EA Sports FC 25 is set to be the year’s biggest seller (Electronic Arts)(Electronic Arts)
After one week with EA Sports FC 25, we give our verdict on the revamped tactics system and what strategies you should use to become a top player.
EA Sports FC 25 is a very ambitious sequel, as it makes significant changes to how the AI works, while adding 5v5 game mode Rush, new animations, PlayStyles, and more. It doesn’t quite stick the landing but it is a very good football sim.
The most intriguing new feature in this year’s edition is the revamped tactics system, which completely changes not just how strategies work on the pitch but how you can set up your team before a game.
We’ve been playing EA Sports FC 25 for a week now, and have experimented with the tactics to understand what works and what doesn’t. Here are our findings.
How revamped tactics work in EA Sports FC 25
The revamped tactics work side-by-side with the new AI system, called FC IQ, which aims to make the in-game opponents and teammates smarter in their actions.
‘FC IQ Team Tactics introduces systems used by football’s top tacticians and upgrades the football IQ of every player on the pitch. As a result, your whole team will think and behave more like real-world pros,’ EA explains in a blog post.
Practically speaking, tactics are different in that there is now a new user interface, with less team and player-specific instructions but new options such as build-up style, defensive approach, and, most importantly, player roles.
Real Madrid has some team in EA Sports FC 25 (Electronic Arts)
Player roles let you give each player a job on the pitch, like, for example, a false nine or a falseback (just like an inverted fullback in Football Manager), with a sub-focus of attacking, balanced, or defensive.
A very important note on player roles is that you should always make sure that your players are familiar with the role you give them (which is displayed with a green plus sign). The new AI doubles the importance of this, as it will determine just how well your player interacts with the game based on this.
A bad tactic will hurt you on the pitch (Electronic Arts)
The best tactics in EA Sports FC 25
Now that we know how tactics work, let’s look at how to set up your team, and what does and doesn’t work in EA Sports FC 25.
What works best, despite all the changes to tactics and the AI, is playing a simple and direct style, just like in previous editions of the game.
In the team tactics menu, once you’ve selected your formation, you’ll want to set build-up style to balanced or counter, with the latter triggering your players to make the most forward runs when you have the ball.
As for defensive approach – and this is quite tricky – it’s best to set up with either a balanced or high defensive line. Anywhere between 50 and 70 seems to work quite well, with 60 being a nice sweet spot with the AI tracking runs and applying pressure without the ball.
We recommend playing a formation with two wingers, who can either dribble or are very fast, and a striker who is always waiting for crosses in the box. There are lots of good options, including the 4-4-1-1 (2), 4-3-3 (4), 4-4-2, and 4-1-2-1-2. Having a player in the attacking midfield position, either as a focal point in your passing build-up or as a shadow striker to attack crosses, is also worth considering.
You’ll want to go into player roles and make sure you have a striker set as poacher or advanced forward. Next, put one or both of your wide midfielders as a winger with attacking focus, or as an attacking inside forward, as this will make sure they’re positioned high up the pitch.
Additionally, having at least one attacking wingback is also helpful if you want more presence on the flanks, where there’s the most space to operate in.
If you have an attacking midfielder, the shadow striker role is best if you want more runs into the opponent’s box. The playmaker role is a bit better if you want to use them as a passing target in the build-up, but we recommend using the balanced focus and not roaming, which doesn’t seem to do much.
Give your tactics a good think before you start playing (Electronic Arts)
What tactics don’t work in EA Sports FC 25
One of the criticisms in our review was that the revamped tactics are limited and part of that is because the new falseback role isn’t as helpful as it could be. It’s very cool that you can use it but because there aren’t any good, attacking player roles for the central midfielder, the falseback often positions themselves too close to the other midfielder.
The falseback can be helpful in the build-up phase if you play slow, but that brings us to what really doesn’t work: the short passing style.
We’ve spent a lot of time trying to create a good tactic with short passing build-up that focuses on keeping the ball while patiently moving it up the pitch, like Manchester City and Arsenal often do in real life.
There is now a great feature that lets you see your team setup with and without the ball (Electronic Arts)
The problem is that once you get into the final third of the opposition’s half, nobody is making any productive runs towards the goal. It’s easy enough to keep the ball there, but it’s extremely difficult to play your way through the (now improved) AI’s defensive shape.
What would be great here is if EA implemented a feature that lets you create custom set plays, that are triggered at certain points on the pitch, so you can build tactics and decide which runs players should make at specific times, like in previous NBA and NHL editions.
We also don’t recommend playing with an extremely aggressive defensive approach, if you play at world class difficulty or above, as it’s very difficult to take advantage of a high line and press the opponent as a team. This is because the AI is smarter now, makes fewer mistakes, and is quite good at dribbling its way up the pitch. Additionally, a high defensive line requires more stamina from your players.
It’s a shame that the short passing option doesn’t work very well, because the revamped tactics do a lot of good – at least in terms of making the game more realistic – but together with FC IQ it doesn’t facilitate possession strategies very well yet.
Those of us who are tired of playing the same direct tactic meta year after year will just have to cross our fingers and wait.
At least it’s a step in the right direction (Electronic Arts)
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