Rulebreakers Alaba - Spend or Swerve

POSITIVES & NEGATIVES

• Positives

  • Has all the attributes you need of an exceptional ball playing centre back

  • Very good on the ball, allows you the freedom to take a few extra touches to find the pass

  • Defensively very solid and has a very quick and responsive jockey

  • Applying an Anchor can change his AcceleRATE to Lengthy

  • 4* Weak Foot

• Negatives

  • 5’11” isn’t short, however he is one of the shorter CBs you will use

  • A very difficult Nation to link to, making it harder to get 3 chemistry points

  • The price point of the SBC is very high for a CB when you look at the other tradeable options available

PLAYER DETAILS

• Position Played

  • CB

• Best Positions

  • CB, CDM

• Chemistry Style Used

  • Anchor

• Chemistry

  • 3/3

TEAM USED

• Before Kick Off – 4-2-4

• In Game – 4-2-2-2

POSITION PLAYED

For the first 5 games, I played Alaba as a CB (L) in the 4-2-2-2, in this formation with all of the instructions set to Default.

For the last 5 games, I moved Alaba as a CDM (L) in the 4-2-2-2, with the instructions to Stay Back, Cover Centre and Cut Passing Lanes.

CHEMISTRY STYLE

• Chemistry Style Used

  • Anchor – I applied an Anchor to Alaba as this chemistry style changed his AcceleRATE type to Lengthy and gave him a boost to his Pace, Defending and Physical.

• Recommended Chemistry Style

  • Anchor – This is the best chemistry style for all of the reason I mentioned above.

HOW DID HE PERFORM?

• For the first 5 games as a CB, Alaba performed very well, you could feel his agility and speed when controlling him and he was very good defensively.

• For the last 5 games as a CDM, Alaba also performed very well and this is where his strength as a card lies, his versatility and his ability to move into the CDM role seamlessly is what separates him from other CBs.

10 GAME RATINGS

PLAYER COMPARISONS – IS HE BETTER THAN (LaLiga CBs)?

• Rulebreaker Pique – They are very similar cards, however Pique is already Lengthy so you can apply as Shadow if needed and keep him Lengthy, as expected Alaba is much better on the ball.

• Rudiger – Also very similar cards, however again Rudiger is also is already Lengthy so you can apply as Shadow if needed and keep him Lengthy, as expected Alaba is much better on the ball.

• Militao – Alaba is better than Militao in most areas, however Militao is a bit quicker

• Kounde – Alaba is better than Kounde in most areas, however Kounde is a bit quicker

RATINGS

VERDICT

Overall Alaba is a fantastic card, his strength definitely lies within his versatility and his ability to move into CDM if needed.

From a performance perspective, when playing as a CB he was extremely solid and defensively very reliable, and when controlling him you could feel his high dribbling attributes as his jockey is very responsive.

What I will say is, as a CB there are as good, if not better options as an outright centre back for a fraction of the cost.

Being able to move him into different positions during game is what set’s him above from all the other defenders, however the question is that is it worth the price tag?

For me, if you purely want a CB then I wouldn’t say Alaba is the one for you as there are better options out there for cheaper, however if you want a CB with a lot of versatility then he is your guy, but for the purpose of the review I am going to have to say it’s a Swerve, simply due to the price tag.

One last note, if you have untradeable cards and are looking for a place to put them then Alaba is a very good choice.

SPEND OR SWERVE