POTM Koulibaly Review

The first Weekend League of the year is in the books and what a gauntlet of emotions it was.  This weekend saw the highs and lows of both gameplay and the community across the new 20 match format.  I am not sure where I rank the new test against the quality of last year yet, but if you follow me on Twitter: @MaeNine_ you will know that it was a down to the wire in the last match to finish 16-4 and Rank I to kickstart the season.  One of the key contributors to this success was the newly released Serie A POTM Kalidou Koulibaly… the Hunchback of Naples was a man mountain in the back this weekend, destroying opponents and generally controlling the match.  If you don’t get the reference it is based on the in-game look of the Senegalese stopper who has a very distinct hunch to his body type in-game that I swear is not there IRL.  While the big man was ringing the bell from the top of the Diego Armando Maradona Cathedral all weekend, he was also ringing the bells of would be goal scorers with crunching tackles at a sneaky fast pace.  With the SHADOW chemistry style applied, Koulibaly took his position at the back of a new look formation this weekend in the 4-2-3-1.  Koulibaly was the keeper of the tower all weekend long in the following squad: 

Starting Formation:

Overall

Rating: 8.5/10
Pace Rating: 8.5/10
Dribbling Rating: 6/10
Shooting Rating: N/A
Passing Rating: 8/10
Physical Rating: 10/10
Defending Rating: 9/10

Once you get past the in-game look (which is truly off putting, or at least it was for a guy like me who prefers the unique body type players for realism) it is all business with this card.  I love VVD in this FIFA and rate him a 9/10 so far and Mr. Koulibaly was right there to challenge VVD for that title all weekend.  I was quite worried with two bigger options in the back and generally like to have a Joe Gomez or Militao type option beside the big men… but -5 off of the depth to 45 was all it took to get these two in positions to do their thing.  I only recall a handful of through-ball breakaways during the weekend and for this FIFA that is all you can ask for.

Main Statistic – Physical

Physical Rating: 10/10

In the videos for a defender review you can really only do so much in trying to point out just how good, or bad, they performed.  In this case, I tried to show clips that included the size & 96 STRENGTH of Koulibaly … while at the same time showing off the 86 ACCELERATION & 99 SPRINT SPEED that allowed the strength to be applied.  However, one thing that does not require a video is a simple confirmation that this card just does not get beat for strength.  50/50 balls felt more like 100/0 and there was only ever going to be one winner.

Main Attribute - Size

Defending Rating: 9/10
Height: 187cm | 6’

Obviously, this played a huge part in the above mentioned physical battles, but this section is more about what you would expect from a card this size, versus what you get.  Koulibaly is not great on the ball… in fact, he is a tortoise and if you are not ready to offload passes in a hurry he can easily be caught out by pressing forwards.  Due to this, you would expect this card to struggle with defending speedy agile wingers.  Yet it was almost the opposite as the smaller the opponent, the more Koulibaly would bully them into submission.  The 53 AGILITY & 35 BALANCE feel more like high 80’s when jockeying and allows the ridiculously high defending statistics to be applied.  The 99 STANDING TACKLE & 99 SLIDING TACKLE feel as perfect as advertised while the 97 INTERCEPTIONS & 97 AWARENESS might as well be 99 as well.  The card simply doesn’t miss and I honestly can’t remember a moment where the Napoli brick wall put a foot wrong.

Value/Coins & Good vs. Bad 

Value/Coins Rating: 5/5
Good vs Bad Rating: 5/5

Going to discuss these two categories simultaneously as they do complement each other perfectly with this card.  I have heard a lot of moaning about the passing with Koulibaly… and maybe I am not playing a lot of the same passes… but I never felt like Koulibaly was a liability on the ball.  I will repeat myself that you have to be careful not to be too fancy dribbling out of trouble because it simply doesn’t work… but overall it was clean and tidy all weekend from the back.  Obviously, there were a few giveaways and mishit balls, but not enough to really notice a difference from Van Dijk.  If I was nitpicking I would say that Koulibaly could hit the cross field driven crosses with more venom, but would never be enough for me to condemn him to the bench. 157k, if you pay full price for all of the fodder, and you are still looking at an absolute steal of a card and was undoubtedly a central figure to my success this weekend.

Closing Words

Many many moons ago I used to use a category called “Linkability” and would talk about how easy or difficult it was to fit in a player.  99% of the time I was giving 9/10 or 10/10 with ICONS and it became a bit of a waste.  However, if we brought it back for this review I would be looking at a 2/10 for Koulibaly in the end.  I am not sure what most people's verdict on IF Osimhen is?  But for me, the card was a stinker and in my most important matches IF Sarr was entering the pitch before Osimhen even managed a sweat.  I found him clunky, borderline slow, and definitely shocking in the passing department… unless you are running a full Serie A squad, this one is going to be a challenging link.  With that you can see the ultimate dilemma you will face in completing this card… and I am certainly facing it moving forward.  I feel that Koulibaly is simply too good for the bench in my squad… yet I have zero clue how I can link him without spending ridiculous coins or bringing in options I am not happy with.  Maybe then the value for coins should be a 4/5 to account for the inconvenience?  Regardless, if you are thinking of this card and have the means to get him in the squad it is a green light from me… what a warrior. Hoping you are all safe and well.  Cheers for reading.

Game Stats:
 

Game Highlights: