Player Review

To start this review off, I wanted to let you guys know that i packed him in the 92+ Prime/Moments Icon pack. Yes, I was one of very few non-content creators who did this ridiculously expensive SBC, but because I had saved a lot of fodder the last weeks, I wanted to give it a try. Thankfully, I got lucky in this pack, unlike my many other non-successful icon packs, but enough time wasting, let's start looking at this amazing card and player!

First of all I want to mention that I use him with an engine, and that I play a 4-2-2-2, with him and Messi TOTY up top. I then have Eusebio and Vinicius Jr. on the wide CAM's who both can provide an amazing cross into the box where Cantona usually appears. That's the first pro of many, his heading is literally outstanding. When coming up against shorter CB's than him, such as Cannavaro, and Cordoba, but also CB's his size, this man destroys everyone. His movement leading up to his enormous leap is outstanding, and with the Power Header trait he smashes the ball into the net 8/10 times with his extreme power.

Moving on to the shooting, his biggest pro by a country mile. This guy could destroy the net, if FIFA was realistic, with both his feet. Even though FIFA states that he has a 4* week foot, I find this completely inaccurate. My first goal with this guy was with his left foot, a shot i wouldn't even count on Eusebio to score with any of his feet, ended up in far side-netting, which lead me into a state of shock. Wow, was this the type of shots i could expect to go in? Oh, i was in for a treat. His right footed shots are even more impressive, and along with his outside the foot shot trait, he can shoot the craziest curve shots from anywhere. Although he doesn't have a finesse-shot trait, he still scores the same finesses as my TOTY Messi. His volleys, which he might be most known by (along with his aggression), are also crazy. If you want to get a good taste on his volleys, check out Schmeltz's video on him on YouTube. You'll be in for a treat ;)

His pace is also good, and he often sprints past the crazy fast CB's of this game. He's no Vinicius Jr. or Mbappe, but he is still someone to rely on when it comes to through balls.

His passing is also outstanding and he can both provide good crosses, short and fast passes, aswell as over-the-top through balls.

The dribbling can simply not be matched. Yes, he's not the most agile player in the game, and he's a tall and strong player. His ball control and balance have to be the most impressive with this card. I found myself several times trying to out-run the CB, and then easily pushing the CB off balance, leading to a 1v1 against the keeper. The 5* skills are also an amazing addition, as it lets you to the craziest flick up's and skills.

Last but not least, his physical stats are, along with every other stat, amazing. He can run the whole 90+ minutes, jump over any CB, and push off any player in the game. His aggression is also very noticeable, as he can often win duels where the opponent has the ball, even though his defending is quite bad.

I came to this review section to see King Cantona was going to be worth my TOTS fodder. After about a week of stalling I full sent his SBC at which I completed without spending a dime.

He has been absolutely worth it and is my savior in this my WL, this weeks rivals, (D1) and qualifying games scoring 36 goals and 18 assists in 32 games. The best part about Cantona is honestly his jam, finishing, and skills which are both unlike anyone else, except maybe Mbappe. He has done all of this from playing a great hold up role in at ST in a 4-2-2-2 and CAM in the 4-1-2-1-2.

At first I played him in 4-2-2-2 with false 9 instructions just to test out his playmaking skills but then I switched the instructions to Stay Central/Target Man Combo

because I wanted him to win headers, distribute passes to the wings and then make those attacking runs into the penalty box.

Pace and Shooting

I used engine chemstyle because I needed to boost that agility and balance so with the 95 Acceleration and 96 Sprint Speed he was able to outrun some defenders but definitely needed to shield them off with his strength since they were always closing in on him. 

Through balls are not the way to go and I needed to adapt my playstyle to use Cantona to his full potential and make him shine in disciplines in which he shone most when he was an active player. When it comes down to his shooting, he unfortunately does not have unique body-type in game and with his imposing figure it may get quite difficult sometimes to create enough space for him in crowded defence but when you are lucky and patient enough he can hit real bangers. I scored plenty of goals that will remind you of those he scored in real life. The most effective attacking pattern was just to get the ball to the winger and deliver the pin-point accurate cross in Cantona's direction. So make sure you have your Giggs and Beckham ready on either side of the pitch. Cantona with his flawless positioning and shooting technique will bury it home with uncompromising composure and precision. 

Passing

Cantona's passing pleasantly surprised me, as long as I stuck to dispatching the ball quickly from his feet, the passes were precise and more often than not found their target. He could play even as a False 9 striker, his passing was that good. 

