It's Christmas time, and with all the family gatherings and meeting up with friends, for many of you there will be some festive FIFA going down, and we're here to not only help you win, but make your friends/relatives look silly in the process.
Picking teams is always a contentious issue on FIFA, and typically it's a race to see who can get to Bayern or Barca first, but after a quick read of our reasoning for why Inter Milan are the best team to use this year, you will be winning in style with a 4.5 star team against what are often referred to as 'unfair' teams to use.
Choose Inter Milan, go to 'Formation' and select 4-4-2, the narrow diamond variation.
This should be your starting lineup:
Looks fairly unintimidating right? This is the beauty of Inter Milan. All of these players are absolutely perfect for the roles they play, there is no weak point.
Your foe will be complacent from kick-off, and here are the reasons why Inter are just as good as Bayern/Barca/Real on FIFA this year:
A rock-solid goalkeeper.
Samir Handanovic is as good as it gets.
Rated 83 overall with no form updates (he could be up to 86 overall if you have them on), he stands at 6'3" and boasts 86 reactions and 86 positioning. He'll never let you down, even against the likes of Lewandowski, Ronaldo and Suarez.
A pacey and highly skilled back-four.
Alex Telles and Martin Montoya are the perfect fullbacks for FIFA, as they have solid defensive stats, but also great speed to catch the pacey wingers of top teams, and fantastic dribbling. This is important in the narrow 4-4-2 diamond, as your fullbacks will provide your width in attack.
Cross early and often.
Murillo (or Juan Jesus here, the only position that can come down to personal preference) and Miranda are tall, strong, quick and most importantly have high defensive stats.
These guys can cope with the best attackers in the game.
The perfect midfield; A.K.A. The Triangle of Terror.
On paper, you may see some mediocre midfielders comepared to Barca/Bayern, but trust me when I say that Gary Medel is the best defensive midfielder in this game, Freddy Guarin is a tank with outrageous long-shots, and Felipe Melo is video-game football perfection.
I really can't stress how good Melo is. His passing is on point, he can score bangers from range, his tackling is extremely strong, there is no fault in his game. Easily my favourite player to use in FIFA 16.
And you'll see how effective Medel is within the first five minutes of using him, a magnet to the ball.
With Felipe Melo and Guarin in particular, SHOOT.
Rodrigo Palacio's rat-trail:
It's the source of all his powers.
The attacks flow through Palacio, who has been a monster on FIFA for some time now. He's got it all, and plays like a third striker, which is vital for the 4-4-2 narrow diamond as loads of chances fall to the CAM position.
Icardi is also a clinical finisher when the ball is threaded through to him, but really the attack is all about..
Your superstar: Stevan Jovetic.
For years Jovetic has been an unsung FIFA beast, but this year he is as good as any striker you will use. He can do everything.
Clinical finishing, strong in the air, wonderful ball control, a nice amount of pace, four-star skill moves, and for me, the best finesse shot in the game (right foot, inside the box, almost unstoppable).
Stevan is so good your opponents will think you are cheating.
Subs.
Inter have depth. If one of your men goes down injured there are numerous options on the bench to come in and do the job. These are:
Defence: Nagatomo or Davide Santon at left/right back. Juan Jesus at CB.
Midfield: Both Kondogbia and Brozovic are great options.
Attack: Adem Ljajic and Ivan Perisic at CAM, or striker. These two and Palacio can both operate up front.
Play-Style:
The 4-4-2 diamond narrow is all about passing through the middle. You've got strong passers all over the pitch, so in order to create chances you'll need simple quick passing and one-twos through the heart of the opposition, occasionally using the strikers to push wide on counter attacks and whip crosses in.
Regarding custom tactics, if you're not arsed getting that in-depth then you'll be fine with the default settings, but to really make it uncomfortable for your opponent then make the following tweaks:
- Push 'Speed' up 10. This results in snappier passing.
- Drop 'Pressure' by 10 (this will cause your back-four to start deeper, which helps against the speed demons of Barca and Bayern).
- Push 'Aggression' up 10. Watch Gary Medel win the ball for you automatically.
- Make sure 'Team Width' is around 60. This will ensure your play doesn't become too narrow.
So there it is. When your friends/cousins/anyone picks Barca or Bayern, you go to Inter, look them dead in the eye, and tell them that you are so much better at FIFA than them that you'll hammer them with a 4.5 star team.
Although a practice match or two to get used to the formation couldn't hurt.
