FC 24 95 Team of The Year Wendie Renard Player Review

With the entire TOTY squad having now been in packs and soon to be all in packs at once it is time to hear who has had the blue luck this season?  For myself it has been a complete dry spell, which will hopefully have some reprieve sometime in the near future… Preferably with a nice blue Van Dijk to replace the non-inform that has been stuck patrolling my backline for some time now.

Playing alongside Van Dijk this week in Rivals we turned to another one of the female and more affordable-ish TOTY cards in Wendie Renard.  Having primarily used Blanc and Thunderstruck Gomez for the majority of the year I was looking forward to a potential upgrade and maybe even long term option.  I prefer to have a slightly quicker and smaller CB partner for VVD in my squad and this looked like a prime opportunity to see what the effect of an upgrade would be on performance of the squad overall.

Renard settled into the backline of my 4-3-2-1 formation and the application of the SHADOW chemistry style just seemed like the prime option.  There is certainly an ANCHOR debate to be had but overall it just made the most sense to utilize the SHADOW and hope that the incredible Pace and Defending statistics made up for any and all deficiencies on the remainder of the card.

Renard proved to be the rock, anchoring the ship through the rocky Div Rivals waters all review long in the following squad :

Overall 

100% a card that I would consider replacing Blanc or Thunderstruck Gomez with if the price is right and the rest of the squad seems fine.  Not a card I would be completely willing to throw everything at, but the notable improvements on my current options was helpful when trying to secure Rivals rewards for another week.  The reliability with Renard’s card is probably the most notable attribute and contributed to a solid backline performance. 

Main Statistics – Defending

Defending Rating: 10/10

Pace Rating: 10/10

Physical Rating: 9/10

PlayStyles: Anticipate Plus, Aerial Plus, Jockey

Without a doubt the “racoon” PlayStyle has become one of the more popular PlayStyle options and the Plus only adds to the effectiveness overall.  While Renard stands at 187cm | 6’2, the reach with her legs into tackles was that of a much taller option.  At times it felt like my opponents literally could not give a wide enough lane away from Renard before an outstretched leg was reeling back in the ball.

The SHADOW Chemistry Style once again worked magic as the Lyon defender vaulted into some unbelievable overall statistics.  The 95 ACCELERATION & 95 SPRINT SPEED on a MOSTLY LENGTHY AcceleRATE card was about as OP as you can imagine and the footraces really only went one direction throughout the review.   

Perhaps the only disappointing result was the 98 SLIDING TACKLE with the SHADOW, remaining the only defending category that Renard was not a perfect 99 score overall.  The statistics are one thing, but the card quality comes from the fact that literally all of those statistics seemed to work as advertised and created an absolute rock at the back.  That same rock boasted 96 STRENGTH which did feel bullish against most attackers and was certainly a bonus addition to Renard’s arsenal of defending weapons.

Value/Coins

Value/Coins: 5/5

Right on the cusp of what is a reasonable price to be paying for a card of this quality and carrying this set of attributes.  The luxury “feel” of this card in game is inline with a luxury price and Renard probably just about performs at that coin value from game to game.    

Good vs. Bad 

Good vs Bad Rating: 5/5

While the Pace, Defending, & Physical triangle of defending supremacy was clearly operating at the highest level, there was another small bonus as well.

+ The Passing with Renard throughout the review was borderline insane as the 93 SHORT PASSING & 97 LONG PASSING were made even more potent by the PINGED PASS & LONG BALL PASS PlayStyles.  The ability to sling passes into forwards at their feet or across the pitch in the air helped unsettle my opponents and especially those attempting to press high found it hard to contain Renard’s class on the ball. 

With everything going so well there had to be some small nagging issues to at least keep this card on this planet.

- The Dribbling with Renard was not exactly as fluid as you would like and especially turning in and out of pressure from opponents it could feel just the slightest bit sluggish.  The 83 AGILITY & 80 BALANCE feel quick, agile and responsive when combined with the JOCKEY PlayStyle on defense, but completely abandoned Renard from an offensive perspective.  

Closing Words

The one additional concern I would voice regarding Renard was the height in the end… And while I like a combination of big and small defenders, the lost headers can be an issue.  It was disappointing to have an AERIAL PLUS and POWER HEADER combination essentially produce zero corner chances across six matches, often falling victim to the familiar faces of VVD and Blanc in attacking situations.  But from there on in it was a masterclass performance from a card that certainly fits the mold of my squad… I cannot recommend Renard more for those that like smaller framed defenders that still hold their own regardless of opponent.  Certainly a card worth giving a run in your squads.

Hoping you are well.  Cheers for reading