FC 24 91 Winter Wildcards Courtois Player Review

Round 2 of the tall striker experiments this week and this time I tried to quell expectations a bit and take the crazy statistics of Winter Wildcard Thibaut Courtois with a grain of salt.  In fact I had basically no faith that a 199cm | 6’6 keeper turned striker was going to produce anything but pain across a 5 match Weekend League debut.

Perhaps the one glimmer of hope came from the fact that the Winter Wildcard Immobile review certainly hurt by the fact that the card has basically no PlayStyles combating the size and dribbling weakness.  While Courtois has numerous helping attributes along with some crazy dribbling statistics to begin with.
With expectations set at a more manageable level it was an easy decision to place a HUNTER Chemistry Style on

Courtois, place him at the peak of my 4-3-2-1 formation, and dive into some Weekend League madness to kickstart the review. 

Courtois was the man mountain leading the line all weekend long in the following squad:

Overall 

In the end Thibault Courtois is exactly the card I thought I was going to get with Winter Wildcard Immobile when I set out to review the Italian striker… Big, fast, clinical, aerial threat and a generally well rounded operator.  It might stand out to some that the goal returns were generally similar, but in truth it was really only a 3 - 4 game review as three opponents quit early on in matches due to the dominance of this man up top.

Main Statistics – Shooting

Shooting Rating: 9/10

Weak Foot: ★★★★

PlayStyles: Aerial Plus, Power Header, Acrobatic 

Finally, a big striker who genuinely plays and feels like a big striker in the box.  Courtois absolutely dominated the air throughout this review and was an incredible handful to deal with.  The AERIAL PLUS PlayStyle is fantastic both from corners and in build up play and along with the POWER HEADER was consistently dangerous in the box and contributed a couple goals.

Maybe even more impressive than the heading ability is the ACROBATIC ability in the air.  Something about watching a man who appears to be as tall as the crossbar, jumping like a majestic dolphin into the air and absolutely smashing the ball into the net just feels like a cheat code.

All of that and still haven’t mentioned the 94 FINISHING & 99 SHOT POWER which really do crush the left footed shots into the back of the net.  However, I would be lying if I didn’t say Courtois is a 5 STAR WEAK FOOT and a couple of Shooting PlayStyles away from perfection and certainly cost the big man (and my squad) some goals in key moments.
 

Value/Coins

Value/Coins: 4/5

On the whole Courtois is probably just about value for coins and certainly offers a lot more than many strikers in 250k to 350k range can.  Maybe most importantly is the card enjoyment and I can’t lie, I quite enjoyed this review and continued using Courtois for matches beyond the review.  I think it is all of the ways you can score with this card and the general unique feel he provides in game.  There were certainly issues with the card and is why both the overall rating and value are not quite perfect in the end.  

Good vs. Bad 

Good vs Bad Rating: 4/5

I think the good with this card really summarizes how well rounded Courtois feels in game and highlights a lot of the weapons at your disposal if you choose to test the big man in game.

+ Similar to Immobile the 99 SPRINT SPEED on a card this size was always going to be fantastic and I even played Courtois out on the wing in the second half of the matches that made it that far and he was a terrific outlet.

+ The Dribbling was actually usable in this case and the FIRST TOUCH, TECHNICAL & PRESS PROVEN combination offered a variety of ways to find space and attempts on goal.  Maybe more important was the hold up play and ability to link up my transition into attack as Courtois simply never gives up the ball when you find his feet.

+ Another part of that hold up play is the 99 STRENGTH and 99 JUMPING with the AERIAL PLUS again proving incredibly useful.  Watching opponents VVD struggle against Courtois was perhaps the most impressive part of the entire review, including a headed goal where the Flying Dutchman couldn’t touch the height of the Belgian Tower.

+ The surprises really kept coming and maybe none more noteworthy than the 89 VISION and 78 SHORT PASSING… which are nothing short of unspectacular to look at.  Yet, incredibly effective.  I think the combination of the ability to hold up the ball so smoothly, the FIRST TOUCH turn away from trouble and the PRESS PROVEN + 99 COMPOSURE literally overpowered the lackluster statistics.  The 3 assists provide some proof and are a solid return, but the constant possession retention was the real winner for me.

With all that said Courtois still did not crack the 9/10 overall for me and here is why the big man didn’t quite sneak into the upper tier of available strikers in the game.

- The first is the 87 ACCELERATION, which like Immobile was simply too slow to drive Courtois into top gear.  The FIRST TOUCH was certainly more noticeable here and small movements felt crisp… But the next touch was never up to speed and the 99 STRENGTH would often be needed to shield the challenges of opponents if I wasn’t quick enough to move the ball onto the next player.

- The 4 STAR WEAK FOOT was not quite there either and the 9/10 Shooting in this case was largely down to the aerial threat contributing goals, along with the lethal left foot.  Way too many posts and keepers getting a hand to right footed shots with Courtois and really takes away from what could have been a ridiculous card in front of goal.

Closing Words

While I still contend that it is a bit early in the cycle for this type of card for me, the result was still a fun card that was definitely usable.  The 99 AGILITY & 99 BALANCE create a more responsive card on the ball and offer some more intricacy on the dribble, which again is really only missing that explosive pace to be a game changing card.  If you are looking for a more unique striker to whip those Bacha/Havertz crosses into, well you may just have your man here in Courtois… Who again provides an enjoyable alternative to the classic quick and agile options currently running the game.

Certainly worth a try in my mind.

Hoping you are well.  Cheers for reading