(upbeat trumpet music)
(shouting)
- What's up, guys?
Matt from the Football Boots Team
and today we are gonna be putting the Adidas 18+ Predators
through its paces to see if they're the very best
boots the three stripe brand have ever created.
And make sure to watch the entire
video to find out if I can complete
the Paul Pogba challenge.
Let's do it!
If you guys wanna win a pair of the Preds,
all you need to do is count how many
times you see Paul Pogba's face pop up on screen
and at the end of the video click
on the card to submit your answer.
There is no doubt that the 18+ Predators
are aimed at elite level footballers
and the price definitely reflects that.
250 pounds for the 18+'s.
But, to be fair to Adidas, the Nemeziz 18+ 360 Agility
retail at 280 pounds so to be 30 pounds cheaper
than the Nemeziz, I think Adidas have
done alright with the 18+ Predators.
The 18+ Predators are the successor
to the 17+ Pure Controls.
And from today's video, I'm gonna work out two things.
Firstly, what would I score the 18+ Predators
out of ten because the 17+ Pure Controls
would have got a six out of ten.
So, can the Predators actually increase that score?
And secondly, are these 18+ Predators
more like an 18+ Pure Control?
That's what we're gonna be finding out.
So, now it's time to recreate Paul Pogba's
greatest ever goal for Juventus against Udinese.
Ball gets played out, he takes a touch,
half volley smash, into the top lefthand bin,
crossbar and in.
Now, I don't need to get it crossbar and in,
I just need to get it into the top left hand corner.
Five attempts.
Can I recreate Pogba's moment of magic?
Let's find out!
Ball 1.
(upbeat electric music)
It was a good first try,
need a little bit more height.
It was very close,
just needed to be a little bit higher.
This technique is proving difficult
but I'm gonna keep going at it.
It's hit the crossbar!
It was almost there.
We're gonna have to keep going.
(cheering)
Pogba, what!
That's the one, I've done it.
Paul Pogba half volley smash against Udinese, complete.
A massively important fact about any
pair of boots on the market is the fit and sizing.
They have to feel right on your feet,
so you can perform to the very best of your abilities.
Now, they fit very snug and compressive
in that midfoot portion, much more so than the
17+ Pure Controls, in my opinion.
You do get a slightly different feeling
inside the boot than those Pure Controls.
You can almost slip and slide inside the boot,
which, in my opinion, isn't the greatest sensation.
Your toes can almost curl up
and you get a little bit of hill slippage,
which was the case in the 17+ Pure Controls, as well.
Now, in terms of the sizing,
these are a UK 11 and these actually fit me perfectly.
I would usually go for a UK 10.5
so if you are interested in the 18+ Pure Controls,
I would say go half a size up.
If somebody blindfolded me,
put these boots on my feet and told me they were brand new,
straight out of the box, I would be completely shocked.
Wow, these boots are so comfortable straight away.
Literally, no break in time whatsoever.
So, massive thumbs up to Adidas on their
18+ Predators break in time.
The one slight thing for me is
they weigh a little bit heavy.
They do feel a bit bulky and clumpy on your feet.
Now, the 18+ Predators weigh 280 grammes.
I wish they weighed just a little bit less,
maybe towards to 240 gramme mark.
Guys, I've just mentioned it,
but these 18+ Preds are so comfortable, it's incredible.
They're exactly what I look for
in a pair of football boots.
Very snug and compressive, fitting around the midfoot
and toebox, but at the same time,
still keeping that high level comfort.
No hill pressure, no stud pressure, and my toes don't feel
too crammed towards the end of the boot.
So, in terms of comfort and on feet feel,
these get top marks.
The construction of the 18+ Preds is the most
interesting one for me.
In hand, they feel like a synthetic boot.
On feet, they feel like a knitted boot,
which creates the perfect combination
of grippy feel on the ball, but a sock like fit on feet.
Design and colorway for the launch 18+ Predators,
one of the main talking points
whenever a brand new boot is released.
So, what did the three striped brand actually go for?
Well, its almost classical Predator,
but they're missing one colour.
They've got black, they've got white,
but instead of the red,
they've now gone for this metallic bronze.
I wish they would've come out
in the classic Predator colorway
or the bronze was more of a gold tone.
I think it would've looked just a little bit more classy.
