FIFA 23 Team of the Season Moments Di Maria Player Review

The last of the big five TOTS squads arrived this weekend and EA certainly didn’t hold back on the juice when boosting the Serie A selections.  At the outset of the drop it appeared like some of the price tags would be borderline insane, but a tradeable player pick and the normal issues with links led to a drastic fall.

While there were numerous candidates to take into battle this weekend it appeared that none was as popular in your minds as Ángel Di María.  The set to leave Juve man receiving a TOTS Moments card as he turns yet another chapter in his fantastic career.  

The hope going into this review was that Di María could harness some of the same quality that made his World Cup TOTT card so much fun to use.  The HUNTER chemistry style was applied to aid this desire and all was just about set for the Weekend League drop.

It was back to the 4-2-2-2 again this weekend and this is where we struggled with Di María a little bit.  The Argentine does not really possess the raw pace and power for an out-and-out CAM… nor does he have much of a defensive presence.  Unfortunately, the experiment at striker was also a bit helter-skelter and left some serious doubts throughout the review.
Di María proved to be a little more show and a little less go all weekend long in the following squad:

Overall 

All in all, this turned out to be the worst TOTS card that I reviewed of the lot and it is just too bad that it happened at the very end of what was a fantastic run of players.  The card still has quality, just look at the statistics, but in the end it just fell way short of what you would expect given the potential.  The position dilemma in the 4-2-2-2 did not help anything and certainly didn’t suit Di María well at all. 

Main Statistics – Shooting

Shooting Rating: 7/10

Weak Foot: ★★★★

Becoming a bit of a trend to look at the Shooting of attacking players in the main statistics section of these reviews, and truthfully it is such a make-or-break statistic.

The clips of this review highlight just how many missed chances came from the feet of Di María and truthfully proved to be a detriment to my squad.  The 8 goals in 7 matches could have been so much more and would have completely changed the vibe of how this card felt in game.

The 99 SHOT POWER was the key underperformer and it just felt like keepers were going to get their hands on everything Di María hit.  The FOUR STAR WEAK FOOT felt more like a hard THREE and the lack of the FINESSE TRAIT took a lot of the curve away from long-distance efforts.  All in all the finishing is what killed the striker experiment and my overall enjoyment of the card at the same time.

Value/Coins

Value/Coins Rating: 3/5

With so many TOTS and TOTS Moments cards on the market, there are just too many options for a card to underperform and not be lost to the list of fodder options.  Of course, Di María has too much of an upside in other areas for this to happen completely, but the 330k price tag just feels well off from what I experienced.  The gameplay on Friday was sluggish and I concede that a card like Di María is not suited for that amount of adversity… but that is kind of the point, there is no room for “fair weather” players at this stage in the game and ultimately kills the value for coins of this card.

Good vs. Bad 

Good vs Bad Rating: 4/5

Though, there were still some shining moments with this card… the crazy amount of attacking statistics was always going to guarantee some proper highlights.

+ The Dribbling with this card is certainly a focal point and the key area that will sell a lot of FUT Managers on bringing the Artengine into the mix.  The 5 STAR SKILLS are there for the thumb wizards, but for the mere mortals the 99 AGILITY, 95 BALL CONTROL & 96 DRIBBLING feel quite nice in game.

+ Similarly, the Passing with this card is another area that Di María lived up to standards.  The 90 SHORT PASSING, 95 VISION & 88 LONG PASSING all delivering quality service.  The irony here comes in the form of the 1 assist in 7 matches that Di María totaled during the review.  In truth this issue was a bigger one, to be discussed shortly.

From there on it was a pretty disappointing road with this card… lots of twists and turns with the destination often just out of reach.

- The pace of FUT at this point is at breakneck speeds and ultimately Di María was simply run off the pitch at times.  The EXPLOSIVE AcceleRATE, taller frame, & 99 PACE should have done the trick and then some, but instead this card fell well flat.  The sluggish gameplay was there, but it did not affect any of the players in my squad like it did Di María.  The end result was a slow drive out of dribbles and a slow start to any movement in general… mixed with the inability to outrun defenders 99% of the time… a truly horrible combination and a big part of the single assist in my mind.  Di María simply could not get into the areas to utilize his quality passing to facilitate teammates…  Instead relying on the quality of Mbappe, Veratti and Puskas to present him with chances.

- The lack of Pace led to a lot of challenges… I don’t remember Di María fending off any of them… The 73 STRENGTH is a glaring reason why.

Closing Words

So disappointing… I wanted a left foot wizard… I got a left footed birthday party magician.  The only trick Di María pulled throughout the review was a disappearing act when it mattered most and I couldn’t wait to end the review and move on.  On one hand I am being a bit over the top and there is quality in the card… hence the rating.  But in a very real sense it was a review to forget and I am happy to move one for the reminder of my matches.

The 5 STAR SKILLS are the real game changer here and there will be some getting some quality returns out of Di María I am sure.  But for my system and my playing style there simply wasn’t enough in Di María’s repertoire to spare him the transfer market dump.
Hoping you are well.  Cheers for reading.