Fnatic Roma recently won the Gfinity Elite Series FIFA tournament for the second season in a row. Roma have had a strong start following the West Ham Cup win of Damian 'Damie' Augustyniak after he defeated his teammate Conran 'Rannerz' Tobin in the final.
While Rannerz will miss out on the FUT Champions Cup in London, he has qualified for the third the next event in January and will be more well-versed with the elite cards in FIFA 19 than most. The Irishman has an incredible squad on Ultimate Team, consisting of: David de Gea, Kyle Walker, 85-rated Rio Ferdinand, 92-rated Paolo Maldini, Alex Sandro, 90-rated Ruud Gullit, 86-rated Patrick Vieira, 89-rated Eusebio, Prime Ronaldo (R9), 91-rated Pele and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Goal caught up with him to break down the ridiculous the team worth which Rannerz reckons is worth a staggering 17 million coins.
Obviously, you went all out to create the best team possible but were there any players you specifically targeted and looked to build around?
It was built around Prime R9 essentially, with 90 Ruud Gullit as the other main player. Then I just got the best around, and made sure I had a good centre-back pairing and added in a few more Icons.
Who is your most expensive player and have they been worth the price tag?
The most expensive player was 96-rated R9 who cost me 7.8m coins. But he's so good, he's definitely worth it! Gullit also cost 3.7m but he's incredible so I don't regret spending that much at all.
And who is the MVP of your team? Who's your star player?
That'd be R9 as well, he's just incredible. Such a joke of a player.
Should have guessed that. On the flip-side then, are there any players in FIFA 19 who you have found to be underwhelming or weren't as good as you expected?
Michael Ballack was really bad, I thought he was going to be great. His stats seemed really good but then when you actually use him, he's nothing like he should be. His passing was terrible, his shooting was alright but not where it should be - just anything he could do on the ball wasn't good enough.
It's probably safe to say that 4-2-3-1 is the most popular formation in the game. Have you found it to be the strongest in FIFA 19?
For me, it's just because the 4-2-3-1 is the most balanced formation. It has width, it has two CDMS, lots of attackers, four at the back. I don't think it has a real weakness, honestly.
How would you describe your play-style and how does your team fit into that?
I'm pretty fast-paced, a lot of counter-attacks and early shots where I maybe could have passed a few more times. I don't give my opponents any time to think or react.
Of course, your team is top-draw but are there any cheaper players you've used that you could recommend for newcomers who not get the game until Christmas?
If you can afford him, Kylian Mbappe is incredible this year. He still costs a few hundred-thousand coins though so I guess he's quite expensive. If you want really cheap. then Gabriel Jesus is around 2k. He's really good if you want a cheap player to start off with that's going to bag you lots of goals. His pace and dribbling are brilliant.
And finally, outside of your team, are there any players in FIFA 19 who you think deserves an upgrade based on their real-life form? Maybe players from the team you support?
I think it's pretty accurate this year, to be honest. I'm a Chelsea fan but I think EA got them mostly right – although Alvaro Morata probably deserves a downgrade.