As we head towards the later stages of FC 24, we wanted to share 3 underutilized super powerful mechanics that will have a tremendous impact on your game. Especially in the days when these Pro Player Tournaments are being held, these additional mechanics can become very important.

Player Lock Crosses

Let’s start with Player Lock Crosses and we’ll discuss why and when to use them.

Imagine that you are on the same side as your Winger and have the perfect angle to cross, however, Striker in the box cannot receive the ball in the right position. At this point, you let go of your initial Winger, take control of Striker, and manually move him to the position you want. This is what we call Player Lock.

If you press L3 and R3 buttons at the same time, you will see that the triangle cursor above the player’s head changes to a diamond, indicating that you have activated Player Lock. You will then need to use the right stick to switch to the player you want to pass the ball to, and then manually move him to the destination before pressing the cross button.

However, there are a few things you need to pay attention to here. First, you need to make sure the passer has enough space to cross before Player Lock. If he is heavily guarded, you cannot cross even if you put Striker in the right position.

Secondly, make sure you have a good Crossing angle. If you change the intended target, there is a high chance that the cross will be weak. However, Whipped Pass PlayStyle+ is very beneficial here. Even if you don’t have the best angle, the cross can be perfectly delivered to your target.

This is the easiest way I use it. I pass the ball to the side with the left wing back and see an excellent opportunity to cross to Cristiano Ronaldo.

But I need him to receive the ball exactly where I want it and the cross needs to be precise as well. So before activating Player Lock, I have my left wing back at a slight angle because that will be the direction to go immediately after activating Player Lock. He will actually continue to go there until I switch to Ronaldo and pass the ball to him.

At the same time, we press L3 and R3 buttons and immediately afterwards point the right stick in Ronaldo’s direction twice so that I can reach him. I then start sprinting with him to the box and briefly hit the cross button, and you can see the power of Whipped Pass PlayStyle+ working perfectly here. I can easily score a goal with my first touch.

Of course, in order to achieve perfect goals, in addition to constant practice, it is also very important to invest a certain amount of FC 24 Coins to improve the player’s overall stats.

If you are not sure about shooting immediately after the cross, there is another way. You can simply use Player Lock Crosses and then head the ball directly to your teammate to assist lock. But it is more about paying attention to the player you want to pass the ball to and looking at the potential receivers here as the ball moves.

I want to pass the ball to Cristiano Ronaldo again because his Aerial Playstyle makes him very effective in header doubles. I am not sure if I can head the ball directly to the goal or even control it, so when I see Striker near me, I quickly head double to him, which creates an easy scoring opportunity.

It should be noted that here I did not lock Striker, but locked the midfielder and passed the ball to him, and then quickly moved in the direction of Striker, which opened up into a vast space.

Flair Nutmeg Pass

Now onto the next one, Flair Nutmeg Pass. Flair Nutmeg is a Skill Move that can be done by 4 Star Skill Move players and can give you a drastic change of direction depending on the variant.

You can choose to simply hold L1+R1 buttons and push the right stick in a certain direction, but combining a specific variant, a Flair Nutmeg 90° to the right or left of your player and a pass creates an overpowered mechanic that we ended up calling Flair Nutmeg Pass.

When you hold R1 and L1 together and push the right stick to the side, your player will quickly pull the ball towards them and then push the ball to the intended side.

We want to use the first move to our advantage and skip the second one. Because the first animation is so fast, we couldn’t find any other Skill Move that would pull the ball back so quickly to create the angle for the pass.

Therefore, we’re going to skip the second animation of pushing the ball to the side and instead use a pass to pull the ball back and press the pass button in between the two moves. This means you need to be precise with your pass timing. If the timing is not right, you either finish the whole move or pass the ball earlier, thus destroying the whole mechanic.

But the best time to press the pass button is after your player performs the first touch of the ball with a Flair Nutmeg. So the question is when is the most effective time to use Flair Nutmeg Pass?

In certain positions, the opposing defense overcomes its Passing Lanes from the side, so performing a Flair Nutmeg Pass to pull the ball backwards enables you to evade the opponent’s lateral challenge. This also directly creates new passing angles to increase your chances of scoring.

Let’s look at an example. When I receive the ball in a promising attack, I have two options, either dribbling with the ball or passing it to a teammate. That’s why many opponents are right in between the positions that control both of them.

So, evading these opponents, I will overuse the dribbling option and start sprinting in that direction. Yes, the enemy takes the bait and rushes towards my running lane, leaving space on the other side. But I still need to open the passing angle, which is why I perform a Flair Nutmeg to the side.

After the initial move, I immediately passed the ball to my teammate, who ended up scoring the goal to score a goal. Practice makes perfect, so I’ll continue to focus on this method as well.

Move Your Keeper To The Line

Speaking of our last method, if you’re in a crucial 1v1 situation with your opponent, what do you do? You’ll probably leave the keeper out and pray that he’ll miss the shot.

But look at this. I’ve brought the ball to a really good shooting angle, but the goalie is actually standing behind the line. So why do that? Why not move the keeper to the side, but start pushing him back towards the goal? This obviously works.

The only thing you need to do is press the right stick and push it in the direction that the keeper would reasonably move towards his own goal. Even if it’s just pushed back a little, it still works and gives your keeper more room to react to the opponent’s reaction. If you get caught and your goalie is a little ahead, just push him back and see what kind of effect it has.

Let me demonstrate, if the opponent brings the ball up here and takes a Finesse Shot, he definitely has a chance to block when the goalie is in a position like this. But I pressed R3 button and pointed the stick towards my goal, which put my keeper on the line at this angle now.

Even though the attacker could move farther, my keeper actually had more power in saving shots from all angles. The attacker wanted to take the shot, but the well-positioned keeper saved it without any problem. This can be a little hard to implement, but executing it successfully will hurt your opponent mentally.

Anyway, hopefully these 3 secret tips will help you to have a blast in the pro tournaments! Good luck!