A staple for many years, FIFA 18 has been the unveiling of the “team of the season,” aka TOTS, for the top leagues in football/soccer. The end of the year TOTS blue cards turns every Ultimate Team player into a 13-year-old One Direction fan. People go crazy. Now without further-a-do, let’s take a look and review the TOTS for the world’s biggest league: The English Premier League.
The SQUAD
Below is the full list of players by position included in FIFA 18’s EPL TOTS.
- GK-s David de Gea, Nick Pope
- RB- Kyle Walker
- CB’s- Jan Vertonghen, Nicolas Otamendi, Cesar Azpilicueta
- LB’s- Ashley Young, Ben Davies
- CDM’s- Fernandinho, Nemanja Matic,
- CM’s- Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva
- CAM’s- Dele Ali, Christian Eriksen
- LM- Heung-Min Son
- LW’s- Sadio Mane, Leroy Sane
- RM-Riyad Mahrez
- RW’s- Mohamed Salah, Raheem Sterling
- ST’s- Harry Kane, Sergio Augero, Romelu Lukaku, Roberto Firmino
Not to many complaints from me with regards to the selections. I would’ve thought that Marcos Alonso from Chelsea would’ve gotten a nod instead of Ben Davies but overall, it’s a solid squad.
FIFA 18’s TOTS starting 11
(Pictured way above) is the starting 11 that FIFA picked, re-created by me on FUTHead.com. They opted for a 3-4-3 formation and here’s their match day squad. Overall this is a pretty incredible TOTS squad but there are a few question marks for me. Sergio Augero being the first one. No one’s denying how great Aguero is and even though he had a season filled with injuries, he was able to bag 21 goals in 25 games. Those are INSANE numbers but for me, Roberto Firmino NEEDS to be in that starting 11. He was one of the key factors in Liverpool having the season they did, along with Salah’s 32 goals. I get that Sergio Augero won the league title and also had a ridiculous scoring rate with 21 goals in 25 games but personally, I would’ve opted for Firmino instead of Aguero.
What a problem to have eh?
The only other slight argument you could make is that Azpilicueta should get a spot in the starting 11. If we’re going off pure stats alone then he should definitely be in there. Compared to Vertonghen here are the stats. Appearances: 37 to 36, Azpilicueta. Clean sheets: 15 to 15. Goals: 2 to 0, Azpilicueta. Now I get these are small margins but technically you could argue he had the better season. The only other talking point could be between Ederson and De Gea. Now both had great seasons, but for me I would’ve liked to see Ederson get the nod. In his first year in the EPL, he had 36 appearances, 16 clean sheets and won the league. Pretty good season if you ask me. Now De Gea did appear in one more game and had two more clean sheets so once again, small margins. But considering it was his first year in the league, I’d give the nod to Ederson.
These are slim margins I’m looking at and overall the squad is great, but these are just some small adjustments I would’ve made. But speaking of adjustments, my TOTS team up next.
MY TOTS starting 11
Below is my TOTS lineup created by me on FUTHead.com.
Now I know what you’re all going to say. ANDREAS CHRISTENSEN?? Just hear me out.
Yes, he is a bit of a wildcard, but he had a great debut season for Chelsea. He even kicked out David Luiz from the starting 11 and was even rivaling Gary Gahill for minutes. 27 appearances and 6 clean sheets, not too bad from the 22-year-old. I also added Marcos Alonso into my squad. For the last two seasons he has established himself as one of the best left-wingbacks in the league. 33 appearances, 12 clean sheets and seven goals. He would be in my squad any day. The only other changes I made was going with the three-headed monster that is Liverpool’s attack and adding in Ederson, which I already explained earlier.
But Liverpool’s attack had such an incredible year that they do deserve to start. Harry Kane did end the year second in scoring with 30 goals, which is higher than both Firmino and Mane (15 and 10.) When you add all three together and just watch how they performed all year, it’s just mesmerizing. 57 goals, 24 assists in 37 appearances for the season. Truly remarkable.
Well there you have it. This was my look on the TOTS squad for the EPL. Let me know what you think and what changes you’d make. Please don’t go too hard on me.
Also check out my previous FIFA 18 articles:
FIFA 18‘s World Cup squad ratings
UEFA’s Top 30 FIFA 18 World Cup Ratings
