Futties Martial

The Futties continue to roll out with the latest installment focused on the LM position, and much to my surprise Martial was victorious in the community voting.  To clarify, I am not surprised he won, more so that EA even bothered to have a vote at all; this one was always going to the young French forward wasn’t it.  Similar to my review of Bakayoko, Martial is another card that experienced exception staying power for a NIF, and his 82/83 cards have been included in many squads throughout this edition of FUT.  Now, this trend can continue as 91 Martial floats at a ridiculously affordable ~80k for a truly game changing player.

After completing the SBC, I set out to include him in my squad and get going with my review.  I decided to simply swap TOTS Neymar out for Futties Martial, no pressure.  In terms of chemistry styles I immediately scrolled to my collection of HUNTER poison and just before applying the kiss of death I went and did a small comparison using the FUTBIN feature.  Not only did HAWK match the statistic upgrades (-1 SPRINT SPEED and -8 PENS) but it also added +5 LONG SHOTS and of course the improvements to physical statistics, so I went with HAWK.  I continued with the 4-2-2-2 formation using Martial in the Left ST position.  “They knew about him, but they couldn’t stop him” in the following squad:

ON THE BALL

I had a bit of a love hate relationship when Martial was on the ball throughout the weekend.  On one hand, Martial is excellent in the dribble both at pace and in tight close-control situations.  On the other hand, Martial can be quite sluggish immediately after receiving a pass and quite a few chances went begging due to this issue.  When you look at all of the upside to Martial this is really splitting hairs, but really that is exactly what it has come down to when selecting a squad from the gazillion rainbow colored players floating around.  This also seems like the time to point out that Martial’s strength, when on the ball, is quite lacking and he is easily bumped out of possession with the ball at his feet.  This is not the full story of his physical statistics and I will clear this up later in the review.

Dribbling Rating: 4.5/5

Passing is my least favorite attribute to try and articulate in these reviews.  What is there to say beyond a: he can pass, or b: he can’t pass.  But I will just let the statistics speak for themselves.  Not since my review of TOTS Neymar have I had a player return this many assists in a 20 games review.  8 assists just speaks to the attention Martial demands from opponents and the spaces he unlocks with his pace and dribbling.  He can then execute the appropriate pass leading to goals.

Passing Rating: 5/5

Finally, it is hard to complain about a 27 goal return in 20 games, but I will do my best.  It comes down to two concerns in the end.  One, Martial hits the bar more than Georgie Best in his prime (If you haven’t read his biography, you should).  Seriously, it is like he is trying to dislodge the net from the ground with the ridiculous amount of times the ball explodes into the posts and crossbar.  Two, Martial’s 4 STAR WEAK FOOT feels more like a 3 or 3.5 at best.  I realize that 4 star weak foot does not mean you get the score at will from the opposite side.  But at times Martial would completely mishit the ball and I missed a fair few chances on the left hand side that I would expect to score.  But that is all I can say in the negative column.  The majority of the time Martial is banging them in and if not for numerous rage quits I would have expected an even higher return. 

Shooting Rating: 4.7/5

OFF THE BALL

Oddly enough, this is where the real magic of Martial happens and cemented my appreciation for this card.  It is undeniable that Martial has blistering pace when he is dribbling with the ball. Off the ball though, he is just silly.  Add to this the fact that Martial is constantly trying to find the gaps and get in behind defenders, and you have a recipe for rage quits.  One small quirk I noticed is that Martial takes exceptionally long Lukaku-esk touches when he reaches Mach 2 speeds, and I fell victim to goalies rushing out and nipping it from my toes a few times.  After sorting this out and slowing down a bit when through on goal, my goal returns drastically improved.

Pace Rating: 5/5

Normally I take the Messi and Ronaldo tax-method when it comes to defending reviews: Omit the details, then if someone asks claim my innocence and take a plea of doing them later.  In the case of Martial though, I think it is worth a proper accounting of his abilities.  Time and time again I found myself caught off guard by Martial’s tracking and winning of the ball.  At half time I would often bring on TOTS Neymar and push Martial onto the LEFT CAM, further bringing my attention to his quality.  While I previously stated that Martial does not show his strength when on the ball, off the ball it looks like he walked into a WWE tryout.  Martial is reliably strong in the tackle and even sends opponents sprawling before turning up field for the counter attack.  I should clarify that my defending rating relates to his abilities in the attacking and middle third, I am not making a case for him as a LB, although I can almost guarantee he would be boss in the back.

Defending Rating: 4/5

Physical Rating: 4/5

FINAL SCORE

Overall Rating: 4.7/5

A bit of nostalgia crept in during this review and I was transported back to my first ever write up on 84 Rashford.  Time has evaporated and hear we are nearing the end of FIFA 18.  The comparison in this case comes from my hatred of Manchester United and the sickening fact that I not only tolerated another United player in my squad (have to have De Gea); but I actually really enjoyed this review as well.  I will have to wash my mouth out with soap after this; but Martial trumps every LM/LW I have used this FIFA, save for TOTS Neymar.  I can assume that FOF Hazard and TOTY Ronaldo are superior as well, and maybe even FOF Alexis, but then you have Futties Martial rounding out the top five LM in FUT at a tenth of the price.  I would recommend any FUT Managers on the fence to get this SBC finished before the deadline. Unless you end up regretting it, then “I said would instead of wouldn’t,” that probably clarifies things.  

Cheers for reading!

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