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The football has been back at Villa Park for nearly two months now. Each season that means it is the time of the year where popular football simulation games are being released.
Maybe you’re a loyalist and play only as ‘West Midlands Village.’ Or rather, you are like Gareth Barry and choose to dive into the time consuming abyss of Football Manager. There is also the widely popular option of FIFA and what it has to offer.
If you are like most of us on our staff, you’ve played, and will play, a bit of all three at times.
With that said, FIFA 18 is set for release on the 29th of this month. The minds behind the game have already released two patches that include full squad ratings for all of the sides featured in this year’s version.
EA releases a patch nearly every week throughout the season, so these are set to likely change. In fact, they already released an update that included a few changes to the initial individual ratings.
We still figured it might be mutually beneficial if we broke down the squad ratings for Aston Villa.
With ‘Career mode’ predominantly in mind, what we have done is compared the ratings from the latest patch (i.e. 21.09.17) to the individual ratings from the beginning of the season in FIFA 17.
Goalkeepers
GK: Sam Johnstone
FIFA 18: (Overall – 71; Potential – 79)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 68; Potential – 78)
GK: Mark Bunn
FIFA 18: (Overall – 72; Potential – 72)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 73; Potential – 73)
GK: Jed Steer
FIFA 18: (Overall – 65; Potential – 71)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 64; Potential – 69)
Takeaway:
Johnstone’s overall rating could go up a notch or two. You also have to think his potential should increase, especially if he continues to get clean sheets in the Championship.
Mark Bunn still at a 72 overall and rated higher than Sam Johnstone is absolutely ridiculous. However, if you are doing a ‘Career Mode’ as a manager, that high rating will probably allow you to sell him for a decent fee.
Defenders
RB: James Bree
FIFA 18: (Overall – 64; Potential – 80)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 61; Potential – 80)
RB: Alan Hutton
FIFA 18: (Overall – 71; Potential – 71)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 73; Potential – 73)
RB: Ahmed Elmohamady
FIFA 18: (Overall – 72; Potential – 72)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 75; Potential – 75)
RB: Ritchie De Laet
FIFA 18: (Overall – 72; Potential – 72)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 73; Potential – 73)
CB: John Terry
FIFA 18: (Overall – 78; Potential – 78)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 84; Potential – 84)
CB: James Chester
FIFA 18: (Overall – 75; Potential – 76)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 73; Potential – 74)
CB: Christopher Samba
FIFA 18: (Overall – 74; Potential – 74)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 78; Potential – 78)
CB: Tommy Elphick
FIFA 18: (Overall – 71; Potential – 71)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 74; Potential – 74)
CB: Micah Richards
FIFA 18: (Overall – 74; Potential – 74)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 77; Potential – 78)
LB: Neil Taylor
FIFA 18: (Overall – 74; Potential – 74)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 75; Potential – 75)
Takeaway:
There are a lot of fair downgrades here as many of Villa’s defenders are up there in age. The only one that seems a bit egregious is Elmo’s. Though his attacking traits for a defender (i.e. particularly crossing) are still high.
John Terry is the highest rated player in the Championship alongside Wolves loanee Alfred N’Diaye. Whatever your opinion of that, EA got it right with Terry as well as Samba when it comes to their pace. Both players have pace ratings in the 30s.
James Bree still has a rather high potential and should be a focal point in training on ‘Career Mode’ as a manager.
Micah Richards still at a 74, yours truly will be throwing him on the Transfer List.
