Player Review
92 -
I was really excited, that EA made a (on paper) usable Koeman card. He was one of my favourites when I was young. Unfortunately I was disappointed at the end.
I used around 30 games as a CB in a 4321 - alongside prime Desailly and around 15 games in a 3 man MF Goretzka, Bellingham, Pogba -he replaced either Bellingham or Pogba. Always on shadow. My skill level is Div2 and ~15 wins in Futchamps.
He feels fast on a shadow. He's more agile than the stats suggest. He tracks fast back if you drive him forward. Stays settled otherwise. So the H/M is no issue. Standards are fantastic and so are his long shots - but that's no surprise. His passing is superb, while I couldn't see a huge difference to other defenders that had 10 stats less in that area. His interceptions are great, the tackling decent.
The big problem of this card is his size as a defender. I guess it's the average body type and his height. He feels small. Even though he's strong he's outmuscled often. He has barely no area to auto black shots and rarely shovels away attackers. His heading is not existent.
The problem maintained also for me as a defensive minded CDM, while it wasn't that extreme anymore.
My verdict on this card: He's not a top DEFENDER mainly due to his body size, prime Desailly, Umtiti and Upamecano outshined him remarkably. He's an okay CDM, I guess he could be a very good b2b-midfielder but I have no need for that in my team. He's fun, but a defensive reliability. Unfortunately.
- amazing standards, long shots and passing
- fast off the ball, tracks back nicely
- way more agile and responsive than stats suggest
- his body size/style/frame
- bad automatic defending mechanisms
- heading
- missing rigoros tackling