Alistair Johnston

[InglewoodJack]

25 minutes ago, Bigandy said:

I totally agree with most of what youre saying, however I would say that 95% of the teams I play in elite/weekend league are multimillion teams. I cant remember the last time I played a team that wasn't worth 3 times what my team is. So ya, a good player can use gold salah, but I dont think the great players are ever behind the power curve. At a top level, its very pay to win. 

I would love a world where you can have fun with an all canadian squad. Its just very sad when mbappe flys down the wing and cuts it back for a tap in over and over because your backline is too slow.  

I mostly play squad battles, so I get to play with different types of squads, and I'll do a lot of the objectives where you have to put together rosters with players from specific leagues- those are fun. I had a Liga F/MLS squad not too long ago, and that was super fun- Luciano Acosta is a pretty fun player to use. I think I'm only div 7 or so in rivals, so mostly play against "bad" teams, and I find I have so much better luck against multi million dollar squads vs. guys whose front 3 is like gold son-greizman-poty salah and the midfield is like tchouameni, modric, and brandt or something. would imagine if you're playing at an elite level, the players are skilled and the teams are stacked, so it's just crazy.

My favourite player to use against clubs that just go with whatever the latest meta is/however twitter tells you to play is David Beckham who has a ridiculous free kick/corner ability. I've scored a couple olimpicos against teams that were dominating just because everyone pulls their goalies way out on corners. my free kick conversion rate is insane too, because he can easily clear the wall and pick the top left corner with crazy precision. nice little consolation prize for games when the guy scores the same bomb down the right side to salah > dribble through the middle > through ball to a charging griezmann > open net tap in like 6 times in a half.

[Bigandy]

6 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

I mostly play squad battles, so I get to play with different types of squads, and I'll do a lot of the objectives where you have to put together rosters with players from specific leagues- those are fun. I had a Liga F/MLS squad not too long ago, and that was super fun- Luciano Acosta is a pretty fun player to use. I think I'm only div 7 or so in rivals, so mostly play against "bad" teams, and I find I have so much better luck against multi million dollar squads vs. guys whose front 3 is like gold son-greizman-poty salah and the midfield is like tchouameni, modric, and brandt or something. would imagine if you're playing at an elite level, the players are skilled and the teams are stacked, so it's just crazy.

My favourite player to use against clubs that just go with whatever the latest meta is/however twitter tells you to play is David Beckham who has a ridiculous free kick/corner ability. I've scored a couple olimpicos against teams that were dominating just because everyone pulls their goalies way out on corners. my free kick conversion rate is insane too, because he can easily clear the wall and pick the top left corner with crazy precision. nice little consolation prize for games when the guy scores the same bomb down the right side to salah > dribble through the middle > through ball to a charging griezmann > open net tap in like 6 times in a half.

Oddly enough, theres some insane teams that use gold neymar and hes absolutely filthy for them. Other than that, I never see gold cards anymore. 

I would love to learn how to score free kicks and corners. I just neglect them in attack and concede so many of them. 

I used thunderstruck frimpong before toty in drafts and he was my favourite player to use. I never thought a fullback would be so impactful and havnt found any others to be nearly as effective. 

[InglewoodJack]

11 minutes ago, Bigandy said:

Oddly enough, theres some insane teams that use gold neymar and hes absolutely filthy for them. Other than that, I never see gold cards anymore. 

I would love to learn how to score free kicks and corners. I just neglect them in attack and concede so many of them. 

I used thunderstruck frimpong before toty in drafts and he was my favourite player to use. I never thought a fullback would be so impactful and havnt found any others to be nearly as effective. 

I use and run into gold VVD a lot and I've seen gold alisson pop up every so often, but outside of that, haven't seen too much.

Currently using TOTY rewind Davies as my LB, but my best LB has been TOTW Grimaldo who I put through an evo and who is now 91 rated and IIRC most of his face stats are 90+ too. He's been great, but I naturally favour the right side, so sometimes difficult to get him involved. I just packed TOTY TAA as my RB but haven't had much of a chance to try him out. Ashley Neville has been pretty good for me most of the season at RB too.

For free kicks, I almost always use players with ridiculous ability- either beckham or pirlo usually, I somehow packed thunderstruck ronaldinho too who is pretty good at free kicks. how I typically set it up- mostly going from the left side- is you set your aim as close as possible to the right-most player on the wall (better your player is, closer you can set your aim to the opposing player), I drop it down to about the player's waist or just under, and then you shoot as close as possible to max power. better to aim lower than you think you need to because sometimes I'll set it up perfectly but still hit the cross bar. same tactic works from the right side of the net too, it's tougher, but you can clear the wall from the left by chipping the ball with the inside of your foot.

From the left side, if you're playing rivals, the opponent is almost always going to shift the wall towards the right as you're setting up, and if you have a very good free kick taker, it leaves you with a pretty wide opening to clear the wall from the left and curve it into the top left corner of the net.

