Golden Oldies!

[BradyBunch88]

In FIFA, we all want to sign the next best thing. Alen Halilovic, Adnan Januzaj and Paul Pogba. But at the other end we have the golden oldies. Players nearing retirement who still have a lot left in the tank! Just look at Frank Lampard’s incredible season at Manchester City. Lampard (36!) was let go by Chelsea and signed by Manchester City, what happened? He’s scored 7 goals in 5 appearances for Manchester City, sometimes against big clubs (his former team Chelsea) and sometimes in crucial moments.

And I don’t need to mention Ryan Giggs, playing until he was 40 years old! Scoring in every Premier League season since it was founded in 1992!

Whilst speed may decrease over the years, experience gets better. To my American friends - which I’m sure most of the users on here are - 4th quarter, your team is down by 3 points who do you want at QB? Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees or Cam Newton, RG3 or Andrew Luck? I’ll take Brady, Manning or Brees any day!

So with all that being said, with all of the articles out there about the best young players in FIFA 15. I want to offer my squad of retiring players in FIFA 15!

Now, it could’ve been easy for me to just choose world superstars. But I also wanted to throw in a few “sleepers” guys who are underrated but have the stats to back it up. Guys who you can get pretty cheap. If I gave you a squad full of world class superstars then you might end up spending 90 million trying to buy them all! Instead, I threw in a few guys who should be pretty cheap to buy. Hence why Agbonlahor is there and Foster.

http://imgur.com/bFHI9Qf

I really don’t want to go into why I chose each player, it’ll make this thread too long and most players in my team are world class players that most people know about. I’ll pick the “unusual choices”.

Julio Cesar - Brazil’s goalkeeper. I could’ve gone with Iker Casillas or Gianluigi Buffon but Cesar is a good goalkeeper, unlucky in the Premier League, but if Brazil are confident to put him out there, so am I.
Ben Foster - The former Manchester United keeper isn’t fantastic, but his stats are good to make him a sleeper.

Ron Vlaar - Just a solid choice for a defender, I really like him, he’s strong and is just a beast. I hope Manchester United do sign him.
Joleon Lescott - Again, a great defender and Manchester City let him go to West Brom for pretty much nothing!
Michael Dawson - Could put John Terry here, but I like Dawson and I’m sticking with him.

Jermain Defoe and Gabby Agbonlahor - Firstly I really like Defoe and think he’s one of England’s best strikers. He’s not usually a right midfielder but I had to get him in my team somehow because I know he’ll create chances.
Gabby is fast and yes, he’s my lowest rated player, but I got him in my Nott’m Forest team and he actually got up to 82 OVR! That’s 9 points he grew over the course of 2-3 seasons. Once he’s in form, he just can’t stop scoring.

Gareth Barry - I really like midfielders who can comeback and help the back four defenders in case everything goes wrong. I like, in FIFA, to control my defensive midfielders rather than my main four defenders, why? So they keep their shape. Gareth Barry has brilliant defensive stats and that makes him good enough to hold a lead as an off the bench player.

Fernando Torres - Once brilliant, now the forgotten man. He was never the same after injuries. But a leopard doesn’t change it’s spots and once a goalscorer always a goalscorer. I’m prepared to give him a chance in FIFA, in real life though, maybe Robbie Keane or Drogba takes his place!

Captain, Andrea Pirlo - My Quarterback of the team. He can dictate the pace of the game, make beautiful, accurate passes and lead my attack. However, if Paul Scholes were still playing, I’d choose him over Pirlo any day!

Honourable Mentions -

Robert Green - Other than a couple of mistakes back in 2010 for England, he’s a decent keeper.
Gianluigi Buffon - Italy’s shot stopper and one of the greatest goalkeepers in the world today.
Iker Casillas, Diego Lopez, Jose Reina - Three brilliant goalkeepers in their own right. All Spanish, all worthy of your team.
Brad Friedel, Brad Guzan, Tim Howard - All American goalkeepers. But there’s only one Tim Howard. Gotta go with him and that beard and the fact that the goalkeeping animations in FIFA 15 are modelled after him.
Phil Jagielka - For me, there’s never been much to choose from between Jagielka, Dawson and Lescott. Go with any of those guys and they’ll be solid in the back.
Patrice Evra - I went with Ashley Cole because he has been referred to as one of the best left backs in the world.
Nemanja Vidic - Great defender and Manchester United shouldn’t have let him walk.
Michael Carrick - So underrated in FIFA and his stats show. In real life he’s become the glue that holds the Manchester United midfield together, he needs a huge update in FIFA.
Rafael van der Vaart - Balanced in a lot of areas, multiple positions CAM and CF.
Dirk Kuyt - Versatility, he can pretty much play anywhere and keep going his stamina is insane for his age!
Florent Malouda - an old Chelsea great, I’d keep him in the midfield and play slow attacking football with him.
Mikel Arteta and Darren Fletcher - Arteta is good at coming back and helping the back line. Same as Darren Fletcher but if I’d play Fletcher in the back four! Maybe as a CB / Sweeper, he has great defensive stats.
Robbie Keane - He’s got good finishing, good shot power and long shots. His skill is nice and so is his positioning. He seems like an all round striker.
Didier Drogba - His age is an issue, I don’t know how long you’d get to have him on your team for before he retires, but what a player!

So I'd love to hear what you guys think of my team. It doesn't really fit too well if they played a match in real life, I just wanted to show you guys different players who are near retirement. It usually means you can get them cheaper because of their age, but, they've still got bags of talent to offer. I've got a full list if people want to see it.