Midfielders
RM: Albert Adomah
FIFA 18: (Overall – 74; Potential – 74)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 75; Potential – 75)
RM: Robert Snodgrass
FIFA 18: (Overall – 75; Potential – 75)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 75; Potential – 75)
CM: Conor Hourihane
FIFA 18: (Overall – 73; Potential – 74)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 69; Potential – 73)
CM: Henri Lansbury
FIFA 18: (Overall – 73; Potential – 76)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 74; Potential – 77)
CM: Jordan Lyden
FIFA 18 (Overall – 59; Potential – 69)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 59; Potential – 73)
CDM: Mile Jedinak
FIFA 18: (Overall – 74; Potential – 74)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 76; Potential – 76)
CDM: Glenn Whelan
FIFA 18: (Overall – 74; Potential – 74)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 77; Potential – 77)
CAM: Josh Onomah
FIFA 18: (Overall – 72; Potential – 85)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 70; Potential – 85)
CAM: Jack Grealish
FIFA 18: (Overall – 73; Potential – 82)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 72; Potential – 81)
LM: Andre Green
FIFA 18: (Overall – 68; Potential – 84)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 63; Potential – 79)
LM: Birkir Bjarnason
FIFA 18: (Overall – 73; Potential – 73)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 75; Potential – 75)
Takeaway:
There’s a lot to depth to digest here.
The thing that stands out the most is how Lansbury and his overall/potential ratings compare to Conor Hourihane’s. Hopefully those responsible for the updates at EA make appropriate changes to the Irishman’s ratings ASAP.
Andre Green and Jack Grealish are certainly two who have the potential to feature for a longtime in your starting XI.
Since FIFA isn’t exactly known for its realistic transfer system, even with a strict board, it definitely appears worth it to throw some £’s at Spurs in order to get Josh Onomah on a permanent.
Attackers
ST: Jonathan Kodjia
FIFA 18: (Overall – 75; Potential – 76)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 74; Potential – 76)
ST: Scott Hogan
FIFA 18: (Overall – 71; Potential – 75)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 67; Potential – 72)
ST: Keinan Davis
FIFA 18: (Overall – 60; Potential – 73)
FIFA 17: N/A
ST: Ross McCormack
FIFA 18: (Overall – 73; Potential – 73)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 76; Potential – 76)
ST: Gabby Agbonlahor
FIFA 18: (Overall – 69; Potential – 69)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 73; Potential – 73)
ST: Rushian Hepburn-Murphy
FIFA 18: (Overall – 61; Potential – 76)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 61; Potential – 76)
Takeaway:
‘Jimmy Danger’ gets an upgrade, but that is not enough of one in our eyes. We’re not saying he should push into the 80s, but certainly a bit closer.
Scott Hogan looks a nice player to have in your side, particularly at the Championship level. He actually has a higher pace rating (i.e. 90) than Gabby in this year’s version. You could do well by doing the opposite of Steve Bruce.
Great to see Keinan Davis in the game! He and Hepburn-Murphy are young players that should improve with targeted training.
On the topic of young players at Villa, we certainly would like to see some other youth talent, most notably Callum O’Hare, make their debut on a later patch. Also, given his play for England in its U19 World Cup victory, the return of Easah Suliman should be in order.
Loaned out
GK: Pierluigi Gollini – Atalanta
FIFA 18: (Overall – 70; Potential – 78)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 71; Potential – 79)
GK: Matija Šarkić – Wigan
FIFA 18: (Overall – 58; Potential – 72)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 55; Potential – 71)
CB: Kevin Toner – Stevenage
FIFA 18: (Overall – 62; Potential – 72)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 62; Potential – 74)
LB: Jordan Amavi – Marseille
FIFA 18: (Overall – 74; Potential – 80)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 76; Potential – 84)
CM: Aaron Tshibola – MK Dons
FIFA 18: (Overall – 67; Potential – 77)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 66; Potential – 76)
CM: Gary Gardner – Barnsley
FIFA 18: (Overall – 70; Potential – 73)
FIFA 17: (Overall – 68; Potential – 75)
Takeaway:
You don’t have to treat a FIFA career like it’s real life. Jordan Amavi and Pierluigi Gollini might be work bringing back into the fray as they both have fairly high ceilings. Then again you likely can also ship them out permanently and add to your transfer budget.
Aaron Tshibola looks like he too could be a nice option in a few seasons on ‘Career Mode.’
Overall
We have a hard time remembering when FIFA’s squad ratings did not cause arguments amongst avid supporters of any club. With Villa as our immediate sample set, this year’s release looks as if it will be no different.
But all in all if you embark on a career with Aston Villa, with the overall depth the side has, you should get promoted straight away... “cough, cough” Steve Bruce.