Player Review

Tactics: Target Man, Stay Central.

Team Tactics: Offense - Direct Passing.

Formation: 4321 (ST role). Same pre-game and in-game.

Overall

1. Rating: 6/10
2. Pace Rating: 5/10
3. Dribbling Rating: 5/10
4. Shooting Rating: 7.5/10
5. Passing Rating: 5/10
6. Physical Rating: 7/10
7. Defending Rating: N/A

So, I came in with a very open mind. Pre-WL background:

I used him to get elite 1 in Squad battles this week where I ran Finisher for around 12 games.

Bringing up to 95 agility/88 balance/99 dribbling. This was the only chemstyle to make a difference for him on ball.

Squad Battles review:

My opinion of him was, that he was alright. Nothing special. That’s fine, it was Legendary AI. I force fed him a lot, and used him to dish it out to Mane (LF) and Foden (RF).

He simply cannot out pace AI Legendary defense on the level of Mane/Foden or even a chemstyle’d 5chem Fekir, but whatever, that’s not what I expected him to do.

Weekend League:

I hoped, vs. a human opponent, he can find himself being a more agile Lukaku for me. This was the expectation.

Games 1-5, just bang average. 1.5 contributions per game, alright, no big deal.

Was not impressed. The man can finish really well with service, but the quality of defense and defenders I played was embarrassing. So, I cannot gain too much info here.

Record 5-0.

7 Goals, 5 assists.

Games 6-9.

Elo improved slightly, but now, it was no man's land for the Striker. Team quality improved, he lost a lot of possessions very quickly. By game 6, I changed to Hunter.

Reasoning: A full 10 chem Finisher did help him on-ball, but there was nothing after that. His acceleration was just not there. Sure, he could make the turn occasionally, but by the time he took his first step, the ball needed to be taken away from him by me, or it was already taken away by the recovering opponent.

Findings: Hunter did not help.

When through he simply could not make the most of his chances; not from a finishing standpoint, but from a pure pace and defensive dribble standpoint. He would get chased down and contested very easily.

The loss in his ability to turn into a balanced shot was notable as well. This gap was not made up by his base strength or his base dribbling stats.

Game 9, I lost my first game this WL. It was at this point he became the first one to get off at the 65’ mark in a high press, chaotic game. Just simply too much of a liability if not at 90+ stamina.

This is when I changed to engine, because without the agile/balance boost, he became a total utter black hole on offense. When through, he could barely keep the dribble separation to match his pace and strength vs. tier 1 defenders (Kimpembe/Varane/etc).

Record: 9-1.

Total tally: 9 Goals, 7 assists.

Engine: Games 11-13.

Now this is probably the best balance of stat distribution, so I agree with the votes on his FUTBin page. His finishing and shot power are absolutely fine untouched. That being said, it really doesn't matter how hard you pump up his agility or balance, you should not try to create on ball with him.

Which absolutely was never the main role for him, but there are times you must take what the defense gives you. Unfortunately, you cannot capitalize when needed. You cannot sprint past tier 1 defenders on a wreck less close-in. He is ultimately shoe horned into a target man role, which, fine, whatever, we all know how to make that work. He distributes to Mane and Foden and bangs in a tap-in here and there. Sure.

However, I just cannot, with good conscious say this card is memorable. The impact gained is notably short vs. running Mane, or even Foden at Striker instead.

Final Record: 16-4. He was dropped entirely for OTW Leon Bailey to secure the rank 1 finish for the final 4 wins.

When the press comes and you are through, you need to be able to escape defenders, and even the GK. Especially when the opponent is blatantly telegraphing the overcommit. He simply cannot and his body type (STOCKY) lets him down in numerous ways.

Final tally: 13 goals, 7 assists, 13 games. WL record with: 11-2. Without, 5-2.

Closing words – (yeah I’m gonna copy IVIae here, since his review structures are amazing).

Honestly, a pretty solid card for free. But do not be fooled, do not let others fool you, he has limits that just cannot be overcome. He is going to lose you possessions vs both press and low depth teams. He cannot take on competent manual defenders and tier 1 quality meta defenders.

If he truly was “better than CR7,” we would see it in the market. He is a free card that ultimately will be relegated to objectives and 1^st owner objective in Rivals for me.