Introduction: How do these articles work?
Each Sunday I examine a different team in detail and look at why they’re a good team for FIFA 16’s career mode. The teams are broken down into the following categories:
- Tier 1: Teams in tough divisions that can push on to challenge for silverware
- Tier 2: Teams that will have to fight for survival in a challenging division
- Tier 3: Teams that start in a lower division but can hope to get promoted and work their way up higher leagues
- Tier 4: Teams that start right at the bottom of the pile, with few funds or high potential players
FC Ingolstadt (Tier 2)
If you’re looking for a good old relegation scrap, tier 2 teams are the ones for you – they’re teams that will struggle to survive in tough divisions. Can you beat the drop?
Contents
- Why choose FC Ingolstadt?
- Lineups
- Recommended purchases
- Suggested sales
- Future considerations
Starting transfer budget: £2,900,000
Starting wage budget: £40,000
Default formation: 4-3-3
Board expectations: Avoid relegation, reach cup round of 32
Key player: Marvin Matip
Best young prospect: Pascal Groß
Why choose FC Ingolstadt?
Along with La Liga, the Bundesliga is one of the most mismatched divisions in FIFA 16, featuring some global powerhouses alongside some absolute minnows. Avoiding relegation is never easy when you have to come up against the likes of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, but add in Borussia Mönchengladbach, FC Schalke 04, VfB Stuttgart and more and you’ve potentially got the season from hell.
It’s not all bad for FC Ingolstadt, as their team is decent and they have some fairly promising players. Their budget isn’t amazing, but it’s not minute either. But whether that’s enough to help them beat the drop is another matter – but that’s just part of the challenge!
FC Ingolstadt’s key player is Marvin Matip. In a league as tough as the Bundesliga, keeping clean sheets is absolutely vital. Centre back Matip will be vital in ensuring you do that. His tackling is excellent and he has the rare combination of good pace and strength, so should be able to handle most threats. He’s also very useful in the air, and any goals he can contribute could be the difference between survival and relegation.
The team’s most promising player is Pascal Groß. At 24 he’s not the youngest player by any stretch of the imagination, but his 75 OVR and 78 potential means he’s one of the central players in the squad. He’s a real all-rounder and will be comfortable in pretty much any midfield position, and that versatility will be very useful in an injury crisis. Make sure you assign him to free kicks as well, as he could chip in with plenty of dead ball goals in the course of a season.
Strongest starting lineup
Changing the formation very slightly to 4-2-3-1, here is FC Ingolstadt’s strongest starting lineup, with OVRs in brackets:
Highest potential lineup
Keeping the formation the same, here is FC Ingolstadt’s highest potential lineup, with potentials in brackets:
Recommended purchases
Key signings required: CAM, winger, ST.
Looking at the potential lineup, the weakest spots lie at attacking midfield, on the wing and up front. Let’s see what we can do to strengthen those areas.
Before we get started, adjust the budget ratio to 71:29. That will give you £3,535,800 in transfer funds and £27,773 in wages.
Charly Musonda will demolish defences with his skills
Charly Musonda
Club: Real Betis
Position: CAM
OVR: 68
Potential: 84
Age: 18
Cost: £1.3m
Wages: £3,800
FC Ingolstadt are lacking a true, out-and-out attacking midfielder to carry them forward over the next few years. In the image above I’ve put Dario Lezcano there, but he’s actually a striker who can also play CAM. We need a proper player there who will make the role their own.
My recommendation is Charly Musonda of Real Betis, and what a player he is. Not only does he have a great OVR for his age, but he’s got an amazing 84 potential, so will be great for years to come. He’s pacey and has good dribbling, but his best attributes are two that you can’t see in the screenshot above: he’s got a five star weak foot and five star skill moves. Yes, he’s one of only two players in the game (the other being Neymar) to have this, and it will make him absolutely incredible in taking on defences. Just imagine how unstoppable he’ll be at 84 OVR!
And all that for an unbelievably low price – Real Betis want £2.2m for him, but I got that down to a mere £1.3m. His wages are also super cheap at £3,800. Seriously, if there’s one player you should buy no matter what career you’re doing, it’s this guy.
