Short Passing

The Passing skill has benefited from many improvements in the new Simulator. Passes go where they are intended and players can control the ball!

In the old Simulator, when a pass was not perfectly executed, the receiving player would be unable to control the ball, regardless of their ball control skill. The receiving player would freeze and then be forced to chase the ball after it had passed them. The Passing skill was not as important as intended.

If a pass is not perfect in the new Simulator, the receiving player still has a chance to react and move accordingly, allowing him a chance to control the ball, better players have a higher chance to control the ball.

Your opponents will now attempt to intercept the ball before it reaches the intended recipient. In the old Simulator this was almost impossible.

Players are now more willing to try to maintain possession through a variety of passes as they look to fashion a better scoring opportunity. The team that chases the ball will tire more quickly.

Players with poor passing skills will see their passes miss the intended target, going wide or short. Players with high passing skills will have a higher passing accuracy. High passing skill teams will be able to play a more varied passing game.

Improvements made to defenders mean that more inaccurate passes will be intercepted, as well as some of the accurate passes. Once again, this will depend on the players’ skills.

Passing is no longer the 'easy win tactic'. It is one of 3 tactical choices you can choose from, based on the strengths of your squad and that of the opponent.

(Old Simulator)

• First sequence: here we have two examples of the passing bug. The receiving players stand idle, allowing the ball to pass by.
• Second sequence: the ball is played up field and then passed towards a striker; the ball passes through him and the marking defender. Neither is able to collect the ball. A player not involved with the move was able to collect the ball and score, with the defending team unfairly unable to react.
• Third sequence: an example of the passing bug where a backheel pass reaches a striker whilst the defender is again unable to react.

(New Simulator)

• Fourth sequence: the red and black team is stronger than the blue team, resulting in a better short passing game for the black team.
• Fifth sequence: it is not Barcelona’s perfect passing game that we saw in early Beta versions of the new Simulator, but if your players are good at passing it will show on the pitch.
• Sixth sequence: the blue team’s lack of passing skills shows clearly.

The passing skill is a very important attribute in the new Simulator.