FC 26 86 Moments Pope Player Review

So today, EA have released a brand new SBC and it is the very first Moments SBC of the year. It comes as none other than Nick Pope. This is celebrating his incredible assist in the UEFA Champions League against SL Benfica, where he threw the ball over 60 yards to Barnes, becoming the second-ever English keeper to have assisted a goal in the UCL. 

Fittingly, this SBC has been granted the Long Throw+ playstyle and honestly, it’s not much but major props to EA for this. This was the kind of thing we all expected to see more of with the Team of the Week cards and being given upgrades based on their real-life performances. So whilst I would have preferred the Far Reach+, this is still a great PS+ for this card.

Speaking of Playstyles, this card has been treated well, as from the base card, this item has Footwork, Cross Claimer, and Far Reach playstyles on top of that, Far Throw+. For stats upgrades, he also comes with a +5 overall boost. He’s been given +4s and 5s to most stats apart from his kicking, where he has been given a +8. On paper, this looks like a great card but with the Goal Keeper role being so important, how he performs in-game will be the make-or-break.

Here are the following segments to unlock the Moments Pope SBC:

Premier League

# of players from the Premier League: Min 1

Squad Rating: Min 83

# of players in squad: 11

Top Form

Team of the Week Players: Min 1

Squad Rating: Min 85

# of players in squad: 11

Only 2 segments required for this SBC, with a price tag coming just below the 50k mark. Honestly, I don’t hate the value here. So long as he performs well, this could be a banging SBC that suits Premier League teams quite nicely.  When comparing him to the likes of Courtois, Alisson and Donnarumma, his price isn’t far off, and with him being 86-rated, he isn’t too far off being eligible for an Evo down the road. I feel this is quite important to keep in mind, considering this is a 6’6” Premier League goalkeeper. 

How did he perform in-game?

+ We’ll start by talking about the Far Throw. When utilising this on a counterattack, it can be absolutely deadly. Much like from the Benfica game, he is capable of launching that ball upfield with his hands and if the opposition are out of position, it’s game over with any pacey attackers picking up the ball.

+ Being a tall keeper with both Cross Claimer and Far Reach, he does very well to block off aerial attacks and put a quick stop to the opposing attack.

+ Positionally, he also does a great job of predicting ball placement to be in the best position to make a threatening save.

+ His reflexes are the most impressive though. When up close, he is able to make those quick, snappy saves from players moving around the box. He often also managed to quickly grasp the ball, making an immediate halt to the opposing play.

Nick Pope - Cop or Flop?

Honestly, a lot of goalkeepers feel incredibly similar this year. It’s quite hard to depict which ones stand out more from the rest when you have a group of go to keepers that all do the same job. The likes of Alisson & Courtois for your high-rated keepers and of course, Mamardashvili for your lower-end keepers. Of course, you would expect to pay more for higher rating and whilst you can get the highest rated keepers (Not including Icons/ Heroes) for around the 30k mark, I think for an SBC, this isn’t awful value and I would be really excited to see this card fit into an Evo in the not so distant future. 

For me this isn’t an “Elite” level SBC, but it offers the opportunity to have something a little different to the normal options we are used to and in-game, he performs just as well as the rest. So unless you have managed to bag yourself one of the Icon keepers, I would absolutely recommend giving this one a try over your current Premier League keeper.

Verdict = COP