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TOTY Honourable Mention Sadio Mané review

 

Where is Thomas Müller?  Seriously? If there was a TOTY Honorable Mention that was worthy of a card it was certainly the Bayern man.  I just had to get this out of the way… but I digress, back onto the matter at hand.  Sadio Mané was certainly not a controversial addition to the Honorable Mentions coming off the back of a season where he played a major role in Liverpool’s return to glory.  The all-action speedster has caused many a right-back nightmares in the past few seasons and continues to be an ever-present handful.  From a FUT perspective, it is clear that a lot of the qualities that make Mané so effective in real life have transferred over perfectly to his digital version.  Since the start of FUT I have utilized a non-tradeable version of the Senegalese star with excellent effect… often reverting back to teams with him involved for the final 10 matches after my reviews conclude.  In truth, I wanted to review Mané’s FUT Freeze many moons ago but it wasn’t in the cards that time around.  Spoiler alert… the FUT Freeze is absolutely insane and this card has even better statistics.  After applying the FINISHER chemistry style this card starts to look like a terrifying specimen, and Mané terrorized my opponents as the frontman in my 4-2-3-1 formation all weekend in the following squad:


Starting Formation:


 
In-game Formation:
 


 

Overall

Rating: 9/10
Pace Rating: 10/10
Dribbling Rating: 9/10
Shooting Rating: 9/10
Passing Rating: 8.5/10
Physical Rating: 9/10
Defending Rating: N/A

I honestly had a terrible end to my weekend.  If you follow me on Twitter: @IVIaeNine or read my Boateng SBC review you would know that with a 14-1 start everything was going exactly to plan early on in the weekend.  Unfortunately, the game I signed into Sunday night was nowhere near resembling anything close to FIFA.  The final 5 matches of this review included a D/C (hence the 21 matches), 3 matches in pens, and the other two in extra time.  The scores of those matches were all 2-2 or lower and in general everything about the game was in the mud.  With that in mind, I am more so looking at Mane’s returns in the first 15 matches as opposed to the 15 matches that followed.  For the record, I finished with a disappointing 20 wins in the end.  So, in 15 matches Mané amassed 24 goals and 6 assists… still not exactly what I would have hoped going into the review, but much better than the image suggests.

 

Main Statistic – Pace

Pace Rating: 10/10

With 98 ACCELERATION & 96 SPRINT SPEED, it is no surprise that this card is absolutely rapid.  Through balls take on an entirely different meaning when utilizing a player that is this quick and this fast.  In general, my opponents struggled to keep up with the movement and certainly could not contain Mané in a dead sprint.  The thing that is most enjoyable is the fact that you hardly notice a difference between Mané’s pace with or without the ball… the card is lightning fast at all times and is a key part of everything he does well.

 

Main Attribute - 4 STAR/4 STAR

Shooting Rating: 9/10
Weak Foot: * * * * 
Dribbling Rating: 9/10
Skills: * * * *

Obviously, if you are going to choose an attacking combo it would be one more star in each category… but this is as close as it gets in terms of performance.  When you take Mané’s blistering Pace and add the 99 AGILITY & 94 BALANCE… then sprinkle in 92 BALL CONTROL & 99 DRIBBLING you get some incredibly responsive and “slingshot” dribbling.  Mané simply floats back away from defenders with only a left stick dribble… and can then fire forward with fantastic speed, made even more effective when a bridge dribble is mixed in.  This card is a treat on the ball and anything resembling good gameplay can create a ton of chances just by himself.

The Shooting statistics with this card are just as impressive with the trifecta of 99 POSITIONING, FINISHING & SHOT POWER.  Of course the 4 STAR WEAK FOOT is just as important as Mané fires the ball with a 5 STAR WEAK FOOT feel on his left… but not always 5 STAR finishing.  That would be the main reason I went for a 9/10 as Mané did miss a chance or five that I know he would have buried on his right.  In general, the card feels dangerous and clinical… but small moments kept me from going any higher with the ratings.  If you do buy him... be aware that not all chances are rewarded.

 

Value/Coins & Good vs. Bad 

Value/Coins Rating: 4.5/5 
Good vs Bad Rating: 5/5

2 million coins.  When you take a look at the 92 rated FUT Freeze Mané at 2.1 million coins in a central ST position, then the 2 million coins for 93 Mane at LW seems about right.  So why the 4.5/5 for value?  For me, FUT Freeze Mané has always seemed like a card victimized by low supply.  There never seems to be any on the market (currently only 12 as of this writing) and therefore has driven the price to dizzying heights.  However, with two pages of Honorable Mention Mané, I did expect this card to settle at a lower price… but with better statistics than the 92 it feels like the two are connected in terms of price tag and in the end those price tags just feel a tad bit high.  

Pace, Shooting, Dribbling: Check… Physical?  Again, Mané delivers a quality rating in the Physical statistics with a very solid 75 STRENGTH, Energizer Bunny-esque 94 STAMINA, and Michael Jordan inspired 91 JUMPING.  The card is an athletic specimen and capable of winning those key battles in the final third that can result in crucial goals against tougher opponents.  Realistically the only area that Mane didn’t blow me away was in the Passing department where his 90 SHORT PASSING really should have felt better than it did.  Every now and then I found myself unsure of how Mané didn’t complete key passes in key moments and in general it was the biggest complaint I could find with this card.  With so many positives it feels like a tiny ripple in an otherwise crazy card… but a ripple nonetheless like the chances missed on his left foot, just make you even more upset when dealing with a 2 million coin card.

 

Closing Words

It pains me to say this, but I am not sure I 100% can recommend this card… “but you just said all these amazing things about the card, how can you not recommend it?”  Simply put, yes this card is amazing and if you want to use him then you are certainly getting a weapon to unleash upon your opponents.  But at 2 million coins I just feel like you are overpaying and will feel the slight disappointment that I did when the card doesn’t quite reach the heights that you are paying for.  Hoping you are all safe and well.  Cheers for reading. 

 

 

Game Stats:
 

 

 

Game Highlights:

 

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