When building a team in any Ultimate Team mode, the biggest decision is where to start. FIFA Ultimate Team is not about deciding to acquire a specific player but, but rather coming up with a mentality or strategy and picking players which fall within that framework. The most basic framework to develop a team is whether and where to fall within the offensive versus defensive spectrum.

Of course this is all a personal preference, but when I build my team, I always like to focus on two things when starting off defense and team speed. I like to use these two elements to create a team, which is at least initially a defensively based counter attack team. Building a team like this has a handful of benefits which will allow you to build a team which is both affordable and effective.

An affordable team build, which is defensive based, is actually cheaper than its offensive alternative. Defensive players tend to be cheaper than their offensive counterparts, likely because the offensive players are the big, flashy names. Offensive teams are just more fun to build, but not necessarily effective. 

In terms of that effectiveness, it's based on the ability of using other players’ tendencies against them. Most people when they play FIFA are so focused on offense that they totally ignore investing in their defense. The strong and speedy defensive players on your side will allow you to take away the most favorite and lethal play in FIFA - the through ball for a breakaway. In addition to this, the nature of FIFA is to take advantage of your opportunities and to prevent your opponent from even getting their own opportunity.

Below is a brief step-by-step guide in terms of what you will want to focus on when making a team such as this. 

The players you will want to invest in (in order):

Defense: Attributes you will want to pay attention to include: pace, defense, strength, and heading.
Goalkeeper: No specific attributes, but kicking can be ignored.
Defensive midfielders: Attributes you will want to pay attention to include: pace, defense, strength and heading.
Forwards: Specifically your strikers: pace and shooting.
Offensive midfielders: These will be the individuals who transition the play off of defense. These players should be balanced. Speed is not as important as passing and shooting. Make sure one of them is good at free kicks. 

Once you have the personnel I recommend using a formation that has either four or five defensive backers. I am personally fond of the 4-1-2-1-2. In terms of general strategy within game, I would recommend changing your team’s strategy to counter attack. Use the player you are controlling to protect the pass to the open man, and use the R1 (PlayStation) or RB (Xbox) to call another computer player to either take the ball from the other player or to direct them to you. Once you have the ball, move it up field smartly but quickly and try and spring one of your fast forwards for an easy breakaway.

FIFA is not like the other Ultimate Team modes where you need an all-star to succeed. FIFA actually has a surprising number of cheaper alternatives that excel at all the attributes you would need for a specific play style. Some attackers, despite being slightly better than their lower rated counterparts, will cost much more solely based on some slightly higher attributes such as passing, which in all honesty will not be that beneficial for a striker. The same can be said in regards to defensive players who have higher passing or heading, but in the event your defense does not jump into the play you are paying a premium for something that you will never use.

I am currently working on a piece which points out some of these value players as well as my own database for you to peruse at your leisure.

In the meantime if you happen to have any questions please feel free to respond below or tweet any questions to @UltimateTeamHQ. As always happy collecting and good luck.