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

Sheffield Wednesday (Tier 3)

Tier 3 sides start in a low division but have a great chance of working their way up the leagues – perfect for ‘journey’ career modes or returning a team to former glory.

Contents

1. Why choose Sheffield Wednesday?
2. Lineups
   1. Strongest starting lineup
   2. Highest potential lineup
3. Recommended purchases
4. Suggested sales
5. Future considerations
   1. Get a new right back

Starting transfer budget: £4,700,000
Starting wage budget: £50,000
Default formation: 4-4-2
Board expectations: Gain automatic promotion, cup round of 32
Key player: Marcos Matias
Best young prospect: Lucas João

Why choose Sheffield Wednesday?

Sheffield Wednesday (‘Sheffield Wed’ in FIFA 16) are one of those teams whose board sets you ridiculous targets. Even though they are very average in terms of how many high potential players they have (potential 75 or higher), the board still expects them to gain automatic promotion. In a league as competitive as the Championship, that’s a hugely challenging task. Even just qualifying for the playoffs could be tricky, but they expect you to do better than that.

But with a history as one of the oldest football clubs in the world, a Sheffield Wednesday career is a good one to do if you like restoring teams to their former glory – Sheffield Wednesday were English football’s first ever champions, after all. As well as that, you’ll have the players at your disposal to play fast, flowing football, and a good enough budget to bring in changes where they are needed.

The team’s key player is Marcos Matias. He’s a hugely pacey winger with 89 acceleration and 87 sprint speed, plus 77 dribbling to help him beat defenders with ease. He’s also got 78 finishing and 80 positioning, so those stats combined with his blistering pace make him a good option as a striker or centre forward if you’d rather he played more centrally. Either way, with 78 potential and 77 OVR he’s the joint-best player in the Championship and should help propel you towards promotion.

Sheffield Wednesday’s most promising young player is Lucas João. He starts at 69 OVR at age 21 and has 76 potential, but I reckon he can exceed that as it’s only 7 points of growth. What makes him a great striker is his combination of speed and strength – 77 sprint speed, 80 strength and a height of 6’4″ makes him a deadly striker whether the ball is on the floor or in the air. And speaking of that, he’s got 78 heading accuracy – just imagine how good he’ll be in the air once he gets near his potential.

Strongest starting lineup

Changing the formation to 4-2-3-1, here is Sheffield Wednesday’s strongest starting lineup, with OVRs in brackets:

Highest potential lineup

Keeping the formation at 4-2-3-1, here is Sheffield Wednesday’s highest potential lineup, with potentials in brackets:

Recommended purchases

Key signings required: CB, LB, CM x2.

Before you buy anyone, change Sheffield Wednesday’s budget ratio to 48:52; this will give you £3,504,000 in transfer funds and £73,000 in wages. Once you’ve done that, let’s buy some players.

Gustavo Gómez
Club: Lanús
Position: CB
OVR: 70
Potential: 78
Age: 22
Cost: £1m
Wages: £20,000

Although Tom Lees is a promising young centre back, Sheffield Wednesday really need to find a good partner for him. Both Michael Turner and Vincent Sasso are decent, but both are only loan for the season, so are not long term investments. Once they’ve gone, they’ll leave a big gap in defence.

I suggest you buy Gustavo Gómez from Lanús in Argentina. He’s already very strong with 84 strength, so will be able to cope with the physical English game, and his 78 jumping and 77 heading accuracy make him a real threat in the air. He’s got 78 potential so will grow into a very accomplished centre back, and his defensive stats are also very handy.

Lanús want £1.7m for him but you can get that down to around £1m. His wages are £20,000.

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Diamantis Chouchoumis
Club: Panathinaikos
Position: LB
OVR: 68
Potential: 76
Age: 20
Cost: £900,000
Wages: £7,000

Left back is probably the most problematic area for Sheffield Wednesday. They’ve got three left backs, but that doesn’t mean much – with potentials of 69, 69 and 67 they’re not exactly promising, and two of them (Bennett and Pudil) are only loaned in anyway. That doesn’t look good in the long run.