For corners, to me I always cycle through the different tactics to set up- that's the key. I find sending the ball to where your players are not positioned works best. if you set it to crowd the keeper, send the ball towards the edge of the box and let a CB head it in. I'll also make my guys run near post and bomb it far post- easy header especially if you're using a taller striker like harry kane, dzeko, haaland, etc. I've also scored a few from setting up a short corner with ronaldinho, passing it to him, and letting him cross it right into the box. works well in rivals, because I think if you do a short corner, your opponent probably thinks that it's because you don't know how to do corners, so they'll pull their entire team close, and you have space to bomb it into the middle of the box.

[Bigandy]

1 hour ago, InglewoodJack said:

I use and run into gold VVD a lot and I've seen gold alisson pop up every so often, but outside of that, haven't seen too much.

Currently using TOTY rewind Davies as my LB, but my best LB has been TOTW Grimaldo who I put through an evo and who is now 91 rated and IIRC most of his face stats are 90+ too. He's been great, but I naturally favour the right side, so sometimes difficult to get him involved. I just packed TOTY TAA as my RB but haven't had much of a chance to try him out. Ashley Neville has been pretty good for me most of the season at RB too.

For free kicks, I almost always use players with ridiculous ability- either beckham or pirlo usually, I somehow packed thunderstruck ronaldinho too who is pretty good at free kicks. how I typically set it up- mostly going from the left side- is you set your aim as close as possible to the right-most player on the wall (better your player is, closer you can set your aim to the opposing player), I drop it down to about the player's waist or just under, and then you shoot as close as possible to max power. better to aim lower than you think you need to because sometimes I'll set it up perfectly but still hit the cross bar. same tactic works from the right side of the net too, it's tougher, but you can clear the wall from the left by chipping the ball with the inside of your foot.

From the left side, if you're playing rivals, the opponent is almost always going to shift the wall towards the right as you're setting up, and if you have a very good free kick taker, it leaves you with a pretty wide opening to clear the wall from the left and curve it into the top left corner of the net.

For corners, to me I always cycle through the different tactics to set up- that's the key. I find sending the ball to where your players are not positioned works best. if you set it to crowd the keeper, send the ball towards the edge of the box and let a CB head it in. I'll also make my guys run near post and bomb it far post- easy header especially if you're using a taller striker like harry kane, dzeko, haaland, etc. I've also scored a few from setting up a short corner with ronaldinho, passing it to him, and letting him cross it right into the box. works well in rivals, because I think if you do a short corner, your opponent probably thinks that it's because you don't know how to do corners, so they'll pull their entire team close, and you have space to bomb it into the middle of the box.

Thats fantastic! Thank you! 

Tbh I still dont know how to put in corners because I always hit the GK. Do you manually control a player?

[InglewoodJack]

2 minutes ago, Bigandy said:

Thats fantastic! Thank you! 

Tbh I still dont know how to put in corners because I always hit the GK. Do you manually control a player?

Yeah, you can aim where you want the shot. I'll usually try and set it somewhere close to the edge of the box- the worse the corner taker is, the farther away from the keeper I set it. The only time I ever shoot on net is when the other guy pulls his keeper way out into the box, then I go far post. Then with the direction pad (I play on consolute), if you press down, it'll give you options on how to set up the players in the box- crowd the keeper, edge of box, near and far post. I'd mess around with those settings and then try and send the ball to the opposite of where your players are going so you can get it into open space, and try and hit your striker near post or your CBs edge of the box.

[Bigandy]

57 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

Yeah, you can aim where you want the shot. I'll usually try and set it somewhere close to the edge of the box- the worse the corner taker is, the farther away from the keeper I set it. The only time I ever shoot on net is when the other guy pulls his keeper way out into the box, then I go far post. Then with the direction pad (I play on consolute), if you press down, it'll give you options on how to set up the players in the box- crowd the keeper, edge of box, near and far post. I'd mess around with those settings and then try and send the ball to the opposite of where your players are going so you can get it into open space, and try and hit your striker near post or your CBs edge of the box.

Thanks!  Wild that I can get into elite but have never scored a freekick or corner. 

[Obinna]

Am I the only one with no idea what's going on in this thread?

[An Observer]

I am a little in the dark as well

 

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

1 hour ago, Obinna said:

Am I the only one with no idea what's going on in this thread?

No, I am there with you.  But I know if it was a few years ago and we were talking CM/FM, I could nerd out with the best of them. 

[Cheeta]

Any-who.....

There was a time when coming out of Pittodrie with a point was something of an accomplishment, 2024 is not that time.

Bit of a strange one this AM.  Thought our Alistair showed well!  Rodgers gives him more than enough rope to hang himself with but he just keeps rewarding the gaffer's confidense.  Really is looking better every match.  Look. Pass.  Supporting run.  Spy the danger. Bang-bang-bang!  Yeah, it was against the Dons but still, good stuff.  (Had an absolute beauty of a cross into the box on the full trot there in the 1st half.  Cheeta like). 

Bit of a scare there mid-way through the second half when he went down with a broken ass after a forward movement but recovered after a breather and finished the match.  Lady friend will have to be in charge of tonight's proceedings but that's the way it goes sometimes ☺️  

New signing out of Rapid Vienna, Nicolas Kuhn netting for Celtic on a deflection.  Not sure is SPFL is a good fit for him or no but we'll find out soon enough.  Good movement in the time he had today, in unfamiliar surroundings, but a half hour does not a career make. 

