This is in fact the MOST IMPORTANT PART of getting past a defender. If you ever had experiences where you would receive the ball and immediately get it tackled by the defender, it is because your reception was bad. Of course if the pass is bad the receiver can only do little to change the situation. Nevertheless, your reception abilities can make the difference between an assist and a pass interception.

1. DO NOT RUN AS YOU RECEIVE.
Most of the times you are running, or pressing E, when you receive a pass. This is a bad habit because pressing E while you receive the ball makes your touch longer, thus giving the defender more space to tackle as the reception happens. While it is understandable that players have to run around to get away from the defenders and get a pass, taking that finger off from E will make a huge difference because you can get to the next move more quickly + give less chance for the defenders to tackle upon reception.

2. USE DIRECTION KEYS AS YOU RECEIVE.
This is where you can make gold. When you receive the ball, often times the defender is not straight up on you unless your positioning is terrible. The defender is usually to the left or the right, front or back.

The rule of thumb is to FACE AWAY from the defender as you receive. All you have to do is press the direction key (or a combination of direction keys) so that you FACE AWAY from the defender. If a defender tries tackling on these occasions, it is likely that they will fail because as you FACE AWAY the ball is received further away from the defender’s tackle range.
This means you may have to face backwards if necessary. Lots of players do not like the idea of turning their back from the goalpost on offense for whatever reason. However, the most important part of running offense is not losing the ball. If you know the defender is waiting to tackle from the front and is very able to strip the ball from the sides as well, face backwards.

If you can use direction keys well, the most immediate benefit you get to enjoy (esp. as a FW) is that you have control over your shot taking. Players with bad reception often do that weird turn-around shooting when they receive the ball facing backwards in the box. Use the direction keys to your benefit! If you have a preferred foot, facing that way and immediately shooting is powerful and hard to stop. If the defender is guarding out one side, face the other way. The direction keys are where the mind game against the defender starts.

3. KNOW WHERE YOU ARE.
This seems like common sense, but often times on offense you see players running up the field for passes when the defender is blatantly in the pass route. You need to know where you are IN RELATION TO THE DEFENDER. If the defender is right in front of you, good luck on getting a pass because you won’t get one unless the defender is terrible. This is especially true when you are playing half-court offense. On fast breaks lob passes can get over the defender, but on set offense the passes are mostly S and W passes, which means if the defender is in front of you they can cut passes.

The solution to this can be divided into two types.
Your first option is to come down to receive the ball. By moving closer to the ball the defender will have to either move accordingly to stay on you, or just let you have the ball and play dribble defense. If they stay up on you, then there is space behind the defender for your teammates to use, which a good passer will be able to take advantage of.
Second is to move horizontally. The ability to get away from tackle range and maintain the shooting/passing distance from the goal post is better on this option. And if you have two players on the same line, moving away from the other player gives space to work offense. Moving sideways also allows through passes to come through unlike just coming down to receive the ball, so make your calls based on the expected pass.

These two options should be used together, and the most important part of all this is knowing what the defender can or can’t do in the position IN RELATION TO YOU. This piece takes a lot of experience and practice, but simply being aware of this idea will step your game up.