Some football teams make radical changes in order to wring a higher level of achievement out of their squad. Let's call it the 'Real Madrid approach'.
Others prefer the path of continuity and stability, which could be labelled the 'Tottenham approach'.
The developer of Super Soccer Champs 2019 is evidently a proponent of the Tottenham approach, and we can't say we blame it.
Spurred on
In case you missed Super Soccer Champs 2018, this is a series that owes its football game allegiance to home computer classics like Sensible Soccer and Kick Off, rather than FIFA and PES.
It follows a particularly British form of pacy yet deceptively skilful top down football. You might only have a virtual D-pad and two virtual buttons with which to control the action, but getting the ball into the onion bag is surprisingly tricky.
In the absence of much of the automation we've come to expect from our flashy footy games, your first shot at goal in Super Soccer Champs 2019 is as likely to go out for a throw-in as it is to challenge the goalie.
Don't expect to be able to just dribble your way into the box, either. There's no trick button here and dribbling has a real sense of inertia, while pace isn't the devastating weapon you might expect it to be.
Pass master
Just about the only thing that feels remotely assisted in Super Soccer Champs 2019 is passing.
Like last year's entry, it's still a little too easy to zip the ball around between your players. I'd like to see a little more analogue unpredictability to it in future instalments.
Still, this does mean that each game of Super Soccer Champs 2019 is a zippy, flowing affair. The onus is on finding space and picking the right moment to play team mates in.
If you can master the radar-assisted long pass, meanwhile, then you can wreak havoc on an opposing team.
Tactical tweaks
Uprising Games claims to have improved the match engine and AI in SSC 2019, and I believe them. It still feels very familiar, but it seems more solid and stable.A more noticeable addition here is online play, though I've struggled to find a game to date. Not that this is too much of a bind.
SSC 2018 had a brilliantly in-depth single player campaign mode, and that returns here with slightly tidier and more intuitive menus. Taking your team of lower-league no-hopers up to football's top table and signing star players is a genuine thrill.
Super Soccer Champs 2019 hasn't ripped up its team sheet and started again from scratch, but then it didn't really need to. It's still one of the best arcade football games on the App Store.
Super Soccer Champs 2019 review - "Keeps the squad together"
SSC 2019 has kept its squad intact for the new season, with one or two minor improvements. It's still a very accomplished arcade footy game
Jon Mundy
Jon is a consummate expert in adventure, action, and sports games. Which is just as well, as in real life he's timid, lazy, and unfit. It's amazing how these things even themselves out.