Abada, maybe aware of some the criticism leveled at his play was more aware of his surroundings today and AJ's supportive offensive efforts did not unnoticed go.  There's a complete 180d turn around for you.  Hope it continues in the coming weeks.  

Next up mid-week test at Easter Road against stumbling Hibs.  Guessing we'll see what's what come Wednesday. 

 

 

 

[narduch]

Oh no 

 

 

[K Edgar]

12 minutes ago, narduch said:

Oh no 

 

 

[Shway]

oh no, sounds like a concussion. 
Hope it's not that serious.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

On 2/2/2024 at 6:51 PM, An Observer said:

I am a little in the dark as well

 

Uff, with that many people on ignore, how can a guy named @An Observer actually make any observations?

(...and with that comment, I've probably earned myself a spot on the ignore list too) 

Edited February 8 by Olympique_de_Marseille

[dyslexic nam]

lol. 
 

*scrolls frantically to see if he is on the shit list*

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

Update from a Celtic site

https://thecelticstar.com/photo-alistair-johnston-reacts-to-celtic-win-from-hospital/

Gave a thumbs up on social media after their win but will probably be in hospital overnight.

[Shway]

Spending over night definitely means concussion... he could be out for the play-in as those effects don't wear off that quickly.

[CanadaFan123]

8 hours ago, Shway said:

Spending over night definitely means concussion... he could be out for the play-in as those effects don't wear off that quickly.

We have sufficient depth so shouldn’t be an issue. I wonder if this opens a door for a Godinho recall as he’s had a great season in Poland. 

[Shway]

9 minutes ago, CanadaFan123 said:

We have sufficient depth so shouldn’t be an issue. I wonder if this opens a door for a Godinho recall as he’s had a great season in Poland. 

Godinho...I think a chance to bring in Farsi!

[dyslexic nam]

Any news?  

[Bigandy]

2 hours ago, Shway said:

Godinho...I think a chance to bring in Farsi!

I'd say we bring in corbeanu. 

I know its not a like for like but for one match, we have richie and TB as RB options. Godinho adds very little to the group and farsi is unlikely to commit imo. 

If richie goes down with an injury, would I rather have godhino/ZBG or TB at RB with millar, hoilett, corbenau as his winger? I think TB offers more defensively and offensively than either godhino or ZBG.

[Obinna]

4 minutes ago, Bigandy said:

I'd say we bring in corbeanu. 

I know its not a like for like but for one match, we have richie and TB as RB options. Godinho adds very little to the group and farsi is unlikely to commit imo. 

If richie goes down with an injury, would I rather have godhino/ZBG or TB at RB with millar, hoilett, corbenau as his winger? I think TB offers more defensively and offensively than either godhino or ZBG.

I agree with the logic here. My only hesitation is not calling up Farsi for the sake of Corbeanu.

I very much want Theo to be part of the next squad, given his play in Switzerland and now earning the La Liga move, but the prospect of getting Farsi integrated is appealing. It seems like he's only going to get better at Columbus.

Farsi would be behind Johnston and Laryea in the pecking order to start, but I can see that turning into a 3-horse race in the future, so long as Farsi keeps doing well in MLS. And even moreso if he eventually moves to Ligue 1 (as was rumored) and does well there.

Again though, I do agree with you. Tajon can move back to RB in a pinch and Millar is a capable replacement on the wing, or Corbeanu for that matter.

[Bigandy]

22 minutes ago, Obinna said:

I agree with the logic here. My only hesitation is not calling up Farsi for the sake of Corbeanu.

I very much want Theo to be part of the next squad, given his play in Switzerland and now earning the La Liga move, but the prospect of getting Farsi integrated is appealing. It seems like he's only going to get better at Columbus.

Farsi would be behind Johnston and Laryea in the pecking order to start, but I can see that turning into a 3-horse race in the future, so long as Farsi keeps doing well in MLS. And even moreso if he eventually moves to Ligue 1 (as was rumored) and does well there.

Again though, I do agree with you. Tajon can move back to RB in a pinch and Millar is a capable replacement on the wing, or Corbeanu for that matter.

I think I'd find a way for both corbeanu and farsi if farsi is willing. I just cant see him committing to a T and T 1 game because of an injury with no future guarantee 

[InglewoodJack]

Bring in Corbeanu, play him and Millar as wingers, Davies and Buchanan as fullbacks… that’s the future. I think there’s realistically a way to also make room for Farsi if he wants to commit. 

[Obinna]

6 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

Bring in Corbeanu, play him and Millar as wingers, Davies and Buchanan as fullbacks… that’s the future. I think there’s realistically a way to also make room for Farsi if he wants to commit. 

With Eustaquio and Kone in the middle and David and Larin up top. Then as always, who are the CBs? Can Cornelius take a step up from here? Feels like Miller is near or at his peak, whereas Cornelius seems to have a higher ceiling. Maybe on the right we see LDF and JKL battle it out, or Holmes if he's indeed eligible?