Dribbling

I love using 5-star skill moves but with Cantona I always had a second thought about using skill moves since he felt sluggish while on the ball, never kept the ball close enough to his feet so I ended up using L2 + R2 dribbling technique most of the time to get the right angles for passes and shots. 

Defending and Physicality

High aggression stat allowed him to get some nice interceptions. His physicality is spot-on and he was a constant threat for my opponents even though I must admit that plenty of defenders on this game have already maxed-out physical stats as well, not allowing Cantona to excel in that area even more. Which is a shame in my opinion because in real life Cantona carried the ball to the back of the net even with defenders on his shoulders.

Please check the video under this review to get a better idea about his in-game abilities.

To conclude this review I must say this Eric Cantona's card is a bit rough around the edges, and you need to be a bit courageous to use him since he does not fit fully the meta. But after all this is Cantona, an uncouth football genius.

So, let me start this review by saying that I've always loved stocky type strikers, i think this is really important when we're talking about a player like Cantona. I'm an Elite division player every season and I usually get 14 wins in FutChamps. I felt the need to craft PIM Cantona before TOTS cause my team was lacking that attacking presence, so in my eyes I needed to complete him as soon as I could to get good results in TOTS FutChamps. I used Cantona with an Engine chem style and I play in a 4-1-2-1-2 narrow with Cantona and Raspadori ahead of Mahrez RTTF playing as a CAM, in the midfield (like u can see in the team link) I'm rocking TOTS KdB with TOTS Bernardo as my CM's and Tonali as my unique CDM. So let's talk about Cantona a little bit more and go in depth on his card stats.

PACE:

• In terms of pace, with 90 acceleration and 91 sprint speed don't expect him to be your Mbappe replacement, he´s not that type of player, even with the engine Cantona can feel sometimes slow compared to other meta strikers, but that's not his main weapon, but he can for sure make good runs behind the defensive line and still win them due to his body type and size

SHOOTING:

• So, we get to one of the main weapons of this big boy, his shooting is so deadly in the box, he does have 4WF but it seems like a 5WF due to his high 90's stats in the shooting chapter, expect him to first time shoot in the box and score 99% of the time, he's so good with the finesse shots outside the box although he doesn't have the finesse shot trait he can bang them goals outside the box too

77 Goals in 50 Games

PASSING:

• Passing wise, i would honestly say that he´s ''sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe sh*t'', sometimes he does a banger of a pass and sometimes he fails the easy 5 meter pass. But i guess that shows how inconsistent passing is in this FIFA so can´t really blame him

13 assists in 50 Games

DRIBBLING:

• Now we get to the fun and weird part of this Cantona card, let me say that in normal gameplay he has one of the weirdest but best leftstick dribbling that I´ve ever played with, u can tell just by looking at the card that his agility and balance need a big boost (that's why we using Engine), with the chem style you won't notice that lack of agility and balance and he'll prob run trough the opposite defenders and glitching them like an gold mbappe, but.... when the gameplay gets into the mud u gotta prepare yourself cause he'll be slow to turn and the skills won't come out so smooth like when u were playing him in a good gameplay. But i do think he's dribbling its not a problem if you're used to big strikers in game like me (he's the most smooth of them all) plus he has the 5 star skills that normally come out really fast due to his body type and size

DEFENDING:

• I don't think there's a lot to talk here, due to his super high agression he can be considered Mr. Rebound himself cause he wins a lot of balls back after he loses. The other thing thats really important in the defending side is the heading acc. that he has, most of the time we will win all the headers in the offensive corner and usually he scores due to the amazing trait that he has, the power header trait, it's so so so usefull in corners that I score almost every game with him in this type of situations. Amazing with the head *insert The Rock meme*

PHYSICALITY:

• And this his were Cantona shines, the physical part of the card is AMAZING, I don´t think i remember him gettin to the ground once, and I've played against every single meta CB this year, he jumps pretty high so he can you you headers on corners, and the can run until the 120 minute due to his amazing stamina.

Conclusion:

I really think Cantona is worth it if you have a lot of fodder and u end up spending around 150/200k in coins to complete him. He is and eng game card but you'll need some practise to use him like he should be used, try to pair him with an pacey striker like Raspadori TOTS for example. If u not sure about him just do his loan and check him out yourself.

Today, I have officially quit Champs mainly due to my team being very very good and most TOTS cards being fodder, which I don't require . However I would play 40 match long FUT Champs and trade my entire team just to keep this guy for the next FIFA . This card, out of all the crazy cards I've tried over this game cycle, is the best . He has the strongest and most accurate shot, smooth dribbling and is the French Hulk . Absolutely insane and can't wait to grind again to get this monster next year . (Elite/Div 1 player in case anyone wants to know)