Player Review

When Reece James walked out of my Party Bag, i was questioning whether or not he would actually be a card that would work, his stats looked ok, but being honest I was rather disappointed that his RB card hadn't come walking. However after playing 30 games of Rivals with him, my opinion has wildly changed, and he is one of those surprise cards, that may well be worth looking at for your team

Pace- On Paper Reece James looks like a card that's good, but lacking the maximum pace with his Stocky body type and (with a Hunter) 88 acceleration and 91 sprint speed, he felt surprisingly quick, I cant say that I haven't used faster cards, with his partner at the RCM being TOTY Bruno, you felt the difference between the two, however, next to a gold Kante he was very similar, and did outpace the dreaded gold Varane multiple times

Shooting- a little questionable, but he did pop up for a goal every now and then, probably due to his H/M work rates, which I would argue are counter intuitive to how this card is, and would be a lot better as a H/H, but it is what it is. I will say that due to his 3* weak foot, shooting on his left, even in good opportunities, missed a lot more then it hit, that would probably be my biggest complaint, especially in the 4312, with both wide CM's getting forward.

Passing- very nice, he almost always hits his pass perfectly, which is great, however when he came deep to build out from the back, there where two specific times where I remember him giving a poor pass and giving away the ball for a cheap goal. His through balls, where surprisingly nice, seeing as he only has 83 vision and 83 long passing, generally 8/10 through balls in good positions where hit well, however there where times where he overhit it, letting it roll into the keepers hand, for an easy gain of possession.

Dribbling- For a card that lacks the high tier dribbling stats, his dribbling was surprising. I wouldn't say it was great, by any stretch of the imagination, but with only 82 agility and a meagre 75 balance, his dribbling surprised me, obviously this is the other major let down of the card, even if it was surprising, it still was only good at best, and he really struggled to dribble his way out of any tight situation, which does force a one dimensional way of playing with him, only further contributing to this was the lack of skill moves, with only having 3*

Defending- Tight, his body type and height really helped him in this category, with the 6'0 height and aforementioned stocky body type, his defending really benefited. he felt big when jockeying, and covered ground nicely, supporting Kante well when being forced back to defend, and then had the ability to retain the ball and transition well. He also saved my ass with a couple autoblocks, showing that Varane and Gomez may not be the only cards with that defensive Juju

Physical- This card is strong, he out bodies most nimble attackers with ease, and isn't afraid to go in and do the dirty work, however this extreme strength, at 91, is great, it comes with the downside of Penalties. he conceded 5 penalties for me, which really hurt his case, some where definitely FIFA related, however conceding 5 pens in 30 games is not a good thing. His next Major weakness is his 84 Stamina, although he was able to last a full 90 well, if I did play Champs with him, I feel he may have to get subbed out.

overall this is a card I really enjoy, and truly surprised me since I packed him, would I say get him over his RB, no, probably not, but if you're looking for a strong secondary CDM or defensive B2B then I would definitely recommend this card, he's good in the air, can control the ball well and knows what he is doing on the ball in transition from defence to attack