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EA FC 27 Ones to Watch challenge is quite demanding, especially because the AI opponents are extremely difficult to deal with this year. Their passing is remarkably strong, and they only need a small opening to break through your defensive line.

For players whose squads are not strong enough yet, defeating this AI team on Legendary difficulty can be extremely difficult. However, you are not completely without options. One of the most effective approaches is actually to absorb the pressure and then hit them on the counterattack.

Formation and Player Setup

Any formation that gives you a CAM and two strikers can work well, so simply choose the formation you are most comfortable with.

CB

For the first line of defense, you need a very tall center-back. Once the AI wins a corner, it has a very high chance of scoring with a header. If you can regain possession from the corner, you can often create a 3 vs 2 or 4 vs 2 counterattack, which is basically a guaranteed goal.

You can use 84 OVR Ibrahima Konaté, who stands at 6 feet 4 inches and also has Bruiser PlayStyle. If you have enough FUT coins, you can also consider 87 OVR Nico Schlotterbeck.

CM

For your CMs, the priority is having one or two players with Incisive Pass. There are plenty of options, such as 86 OVR Florian Wirtz and Bruno Guimarães Moura. Bruno has a significant weakness, so if you do not want to use him, you can instead choose a player with First Touch or Technical.

Your CMs should ideally be tall players who can handle pressure. 88 OVR Declan Rice stands at 6 feet 2 inches, has strong defensive and physical attributes, and also has Relentless+. You can control him to track back and help defend.

CAM

CAM position is extremely important. Incisive Pass+ is almost essential. Having 4-star or 5-star Weak Foot would make things even better. Against the AI, more than nine times out of ten, you will rely on precise passing to put the ball directly into your striker's path.

ST

For your strikers, pace is everything, although any striker with enough pace can be quite valuable. Pay attention to player chemistry, as some strikers can reach strong sprint speeds when equipped with Hunter Chemistry Style.

How to Beat the Legendary AI?

First, you need to set your Depth to 1. This is extremely important. If you push your defensive line too high, the AI will use extremely dangerous through balls to tear through your defense.

Against the AI, the harder you try to force your way forward, the more likely you are to make a mistake. If you constantly force forward passes, you will find yourself under a lot of pressure. You need to spend plenty of time circulating the ball in the defensive third while waiting for space to open up in the midfield third.

After losing possession, control a midfielder and have him track back instead of switching to a defender. Do not try to rush out with your defenders, and do not switch defenders too casually. One wrong decision can be immediately punished by the AI.

Once you regain possession, give the ball to a player with Incisive Pass or Incisive Pass+, then play a through ball immediately. This will be the source of most of your goals. You regain possession, play a penetrating pass to your striker, and from there, it becomes a matter of pace.

If you take the lead, such as going 2-0 up, you can become more passive and allow the AI to have possession or even win corners, although this still carries some risk. As long as you regain possession, continue to counterattack.

Do not constantly recycle the ball all the way back to your own defensive area, but controlled possession and running down the clock are necessary tools for dealing with the AI.

When the AI starts pushing forward aggressively, you will feel completely suffocated. At that point, a simple one-two can be enough to break the defensive line, allowing you to run directly at goal. A low Depth keeps your midfield line deeper, while your strikers will have more room to make forward runs after you win possession.

Corners and Set Pieces

The AI is extremely dangerous from corners. Its ability to connect with headers is very strong, but corners can also create opportunities because they almost guarantee that one side will get a chance to score. If you can regain possession, you will usually have a 3 vs 2 or 4 vs 2 counterattack, which should almost always result in a goal. Once you are ahead, you can play more passively, allow them to cross the ball, and then use your taller players to clear it.

Managing a Lead

Once you are ahead, possession becomes extremely important. You can pass the ball back to your goalkeeper and allow the AI to push forward. The risk is that the goalkeeper could be dispossessed and concede. However, you can simply wait, as the AI will eventually push forward.

Once they truly start pressing and you feel suffocated, use a one-two to break through their line, then move the ball to the other side of the pitch and continue controlling possession.

If the timing is right, you may not even need to attempt another goal. Of course, scoring another one is always welcome. The key is to make the match as difficult and as long as possible, preventing the AI from attacking comfortably.

There is no cheating involved, nor are there any settings changes that allow you to stay permanently onside. This is simply a legitimate way to defeat the AI on Legendary difficulty. If you can master this approach in the PvE Live Event, returning to Squad Battles should feel noticeably easier because the AI there is weaker.

With the global launch of FC 27, you have likely finished building your initial squad and are now looking to earn more coins to further bolster your club.

Among the various ways to earn rewards in Ultimate Team, Squad Battles stands out as a relatively reliable mode; it refreshes weekly to ensure a steady stream of rewards and offers a moderate level of difficulty.

