IT is to EA’s credit that they find new trinkets to tip into one of their most lucrative of titles every 12 months.

Every year I treat a new Fifa with incredulity that it should warrant a whole new disc and not just an online update for the new season’s teams and fixtures. That should still be an option, for my mind, but I’ll wager that suggestion is treated by a swift glove across the face by the suits at EA HQ.

The most prominent new addition are the skill drills that pepper load waits. The goal is stuffed with targets to hit and the pitch is littered with obstacles to navigate, and if you’re not careful you’ll ignore the fact your game loaded hours ago, firmly ensconced in trying to bend the jolly thing around faceless metal defenders and into the net.

The programmer who fixed the passing from last year deserves to have his pay trebled and his family dipped in gold. Grabbing the television with both hands, bellowing “I DID NOT WANT TO PASS TO HIM! THIS GUY HERE! THAT ONE! HERE! BAAAAAGGGHHH!” with accompanied mouth-froth should no longer resonate through the living room and neighbouring counties.

That little monkey aside, not a whole lot has changed as far as gameplay is concerned, which should come as a relief to most as it really wasn’t otherwise broken. There are tweaks but nothing that’ll have you sobbing into your pot plants in frustration.