Player Review

After a few years of Serie A squads I wanted to build something really new this year and use players I had never used before, with that Bundesliga felt like a great option with a lot of likeable players but most of all very decent players for good value for money.

I usually start in a 4-2-3-1 (2) formation with two CDM's to guard the midfield. With the Laimer RB SBC I suddenly had a gap on one of the two CDM positions since I'd always used Laimer next to Zakaria.

Next to the faster, way more agile Zakaria I was looking for a CDM with good defending and a strong physique. Eventuelly I found the Salif Sane Freeze card and he ticked all the boxes. The only concern for this card was his speed, his acceleration in particular.

After about 30 games with him in my startup I can honestly say that this is a great card! To compensate the lack of acceleration I've put a Shadow chem on him (obviously) which boosts his acceleration a fair amount, but his sprinting is boosted even more.

With his staggering 1.96 cm it's no surprise that this player feels like a mountain to move around. He is so incredible tall and you notice this on the pitch, so don't expect somekind of Kimmich, Laimer or Zakaria. This is a giant and move like one.

So the height and lack of agility is most noticable when making quick turns. When you pass the ball into his feet with a defender and Sane needs to turn around to open towards the midfield or attackers, you really need to be careful of oppontens playing high pressure. Blocking the ball is no problem of course, but don't try to make quick turns when the opponent is pushing. But when you manage to open up space, he is so incredibly strong on the ball. You can easily make a rush foreward, especially since his sprint speed is 91 with Shadow. It takes a moment for him to accelerate, but when he is up to speed opponents easily mistake how fast he is. This was a massive surprise for me as I expected him to be WAY slower. Also reactions are very good (he respons very quick when you need to make that quick pass or when he needs to step in quickly).

Another huge winner is his defending, it's amazing how massive his range is to win back the ball. It's so funny to see oppontent thinks they can dribbel past him with the likes of Ben Yedder, Gaya Freeze, Iñaki Williams but also more meta players like Werner, Rashford etc. The range of this guy if massive and when you think the oppontent has slipped past you, simple jam that O button and he wins the ball back. Also spamming the L2 button and when your timing is good enough just leap foreward and press O, oppontens almost never expect this and Sane slams his huge body into your opponent. With his strength and defending stats he easily beats faster players but also strong meta midfielders like Kante, Sissoko, De Jong, Pogba etc. etc.

So sprint speed, defending and strength are absolute winners. Is there a downside to this card? Yes there a few things that let him down once in a while. One of them is passing, this isn't spectacular. I'm not great in my attacking build-up, I'm more of a counter player so I rely on perfect passes to send my attackers 1-on-1 with the keeper. This isn't something Sane is able to do very often. When needed I swap Zakaria with Alaba In-Game and the difference is very noticable between Alaba's passing and Sane's passing. It's not bad, certainly not on short distances but that powerfull longrange trough ball isn't something for him.

The other downside is jumping / headers. Everytime he needs to step in for a header on the midfield he loses it. Not only does he not win the header, but he often stumbles and falls. With his acceleration it has happened a few times I was completely left open to counter attacks. With his height I can understand that jumping is difficult, but headers a simply a no go.

Do keep in mind that at this stage we've just finished the first Icon Swap season, so I came across more and more Icon players over the last few matches. I can image that when more people are picking up even 3 - 4 Icons and have a few quick attackers, this card might get out-dated because of his clunkyness and slow acceleration.

All in all I find this a great card at this stage of the game, even more so when you image I've picked this up for 18K! It's only an 83 rated player, that's very true. But if you're looking for a strong CDM, long range, high sprint speed with Bundesliga links. This is definitely an option to consider.

Tactics for Salif Sane:

• 4-2-3-1 (2) formation
• Speedy CDM next to him (Zakaria in my case)
• Stay behind when attacking or drop between defenders (great option when you need that extra defender against counter players)
• Cut passing lines
• Normal interceptions
• Cover center