FIFA 21 players find new goal-scoring meta after Stepover nerf
EA SportsFIFA 21 players have apparently discovered a new surefire way to score goals after the previously overpowered stepover skill move was nerfed in Update 8.
Up until February 2021, the stepover was the tried and true FIFA 21 meta that most of the top players in Weekend League and FUT Champions used a lot and relied on heavily.
That was all up until Update 8 happened in January, which nerfed stepovers, making them no longer an easy skill move in-game and thus no longer as easy to pull off or be as effective.
But, as this skill move leaves the meta, the good old Directional Nutmeg maneuver has apparently taken its place, and it seems to be unstoppable against AI defenders.
EA SportsThe Directional Nutmeg has your player skillfully pass it through the legs of the defender and can be done on just by holding R1/RB and L1/LB while pushing the direction you want to pass on the right joystick.
Reddit user mognoiswebscale apparently discovered a way to sort-of ‘break’ FIFA’s AI defenders by using the move along with some forward pressure to score incredibly easy goals.
“I put both my strikers on target man. Play a driven ground pass to them, then a first-time nutmeg directly into the CB,” the user explained. “99% of the time it just glitches the CB AI and they don’t react.”
In case that sounds too good to be true, mognoiswebscale also provided video evidence of the tactic working during games. Sure enough, the defending center-backs just seem to freeze up and don’t react as they should, making goals way easier to score.
Knowing FIFA, this could very well end up being the new meta going forward, especially now that the nerfs to stepovers seem here to stay and players are looking for the next best way to get a leg up.
So, why not try to make those first nutmegs count while you still can? There’s no telling if EA will nerf that skill move eventually, so you may as well give it a shot (literally) while you still can.