Futties Rashford

Well, that was unexpected. The Futties striker voting wrapped up on Monday with a surprise winner claiming the upgrade. I think most FUT Managers, myself included, expected that the second coming of Jesus would appear; but instead we were surprised by the emergence of a Red Devil. This just about explains the sinful shenanigans that must have led to Gabriel’s demise. Either that, or no one wanted to part with their 83 rated freebie.. who knows? Nonetheless we kick on and by chance I had just mentioned in my previous write up that 84 Rashford was my first review completed. I was definitely interested to see what this massive upgrade would bring and decided to hit the pitch in Online Seasons to test him out.

87 RATED SBC!?!?!?!! Add in two informs and 130k evaporates in a hurry… so is he worth it? I decided to try slightly different chemistry styles on Rashford and went ten games of MAESTRO (14 goals and 0 assists), followed by ten games of ENGINE (15 goals and 5 assists). I played Rashford in a mixture of right and left ST in a 4-2-2-2. Rashford added to the unacceptable amount of Man. United players in the following squad:

PACE & SHOOTING

For me, this combination of stats needs to be 10/10 to compete with the top rated strikers that are available at this point in FUT. A slight lack of pace or shooting deficiencies this late in the game condemn strikers to the bench, reserves, or SBC fodder. From a pace perspective, Futties Rashford checks all of the boxes. He is quick in acceleration, fast on the ball, and lightning quick at a dead sprint. This is ridiculous to say but I swear I noticed a boost in pace from MAESTRO to ENGINE; which of course is only +1 SPRINT SPEED. The only explanation I can think of is that the +9 BALANCE boost is having an effect I guess.. I don’t know, just what I observed. Back on track, my counterattacks with Rashford and Martial up top were cheat code fast and opponents struggled to deal with them together. Even more encouraging is that when given the opportunities to finish off these moves, Rashford takes them all. 4 STAR WEAT FOOT feels like a full 5, right foot missiles into the top bin, circus style volleys, and a few headers; they all go in. One thing that really stuck with me is the ability for Rashford to swivel and shoot the ball with power and accuracy. In my video there is a small sample set of some of these finishes that would have been infuriating for opponents to concede. To be honest on two occasions I thought he would have taken a small touch sideways and then the shot, but instead he contorted his body and slammed the ball into the corner. Clinical, is all I can say. With that Futties Rashford is a full 10/10 in my books, let’s look at some other attributes of this card to determine his value.

Pace Rating: 5/5

Shooting Rating: 5/5

DRIBBLING & PASSING

With a bigger player architype I always anticipate some added strength on the ball in exchange for some clunky dribbling. Enter Marcus Rashford: the dancing bear who looks like he has the ball attached to a string as he tap dances through opponents defenses. Even at 84 rated this card was incredibly reliable in close quarter dribbling. Futties Rashford is still reliable.. but he can do it at pace now. I can’t get over how fast this card feels on the ball, yet you don’t feel like the ball is every out of his reach. Rushing defenders or keepers are made to look silly with this card when you can turn, stop, and adjust the ball from a full sprint. There are not many players I have used that can boast this dribbling ability including Futties Martial, who I did not find reliable at pace. Moving on to the dreaded passing review I will just say that with MAESTRO I had a whopping total of zero assists. ENGINE brought a more respectable five, which is still quite poor. There is something about the runs that Rashford makes that kind of takes his teammates out of the game and this is not the best for my play style. To compare, Futties Martial now has 35 assists in 50 games. Rashford can pass the ball fine, but purely based on stats I cannot endorse him as a great passer of the ball.

Dribbling Rating: 5/5

Passing Rating: 3.5/5

DEFENDING & PHYSICAL

Due to the fact that I just finished Futties Martial followed by playing the two United men side by side I cannot help but compare them constantly. While Martial continues to blow me away with his defensive capabilities, Rashford is the polar opposite. I can actually pinpoint the only tackle he made the entire review as it led to a goal and it is in my video. Other than that he is absolutely useless when your opponent has the ball. I realize I sound like Charlie Adam at this point; desperately taking talk show appearances to try and fund a hair transplant, but it is true. Part of Rashford’s defending inadequacies could be down to the fact that he is not the strongest around the ball. Rashford’s strength, or lack thereof, can be increasingly frustrating given his player architype and his 84 STRENGTH; but that is where the negatives end. Rashford is a great header of the ball despite only 73 JUMPING and scored quite a few headers for me during this review. Finally, if you take all of the excellent qualities Rashford possess and mix that with 96 STAMINA you have a work horse pulling your team forward all game long.

Defending Rating: 1/5

Physical Rating: 4/5

Final Score

Overall Rating: 4.6/5

If anyone is keeping score you will notice that this rating is at a very calculated .1 lower than the rating I gave Futties Martial just a few days ago. From an out and out ST perspective it does not get much better than Futties Rashford. Rashford boasts pace to burn and has a nose for goal that results in excellent returns. So my recommendation comes down to each individual FUT Manager’s needs and wants when they are deciding to complete this SBC. If you have already completed Futties Martial then I would suggest that you skip on Rashford. Truthfully, my recommendation is that if you didn’t complete the Martial SBC that you find a DeLorean DMC-12 and go back in time to do so. But, if this proves to be too difficult and you are looking for a fun striker with plenty of goals in him then Rashford is still a good buy and definitely value for coins.

Cheers for reading!

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