ICON Laurent Blanc Player Review

The SBCs are starting to come quick and fast and with that fodder has started to rise and the price to pay for completing these various assets is only growing.  With that in mind we bring you the second and latest ICON SBC in the form of an Ultimate Team staple, Laurent Blanc… With the hopes of highlighting an overall snapshot of the card and recommendation on completion.

The towering Frenchman is one of those cards that you would see from time to time in past versions of the game, but certainly wasn’t a common opponent.  However, the improvement of ICON chemistry, the addition of PlayStyles, and of course this SBC certainly won’t hurt Blanc’s chances of more inclusion in squads moving forward.

The chemistry style is about as cliche and straightforward as it gets, the SHADOW Chemistry Style proving to be the perfect selection.  However, there was not straightforward about the formation this weekend as a complete shift to the 4-3-2-1 was on the cards… And I must say it was a welcome change.

Blanc proved to be the rock at the back all weekend long in the following squad:

Overall 

Rating: 9/10

Having used almost all of the overpowered NIF centre backs in the game and if put in a situation of needing to win,  I would look to Van Dijk in my squad immediately and then add the likes of Rudiger, Tomori or Kounde to fill the second position.  In each case they don’t quite have it all like VVD, but bring their own strengths to the backline.  However, with Blanc, it was almost as if I had carbon copied the Dutch defender and that is just about the best compliment I can pay the Frenchman.

Main Statistics – Defending

Defending Rating: 10/10

Physical Rating:  10/10

Pace Rating: 9/10

PlayStyles: Anticipate Plus, Jockey, Bruiser, Aerial

There won’t be much to talk about after this section but in order to excel at one category, the other had to be equally solid and all in all Blanc produced it all in one large, neat, no nonsense package.  EAFC offers a ton of defending challenges and being able to trust the individual players to deliver on your inputs takes some of that burden away.

To be clear, the 84 ACCELERATION & 88 SPRINT SPEED are not going to track down the Leao’s of the game when they are played through on goal… By that time it is too late.  However, they do allow Blanc to get moving in anticipation of those moves and put the big man in positions to work his magic.

Once in position it is a barrage of PlayStyles flying at your opponents forwards and none more important than the ANTICIPATE PlayStyle Plus.  Blanc is incredible at getting a foot into tackles and as per the PlayStyle the ball is sat there to clean up and work towards a counter attack.

The 84 STRENGTH on a 192cm | 6’4 monster with the BRUISER & AERIAL PlayStyles just further completes the juggernaut that your opponents have to crush in order to even get chances on goal.  The card is a defending delight and overall impressive when working to keep the ball from out of the back of the net.

Value/Coins/Fodder

Value/Coins/Fodder: 4/5

This one is tough and as was mentioned the ever-growing price of fodder is not helping anything.  I mentioned Blanc’s similarities to VVD and if you simply by him from the market the 400k price tag compared to Van Dijk’s 200k is a hard sell… I am not quite sure amazing links are quite worth 200k extra.  The SBC price of 350k is more tempting and of course you can start getting the card for “free”, but with how many other options there are the price tag still looms large even on a fantastic card.

Good vs. Bad 

Good vs Bad Rating: 5/5

We really did cover the majority of Blanc’s powers in the Defending section of the review, but there was one other point of interest.

+ More and more the Aerial PlayStyle is becoming a favorite of mine on defenders.  The peace of mind to know that they will win defensive headers aside, they are also a menace in the opponent's box when it comes to corners.  Van Dijk has been a goal machine for me this year and Blanc showed similar possibilities with his two goals in 7 matches. 

In this case the negatives are just barely causing issue and in the case of Dribbling an almost non-existent problem, but still worth commenting on.

- Mentioned the passing in EAFC24 already and in the case of Blanc I was normally just moving the ball to a full back or midfielder… However, there were a few attempts at playing more intricate passes where the card was definitely held back by the 56 VISION, 79 SHORT PASSING & 80 LONG PASSING.

- Not looking to go flying up the pitch with Blanc scoop turning my opponent to death and so this is really a non-issue in the end… but the 69 AGILITY & 68 BALANCE did leave Blanc quite sluggish on turn.  

Closing Words

In a game where Defending can sometimes feel like it is a losing battle, Blanc was the soldier that I needed to dive into the fray and bring my squad through to the other side.  The card has everything going for it, but the price tag is a real hang up for me.  If you still spend the coins/fodder you will be happy with the end result, I can almost guarantee that, but I just can’t look past the fact that a 200k NIF offers to same results with even more PlayStyles.

Hoping you are well.  Cheers for reading