Puzzled by goalkeepers.

Im a veteran of FM, and I know, the basis of any good team is a good goalie. I've always had my faves and found the goalkeeper i'd use to base my success around. Enyeama, Ochoa, Lewis, Stekelenburg.

But the problem is, on FM2012 I haven't had a 'good' keeper. Ive looked at the usual, Handling, Reflexes, Communication, Jumping, Positioning. Amongst other searches, but whoever i buy... Kameni, Zieler, ter Stegen, Krul. And I never get consistent performances where by the end of the season they average 7+

So frustrating even though I usually build solid defences and concede few.

Recommendations?

I'd say have a look and ask in the Good Keeper's Thread - as I'm sure you would be told, if not by me, by someone else; as this thread will probably be closed down at somepoint.

But that aside, the only real experiences I have had this year are of 3 Keepers - Tim Krul, ter Stegen and Jack Butland; and arguably Joe Hart with England. I'd recommend all three of these guys, and have relied and trusted them to have the ability to win games for me. I do understand the importance of a good GK, but I think that the ratings do not tell the whole story. Granted if your guy ends a match with a 9.0 you know he's had a blinder; but if he were to concede a single goal it would have much more of a detrimental affect on his final rating.

I'd recommend focusing on maintaining a strong defence and keeping clean sheets, if you do this over time you know that your Keeper will be playing well and you should see the rating represent this. I don't focus to much on my GKs rating tbh, idealy he'd finish with a 6.9 and have nothing to do all game; but alas that is rarely the case. But if you do get a good keeper that you can rely on to perform when called upon, you won't go far wrong.

This is the Goalkeepers thread which Tom mentioned. You could also possibly use the Rate/Improve My Team Thread if you outlay your problem(s) and then people will be able to help.

Otherwise, ask in the club thread for the team your playing as . All threads can be found here.

A good GK rating is anything above 6.9 in my opinion.

All of my keepers consistently get 6.9-7.2 ratings and this is because my style usually means I don't have to make many saves, thus the keeper doesn't do much, thus his rating is very low on average compared to what it could potentially be.

Only if a keeper has an avg rating of 6.5 or something do I question whether he is good.

Take this for example. At the moment I am managing Real Madrid. Iker Casillas, one of the best goalkeepers in the world without a shadow of a doubt, has the following stats:

Played - 12

Conceded - 1

Clean Sheets - 11

MoM awards - 1

Avg Rating - 6.97

So how can a keeper, clearly as talented as Casillas with such immense stats for 12 games played, only be rated as 6.97? It's because he stands around and doesn't do much. He's still a great keeper.

I don't think you should grow concerned if your keeper is only earning 6.9's.

Yeah, 6.9's means that your defense is working. In fact if your goalie averages very high ratings, it means that your defense is really poor.

Cech usually ends the year with one of the lowest ratings of any of my starters (at between 6.9 and 7.1), yet FM easily recognizes him as easily one of the best keepers in the world. (I believe in FM10 Cech was rated the best at his role according to Genie, followed by Adler). It's not because he isn't good, it's because he only faces a couple shots per game and many of the goals that do go in are near unsaveable...so the ratio of goals conceded per shot faced isn't as good as some of the lower-level clubs whose keepers have to stand on their head half the game.

Adler is rock!! ...always wins One-on-Ones for me.

yep .. just think of that old adage ' the keepers had nothing to do all game' .... hence the keeper having average ratings... he's not going to get a 9 for saving a couple of easy saves while you're rock solid defence deals with everything else

This is for GD.