But, what I think might happen, is coming up in the future,
they have to release a gold boot,
because they haven't put gold on the launch Preds.
This recreation is gonna be Paul Pogba versus Swansea City.
The ball bounces on the edge of the box,
one bounce, side volley,
chopped down and into the top right hand corner.
Five attempts,
let's try our best!
(upbeat techno music)
Just over the bar!
Attempt number two, little bit lower.
Too much sway need to find somewhere
in the middle.
Ball number three
and I can tell, that you can tell,
that it's definitely coming.
(upbeat techno trumpet music)
It went through the shield net!
A little bit higher and it was go time.
Onto my fourth ball so it's, literally,
two balls to play and I'm gonna be so upset
if I don't manage to recreate this Pogba goal,
so I'm gonna have to clutch up.
It's so close, again.
It comes down to this, one ball to play.
Oh, there it is!
Pogba, he's got it!
So, that is round two complete,
one more round to play in the Pogba challenge.
So, the Preds are a great feeling boot in hand and on feet,
but what are they actually made from?
Well, we've got a prime knit material
all over the boot which creates that sock like fit.
We've also got that forge knit midfoot
to add to the lockdown.
On top of the prime knit, we've got control skin.
And this time, it is much thinner and softer
to the previous 17+ Pure Controls.
We've, also, got those very aggressive raised layers
which are almost like those OG Predator things.
Do they give you grip on the ball?
I'd say a little bit
but not as much curve as those OG Preds.
One of the greatest upgrades from the 17+ Pure Controls
onto these 18+ Preds has to be that mid cut collar.
In my opinion, it's like it almost doesn't have a collar.
Very similar to the Nike Flyknit Ultras.
One other lovely thing is that when you pull it around,
you can see that red coming through.
Very traditional Predator.
A couple more extras you get on the 18+ Predators
is that you don't get on the 18.1's
is the sockliner is actually made out of boot
so you do get a nice springy sensation
when the boots on feet.
And there's, also, a little bit of boost
in that sole plate, as well.
You can't really feel that.
That's just a little bit of a gimmick.
But, talking about that sole plate itself,
we've got control frame, brand new sole plate from Adidas.
From what I felt so far on feet,
it feels very solid, nice and responsive,
stiff in the midfoot but nice flex in that toe box.
Now, looking at the stud configuration, also, brand new.
Adidas have gone for those triangular shaped studs
because, apparently, that's what the pro players want.
So, the other day I was talking to a friend,
just generally about football boots,
and we got onto speaking about the 18+ Preds.
Now, what he was saying was he really enjoyed the boots
and in his eyes, he thinks that Adidas
now have more headline stars
in the Premier League than Nike.
So, for the 18+ Preds, you've got Paul Pogba,
Dele Alli and Mesut Ozil.
For Nike, you could say you've got Harry Kane,
Eden Hazard and, also, Philippe Coutinho.
But, what I wanna know is, in your opinion,
who's got the better players in the Prem.
Vote in the poll card now for Nike or Adidas.
So, we get into our third and final round
of the Paul Pogba challenge.
And, so far, I'm two from two.
The half volley, tick.
Side volley, tick.
Our final one to recreate is Pogba versus Fenerbahce.
Plays the ball in, gets it back,
straight on the edge of the box
and whips it into the top left.
Five attempts, can I do it?
Clean sweep.
Let's find out!
(upbeat techno trumpet music)
Needs to be that top corner.
It's almost getting there.
Flush on the crossbar.
Okay, we need to get this one.
Gotta be trying our best.
And there it is, the Paul Pogba challenge.
All three rounds, complete.
So guys, there it is.
We put the Adidas 18+ Predators through their paces
and in the video I had two questions,
which I can now, officially, answer.
What score out of ten would I give the Preds?
I'm gonna give these an eight out of ten.
So, the 17+ Pure Controls only got a six
so a massive upgrade from the Pure Controls.
But, the other question was are these Predators
or just an upgrade to the Pure Controls.
Well, in my opinion, I think these are just an upgrade.
If I was blindfolded, put these boots on,
I would definitely say that they're Pure Controls
over Preds but, overall, a really outstanding boot
from Adidas and I can't wait to see what happens
with the Predator in the future.
But guys, thanks for watching.
Hope you enjoyed it.
Cheers!