Player Review

When this card popped up i thought FINALLY a strong striker who can score goals that isn't a weird nationality in a dodgy league (sorry ibra)

Rooney does just that for me, he's strong and he scores goals for fun. 12 games 17 goals 12 assists.

Most of the comments / reviews on this player are massively mixed, he's either the worst card anybody's ever used or the best.

I have to admit he's on the best side for me. I have a fairly basic team bar crespo and rooney so it's not even the players around him making him better!

So lets go through the card. (Card is used with a Deadeye Chem style - doesn't need the pace)

• Pace - So the first thing I noticed about Rooney is that he's rapid. He takes a couple of seconds to get going but once he does he's gone. The 76 agility can sometimes affect the runs with the ball because he's a bit slow reacting but the 91 pace and accel he's off if you're running straight towards goal. He doesn't need a pace boost - using a hunter, hawk or catalyst is a waste on him.
• Dribbling - Suprisingly amazing at dribbling. Again the agility can be an issue but that tends to be only during a sprint - if you're only dribbling at jogging or walking speed than he'll nip through the tiniest gap without any struggle, assisted by his strength and aggression not many people can get the ball away from his feet. And best of all 99 composure. 10 men grabbing hold of him he'll still find the net.
• Shooting - The best thing about him. with a deadeye it bumps his shooting stats to the following: Positioning 99, Finishing 99, Shot Power 99, Long Shots 92, Volleys 92 and Penalties 95. He is on another planet. in and out of the box. I cannot stress enough that if you get into a shooting position with the option to pass for an easy goal, just shoot because it's guaranteed to go in!! he's an animal.
• Defending - he's got 60 defending but he's got 87 strength and 60 standing tackle - that's enough to get the job done. Seeing a lot of people using him at CM or CDM, does not work because of the stamina issue. At striker it's fine but CM or CDM don't bother.
• Passing - Deadeye turns him into Beckham. The end. HOWEVER, the short passing for some reason is wild and inaccurate even when boosted to 96.
• Physicality - The mixed section. 82 Jumping - good enough. 87 Strength on a 90+ Pace striker, THE DREAM. 90 aggression, combined with pace and strength, perfect. NOW the moment you've allllllll been waiting for. THE STAMINA. I'm not going to pretend it can become an issue because it can. anything other than striker he's going to have issues. 74 Stamina is enough to last 90 minutes if you're starting the game on 99-90 fitness but if you're anywhere under the 90 mark he's exhausted by the 75th/80th minute so he essentially becomes a deep seated CAM because he doesn't run fast enough, Leaves a MASSIVE gap up front which you absolutely don't want in the weekend league. For those using him in CAM or CM, I salute you because he runs box to box unless you set your tactics to tell him not to. It can be a problem without custom tactics because of the High Defence / Medium attack work rate.

All in all this is a positive review and he is far away the second best striker I've used (bar Crespo) but I'll be honest he takes some tinkering and getting used to because of the stamina and the work rates and not to mention the weirdly inaccurate short passing.

Probably my favourite flashback they've done so far.

My only issue was the Price - 300+ was very expensive for this SBC, luckily I had a lot of fodder I could use but if I didn't I wouldn't have had anywhere near enough coins for it.

Overall - 4/5