FIFA 22: Buying the BEST players in FUT can make your team worse, here's why

Let us start by saying this, having the best players in FIFA 22 Ultimate Team is obviously going to help you win, but it does not guarantee success or an improvement to your game.

Many players find that when they bring in the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo to their team, their performances suffer as a consequence.

Is this a coincidence, false, perception, or is there a reason behind it? Let's take a closer look at what is going on when the best players appear to fail in-game.

The complaint

'Why am I not playing better when I buy more expensive players for my Ultimate Team?'. A simple, yet ever so complicated question.

Fundamentally there are several reasons why you are not playing better in FUT 22, and it could be any of them.

Now in the case of the above Reddit thread, we are assuming that both Arnautovic and Ronaldo are both playing on full chemistry, otherwise, that may have something to do with it too!

Even a drop to 7 chemistry for Ronaldo makes his stats worse than a full chemistry Rulebreakers Arnautovic, and that's just on basic chemistry!

This is too obvious so we will ignore chemistry for the time being, but take note of how much chemistry and chemistry styles can impact your players' stats.

Yeah, science!

Funnily enough, there is some science as to why your better players may struggle and it is something we reported during the FUT 21 cycle last season.

Leaning forward has a positive impact on your performance when gaming, and here is why according to Dr. Andrea Utley (Reader in Motor Control and Development at Leeds University).

“Moving your main sensory system closer will help your focus and concentration, but without full postural support, especially from the trunk and neck muscles, you will get fatigued.

“Leaning forward helps us concentrate on the game, but we can only do it for so long before tiredness sets in. Our eye movements are facilitated by tiny Recti muscles and when they are overworked they become less effective – like any other muscle in the body.”

But how does this affect my own team? Each participant in the study leaned forward on several occasions during each game they played.

These ‘leans’ were triggered by a number of events, including scoring or conceding a goal, losing possession of the ball, or missing or conceding a chance.

Funnily enough, there was also a trend involving Cristiano Ronaldo. If an opponent’s team featured CR7, a lean was often triggered every time he received the ball.

While it is great to have Ronaldo in your team, you may be inadvertently encouraging your opponent to try harder.

Effectively, your all-star team may actually be pushing your opponents to play better, rather than having an adverse effect on your own performance.

You can read the full study here.

Trying the impossible

Let's get this straight, just because you have Ronaldo in your team, does not mean he is going to score every time he touches the ball.

If you do all the things you usually do that have made you successful, Ronaldo will improve your team as he will likely do them better than who you had before.

However, if you start trying to dribble through the whole team and shoot from 30 yards you are limiting your own performance.

Playing with the elite players does bring in a mentality of trying the improbable, but if you stick to the basics, the top players are far more effective.

Solutions

We aren't saying these solutions are guaranteed to work, but they are certainly worth giving some thought to.

First up, and the easiest to do, keep it simple.

If you have the best players you don't need to force anything or try something spectacular, it will just happen.

Secondly, if keeping it simple doesn't seem to be the issue, then maybe your team is so good you are encouraging your opponents to concentrate.

If that is the case, consider avoiding certain 'trigger' players and look for less fancied players with similar stats (like Rulebreakers Arnautovic and Ronaldo).

Nabil Fekir, Ousmane Dembele, and Presnel Kimpembe are the French trio tormenting the FUT community this season, so they may also be considered trigger players.