It has already became a tradition for EA Sports to release a Team of the Week package, which includes 11 of the best performing footballers over the past week. EA also decide footballers’ upgrades or downgrades, according to their performance in the real world. You can save some FIFA 15 Coins when the footballer you like have got downgrades.
Whenever these updates are released we’ll be trawling through teams in Europe’s top five leagues and bringing you notable downgrades and some player who we think deserved downgrades. Some of these players will have already received downgrades but their inclusion in this list means that we believe he needs a slightly bigger decrease.
To start off we’ll look at some players who are on the decline and once again World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid is down to 91, a result of his indifferent form. Interestingly it is worth noting that rival for the Ballon d’Or. Lionel Messi of Barcelona’s good form has seen him taken up to 96.
Messi ronaldo
Interestingly despite scoring in Napoli’s 2-0 win over Sassuolo Slovakian international Marek Hamsik has been taken down by one whilst Gervinho’s poor performance in Roma’s 1-1 draw away at Verona has seen him suffer a similar fate. Amusingly despite putting in a pretty good performance during yet another convincing Bayern Munich victory Jerome Boateng is on the decline, perhaps it’s because he didn’t score…
Mousa Dembele – Tottenham Hotspur
One player we were surprised to remain in the green was Tottenham Hotspur attacking midfielder Mousa Dembele. Admittedly the Belgian was pretty good during the 3-2 defeat at Anfield but that a couple of weeks ago now.
He was positively woeful during the first 45 of the 2-2 draw with West Ham on Sunday and it was no surprise to see Mauricio Pochettino take him off at half-time. Dembele has so much talent in his feet that it makes him an incredibly frustrating player because he doesn’t manage to produce more regularly. That he is still rated as one of Spurs’ best player due to his increase form is baffling to us.
Vurnon Anita – Newcastle United
Frankly every single Newcastle player could be on the end of a big downgrade after their shocking performance against Manchester City but it is the man who set the wheels in motion, Vurnon Anita, who we think deserves the biggest downgrade. It was the Dutchman’s lax play that saw him give away the ball and then give away the penalty that saw Newcastle concede in the opening minutes.
It is important to point out that Anita has actually been taken down but some Newcastle players remain untouched and we’re surprised that EA have been so generous with the ratings of the players. The Magpies’ game against Aston Villa on Saturday will be a big test and surely another poor performance will result in bigger drops?
Robin van Persie – Manchester United
Like Radamel Falcao and Angel Di Maria Robin van Persie remains on the decline for Manchester United after another poor performance during the club’s 2-1 defeat to Swansea City on the weekend. Given that the Dutchman is unlikely to play against Sunderland it will mean he hasn’t scored a single goal from open play in February.
The drop in his stats is not surprising but we think that surely he deserves a slightly bigger knock? He may be United’s top scorer in the league this season but his form recently has not been good enough and at some point FIFA will probably have to give him another drop.
Cesc Fabregas – Chelsea
Yet again in 2015 Fabregas produced another disappointing display for Chelsea, failing to really have much of an impact during the club’s 1-1 draw with Burnley on Saturday. Nemanja Matic’s red card, and manager Jose Mourinho’s subsequent rant, distracted attention from the performance of Fabregas but the Spaniard is certainly not reaching the levels he produced during 2014.
Incredibly despite this Fabregas still hasn’t been downgraded and he remains a brilliant player to use, and we’re not sure how much longer that can continue for. Part of the problem for the midfielder is his recovery from a hamstring injury, illness, and being played in different positions but with Matic missing for Sunday’s Capital One Cup he has to step up and produce.
Ron Vlaar – Aston Villa
It is hard to imagine that new Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood could have endured a worse start to his Premier League tenure at Villa Park. Having taken the lead against Stoke City they were then pegged back and conceded a stoppage time penalty to see three points evaporate from their grasp.
The man who gave away the penalty, and effectively lost his team a point, was captain Ron Vlaar whose performances levels have been horribly inconsistent as talk around his future continues to rise. The Dutchman’s contract is up at the end of the year and although it doesn’t look likely that he’ll sign a new deal it’s also unclear where he’ll end up moving. He’s another he should have received more of a downgrade than he did, not exactly a happy return to the first team.