Every year, new game mechanics and techniques are added to FIFA. Some are pretty weak and useless, others are totally overpowered until they get nerfed and some others are really strong but somehow they don't get used as much. In this article, I will teach you three techniques that are really impactful and used by the pros to gain an edge over the opponent. 

I'm going to be honest with you they aren't easy. They are glitches. You actually have to put some work in to learn this and use them effectively. I can only tell you about it and how to use them. You have to be willing to put the effort in. So, let me tell you about three strong techniques that are underused.

Partial Team Press

Let's start with a technique for your defense, which actually can change your complete approach for defending for years. As a good Defender, you would very often not actively defend the current ball holder but use segment press while you anticipate for the next pass. The segment press puts pressure on the player with the ball and you switching to the next player helps to either intercept the pass or pressure faster after the pass is played. But since FIFA 23, we have a completely new way of dealing with those situations due to the new feature, Partial Team Press. 

You activate it by pressing the R1 or RB button twice while you keep holding the button for the second time. This activates two teammates to get closer to the next passing options of the opponent. This is important to understand. Segment press leads to one of your teammates to pressure the current ball holder with Partial Team Press to teammates press the next passing options. And this allows you to defend completely differently whilst before you would switch away and send your teammate. You can now actively engage while you have two of your teammates doing the job of getting closer to the opponent's next options. So, with this technique you can get more players actively involved in the defense. 

This is a game changer and it feels like it's still underused by a lot of pros in the current game. Now, you can decide for yourself. Do you want to actively engage on your own and use Partial Team Press to apply extra pressure or do you want to anticipate for the next pass and use segment press most common situations to use Partial Team Press on the opponent's build up is when you have a clear overview and also defensive coordination especially when the opponent is on the wing. 

You can actively defend and Wanderers as one while you use Partial Team Press to limit its options for the next pass. Another cool use of Partial Team Press is to prevent the opponent from playing cutbacks inside your box. Activating it here tightly marks a potential pass receiver in the center. 

Directed Runs

Next, we have two techniques for the attack. and the first one is my favorite to create some really good chances with robots. It's directed runs feature, which was introduced in FIFA 21. 

You see those arrows on the pitch. It's a run of a teammate that you can initiate and instead of your player just going straight forward, which is usually the case you can determine the direction in 360 degree. It took me some time to get used to the logic and idea behind directed runs. But since then I regularly use directed runs to create some amazing movement, which allows me to attack the gaps in the opponent's defensive line year after year. Since the introduction to initiate a directed run, you have to press the L1 or LB button and then flick the right stick in the direction that you want the run to happen make sure to activate the directed runs visualization in the FIFA Trainer Settings as this helps quite a lot to see that you are successful with the input. 

And by the way, you can also use the R1 or RB button and flick the right stick for a directed run but I exclusively use L1 for it. However, which of your teammates gets selected? The player that is in the direction of your left stick. So, your aiming gets activated. So, try to get in a position where you can aim with the left stick towards the player that should make the run depending on the situation. This can be quite a hustle and needs some practice. But I have a few tips to make things easier.

Usually, I press the L1 LB button several times, so the player already starts a noble run. And since you don't have to flick the right stick immediately after pressing the button, this does give you several opportunities to do the flicking with the right stick when the timing is right. So, it doesn't interfere with your normal dribbling. Try to start using this feature for your Wingers.

Most often this player is isolated and thus quite easy to hit for the directed run. You can then initiate a run of the Winger to the center penetrating the gap between fullback and center-back. Most opponents are not aware of this possibility and underestimate the potential of such a run. The biggest strength of this feature is in quick transition play. You win the all on defense and quickly switch to attack while you pick up pace in the Midfield. You can orchestrate the runs of your Attackers and Wingers in front of you or to your side angling. Those runs can create completely new passing opportunities or allow you to attack the gaps in the opponent's defensive line. 

In one of my games, I initiated run towards the gap that starts to open up when the opponent pulls out their center-back. This adds another dimension to your attacking play when you get more comfortable with a feature you can switch the directed run several times. Make your player go right and then left. This feature is totally broken at last.

Player Lock

We have another technique which was introduced in FIFA 21 and it's also used to gain more control over your teammates positioning. But even to a more extreme level instead of just determining the direction of a run, you completely take over the control of a player off the ball. This is the player lock feature. There are several ways you can use it. But I will explain the most efficient way.

You activate player lock by pressing in both sticks the indicator above your player changes from a triangle to a diamond. Player lock is activated. Now, flick the right stick in the direction of the player that you want to control. 

As you can see, the indicator is now above the player of the ball. Now, you can control his positioning. And when you press the pass button, you request a pass to this player. The use of player lock can be quite tricky in some situations. Sometimes, it's clunky when you actually can switch away all the timing when the pass is played. 

The easiest situation to start using this feature is when you have some space on the wing and a teammate and center in those situations. The opponent can't pressure you as easily giving you enough time to execute all of these steps. The big advantage of player lock in those situations is that you can position your player to be in an on-site position and also get him unmarked. When you get more comfortable with the feature, you can start using it from Midfield positions switching to a player in front of you to get him in a position to pass to. When you see pros playing the game, you can witness the end level of player lock because some use this feature extremely fluently, activating player lock, switching multiple times, deactivating it and not playing the pass, etc. 

To reach this level you have to practice it over and over again, since it's heavily reliant on your mechanical skill to deactivate player lock. You have to press in both sticks again and this opens up the possibility for fakes distract your opponent with a player lock. But then, just go through on your own. So, there are plenty of possibilities with player lock. 

And by the way, directed runs and player lock work really well together. At first, use directed runs to break through on the wing and then use player lock inside the box to convert the advantages situation into a goal. So, these were the three techniques, which are extremely useful but not used as often. I hope I was able to teach you something new or give you more insight on how to make proper use of it.

All in all, if you want to win more games or have more good players, preparing enough FUT 23 Coins will help you a lot!