I began to gradually dial up the difficulty in Squad Battles into World Class, and I was beginning to find clean sheets. I discovered how to Madden 21 coins shield one-on-one scenarios, by forcing forward outside and at least limit them to low percentage shots at the near post. These were skills I knew I'd need to use online, where the standard of play is usually much greater. I managed to find a 0-0 against an 88-rated squad with adequate chemistry World Class problem, and that I understood this was a breakthrough.
Of course, while a 0-0 against a group comprising Mbappe and Messi is all well and good, I wasn't scoring at the opposite end of this field. By neutralising teams, I knew I'd improved defensively, but that I was essentially not able to score. Now, I understood personnel was a problem, and that I would need to overhaul my whole team. I was getting to the point where I was feeling confident about my ability to compete online, but with the greatest of respect, I understood Redmond wasn't going to cut it.
I'd made a fair few Coins and Packs just by playing the game at this point, but I had not been messing about with the Transfer Marketplace too much. I knew I was likely to have to market players in order to purchase much better ones, and to my surprise I was able to construct a pretty good team with not much cash in any way. Of course, I was purchasing basic Gold cards instead of unfathomably expensive FUT Icons, however, things started to come together.
I knew I needed to stick with Kevin Trapp in target because, while he's far from the best keeper at the game, I was comfortable with him. So I started to work out from there, adding Bundesliga players into my defence, and eventually settling on a French theme. For a while I used Francis Coquelin alongside him, but the goal would be to buy Mut 21 coins get N'Golo Kante inside there.