Player Review

I want to preface by saying that I'm in no way a top 100 pro player, I'm a simple guy who likes to skill and have fun. Realistically in the hands of a pro, I think this is the meta CDM for a passive player who can afford a few missed interceptions.

(4231 ingame) After going through the painful grind to attain the 15 icon swaps needed for Keane, I was excited to try out a potentially end game cdm in my team. Slapped on a shadow, Cm -> CDM position change, and straight into division 4. 5 Games later and my opinion is extremely mixed...

Pace: To start let's talk about his pace. It was good. Was he as rapid as a Kante or Allan? No. Was he as fast as his shadow stats suggested? No. He felt 72. Bang on. Jockeying with Keane felt great, he felt agile enough and quick enough to manually cut and redistribute the best of passes. 7/10

Shooting: Short and sweet. Didn't get into any finishing positions to even test his 70 finishing. Long shots felt weak and, while they were on target (even going as top corner as top corner can be), aren't good enough to beat any keeper. 5/10.

Passing: The greatest part of this card from my experience. Pirlo-esque. Passes were extremely accurate and powerful. Will not be disappointed in that. Corners were taken with Keane and they were fairly average. 10/10

Dribbling: If agility and balance were not considered a dribbling stay, then yhis would be a solid 8/10. Great ball control and felt extremely composed in high-pressure scenarios. However, his stiff nature felt as if it hindered his ability to defend and, more importantly for a Keane card, muscle of short and agile players. Overall decent but lacking. 7/10.

Defending: I was super disappointed in this. With a shadow bringing 3/5 of his defensive stats to ~99, you would think this would be lights out incredible. Nope. The main fault with this card is his positioning. Keane either sat up at cam, lb or slotted in as a 3rd CB. Never once did I feel confident in his positioning. When Keane was in position, he never tackled in a manner that suggested he has 99 stand tackling. Missed tackles, not out-strengthing the likes of Wijnaldum and Ozil. This felt wrong and frankly, I feel as if it was so poor I must've been playing poorly. Overall A 7/10 cause he still did make some wonder tackles, the problem was his consistency. The heading was also meh...if he was talked he was winning it.

Physical: I'll make this one quick. His aggression was incredible, always tackled with 100% effort even if that meant he missed horribly. No player I've faced can get this man off the ball if he is shielding it. Stamina was great, can play all game. 8.5/10.

Overall, I fell as if he has the potential to be an amazing CDM, but his inconsistent defending and positioning ruins what could be the best CDM in the game. Whilst I cannot comment on Ballack's icon swap card, this still beats Pirlo in my opinion as a CDM or as a playmaking cm. If there is an option to revisit the review I shall. If I cannot edit it I will write a second review after 50 games of online rivals and champs if my opinion changes.