My first gripe. Is it just me, or are EA Sports of the notion that goalkeepers do not play a huge role within the game of football? I appreciate that essentially, each goalkeeper and their abilities are based on their rating within the game. For instance, a lower rated keeper, for example a league 2 stopper, is more likely to spill a shot than a Premier League one. No, my problem does not lay with this, as it is a well thought out idea that has brought an extra dimension to the game. My problem revolves around one thing. One on one situations. In particular, once you have rounded the keeper. Now, I may be wrong, but I am pretty sure in my thinking that goalkeepers are not evolved from crabs. Yet, each time a goalkeeper is rounded, they do not try and narrow the angle or get back towards their goal as per reality. Instead, for whatever reason, they decide to hermit crab on a parallel line to where the attacking player with the ball is. On the assumption that the game designers at EA Sports have actually watched a game of football, it really is beyond belief that this same mistake is repeated on a yearly basis. On a lesser note, something else that has been noticed is how, although each goalkeeper is different, they are all so very similar when receiving or kicking the ball. For me, if EA Sports wants to focus on realism, this is something that they need to look at. For instance, some keepers are a lot more comfortable on the ball than others. Some goalkeepers, for example David De Gea, are comfortable in possession, and can pick out a pass towards the defence or midfield. This is an area that needs to be explored by the designers, as other keepers, are not so comfortable, and may find themselves kicking the ball out of play, or God forbid, to an opposing player.
