FIFA 19 Review: 6 Ups & 4 Downs

3. Through Balls Feel More Fluid Than Ever

In FIFA 18, playing a through ball meant tangling with floaty passing that was barely comfortable and rarely as effective as you'd like. On the odd occasion a defence-splitting pass did occur, it was usually along the ground rather than over the top.

Not anymore.

19 fixes that problem by lowering the trajectory of lofted through balls and making them much less pin point. Now, rather than your player seeking out a teammate's position, they'll play the ball into space. It's difficult to explain with words just how much of a difference this makes. Through balls will have you cursing with happiness instead of frustration.

There's a fluidity to them that FIFA has never had, and the same goes for passing generally. Suddenly, EA have cottoned on to the idea that the world's best footballers always look to press home advantages all over the pitch, even when they're as minuscule as passing in front of their peers.

The new system makes destroying tightly-knit defensive back lines more about control than luck. It was about bloody time.