Hélder Costa has pace and tricks to beat defenders
Hélder Costa
Club: AS Monaco
Position: LM
OVR: 69
Potential: 79
Age: 21
Cost: £900,000
Wages: £9,000
Maurice Multhaup is the highest potential right midfielder that FC Ingolstadt have, but with only 74 potential he’s not going to become a world beater. His OVR of 58 also means you’ll be waiting a while until he hits that potential. I reckon we need a new player to solidify that position.
So with that in mind, I suggest you buy Hélder Costa of AS Monaco. He’s even pacier than Musonda and actually has a better dribbling stat too, so you know he’s going to spell trouble for the opposition. His positioning is good so he’ll be in the right places to score goals, and he’s got four star skill moves as well to pester defences even more. With 79 potential and 69 OVR, he’ll easily slot into that right midfield starting lineup spot.
AS Monaco want £1.3m for his services but you can negotiate that down to around £900,000. His wages are £9,000.
Richairo Živkovi? is a great all-rounder up front
Richairo Živkovi?
Club: Ajax
Position: ST
OVR: 68
Potential: 77
Age: 18
Cost: £1.3m
Wages: £3,300
Another problem position for FC Ingolstadt is up front. Lukas Hinterseer is decent enough but only has 74 potential, while Lezcano is the same. The only other striker on the team (Elias Kachunga) has 73 potential so is even less likely to get a look in. We need a promising striker with decent OVR who can shoulder the burden of keeping FC Ingolstadt away from the drop zone.
Richairo Živkovi? of Ajax is the player I recommend for that role. The great thing about him is he’s got a bit of everything. He’s pacey and can finish, but at 6’2″ is also decent in the air and will score plenty of goals from crosses. He’s got a four star weak foot so can reliably score with either foot, and with 77 potential he’ll become and excellent all-round striker. In fact, seeing as he’s only 18 and already has 68 OVR, I’d expect him to exceed that potential and grow into the 80s.
Ajax want you to pay £1.6m for him, but you can knock that down slightly to £1.3m. His wages are very affordable at £3,300.
Those transfers will leave you with £35,800 in transfer funds and £11,673 in wages – maybe enough to loan in a player, but not enough to do much else. Let’s see who we can sell to raise some extra cash.
Suggested sales
Moritz Hartmann will get you about £500,000
First of all, we can sell Christian Ortag, as he only has 67 potential and isn’t going to figure in our future plans. He can bring in about £100,00. The same goes for Zant, Engel and Bauer in defence – none of them are particularly promising, and can net you about £1.2m in total.
Moritz Hartmann can be sold now that we’ve brought in Hélder Costa on the wing, and he can get you about £500,000. Finally, Kachunga can be moved on seeing as he’s not necessary now that we have Živkovi?, and he’ll bring in about £800,000.
All together, that means you can make about £2.6m – almost FC Ingolstadt’s starting budget, so that’s not bad!
Future considerations – get a new centre back
Stéphane Sparagna is a promising player who is still very cheap
While Matip and Hübner make a good combination, Matip is 29 and so will start to decline soon. It might therefore be worth thinking about bringing in a replacement to take over in a year or two.
My suggestion is Stéphane Sparagna of Olym. Marseille. He starts at 69 OVR at 20 years old, and has 81 potential. That means you’ll still get a couple of years of Matip at his best, then Sparagna will have developed enough to take over. Sparagna is already strong and has excellent tackling stats, so he’s shaping up to become a great defender already.
Olym. Marseille want you to pay £1.8m for him but you can get him for around £1.3m. His wages are £9,000.
That’s it for this week’s article on good teams for career mode. FC Ingolstadt have an incredibly hard task of staying in the Bundesliga, but it’s not a hopeless assignment. In fact, with some wise transfers and a bit of luck, it’s distinctly possible – but a massive challenge nonetheless.
I’d like to hear if you have any thoughts about the format of the article itself. Did you find it useful? Conversely, do you think it was missing something that you’d have liked me to include?
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