Learning about FIFA 16 attributes: Reaction

 
 

Attributes are responsible for determining a player’s quality, and knowing them well can give you the opportunity to choose your team more efficiently. In this new series presented by Silvio Teixeira – also the author of tête-à-tête – you’ll have the opportunity to go deeper on each one of the game’s attributes according to the new FIFA 16 rules. Welcome to “Learning about FIFA 16 attributes”.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

FIFA 16 Attributes: Reaction

 

Once again an attribute of great importance for both outfield players and goalkeepers. It’s important to mention that it has nothing to do with the player’s speed. A player can be really fast but at the same time have low reaction capacity. It’s the time in between the moment he sees where the ball is at and the moment he gets in position to receive it, so in case this timing isn’t good enough it might eventually be too late for the goalkeeper to make a save, for example. Many people think this attribute only has an importance over the players that are being controlled by the computer because the reactions of the players you’re controlling would depend only on your button-pressing reaction capacity, right? Wrong! In several different situations the player you’re controlling might or might not control or even reach the ball. When he receives a pass it’s not necessary to have high reaction, he’ll be expecting to receive the ball, but when there’s a chance to score off a rebound, for example, or an unexpected turn of events some players just get hit by the ball, but the ones with high reaction have better chances to control it even in difficult situations. Suppose the opponent’s goalkeeper has just saved a powerful shot, you get a rebound, press shoot but your player doesn’t shoot, he just bluntly hits the ball, that happens because that player didn’t have enough reaction to get both his body and foot in position properly to shoot. Reaction also influence dribbling, although it doesn’t quite make a player a better or worse dribbler, it allows your player to have the right reaction when the opponent goes for a sliding tackle, try and win the ball from you, and eventually it even gives your player the ability to jump over a tackle attempt. Perhaps you’ve seen that happen but didn’t give an importance to what might had caused the player to jump and get past his marker that well. Do you want more? There’s more! Have you noticed that during crosses some players manage to run towards the area and get in position more quickly than others to strike? And some never even get the opportunity to jump? Reaction is one of the most important attributes in the game, yet people don’t usually look at it.

 
 

Importance by position

Great Importance | CM, GK, CDM, CAM, ST, CF, RF, LF, CB

Medium Importance | LB, RB, LM, LW, RM, RW

Low Importance |

 

For the first time the attribute isn’t of low importance for any particular position since it helps on several points. I set medium importance only for the full backs and wingers, since they have mainly the characteristic of carrying the ball over to the attack and crossing, and that doesn’t demand much reaction. Certainly high importance for the remaining positions, given that it works for dribbling, intercepting and even making a save. Unlike other attributes, there’s 85+ of this one for all positions. This isn’t called the attribute of legends for nothing, the biggest names of Ultimate Team hold the highest values of reactions.

 
 

Players with High Reaction

Gold | Messi (92), Cristiano Ronaldo (92), Robben (91)

Silver | Corominas (86), Soriano (85), Eraso (84)

Bronze | João Vieira (75), Ardian Gashi (75), Doug Loft (74)

 

The richest league in the world, the BBVA, thrashes the other leagues when it comes to reactions, pretty much because a good part of the best players (and most expensive) are there. On total there are 19 players with 85+ of reactions, against 16 in the BPL and just 12 in the Bundesliga. The Serie A, usually the cheapest league among the main ones, has only got two players.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Making good use of Reaction

 

– The fact that a player reacts fast doesn’t mean he’ll make the right move afterwards, with high reactions he’ll most likely control the ball from a rebound but if he doesn’t have good shooting attributes or good heading attributes the final result might be disappointing. Reactions only guarantee the touch, the quality that comes afterwards depends on the remaining attributes.

 
 

Squads with high Reaction

It’s possible to build teams with high reactions, and if you don’t care about chemistry we can even choose the best players that aren’t that expensive to be honest (20K or less). In that case the team would end up like this:

 

 
 
 
 

Curiosities

– Note: do not mix up Reactions with Reflexes when looking at goalkeepers. Neuer, the best goalkeeper in the world, has the highest Reactions, however he stays at 14th place when it comes to Reflexes.

– On the other hand, the goalkeeper with the best Reflexes (which is among the basic attributes) is Mattia Perin with 90. Who even knows about him? So now you can see Reactions are more important than Reflexes for goalkeepers.

– Aside from the 19 players with 85+ in the BBVA, the Liga Adelante (Spain’s second division) has two players in this group, they’re both silver: Almeria’s Soriano and Mallorca’s Corominas.