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Aston Villa’s forwards over a three-year period were must-haves for every FIFA player.
Words: Regan Foy | @findfoy
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If you have been a long term player of the FIFA series, then you’ll remember the days that Aston Villa’s players were must-haves in every FIFA Ultimate Team squad, rather than Squad Building fodder or a player that you’d simply discard for a quick monetary boost.
Games change over the years, and so does the competitive ‘meta’ – the regular conventions of that game – meaning that different years provide different players that can be considered useful. For example, in the latest iteration of the game, heading the ball is considered useless, so having a six-foot-four striker generally will make your life harder in the game.
In the past, the meta was to have forwards who could rival a virtual Usain Bolt for pace, bursting past opposition defences. It didn’t matter if they weren’t strong finishers – you could simply burst into the box and square the ball for another attacker to bury.
Gabriel Agbonlahor was a staple in every early Ultimate Team – providing sides with a rapid forward that could decimate the other player’s defence with just one lobbed ball over the top.
With over 90 pace, there were not many defenders that could keep up with Gabby Agbonlahor for a period of time during the early years of FIFA’s now gigantic Ultimate Team series.
Over a period of years, you could pair Aston Villa’s players up to maximum effect, linking Agbonlahor and Young’s 94 and 93 pace respectively. In others, pairing Agbonlahor and Darren Bent provided just as much joy.
In earlier iterations, John Carew was also an exceptional player in Ultimate Team, boasting strong levels of pace, exceptional strength and unmatched ability in the air.
Whether FIFA players were Aston Villa fans or not, you could bet that you’d be matched up with opponents who were boasting at least one of those players – especially earlier on in the game’s yearly cycle – and the sheer number of goals that would come from their use would provide hours of entertainment for gamers.
Ask anyone who has been playing FIFA Ultimate Team for the past decade, and they’ll tell you about Roma’s exceptional players, or they’ll tell you about the Aston Villa forwards creating havoc.
The streets won’t forget.