[aherm92]

Was going to post in the MLS thread I just saw you in, but it might be better here. You mentioned James Milner: I bought him my second year into a Southampton Career, and he's great.

84OVR, 90 long shot, 90 shot power, 90 long pass, ~94 short pass, dribbling and ball control 85+. He has the Engine, Distance Shooter, and Crosser specialties. Even at 31 years old, his overall has gone up every season I've had with him. Granted, due to the Engine specialty –– and the fact there wasn't much competition –– he's played a helluva lot for me. If he's not out wide crossing in or shooting from a distance for me, I have him play CM (I typically run the 4-5-1 with LM-CM-RM, 2 CAMs) where his long passing is invaluable.

He's younger than most of these players you've lister (if not all of them), but for a footballer, it seems like he's hitting a ripe old age where you wouldn't expect him to improve annually. And he only cost ~$12mil to buy, which was a relief for my tight budgeted Southampton squad. Since he joined, we finished second in the league, and then his second season, we beat Chelsea by 1 point for the BPL championship and ended up winning against Barcelona 2-0 in the Champion's League final.

All hail King James.

[BradyBunch88]

Quote: Originally Posted by aherm92

Was going to post in the MLS thread I just saw you in, but it might be better here. You mentioned James Milner: I bought him my second year into a Southampton Career, and he's great. 84OVR, 90 long shot, 90 shot power, 90 long pass, ~94 short pass, dribbling and ball control 85+. He has the Engine, Distance Shooter, and Crosser specialties. Even at 31 years old, his overall has gone up every season I've had with him. Granted, due to the Engine specialty –– and the fact there wasn't much competition –– he's played a helluva lot for me. If he's not out wide crossing in or shooting from a distance for me, I have him play CM (I typically run the 4-5-1 with LM-CM-RM, 2 CAMs) where his long passing is invaluable. He's younger than most of these players you've lister (if not all of them), but for a footballer, it seems like he's hitting a ripe old age where you wouldn't expect him to improve annually. And he only cost ~$12mil to buy, which was a relief for my tight budgeted Southampton squad. Since he joined, we finished second in the league, and then his second season, we beat Chelsea by 1 point for the BPL championship and ended up winning against Barcelona 2-0 in the Champion's League final. All hail King James.

That's great to hear! I love these players, you don't always need a squad full of Messi, Neymar, Ibrahimovic etc. etc. yeah it's sort of cool but it gets boring really quick.

Milner is a player (in real life too) who puts a lot of hard work in on the pitch, he'll go after every ball and will fight to the last whistle. A solid signing and for $12 mil I'd say you got a bargain!

If anyone else has any stories or recommendations, I'd love to hear them!

[BradyBunch88]

So a few people have asked me to produce the full list of older players. Obviously I’ve already suggested the ones I would buy above, so here’s a full list of players to check out. I’ll put my recommendations underlined. Also note that this is using the squad download that I had prior to starting my career mode. Some of these guys might have retired.

Note: Also, just cross-check these players with SoFIFA to check their stats before you buy.

Goalkeepers

Ben Foster
Robert Green
Steve Harper
Chris Kirkland
Paul Robinson
Stuart Taylor
Rene Adler
Roman Weidenfeller
Tim Wiese
Christian Abbiati
Gianluigi Buffon
Marco Storari
Iker Casillas
Diego Lopez
Jose Reina
Brad Friedel
Brad Guzan
Tim Howard
Julio Cesar
Maarten Stekelenburg
Michel Vorm
Shay Given

Defenders

Bruno Alves
Jose Bosingwa
Ricardo Carvalho
Pepe
Fabricio Coloccini
Martin Demichelis
Javier Mascherano
Dani Alves
Dante
Maicon
Rio Ferdinand
John Terry
Joleon Lescott
Ashley Cole
Glen Johnson
Wes Brown
Michael Dawson
Phil Jagielka
Matthew Upson
Stephen Warnock
Eric Abidal
Patrice Evra
Nemanja Vidic
Philippe Mexes
Robert Huth
Per Mertersacker
Luca Antonini
Giorgio Chiellini
John Heitinga
Ron Vlaar
John O’Shea
Martin Skrtel
Daniel Agger

Midfielders

Mikel Arteta
Felipe Melo
Fred
Michael Carrick
Stewart Downing
Steven Gerard
Frank Lampard
Gareth Barry
Scott Parker
Kevin Nolan
Joe Cole
Shaun Wright-Phillips
James Milner
Ashley Young
Leon Osman
Wayne Routledge
Mathieu Flamini
Yohan Cabaye
Florent Malouda
Daniele De Rossi
Antonio Nocerino
Andrea Pirlo
Dirk Kuyt
Nigel de Jong
Rafael van der Vaart
Raul Meireles
Tiago
Xavi
Andres Iniesta
Darren Fletcher
Landon Donovan
Jermaine Jones
Wes Hoolahan
Steven Pienaar
Sebastian Larsson
Mattias Lindstrom
Michael Essien

Forwards

Fernando Torres
Fernando Llorente
Roberto Saldado
David Villa
Carlos Tevez
Darren Bent
Rickie Lambert
Wayne Rooney
Jermain Defoe
Peter Crouch
Gabriel Agbonlahor
Bobby Zamora
Theirry Henry
Loic Remy
Miroslav Klose
Didier Drogba
Dimitar Berbatov
Clint Dempsey
Samuel Eto’o
Georgios Samaras
Robbie Keane
Pavel Pogrebnyak
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
Robin van Persie
Emmanuel Adebayor

That’s all I can think of right now, I know I've missed loads of guys out. I’ll try and update this list as much as possible, but it’s a good base foundation to work with.

Let me know what you guys think.