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Player Review

87 - CL
4.5
87 Verratti
By mdlibrandi, 07-02-2019

I packed him as an untradeable very early in the game when the UCL cards came out. He is not really the type of midfielder I like to play with normally, because he is so small and weak, and not even pacy at that size. I had been so used to having a big CDM mopping up play and bullying people that when I eventually tried Verratti after letting him sit around unused, I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked him.


Pace: Because I played him as a CDM (technically a CM, but told to stay back while attacking), the pace was a non-issue because he didn't have very much running to do. He doesn't seem as slow as 66 pace, but he is certainly not fast. While I thought about putting a shadow on him, I felt like it would be a waste because I could instead try to improve a category that is more important than pace for the way I use him.


Shooting: He didn't get forward very often for me because of instructions and his medium/high work rates, but does take up decent positions around the top of the box. His shot is quite weak, but often went on target without beating the keeper. I think instead of using him to shoot, take advantage of the great passing and/or dribbling to get a genuine offensive player an easier shot. For a while I bought his scream version with the boosted shooting stats, and although the stats are boosted quite a bit, I still feel as though his shooting is pretty disappointing, so I wouldn't buy that card if your'e looking for shooting.


Passing: I can't decide whether I prefer a powerhouse or guardian on him. The powerhouse basically perfects his vision, short passing, and long passing. He's able to play basically any pass you can ask him to, whether you want to play quick passes through the middle, or spray the ball long out wide to wingers and fullbacks. Crosses are quite decent as well from deep, but I'd rather have one of my fullbacks handle the crossing.


Dribbling: As you'd expect with 90 dribbling, he is one of the best on-ball players, and if you use a guardian on him, its basically perfect. Keeps the ball nice and close so its hard for defenders to take the ball off of him, but because of the lack of pace he doesn't really have the breakaway speed to escape defenders after he beats them. Your'e best off beating a man and getting the ball away to an attacker or play some give and gos off of teammates if your'e looking to get up the field quick.


Defending: If you put a defensive chemistry style (of any kind really) he is one of the best CDMs in the game. Seems to always be in position to make interceptions, often winning the ball high up the field preventing opponents from counterattacking, and starting his own counterattack instead. Marks runs into the box when your'e defending deep, but you just have to hope that he's not marking someone who is looking for a header, because at 5'5", Verratti will not win a ball in the air. Nice little slide tackle on him as well, rarely committing fouls. Stand tackle is very good IF you can get the ball cleanly on your first tackle attempt. He's small and weak, so he's not going to go shoulder to shoulder and win the ball. You have to win the ball quickly or there's a good chance he will be pushed to the ground. That said, he does seem to get most of his stand tackles in on the first try, but there is very rarely a second try, so hopefully there's defenders behind him.


Physical: Obviously someone his size probably isn't going to be very strong. Occasionally though, I can put up a fight against certain smaller strikers that are relatively small as well (Mertens, Dybala, Gomez, Gotze, Messi, Griezmann), so he does have a tiny bit of strength. He's not great at jumping, but at his height even if he had great jumping, he's still probably not going to win much. He is very aggressive, going in for many challenges and interceptions. Because of his lack of physicality, sometimes he ends up simply being pushed over, but overall the aggression leads to more balls won than falls to the ground. The stamina is fine as long as you tell him to stay back while attacking. If you want him to play box to box, it's not going to be enough (although the scream card gives him 99 stamina). The main reason I got the scream card was for the stamina so I could try playing him more box to box, but I feel as though that's not necessary, because he is far better defensively than going forward, so your're better off playing him as a deep lying playmaker who disrupts play defensively.


Overall, its a nice surprise how robustly he defends for someone his size. His passing and dribbling make transitioning from defense to attack a breeze. The card plays just about how you think it would; good technically with solid defending, with little physically and going forward. Whether this card or the normal gold card is the better buy depends on what you have to spend I suppose. If I didn't have this card untradeable, I would probably use his regular card, because these UCL cards don't really upgrade players much. The scream card was a little disappointing to me, because the boosted shooting was still not great. The physical boost on that card is nice, so you can get that extra stamina, but I don't think it's really necessary if you tell him to stay back, so I would say to go with either the gold or UCL version of his card.

Passing (all kinds)

Dribbling

Defending (interceptions particularly)

Positioning (while attacking and defending)

Transitioning

PSG links


Size/Strength

Shooting (but I rarely shoot with him)

Lack of pace somewhat takes away from the dribbling

Formation: 5212
Position: CM
Games: 97
GPG: 0.07
APG: 0.16
4.5
Overall
4.0
Value
4.0
GC
4.0
Stamina
Pace (6/10)
Shooting (5/10)
Passing (10/10)
Dribbling (10/10)
Defending (9/10)
Physicality (6/10)
See All reviews...
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