FIFA 23 INFORM RONALDO PLAYER REVIEW

If you told me in September that we would be reviewing an inform card in the middle of February I would have thought you were either crazy, or that Erling Haaland had amassed his 5th or 6th Inform and a next level card was in the mix.  If you went on to tell me that the player would be Cristiano Ronaldo and that he would be applying his trade in the Saudi Pro League… it would have seemed more like a bad dream than reality.

But here we are with the hopes that another inform could squeeze into the conversation for usable options.  With a quick overhaul of the squad we were off and running to complete the Division Rivals grind and right into Weekend League qualification.

It was clear that Ronaldo would be leading the line in my 4-3-2-1 formation, but I wasn’t too sure on which chemistry style would get the best out of the Portuguese superstar.  The ENGINE and HUNTER remain the two most widely used options and so I decided to give each the college try before coming to the ultimate conclusion.

However, this experiment never materialized as the HUNTER chemistry style immediately worked wonders on this card and the dribbling boost from the ENGINE was not needed in comparison to the Pace and Shooting trade off. 

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CR7 proved the star attraction all evening long in the following squad:

Overall 

It was immediately clear that there was a little something special about his card and at times completely shocked me with the level of competition that CR7 could cope with.  The Division Rivals grind was especially eye opening and overall the 11 goals and 3 assists in 7 matches was a great return.

In a way this card was like a btec POTM Mbappe and shared a lot of the qualities and deficiencies that the Paris man does as well.  But in this case the highs were not quite as high, while the lows felt that little bit lower.

Main Statistics – Shooting

Shooting Rating: 9/10

Weak Foot: ★★★★

Traits: Outside Foot Shot

Shooting with this card is generally a rewarding experience.  The HUNTER application brought the 99 FINISHING to perfection, while the 99 POSITIONING ensured that the chances to demonstrate said finishing were a constant occurrence. 

The 98 SHOT POWER & 91 LONG SHOTS were another combination that brought about more goals and demonstrated the wide range of goal scoring weapons that are at CR7’s disposal.

Even the 99 VOLLEYS offered an alternate route to goal and summed up what is an incredibly potent card.  Two small issues to complain about would be the Shooting animation, which is of course unique to CR7, but rather slow to pull the trigger when Shooting and was a small issue in the review… The second issue comes in the form of the 4 STAR WEAK FOOT, which didn’t always translate (especially with finesse shots) into good shooting from the left.   

Small comment that the free kicks felt quite good, despite only resulting in the one goal.

Value/Coins

Value/Coins Rating: 4/5

Again, this card just feels and operates like a cheap version of Mbappe…  The 11 goals in 7 matches offer proof that the goals eventually come even against difficult opponents.

At 285k I still feel like this card is good value, but I can only see that number going down in the near future as more and more FUT Managers open rewards… And when this happens the Value/Coins will only increase.

Obviously Rulebreaker Ronaldo offers a wide variety of links for squad building that the inform version cannot, but they do share a lot of the same traits, despite the Manchester United version coming in at 650k, further proving this card's reasonable cost.

Good vs. Bad 

Good vs Bad Rating: 4/5

Beyond the sublime Shooting, there were other traits piecing together a rather intricate performer overall. 

+ 187cm | 6’2 frame with this card offered some excellent opportunities to keep the ball.  The 96 JUMPING provides the ability to win knock down headers and play away from pressure.  While the 78 STRENGTH actually felt like more than enough given the size. 

+ The 93 SPRINT SPEED is fantastic and generally piggybacks off of the unique running style and CONTROLLED AcceleRATE.  If there is room to exploit behind defenders, this card does a fantastic job.

Yet you don’t end up in the Saudi Pro League without making a few mistakes… and CR7 was certainly not immune to frustrating occurrences during the review.

- The size and strength of this card, mixed with the positioning and 93 SPRINT SPEED meant CR7 was perfect as the target man in my squad… but then connecting other teammates proved not to be the easiest task.  The 82 SHORT PASSING is well below what is standard numbers in recent promo attackers… while the 78 VISION & 77 LONG PASSING proved problematic as well.

- The dribbling with this card is much better than you expect.  The 78 AGILITY & 68 BALANCE should have killed this card to the point that no ENGINE could drive it to safety… yet there is something special about the way that this card can still move.  POTM Mbappe is again the archetype… many FUT Managers complain about his dribbling (and rightly so), despite the fact that he doesn’t feel awful on the ball, there are so many better out there.

Closing Words

The 89 ACCELERATION is one last area of concern and although it contributes to the dribbling issues, it is also difficult when Cristiano takes a moment to get going after receiving the ball in a dangerous space.

For an inform card in Feburary I do think this card performs admirably.  Scoring 11 in 7 against a constant bombardment of WCH Lucio, Flashback Ramos and TOTY Van Dijk is no small feat.

In a weird way I was oddly drawn to this card, but of course the links (as you can see by my squad) continue to be a huge separating factor… and I am not sure the lack of speed offers the Portuguese Sniper up as a supersub either.

In the end, a far from perfect review, but one that shines light on the fact that not all informs will be lost forever and that some can still have an impact at this stage.  CR7 offers an affordable big man with a scoring touch.

Hoping you are well.  Cheers for reading.