Be warned that even top players can struggle to trap these cleanly unless you quickly reorient them in advance. Passes played in this fashion are pinged into feet with far greater speed than the standard delivery, which makes it possible to vary the pace of your build-up play more than ever before. The latter move warrants a lot of practice, as it’s a potentially momentous addition. If you find that one side of the pitch is becoming congested, switch the play with a lofted crossfield pass (hold square button/X button until bar reaches required level – three-quarters usually suffices) or the new drilled pass (R1+X button/RB+A button) to quickly exploit the space that has opened up on the opposite touchline. Pay close attention to the way that formations move in accordance with where the ball is. The new drilled pass warrants a lot of practice, as it’s a potentially momentous addition Another benefit is that the risk of a poor first touch is rarely an issue when a player is running onto a rolling ball, unlike passes made to feet. You can also use it to draw players behind the ball into play without completely losing momentum. The through-ball isn’t just a method of playing slide-rule passes for strikers or wingers to chase – it adds texture to a passing move.

Though it takes a bit of practice, use of short through-balls (triangle button/Y button) to roll the ball into space ahead of a nearby team-mate, rather than just knocking it into their feet, can enable you to open up new angles for subsequent passes.

To drag capable opponents out of position and create space, you’ll need to employ more varied styles of distribution. Now that AI-controlled players work harder to maintain their shape, exclusive use of basic short passes (X button/A button) will lead to one-dimensional build-up play.

Fifa 16 pc buy