Well football's in a fair old shambles again isn't it...

Isn't it?

Maybe in the real world, because as far as this year's PES is concerned, everything's perfection, thanks very much. Well, apart from missing a host of licences, but hey, if you can't be bothered to spend a few minutes downloading team names and players, you obviously lack the patience that a PES title requires. So go on, off you pop.

Last year's entry was pretty spiffy so to find 2017 has further polished matters wins my coveted award for reviewer slack-jawed amazement. Most of the improvements are tweaks like quicker reaction time to losing the ball or more accurate representation of individual player skills but the biggest change - thank the blazes - is to the goalkeepers. The 2016 stoppers each seemed to have taken a sack of very hard drugs, so ridiculous were their actions. Happily a year later and they've kicked the habit, performing their duties without throwing the ball into their own nets or charging up the pitch like rabid colobus monkeys.

Sadly Peter Drury and Jim Beglin have returned for commentary duties, trying to persuade us all that repetition of the mundane is an art form, but for the first time the in-game mutterings of PES are superior to that of Fifa where EA appear to have made serious cutbacks in the game's chatter variety.

Graphically, the player animations have been ramped up to 11, with replays highlighting some gloriously detailed action. There's fierce improvement to players' first touch which lead to some satisfying moments in leaving the opposition sprawling in your wake.

These days PES is very much Fifa's little brother, picked on for its hand-me-down clothes. Based on the rivals' latest entries, that's an absolute travesty. Fifa stalwarts should ignore the lack of official team names, this is easily amended with a few instructions and downloads from your laptop.

Take a risk, you won't regret it (not a phrase to be adopted by potential England managers).