IF Gabriel Jesus

In the spirit of Christmas, 85 rated Gabriel Jesus blesses the latest edition of the TOTW.  I received an early present in my player picks and it was easy to decide who to look at this week.  It seemed an obvious choice to go with a DEADEYE chemistry style this time around and the results were better than I expected.  In terms of the formation I did not switch anything in-game and rolled with the 4-2-2-2 throughout the weekend. 

I should note that the strength of this week’s team is far superior to anything I have used and Jesus thrived among the juggernauts.  I realize it is stating the obvious but 90 ST SALAH is absolute class and the best player I have used in FIFA 19 so far.  Jesus played alongside the Egyptian King at the ST position and the two caused havoc the entire weekend.  Jesus was the savior in the following squad:
 

Pace

Not actually as good as I would like or would have thought.  While Jesus is no slouch in a foot race, he does not come close to the likes of Salah, Lozano, and other speedsters I have reviewed.  89 ACCELERATION is nice out of the blocks, but for some reason 86 SPRINT SPEED does not maintain the pace he starts at.  I was constantly having to cut back and beat defenders again or pass the ball on in situations I felt should have led to direct scoring chances.  I am sure a HAWK or HUNTER chemistry style would really have an impact, but I did not want to give up the shooting and passing perks of DEADEYE.

Pace Rating: 8.8/10

Shooting & Passing

The 20 game statistics on this card don’t lie.  A goal a game is easily obtainable with this card even playing FUT Champs.  His 3 STAR WEAK FOOT honestly feels like a 4.5/5 and the DEADEYE boosts were noticeable.  99 FINISHING & 91 SHOT POWER are fantastic around goal, while the boost to 84 CURVE comes in handy when finessing outside the box.  Whoever Jesus was trying to call all weekend it didn’t bother me that they wouldn’t pick up, because he just kept trying with goal after goal.  While the goal total from this weekend is notable, the assists total is legendary.  In all of my reviews I do not remember a card setting up so many goals.  While 90 Rated IF Salah is definitely helping, the assists were spread around everywhere.  The dribbling, acceleration, 90 VISION & 89 SHORT PASSING somehow turned Jesus into Xavi all weekend long; TLDR: this card creates goals full stop.

Shooting Rating: 9.3/10
Passing Rating: 9.3/10

Physical, Dribbling, & Defending

Once again the defending portion of this review is minimal due to the positioning of Jesus and so we move on.  The physical and dribbling statistics on this card continue the trend of resulting in goal creation.  94 AGILITY & 93 BALANCE allow for the tight turns in and around the box to make space for shots or to find the final pass.  While Jesus is no push over, his 69 STRENGTH might benefit from a HAWK chemistry style, but again the perks of DEADEYE are too good to pass up in this case.  79 JUMPING & 77 HEADING ACCURACY add to the air prowess of this card, while 86 STAMINA is plenty for a ST.  

Physical Rating: 8.4/10
Dribbling Rating: 8.8/10
Defending Rating: N/A

Final Score

Final Rating: 8.8/10

As of this writing IF Gabriel Jesus is sitting at around 190k on XBOX and it almost feels as though he has been forgotten in the hustle and bustle of the FUTMAS season.  You just need to look at the comparisons to TIF Werner (yes third!) to see how crazy of a deal this card is.  Jesus actually has higher in-game stats than the German and from my experience contributed more over the twenty game review as well.  Jesus receives the same rating as TIF Werner for a few reasons (pace and weak foot primarily) and I think the two are quite similar; of course the major difference is the 100k price difference.  Additionally, the Brazilian and EPL links only increase the value of Jesus and I really feel like he is being overlooked.  Regardless, all I can say is that I enjoyed my weekend review of this card and his contributions were priceless in ensuring I had a successful Weekend League.  I hope that the FUTMAS Season has treated everyone well and hopefully we will all have a nice IF ST Heung Min Son wrapped up in our WL rewards.  Cheers for reading.  
 

Game Stats:
 

Game Highlights: