking players. Having them track back constantly can burn their stamina and put them out of position for counter attacks. However, at the end of the game, your only worry is not conceding. If you lose the ball and the option is there, try tracking back with your speedy strikers, especially if you’ve just brought them on as a sub. You’ll be surprised at how proficient some attackers are at defending, especially ones with good height, strength, and speed.

Time Wasting Tactics

This is going to be a bit of a touchy subject. It is extremely frustrating when someone effectively timewasters against you. Therefore, before we get into this, I ask that you use these tactics sparingly. For example, if you are winning 3-0 in the 85th minute, in my opinion, timewasting is a bit scummy, you just don’t need to do. It’s important to win and lose with grace, even if it’s just a video game. But I’m guessing you all don’t care what I think, so let’s just go over some ways to burn the clock;

Slide Tackle: If you manage to get to the end of the game with the majority of your players booking free, it may be worth trying to stop promising looking attacks with slide tackles that you would otherwise not attempt for fear of racking up cards. Not only does this stop an attack, but it also leads to a free kick. And as I’m sure you are all aware, for some reason, offensive free kicks often lead to counter attacks when the opponent is pressing.

Avoid the Keeper’s Hands: One of the quickest ways to launch a counter attack is by having your keeper distribute to a winger with a long throw. For this reason, on corner kicks and with crosses towards the end of the game, aim for the near post and far post to try and avoid letting the keeper catch it cleanly.

Be Aware of Field Position: The most obvious way to limit your opponent's chance of making a comeback is to limit their possession. The most common tactic is to pass the ball around the back, but in my opinion, the risk of gifting your opponent a goal is too high. Instead aim to keep hold of the ball in the final third, on the wings. However, unlike in real life, don’t trap yourself in the corner. It can be difficult to work your way out of there and often times your right and left backs push up too far to help, making you susceptible to counter attacks. Instead, there is a happy medium in between the halfway line and the end line on the corner of the 18 where holding the ball is quite easy once you get used to your formation.

Set Pieces: Set pieces are a great way to drain the clock. The first step (please use this sparingly) is to milk the amount of time you have before putting the ball back into play. Let’s break down how to take different free kicks In Own Half: Take it short and quickly distribute to your backs or wingers. Don’t dribble. Middle Third: Change the free kick view, manually select a winger, and move them into a position where they can receive the free kick uncontested. Aim for the corners. Final Third: Take it short and learn to not lose the ball. You must be able to hold it at least until your team can resume it’s normal defensive shape. If you can’t do this, kick the ball out of bounds. Yes, seriously, you are better off defending a deep throw-in/goal kick than a counter attack from a failed free kick. Corner Kick: Learn to take them short and hold the ball.



More to come?

This post is already getting too long, so I’m going to stop it here. Hopefully these tips help you enjoy weekend league a bit more. There is still more that I could cover including but not limited to; how to counter common tactics and playstyles, coming from behind, how to play against players who are more skilled than you, and other miscellaneous tips. If this post goes over well, and this is something that you’d be interested in, I can get working on another post where I cover those. Let me know!

Also, if you think that I missed any important tips related to these topics, please put them in the comment section!