FIFA 20: Playing with FC Barça (and winning)
If you’re football (soccer) crazy, with leagues cancelling games in light of Covid-19, you’re likely turning to EA FIFA to get your soccer fix—like me and several others. And of course you want to WIN!
I recently saw an ad for a site offering paid tutorials promising to help players improve their FIFA20 game. Motivated by that ad I am offering up my tips and tactics—for FREE :).
If you’re wondering (as you should) what experience and success I have to advise on tactics: I’ve played every edition of EA FIFA starting 2008 except for a break the last three years. Since that hiatus, I’ve played a lot of EA FIFA20—mainly online seasons. Made it to Div 1 (as I did in previous editions when Seasons was introduced). Looks like I still got it! (Just add ashfun on xbox to play me!)
A few things to help you decide if this is a useful read for you:
- Tactics/settings described below are for Online Seasons and particular to Barça since I play exclusively as that team. General principles applicable to all teams.
- My preferred style of play is a slow buildup—getting opposing team players out of position and picking out runs into the box for scoring opportunities
- This isn’t a skill moves tutorial—I seldom use any skill moves beyond the basic stepovers and fake shots
- Familiarity with Team settings in FIFA20 is assumed
Contents
General Principles
1. Match Team and Tactics to your preferred style of play (or vice versa)
This should go without saying but I’ve seen players frustrated by this in chats, forums and matches. For example: you cannot expect to play a controlled possession game by setting your team to defend deep and play for a fast buildup/long ball when in possession! (Nor can you do it with Piemonte Calcio even though it has that guy.) Just as Barça is a bad pick if you want pace and speedy attacks. PSG is better team for you. In short: pick a team and style that suits you. There are plenty of online guides on teams and their strengths. Use them.
2. Treat it like a game of Chess
The great Pirlo said:
Football is played with the mind; your feet are just tools
This is even more true of the console game where physical demands are few to none. It’s useful to visualize the pitch as a chess board and the players as chessmen. You and your opponent are really just vying for more advantageous positions—each person’s options determined and limited by the other’s at each instant. Building an advantageous position isn’t typically achieved with one move! Instead, string passes over time, gradually looking to draw opposing players out of position and giving your team an advantage in the box to create goal scoring opportunities. This requires patience—and is my preferred overall style of play.
3. Read your opponent's game and switch tactics in game as needed
There is NO single all powerful tactic setting. If there were, that would be all that people played, making this game zero fun, not to mention a failed simulation of the real jogo bonito. Almost any 5 star team tactic can be effectively countered by any other 5 star team!
Consequently, you cannot expect to consistently win playing the same single tactic. In game changes are a must, especially as you get to the higher divs (1-3) where you will find more patient players and a greater variety of styles that EA FIFA allows for.
I personally have three distinct styles I use based on my assessment of my opponent’s play and the effectiveness of my current style of play. They’re described below along with when and how I switch between them.
4. When should you change tactics?
You change when your game is not effective. How do you tell if you’re playing effectively? Answer: NOT by the scoreline.
Football is notoriously unfair. Just take the recent UCL 2nd leg at Anfield where Liverpool dominated Atlético Madrid over 90 mins only to lose the game and the tie in extra time! The FIFA series seeks to replicate this unpredictability of the game through probabilistic outcomes to game play situations. You can get 5 heads in a row with a fair coin toss. So rather than the outcome of the toss, count how many times you got to toss the coin! i.e. not goals scored, but ‘good’ scoring chances and clear shots on target from inside the box are the best measures of effective performance.
If you haven’t had any meaningful chances or shots in a 10 min span of FIFA time while your opponent has had a few or worse, many, then your tactics are clearly not working. Again, it doesn’t matter if the score is still 0-0—one of those shots against you will go in eventually. Tweak or switch immediately.
What should you rectify? I’ve tried to cover my approach in the Tactics section below describing my tactics.
5. Build a large repertoire of passing and finishing moves
I am not a big fan of what the inimitable Ray Hudson calls coffeehouse tricks a.ka. fancy skill moves like the rabona or the rainbow. Without question, they’re entertaining to watch but honestly, you don’t need them to win. Just check the EA FIFA World Cup videos on YouTube like this one where you seldom see any advanced skill moves.
Instead, ensure you are familiar with the list of passing and scoring techniques. Here’s a list of them all. Besides the usual ball shielding, one-twos, driven passes and finesse and chip shots, brush up on the few new ones in this edition—especially strafe dribbling, lofted through pass and lofted pass. I find the lobbed pass to be particularly useful in getting the ball past tight defenses especially when in the box. Here’s an example:
6. Don't get harried, buy yourself time (and space).
It’s easy to feel and act rushed by aggressive opponents whose players seem to be able to double team yours, the moment you get the ball. Buy yourself time by not over-controlling!—your controller nor your player. Take a moment after receiving the ball; shield it if needed to give yourself more time before deciding your next action vs. moving right away only to make it easier for your opponent to steal the ball. The strafe dribble is particularly useful in creating space since it allows player motion without player forced to turn in the direction of motion. And every player can do this regardless of rating!
