The new EA FC 26 is “suffering” from a new gameplay trend, according to some in the community. Some players are really annoyed by the new way of playing.
What is this trend? In EA FC 26, dribbling with the left stick is very strong. This is because EA has significantly reduced CPU support for defending compared to previous versions.
The reduced CPU defense now causes many players to have problems with defensive work and to concede more goals than in the predecessor. Moreover, this has given rise to a dribbling trend that a user on Reddit dubbed the “Fidget Spinner Simulator”.
This trend is demonstrated in the following video on Reddit:
The video shows a repetitive process: the attackers dribble towards the opponent’s penalty area and turn away from the defender as soon as they are challenged. Then they dribble in another direction until the same thing happens.
In the almost 40-second clip from the Reddit user, the attacking player turns away with each attempt to attack and tries to create a gap in the defense this way, instead of creating it with quick plays.
Why is everyone doing this? The goal with this type of dribbling is to force the defender into mistakes. So it is no longer enough in defense to apply pressure to the ball carrier with the help of the CPU and spam the tackle.
Defenders need to cleverly seal off spaces in EA FC 26 and wait for their chance when tackling. If they go in too early or too aggressively in duels, the striker will easily get past them.
Moreover, many players are inexperienced in manually controlling their defenders, partly because CPU support has been much stronger in recent years. With such simple turns, attackers can relatively easily create larger spaces for subsequent actions.
What does the community say about this trend? A part of the community hates this trend. Over 1,300 players agree with the Reddit user who writes that nothing is worse than the current Fidget Spinner Simulator and EA needs to patch it. Others emphasize how annoying and terrible they find it. It was more fun before everyone started doing this.
Some commentators suggest that the ball-carrying player should lose considerable stamina if they perform this type of dribbling several times in a row. Then, the reduced CPU defense could remain as it is.
Other users also write that the player in the video defended poorly and the attacker still did not score a goal. They believe that it is just complaining because one has to complain about the new EA FC every year.
If you don’t want to rely solely on dribbling with the left stick, you can of course use tricky players and leave defenders behind with skill moves. A list of all players with 5-star skills can be found here: EA FC 26: All 5-star skillers for Ultimate Team