I recommend you buy Diamantis Chouchoumis of Panathinaikos to solve this problem. With 68 OVR he’ll come straight in as the joint best left back, so you’ll have no problem starting him over the other options. His crossing and pace are his two main assets, so get him forward and crossing into the box and you’ll have plenty of fodder for Lucas João. He’s also got decent strength for a left back and good stamina too, and, like João, he should be able to exceed his 76 potential with enough good performances.

Panathinaikos want £1.3m for him but you can lower that to around £900,000. His wages are £7,000.

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Tom Carroll
Club: Spurs
Position: CM
OVR: 71
Potential: 78
Age: 23
Cost: £0 (contract expiry)
Wages: £20,000

Central midfield is the next area I want to address. Barry Bannan and Alex López are your best options, but Bannan only has 73 potential, and while López is a bit better, he’s only in on loan. We can definitely do better than this.

López does have a good OVR, and seeing as he’s loaned in we don’t need to find a replacement for the start of the season. I therefore recommend you get Tom Carroll from Spurs on a free transfer. He makes an excellent deep-lying playmaker: 80 short passing, 76 long passing and 77 vision will enable him to pick out passes long and short and provide many assists for his teammates. If he performs well enough, there’s a possibility he could get the ‘playmaker’ speciality by the time he hits his potential. Either way, his 71 OVR is good enough for him to quickly become a first team regular.

Seeing as his contract is expiring, you can get him for free. Just wait until the January transfer window and click ‘approach to sign on contract expiry’. He’ll then join your team for free at the start of the second season. His wages are £20,000 and he wants the ‘important 1st team player’ squad role (but as I mentioned, it won’t be difficult to ensure he gets enough game time).

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André Biyogo Poko
Club: Giron. Bordeaux
Position: CM
OVR: 71
Potential: 78
Age: 22
Cost: £1.6m
Wages: £25,000

I talked about Bannan before, but suffice to say you should think about getting a replacement for him. I recommend you buy André Biyogo Poko to take his place. While Carroll is a playmaker, Poko is an excellent box-to-box midfielder. His 83 stamina and decent pace will have him covering every blade of grass over 90 minutes, and he can both attack and defend equally well. In fact, he can play at right back, left midfield and centre forward and be comfortable in all three positions. That combination of Carroll and Poko should help create a midfield that is tough to break down and deadly in attack.

Giron. Bordeaux want £1.8m for Poko but you can get that down slightly to around £1.6m. His wages are £25,000.

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Those transfers will leave you with £4,000 in transfer funds and £1,000 in wages. You’ll obviously need more than that if you’re going to buy any more players or scouts, so let’s see who we can sell to raise some extra cash.

Suggested sales

Cameron Dawson isn’t good enough in goal, so can be sold for about £80,000.

José Semedo can be sold for around £300,000, and Kieran Lee can bring in about £500,000. You could also sell either Felipe Melo or Lewis McGugan if you felt the need for about £700,000.

Finally, Atdhe Nuhiu will get around £500,000 if you sell him.

You might also want to consider returning some players who are in on loan (perhaps one or two of the left backs) back to their parent clubs. That will cost you a small fee, but will also free up wages.

Getting rid of all those players will get you around £2.08m, which is definitely a decent amount.

Future considerations: get a new right back

While we sorted things out at left back, right back could also do with a bit of attention. While Jack Hunt is decent (71 OVR, 74 potential), his backup Liam Palmer isn’t great (68 OVR, 72 potential). I reckon we could get a better right back and make Hunt the backup.

My suggestion is Callum Paterson of Hearts. If you’ve read my Lower League Gems guide to right backs you’ll know this guy – he is a physical monster. 80 acceleration, 84 sprint speed and 90 strength will make him almost impossible to beat whether the attacker is fast or strong, and his 92 jumping and 76 heading make him lethal in the air. He’s great at centre back but can even play up front if you need him to, making him a very flexible option.

Hearts want £1.2m for him but you can get that down to around £950,000. His wages are £5,000.

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That’s it for this week’s article on good teams for career mode. It’s a big ask to get automatic promotion for Sheffield Wednesday, but a worthy challenge to try. With their history, budget and current lineup, it’ll be a great fun career mode whether you manage promotion or not.

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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