My Barça Tactics
1. Formation (4-3-3)
I favor the default 4-3-3 which best suits the current roster. I seldom switch. If anything, I use the D-pad tactics to effectively tweak formation a bit (like adding an extra striker and attacking fullbacks when I’m attempting a late comeback).
2. Move Messi to the Center
Messi’s default position in the 4-3-3 is RW. I find this to be ineffective even with the Free Roam player instructions. In fact I find myself winning fairly consistently when playing against a Barça opponent who has Messi on the wing. As Pep Guardiola famously realized, the touchline is an additional defender and having Messi play close to it is to give the opposing team an extra player on Messi. It’s hard to get him involved in the play as much when he is away on the right. And you don’t want that—you want the opposite. Just as in real life (if you’re a Barça fan, you want your best dribbler, passer and shooter as involved as possible in the game. Move him over as a Number 9 (Center forward). Optionally play him as a False 9 (discussed later). Here’s an example of Barça vs. Barça with blaugrana jersey Messi as RW vs. Yellow jersey Messi (me) as CF.
3. Tactics (default and alternatives)
a. Balanced (default go to)
I start games use these tactics which are balanced in most respects. Most payers tend to play a fast counter attacking game. So I set defensive width to be narrow and depth low, both at 5 out of 10 bars to ensure I’m not cut open through the center. It’s better to concede room on the wings and contain plays through the flanks than deal with a Ronaldo or Mbappe 1:1 with a defender or worse the goalkeeper!
Important tweaks I make to have this team work for me are to have Alba attack while Semedo stays back; Griezy and Suarez cut inside and Messi (balanced by default) but switch to a False 9 when I’m unable to get him the ball deep into the opponents half.
Instructions:
- Messi: Balanced or False 9 (when I find it hard to penetrate opponents half)
- Griezemann: Cut Inside
- Suarez: Cut Inside
- De Jong and Arthur: Join Attack
- Busquets: Stay back
- Alba: Join Attack
- Semedo: Stay back
With these settings, I’m ready to play my preferred style: thoughtful buildup, getting my forwards in the box and using one of the good passers—Busquets, DeJong or Messi to play a ball into one of the forwards to get a shot at goal. But this isn’t always possible. Time to improvise.
b. Aggressive opponents
It’s tempting I suppose for folks to go all out on attack: moving the team depth slider all the way, applying constant pressure and rapid build up, aiming to win the ball deep in my half. With these settings especially in the hands of a skilled opponent, it’s hard to play with my default settings and I have to switch. I have two tactics to counter this based on the following principles:
- When you commit too many players forward, you leave room at the back for a counter (if you can break through the hard press)
- When you’re pressing from min 1, you’re players tire faster and are particularly vulnerable starting ~ min 30
Tactic 1 (Set in the defensive slot):
- Use Drop back as the defensive tactic and stay narrow in defense depth and
- Play a long ball or fast buildup when in possession.
Players instinctively move apart finding more space when I have possession, giving me room to make a pass and break the high, double press. 3-4 passes and I am in the opposition box with a chance to score.
Check out the video below.
Depending on if I am able to penetrate opposition defense, I might play Messi as a False 9 (Player Instructions or use D-pad Striker drops back) to be able to drop back and get the ball.
Tactic 2 (Saved in the Attacking slot):
After min 30 or so I know the opposing team players are going to be fatigued. They’re less effective at pressing, tackling and easier to sprint by. I take advantage of this by:
- Moving my team up to win the ball closer to opponents goal
- Applying a team press/constant pressure
The video below is an example of in game change of tactics and it highlights:
- An aggressive opponent (Blaugrana Barça, I’m the yellow kit)
- Assessing my play/tactics as ineffective given my opponent has had two great chances while I’ve had little possession in the first 10 mins of play
- Change of tactics around the 1:20 mark. This immediately creates more passing opportunities, allowing me to break the high press
- Immediate impact—not because of the goal, but the scoring chance itself
That’s all for now. Thanks for looking! What FIFA play styles and tactics work for you? Feel free to share in the comments.
2 thoughts on “FIFA 20: Playing with FC Barça (and winning)”
amazing post and an informative one. shame I play on ps4 only…would like to learn more from playing against you.
I use any team mostly using 4231 narrow but with dpad – hug sideline tactics on and off. Patient barca user with great dirbbling skills and an eye for pass is totally a nightmare tho…
Thanks Jovani. Glad you found it useful. I wish FIFA seasons allowed cross platform play. So many more players on PS4.
I also use 4-4-2 at time (esp. in the first 20 mins of game) with Messi in midfield to help break the high pressure from Liverpool and PSG players.