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Player Review

Ben Foster

    4.0
    Testing the power of Traits
    ByXBoxKSTA19-11-2021
    4 users liked this review

    GKs this year are really hit or miss, but certain characteristics tend to make certain goalkeepers better than others. Height...Saving Acrobatic Shots...Long Throw.


    Ive used Casteels for most of this year and have loved him, but after backing the cycling GK in a preview pack, i look at his card and saw his traits:

    6'4, GK Long Throw, Comes for Crosses, Saves With Feet, and even Rushes Out Of Goal.

    I pondered, what other GKs has the big 3 traits, and the only other one i could see was IF Bounou (who is terrible imo please don't use him for that Kounde link), so i took the Lance Armstrong of Hertfordshire for a spin off the bench and tested my theory, are traits more important than stats.


    Context: Off the Bench in Div 2 Rank 1, which currently imo is on par with last seasons elite division skill level. GK's on sweeper instruction.


    TL:DR; Good keeper overall and shows how powerful traits are, wouldn't use him over Pope/Alisson/Mendy ect. But Managerial masterpiece this man will save shots a lot of low rated GKs wont

    7.5/10

    • Height: Ive always said in FIFA 6'4 and above minimum for a GK, especially this year with the effectiveness of long range finesses (even after all these patches). Foster stopped every finesse with ease, sure not all of them were clean catches, put palming a IF Neymar Finesse in the 90th min was a great test for the England legend.


    • Comes for Crosses: So important this year. On Corners this trait makes the difference for those mid-sized keepers ability to rush out and claim the corner kick. Foster did that with decent success as he didn't conceded a corner, but most saves were punched rather than caught.


    • Saves With Feet: Foster is many things, a premier league legend, a father, and a entertaining YouTuber/Podcaster. But what the senior goalkeeper should add to his resume is most flexible man on earth. The ridiculous saves this man made with his flippers were ridiculous. Didn't save everything that was low to the ground, but some saves were reminiscent of Casillas vs Robben. Definitely his strongest asset when sweeping through balls and making those clutch saves cross-goal.


    • GK Long Throw: Made up for his poor kicking ability, can easily throw the ball with conviction to the half way line for a easy counter attack. Made this cards usage in the 2nd half very crucial against better opponents where you need that one goal.
    • Handling: keep this one short, foster made some fantastic saves for a 78 rated GK, but not a lot of them were caught with confidence. A lot of spilled saves and rebounds happened in the 7 games off the bench. An inform could really make this better and i really wish he does receive some sort of special card to fix this issue.
    • Kicking: With his long throw trait this negative wasn't the end of the world, but yeah...Fosters kicks were usually inaccurate, lofted too high for any sort of open attacker to receive the ball in a given week, and a few went straight out of bounds. Im aware this is partial user error but his kicks were just meh.
    • Low Rating Attempts: This is going to seem like a mundane Con, but as a low rated GK theres just saves they attempt thats purely down to their poor stats, diving too late, missing near post saves when he's in perfect position, missing easy saves, anyone who's played with a low rated GK outside of the first few days knows this through and through
    Formation4231PositionGKGames7GPG0.00APG0.00
    4.0
    Overall
    4.0
    Value
    3.0
    GC
    5.0
    Stamina
    Pace (3/10)
    Shooting (3/10)
    Passing (7/10)
    Dribbling (3/10)
    Defending (7/10)
    Physicality (8/10)