Player Review

***Disclaimer: this review is based purely on my playing style and preference***

This is the time of the year where all icons become more affordable.

And so far I have been experimenting a lot of icons all over the field throughout the year.

The positions where I just decided to try on over the past 4 months or so is CB.

(after spending most of my coins trying out forwards, wingers, midfielders but, the furthest back was CDM).

Apart from Maldini (OP icon on laon) I have tried most players in a 500k range out.

Those that I have tried are;

Campbell (prime), Rio (prime), Desailly (baby and moment <on loan>), Baresi (prime), Puyol (prime)

Nesta (prime), Hierro (prime), Cannavaro (baby, prime and moment <on loan>) and Rijkarrd (middle)

The ones I plan to get my hands on later are Blanc (middle or prime) and probably Maldini (baby as a LB or middle).

And let me tell you guys Rijkaard 88 CB is an absolute steal for the price!

I got him at 315k which is a very good deal.

In my humble opinion, he is not only offering the best value for money at CB, but he is right up there as one of the best CBs in the game!

For me personally, he is the best I have used so far (right up there with Maldini moment).

His positioning and interception skill is top notch. His tackling and overall physicality is superb.

His pace is great with Shadow on and he scores occasional headers for me.

Defensively he almost never lost any headers. This is the CB you need, trust me.

In this area, to me, he is in short a more agile Campbell prime.

But his hidden weapon is his passing. As you might have been aware his other cards are CDM so this is what you might expect from Rijkaard.

But, oh my word, his passing skill is phenomenal for me. His stats don't even do him justice. He is a deep-lying playmaker as a CB for me.

When I build up my counter attack after his successful interception or tackling, the range of his passing is awe-inspiring.

The super far lob through pass from him is just deadly, man.

Seriously, if there was a stat column called 'pre-assist' or something along that line, he would be a leader in this category for your team.

His lob through from deep in my own territory to the player on the edge (then followed up with a cross) has brought me so many goals.

The passing accuracy is pin-point and to my memory his deep lob through pass has never sailed out of bound, ever.

I don't care what the stat says but in real gameplay his passing is the best I have seen from a CB.

People who have played with TOTY and other expensive meta cards might think otherwise but as far as my experience goes he is such a class.

He is a total package. If needed, based on the players you have on the bench, he could fill in at CDM admirably.

I currently pair him with baby Cannavaro (which is another player who deserves a spot as the best value for money CB himself, too).

Don't want to make this into another Cannavaro review, but Cannavaro plays like a pitbull and his defensive prowess is very obvious even in his baby card.

Cannavaro is a perfect partner in crime for Rijkaard because he is very agile! He moves so smoothly (you won't expect his from a CB).

His height is not a problem at all. He wins headers very regularly against those tall meta strikers.Not all of them but this won't be a deal breaker for him.

I put a Shadow chem on both so pace is also their strength, I never got outrun by any forwards, thanks largely to their elite defensive positioning.

This is the duo that probably would last for a while for me...because they are very fun to play with.

It also feels good because it seems I spend my money wisely lol

I have not tried Blanc who many have raved about as well. But baby Desailly is also another good deal. As a pair, I heard many good things about them.

But until the day I feel like wanna move on from this pair, if it ever comes, they will be my perfect yin-yang duo at the backline.

PS. FYI, here is my starting lineup;

4-5-1 as a set up for links but in-game I mostly play 41212 both narrow and wide formation, because I don't wanna get too meta with the 4231 narrow (just my personal take on this)

ST: Ibrahimovic FB 92 & Ronaldo prime 96

CAM: Stoichkov prime 92

Edge players: Richarlison OTW 86 & Bale UCL 89

CDM: Kondogbia RTTF 89

LB & RB: Alex Telles TOTS 93 & Alba 90 MOTM (on 7 Chem)

CBs: Rijkaard middle 88 & Cannavaro baby 87

GK: Sczhesny 89