IF Martial

TOTY Season has come upon us and the market has reached astronomical lows.  The past two weekends we have reviewed some of the God Tier striker options in FIFA 20, and so we decided to throw in a FUT Legend at a more affordable price this time around.  Tony Martial has had his legacy set in stone ever since the “young French forward” entered into FUT commentary.  “They knew about him, but they couldn’t stop him,” to be honest I was happy to know that these classic lines still exist in the game.  Back into the review, it was certainly eye-opening to see the difference between a certainly useable option such as Martial, and the supremacy of players like Dalglish and Butragueño.  Again, we stuck with the 4-2-3-1 formation as Tony Martial was given the responsibility of goal scorer in the following squad this weekend: 
 

Overall

Rating: 8.5/10
Pace Rating: 8.7/10
Dribbling Rating: 8.7/10
Shooting Rating: 8.7/10
Passing Rating: 8/10
Physical Rating: 7.5/10
Defending Rating: N/A

I won’t lie, I did not get on well with this card at all.  As the weekend progressed I became more and more comfortable with the type of player he is, but ultimately my style and his qualities did not jive.  The strength of Martial in previous installments of FIFA has always been a mixture of lightning pace and amazing shooting.  The FIFA 20 version of Marital doesn’t tick either of these boxes and while there is nostalgia in the commentary, it was not the same in the gameplay. However, I don’t want it to seem as though this card is unusable; 18 goals and 9 assists in 20 games definitely state otherwise.  I just didn’t have the overly positive experience with this version of Martial that I had hoped would occur when I purchased him Thursday.  

Linkability & Current Game Strength 

Linkability Rating: 4/5
Current Game Strength Rating: 4/5

Linking Martial into a squad is not a huge stretch given the increasingly powerful Premier League options, and of course the French connections that are increasingly available.  I might have just went for the 3.5/5 rating but the hyperlink to Pogba does increase the options when trying to get this man in your squads.  
89 ACCELERATION & 91 SPRINT SPEED is an excellent combination for any card.  In saying that … Martial just does not have the “get up and go” of many other options I have used.  Perhaps it is the 6’0 – 184cm height mixed with the medium body type of his player build; but Martial just doesn’t have the dynamic pace he has had in the past.  Again, stats such as 91 POSITIONING, 99 FINISHING, & 88 SHOT POWER using SNIPER should have been more than enough to equal quality and consistent shooting.  However, I only received the quality, while the consistency was sporadic at best.  At one point I had to start subbing Martial at half time in important matches after he missed 4 or 5 high-quality chances.

Value/Coins & Good vs. Bad

Value/Coins Rating: 5/5
Good vs Bad Rating: 4/5

I am incredibly thankful that my review was done early this weekend and I only felt a minimal loss on Martial.  I bought at 230k to get started on my review, sold at 170k for a decent loss, and now given the lightning rounds of TOTY he is going for 140k (but I did see him temporarily at 115k!!!).  So yes, Martial did not come near players like Dalglish, and no, he is not the Tony Martial that haunted the past two FIFAs … but this card is a crazy good deal and if we were not in the middle of TOTY I think he would be sitting closer to 200k and rightly so.

I gave Martial an 8.5/10, he scored goals for me this weekend, and his pace and shooting are still good… just not great.  So for the sake of time, I will just go through the small list of areas I wish Martial was improved.  The passing and physical on this card were nowhere near what I needed in a lone striker and Martial was quite frustrating to use. 83 SHORT PASSING should be enough but wasn’t, and the same could be said for the 76 STRENGTH that Martial is supposed to possess but did not feel accurate.  After using Butragueño I was looking forward to a bit of a stronger option, and in the end, there was minimal if any difference.  Finally, the biggest issue is the 3 STAR WEAK FOOT with Martial, and man is it ever weak.  These were the missed chances that led me to frustration with Martial the most throughout the weekend.   

Closing Words

If it was not for the price I would probably suggest a pass on Martial honestly.  But then that price just keeps dragging me back in.  Obviously, this review has been geared towards FUT Managers on a tighter budget and honestly, there are not many options of Martial’s quality at that price. TOTY Nominee Aguero is one of the closest options in price that is similar in quality and I personally would take the pace of Martial over the shooting of Aguero.  But in the end, it is up to you to make the choice, and if you decide to use the young French forward, I hope your walk back in nostalgia is more enjoyable than mine.  I can’t deny though, hearing the crowd sing ‘Tony Martial scores again’ after a big goal in Champs League was incredibly satisfying. Cheers for reading. 

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