Review - Prime Maldini

 

Defenders in Football are like artwork; you don’t fully appreciate them until you get up close and take a look at the craft, technique, and precision it takes to be a masterpiece.  This neglectful mentality has transferred over to the majority of FUT Mangers and I am no exception.  If I have 500k to spend on one attacker and defender combination, you can guarantee that 90% of the budget will end up in the attacking position.  That doesn’t mean I won’t be complaining when my 50k defender makes mistakes, which is poor managing on my end.  With this in mind I jumped at the chance to review PRIME ICON Paolo Maldini.  I have been putting off spending significant coins on my backline as Xmas VVD enters game 600 and it is about time I looked at a real game changer in defensive positions. 

Maldini gained the nickname Il Capitano throughout his long playing career at Milan and for Italy.  With this in mind it made sense to immediately give him the arm band for my remaining Weekend League games.  I decided to give four chemistry styles a three game tryout and would eventually settle on the best option for the final eight games.  BASIC, BACKBONE, SENTINEL, and ANCHOR were all used to see which attribute combination would provide the best results.  This review will contain a brief look at Maldini’s base stats, a summary of the best chemistry style used, and a breakdown of some numbers from his 20 game loan.  Maldini was the General in the following squad:

 

PACE

There is only one other useable defender with the same level of pace as Maldini and that is TOTY Ramos.  Pace immediately sets Maldini apart from many other CB options and also means that SHADOW does not have to be relied upon.  Throughout the weekend I witnessed Maldini deal with speedsters such as Lozano and Alessandrini with minimal issue.  If your opponent’s go-to attack is sending the ball down the channels and winning a foot race, Maldini has you covered.

RATING: 5/5

 

SHOOTING

The only shots I took with Maldini this weekend came from the ball falling to him after corner kicks.  I would say this occurred roughly ten times.  In all ten occasions a lucky fan in the upper stand went home with a souvenir.  Like a helium filled balloon the ball simply floats away into the atmosphere never to be seen again.  I started laying the ball off near the end of the weekend, even on clear cut shooting chances.  The base stat suggests that his shooting is 56 and even that seems high. 

RATING: 0.5/5

 

PASSING

At the beginning of the year I joined the hordes of FUT Managers using Bailly in their backlines.  He is definitely a beast and for the price tag you cannot go wrong.  However, my biggest issue with Bailly was his passing.  The man couldn’t pass the butter if he was sitting right beside you at the dinner table.  Maldini was the polar opposite in this regard and was capable of spraying passes around the pitch.  The 4 STAR WEAK FOOT contributes to this stat as he can thread the ball with either foot into your midfielders and strikers.

RATING: 5/5

 

DEFENDING

If you look up lists of the Top Ten Defenders of All Time you will find Maldini lurking near the top of most lists.  He is the epitome of an ICON and EA treated him appropriately with his defending stats.  He is strong enough to push players of the ball, intelligent enough to break up play, and capable of making the necessary tackles needed.  One odd observation was that throughout the weekend he would switch positions with Ramos at random.  I have never experienced CBs trade places this often.  Regardless of the side he patrolled he was a pillar of my defensive foundation all weekend.

RATING: 5/5

 

DRIBBLING

Immediately, I was pleasantly surprised with Maldini’s dribbling in the back.  Turns away from forwards were made simple with tight touches and Maldini simply ghosted away from them.  He is silky on the ball and gave me confidence that I do not feel with other defenders.  Three or four times he did get caught on the ball, which may be due to lag, my previously mentioned confidence, or that his dribbling stats were showing through at times.

RATING: 4/5

 

PHYSICAL

I could sit here and rave about Maldini’s physical stats and I would not be overstating how good this card is.  But, and this is a huge butt, like Kim Kardashian huge; I could not win a header with this card.  In retrospect I might have made a mistake and if I could have my time back I would have tried FINISHER on Maldini for 3-4 matches.  It is the only chem boost that would take Maldini into 99 HEADING and maybe could have helped.  As previously stated I was keeping stats all weekend and the heading summary for Maldini was not good reading.  Disappointing to say the least and was a constant frustration for the 20 game trial.

RATING:  4/5

 

CHEMISTRY STYLE

ANCHOR was by far the best option I tried.  The boost to the aforementioned HEADING saw minimal improvement; all DEFENDING stats move to 99 RATED and he moves into the “this is ridiculous for a defender” levels of PACE.  Again, a little disappointed with myself that I did not give FINISHER a go.

 

FINAL SCORE

RATING: 4.7/5

When I previewed Maldini’s stats and read small reviews from other FUT Managers I was expecting the God that this man was in his prime.  In the end I received something close, but not to the full extent I had hoped.  He is excellent, but not the all-around monster I had anticipated.  Some of the numbers speak for themselves:

1,750.000 – the amount of coins Maldini’s SBC will cost you.

98 – percent passing percentage for Maldini this weekend.

96 – Maldini’s rating as a CB with Anchor applied

74 – the amount of headers I lost with Maldini this weekend, seriously, it was awful.

25 – wins this weekend and Maldini played a large part in 14.

8 – clean sheets, some rage quits, but they all count.

3 – games where I was destroyed using Maldini, they were simply better than me.

1 – header off the cross bar from a corner, really wanted that for my video.

0 – chances that I will be completing this SBC.  He did not out perform Xmas VVD by a big enough margin to justify the coins.  For other FUT Mangers I can see him being a real game changer.  But for me, he just wasn’t the complete player I was hoping for.

Cheers for reading!

 

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