Player Review

I’ve been waiting for flashback Rooney for quite a long time. He’s my favourite player ever so I was really looking forward to his flashback SBC. I’m kinda addicted to these SBCs. As United fan I really enjoy having the opportunity to relive some of the memories I had with these players (Rooney, Tevez, Chicha…) in earlier FIFAs when they were still good.

I was preparing my team for this card for quite a long time. I was sure he would be released as flashback card at some point, especially after Tevez and Zlatan. I did Zlatan so I could get that nice link and few weeks ago I bought prime Owen so I could play Rooney at full chem. What I´m trying to say here is that getting Wayne to my team was something really special to me. I even went through all his ratings in FIFA ever to estimate how good he could possibly be!

When this card finally got released, I was kinda disappointed. Even though this card looks incredible, I still expected some stats to be quite a bit higher. What really scared the s*** out of me was the stamina. I honestly don’t understand why would anyone do this to him. He’s the kind of player that in real life runs for 90 minutes without stopping but somehow he still gets 74 stamina ffs. From the excitement caused by finally seeing him in the SBC I quickly moved to being really concerned about him being actually worth that s*** load of coins this SBC cost me on PC (around 350k).

Now I played around 30 games with this card. The about 20 games I played him as CAM in 4-1-2-1-2 narrow with Ibra and Owen as strikers and De Jong and Tevez (I know it seems stupid to have Tevez playing CM, but hear me out here: He’s got great standing tackle and in combination with his 85 strength and 85 stamina he is an amazing tool to win the ball back In the midfield PLUS his forward runs and longshots are deadly!) as CMs.

For first few games it was really frustrating experience and I was doubting whether it was good idea to sell UCL Telles (who I loved probably the most out of all cards in this game) in order to get him. Even though I set him to stay forward, he always dropped deeper to a CM position and then, obviously, when I needed him to be in that CAM place to make the smooth transition to attack that is essential for this formation to work properly, he was nowhere to be found. It was quite hard, but eventually I learned how to work with him. After about ten games his stupid workrates weren’t an issue for me anymore and I finally started to enjoy him.

Recently I made a big change and I sold my prime Owen (the issue with Owen is, that he’s basically a Mertens-like player - that obviously means a lot of fun in this game, I genuinely love these players on this game, but for some reason I fail to stay with them for a longer period of time) and instead I brought in 89 Scholes and some other players to strengthen my defense. I really wanted to try Scholes in my midfield AND I wanted to see Rooney in the striker position.

Oh boy, I can’t say how much better the team immediately felt! Rooney is meant to be played in this position so PLEASE don’t waste your time and his talent trying to make it work with him at CAM. Suddenly he started to act how he’s supposed to. He doesn’t drop back at all and his forward runs are lethal. With Ibra next to him it is the best attacking experience I had on this FIFA. I swear! They both got amazing passing, strength, composure, finishing and pace and they just seem to be meant for each other.

Wayne is a great guy. Even though it may take a bit longer time to get used to him, I promise it is definitely worth it. His position is striker for sure. I actually find myself liking him even more than Ibra, who is basically god to me!

Hope this review helps you somehow. Sorry for being too long.

Pace

He’s fast. Like really fast. Even without pace-boosting chem style he’s able to run from defenders and in combination with his strength I find defenders really struggling getting him off the ball when running forward.

9/10

Shooting

Immense. What can I say, he’s got it all. Even though his positioning and finishing is not as high as I would like it to be, he’s usually in the right place at the right time. Also his finesse long shots are incredible. 4* weak foot is really helpful.

10/10

Passing

Rooney’s passing feels good. Not as good as Frenkie’s or Scholes’, but it’s nice. With all his passing stats above 80 you can say he would be good.

9/10

Dribling

Great but not all the time. His dribbling is really specific. When you pass him ball while moving, he’s incredibly good and it is really hard to get him off. That would be thanks to his 92 ball control and 89 stability. BUT don’t ever pass him when he’s in a static position, especially in the box. It’s OK when you do one touch pass or immediately shoot, but when you then try to dribble somewhere with him, you usually lose the ball. Thanks to his low agility he is quite stiff in these situations and it’s harder for him to get moving than it would be for Insigne or Hazard for example. Other than that his dribbling is great. His 99 composure is really sweet.

8,5/10

Defending

Does his job. Has got quite nice stats and combined with his strength he is capable of winning some balls back.

7/10

Physical

It’s like day and night. Strength and aggression are great and help him a lot. Stamina not so much. When you play him at CAM, he drains quite quickly. He can play full 90 mins, but you have to adjust your movement. At striker position however the stamina is perfectly fine and I’ve experienced no problem whatsoever.

8,5/10