Ryan Pessoa, known as Hashtag Ryan, hosted a FIFA 19 workshop at Red Bull's Gaming Sphere in London last week, walking fans through tips and tricks for the new game. Pessoa is signed to esports team Hashtag United and is an official Red Bull athlete.
He appeared on the stream Up Your Game to answer questions and demonstrate techniques, covering everything from custom tactics to attacking, defending and set pieces.
Timed finishing
Pessoa said the first thing players should practice is timed finishing, a new mechanic he said adds an element to shooting that was never in the game before. In FIFA 19, pressing the shot button to power up and pressing it again just before the player strikes the ball gives a bonus to accuracy and power.
He said that at first, players will need to watch the power bar or their player's leg as it moves toward the ball, but that the timing becomes easier with practice. "The first thing I did was go on amateur difficulty and just practice and practice," he said. FIFA 19 had only been out a couple of weeks at the time, but Pessoa said he had already played hundreds of games.
Attacking
Pessoa said several attacking tricks from last year's game still work. The finesse shot, triggered by holding RB or R1, remains effective. He also described a build-up tactic where a player sends a nearby teammate on a run using L1 or LB, then quickly recalls them with R1 or RB, opening a gap left behind by the defender who tracked the run.
Controlling the goalkeeper
FIFA 19 also lets players manually control their goalkeeper with the right stick. Pessoa said that if an attacker cuts inside, they are likely to shoot across the face of goal, so players should practice moving their keeper to anticipate it. He cautioned that skilled opponents will expect the keeper to move and shoot the other way, comparing it to the mind games involved in scoring on a real pitch.
Set pieces
Pessoa said set pieces were where games were being decided early in FIFA 19. "I've scored more from corners than penalties, getting a corner is basically a penalty," he said.
He explained that getting free at the near post makes corners almost impossible to defend. While headers are an option, Pessoa said he usually goes for a bicycle kick by holding the left trigger and pressing the shoot button, and showed clips during the stream of the technique working a high percentage of the time.
Defending
On defending, Pessoa said players are generally better off letting the game's AI take over. "If you control your centre backs, you're in for trouble," he said. He recommended instead controlling defensive midfielders to cut out passing lanes manually, and dropping a fast attacking midfielder back for extra support when needed.
Ultimate Team
Pessoa's Ultimate Team already includes Icons Rio Ferdinand and Frank Rijkaard in defense along with Kylian Mbappe on the wing. He said Patrick Vieira and Ruud Gullit Icon cards are next on his list.
He had gone 30 wins from 30 games in the first Weekend League of FIFA 19. Pessoa said he had a disappointing FIFA 18 in terms of results, but that it had not dampened his motivation heading into the new season. "Right now the fuel to succeed for me on FIFA is unparalleled, I'd be shocked if somebody has the same fire I have," he said.
The full stream of his tips is available on the Red Bull Esports Twitch channel.