However, a frustrating issue has arisen: as more players join FC 27 and progress through Squad Battles, many have found the mode significantly harder than before. Frequent bugs have also plagued the experience, completely undermining the relaxed PvE gameplay players used to enjoy.

In this article, we will outline the changes to FUT 27 Squad Battles and analyze the problems, and their underlying causes, that players are encountering.

What do players want from Squad Battles?

While Career Mode is more welcoming to FC 27 players who dislike competitive environments, it offers no coin rewards and can eventually feel a bit stale or lacking in excitement.

If you want a change of pace and decide to switch to Ultimate Team, Squad Battles is clearly a better choice than the high-pressure, energy-draining gameplay found in Rivals and Champions.

As a PvE mode, Squad Battles pits you against AI-controlled teams built by other players, and you are free to choose your difficulty level. Although playing on lower difficulties yields fewer FUT 27 coins, it serves as an excellent source of income for a more casual gaming session.

In short, Squad Battles offers a place for competitive players to take a break, while also providing a welcoming option for casual players who occasionally want to try their hand at head-to-head matches.

FC 27 Squad Battles trap

In their guides for FC 27 Ultimate Team newcomers, the development team claims that Squad Battles is a beginner-friendly mode.

They highlight Amateur difficulty as being specifically designed for novices, allowing players to gradually increase the difficulty and climb the rankings at their own pace.

In reality, however, you will find that sticking solely to Amateur or the slightly higher Semi-Pro difficulty makes it impossible to earn valuable packs and coins during the weekly rewards, or to complete specific objectives.

In other words, while FUT 27 Squad Battles might appear easier than in the past, the reward mechanics have been quietly tweaked; if you want worthwhile returns, you essentially have to set the difficulty to World Class or higher.

The awkward reality, however, is that stepping up to this difficulty level exponentially increases the pressure exerted by the AI. Most casual players struggle to cope, while even competitive players looking for a break find it impossible to truly relax.

Even more absurd, whether due to an unfixed bug or a fundamental imbalance in Squad Battles difficulty, is that even with a squad capable of handling high-level play, you might still lose to an AI team with mediocre overall ratings and chemistry.

In almost every game mode, team rating and chemistry are the foundations of squad performance. Allowing an AI team to win easily simply because the difficulty is set high, while ignoring these fundamental elements, is undoubtedly a waste of the time and effort you've invested.

The evolution of Squad Battles

In previous EA FC titles, high-difficulty AI teams were certainly formidable, but their logic tended toward predictable patterns, such as mechanical counter-attacks or possession play. Once you grasped these tendencies, you could easily handle them with your main squad.

In FIFA 27, however, the development team likely integrated data gathered from top-tier PvP players directly into Squad Battles AI behavior patterns. This has vastly complicated match strategies, effectively undermining the original purpose of this PvE mode.

You could try harder, but it's not worth it

Amidst the wave of criticism from the community, a small subset of FUT 27 players argues that if high-difficulty Squad Battles feels too tough, you should simply lower the difficulty or work on improving your own skills.

Clearly, players who hold this view are either exceptionally skilled and accustomed to high-pressure competition, or they are blind apologists for EA.

As previously mentioned, the value of Squad Battles lies in providing a PvE arena where everyone can earn rewards without feeling exhausted.

If you were willing to invest that much extra effort, why wouldn't you just play Rivals or Champions, which offer far better rewards?

Why is the dev team making these under-the-radar changes?

You might wonder: given that the move to increase the grind and difficulty of Squad Battles has been almost universally unpopular, why did FC 27 development team do it? Did they fail to foresee this outcome?

In reality, for the developers, player experience is just one factor among many; their primary concern is maximizing revenue.

In FC 27, Squad Battles is tied not only to your standard objective progress but also closely linked to Player Evolution tasks. If the mode remained as casual as it used to be, you could easily earn coins or high-tier cards without any pressure.

Consequently, your inclination toward and need for micro-transactions would decrease. By ramping up AI's intensity and making match outcomes less certain, the developers force you to invest more time and potentially make more in-store trades just to secure a win.

However, it must be noted that this strategy yields only short-term gains. If FUT 27 persists in turning Squad Battles into a mode as grueling as PvP, more players will inevitably abandon the game.

To make matters worse, many players have reported frequent bugs in Squad Battles that remain unfixed. This raises suspicions that the issues might be a deliberate tactic by the development team to mask their behind-the-scenes adjustments.

Even during the closed beta, many felt that, despite the addition of The Grounds, FC 27 might not be a particularly strong new entry in the franchise. We hope the developers can reverse course before it's too late and prevent this classic series from fading into irrelevance.