Player Review

Moussa Dembele: Midfield’s wise elder

Formation: 433(2) / 4231 (i interchange the two in matches)

Position: CDM / LCDM

Chemistry Style: Powerhouse

Player instructions: Stay back while attacking, Cut passing lanes, Aggressive interceptions

I wanted to try dembele for a long time since the beginning of fifa because he’s one of my favourite midfielders in real life and has always been op in game. This year they gave him +2 rating (possibly the only time he did not deserve an upgrade but I’ll happily take it) and his stats look so appealing to me.

However, that 70 stamina put me off of slapping a catalyst and playing him as a CM, so I decided to check which chem style would suit him better to play cdm and i stuck with powerhouse.

The reasoning behind this choice is that he will not play like a kante or an allan, running and chasing players: he just does not have stamina, pace, defensive stats or aggression to do that.

Powerhouse turns him into a defensively solid midfield general, with great interceptions and defensive positioning (thanks also to them player instruction which in my opinion are the best for him at CDM), while being a reliable presence in offense to link the rest of the team together, pulling the strings from behind.

He has absurd passing stats (with chem style it says 86 on the card but if you take a deeper look you see 90 vision, 99 short passing and 90 long passing! The rest doesn’t matter in that role), he is tall and strong, but also has astounding dribbling stat (89 ball control and dribbling!!!) for an 84 rated cm, plus 4* skills.

What I like the most about him is that he seems so intelligent and composed (yeah bruh 90 composure must mean something), I don’t know why is that but I can always find him in the middle of the park in a good position to receive a pass and link up with teammates or turn to nail long balls. Even tho he’s m/m he seems so dynamic in both defense and offense. If you grasp his dribbling and the fact that he’s not the most agile player but has incredible technique, he will be a smooth big CHEAP pivot in your midfield.

He does have 2*WF but you can take advantage of his skills and dribbling to get the ball on his left foot and deliver passes. I honestly believe that if he had 4*WF he would be close to be OP, because he would not be as predictable as he may be with 2*.

Ofc his main issue is stamina: 70 is crap, he’s the only player in my team that starts the second half with the stamina bar almost yellow (I would say 65-70%). Oftentimes I sub him off at 70th minute if he starts to slow down too much, it depends on the game. He’s also pretty slow, which helps him a bit with the stamina but it actually hurts when his stamina goes down because it’s bound to go down at some point, so beware and have a CDM replacement somewhere in case you need it.

72 pace is borderline low, that’s why I set his player instruction so that he moves himself in better positions early. You want to avoid running and chasing with him as much as you possibly can, to preserve his stamina thus his ability to defend, then calmly pull strings and link up.

Another thing i didn't like was his shooting: even when i nail the timing on regular strong foot long shots, the result is pretty disappointing even though the stats should be matched by better outcomes. but i also have other 4 players in the team who are supposed to score so i don't mind.

Overall, he's a fantastic player on and off the ball, as good as you can get in that position, even for higher price ranges. however, pace, aggression but most of all STAMINA is what holds him down from being a top CDM/CM in this whole game. 8/10 for me.