It was a time of year so fondly associated with Diogo Jota, seeing the Portuguese forward passing the new installment of the game to his teammates and their reactions to their stats always put a smile on the face.
The mantle has now been passed onto Hugo Ekitike, Rio Ngumoha and Jeremie Frimpong as they distributed the game and stats for the squad.
It's always a contentious time for the players, and many will feel harshly done by after EA were ruthless in their ratings after the disappointment of last year.
Let's dive into the squad's ratings and their reactions:
Ekitike: 85 - 86 PAC, 83 SHO, 72 PAS, 84 DRI, 33 DEF, 73 PHY | Ngumoha: 75 - 91 PAC, 71 SHO, 68 PAS, 7 DRI, 9 37 DEF, 49 PHY | Frimpong : 81 - 94 PAC, 62 SHO, 74 PAS, 82 DRI, 72 DEF, 62 PHY
Our hosts debated extensively over Frimpong having a better dribbling stat than Ngumoha which is completely understandable. The young winger is electric and makes defenders dizzy with his twists and turns.
Ekitike, unsurprisingly, was "very happy" with is card. It makes sense, he was one of the few to get an upgrade on his card from FC 26.
Ngumoha was too, as his impact from the bench in a lot of Liverpool games last season didn't go unnoticed and he also received a decent increase in rating.
Dominik Szoboszlai: 86 - 82 PAC, 83 SHO, 86 PAS, 84 DRI, 74 DEF, 77 PHY
Szoboszlai showed up first to the table, and as another one of the select few to receive an upgrade, he also thought his overall was "nice".
The hosting trio agreed his shooting could have been higher, with Ngumoha suggesting 90 at least.
Milos Kerkez: 81 - 84 PAC, 59 SHO, 75 PAS, 78 DRI, 76 DEF, 79 PHY
The second half of Liverpool's Hungarian duo showed up next, and he was not happy with his ratings.
The fullback believed his "physicality and defence should be higher...put shooting down but put these two up!"
Kerkez was not happy with his pace stat either, mentioning Barcola's 92 and his shock at Rio's 90 - "what the f***!"
Alexander Isak : 86 - 81 PAC, 87 SHO, 72 PAS, 82 DRI, 39 DEF, 72 PHY
Both Isak and Liverpool's number 73 agreed his pace needs to be higher, but the Swede was very understanding saying that he had "already accepted" the low rating.
Liverpool's number 9 disappeared from the scene very quickly, highlighting his disappointment at the harsh ratings he was dealt, after a season mired by issues that were largely out of his control.
Conor Bradley: 79 - 79 PAC, 62 SHO, 71 PAS, 75 DRI, 76 DEF, 73 PHY | James McConnell: 68 - 64 PAC, 57 SHO, 68 PAS, 67 DRI, 61 DEF, 64 PHY
The duo showed up next to receive their copies, and while McConnell left very quickly and didn't seem keen to discuss his stats, the Northern Irishman was.
Ekitike believed the defender deserved better pace, defending, phyisicality and passing stats.
A running theme in the squad seems to be their surprise at Ngumoha's 90 pace stat. Bradley was just as surprised as Kerkez was, but not quite as explicit.
Lewis Koumas: 69 - 80 PAC, 67 SHO, 62 PAS, 71 DRI, 33 DEF, 65 PHY | Luke Chambers: 66 - 66 PAC, 45 SHO, 62 PAS, 63 DRI, 62 DEF, 63 PHY
Koumas, like most players, was disappointed with his pace stats, saying:
" "I just think the pace has gotta be higher.""
He admitted "the rest I need to work on", while Nguomha backed him to have at least 85 pace.
Frimpong questioned Chambers on what his rating will be next season, with the young defender believing he will be in "at least the 70s" and Ekitike thinking he could even have a gold card (75+ rating).
Cody Gakpo: 82 - 77 PAC, 83 SHO, 80 PAS, 81 DRI, 47 DEF, 74 PHY
On his approach, Gakpo's reaction was already sour. The Dutch winger was not happy with his rating.
Speaking on his pace stat he said:
"This should be higher. What is this bro? This is a joke!"
While 77 is a bit low, there have been times Liverpool's number 18 has slowed things down to the detriment of an attack.
Frimpong suggested throwing the card away to raise his countryman's spirits. Gakpo's start to the season has proved EA wrong, and hopefully his injury won't be too large of a setback.
Trey Nyoni : 67 - 67 PAC, 57 SHO, 66 PAS, 70 DRI, 60 DEF, 58 PHY
The young midfielder has made a great start to the season, and saw upgrades across all his stats compared to his card in FC 26.
The number 42 added:
"It's good. You know what, last year I was bronze... Keep working. Next season I want to be gold."
Bradley Barcola: 85 - 92 PAC, 76 SHO, 78 PAS, 84 DRI, 39 DEF, 67 PHY
The new French winger was a man of few words, just admitting his card was "good".
He received an upgrade from last season's card so the number 29 has little to dispute.
Frimpong said he thinks the card will be "very expensive". Based on his current value (80k coins), he would be correct.
Harvey Davies: 61 - 60 DIV, 63 HAN, 57 KIC, 60 REF, 29 SPD, 59 POS
Liverpool's first (and only) bronze card of the squad, who cheekily asked Ngumoha if he "knows anyone" at EA who can give him a higher rating.
The winger said he would put in a word, but wasn't the most convincing.
Ryan Gravenberch: 85 - 79 PAC, 76 SHO, 81 PAS, 83 DRI, 80 DEF, 80 PHY
Frimpong wasn't convinced these should be the stats of an 85 rating card. And he isn't really wrong.
The Dutch fullback thought Gravenberch deserved at least 86 passing, 84 dribbling with higher defending and physical stats.
He even went so far to call it "nonsense".
Virgil van Dijk: 88 - 70 PAC, 60 SHO, 72 PAS, 70 DRI, 89 DEF, 85 PHY
The skipper is the Reds' highest rated player and joint fifth highest ranked Premier League player.
He should be higher, but last season did affect a lot of people's perception on the Liverpool squad.
van Dijk agreed, saying:
"Look, the numbers have dropped. I need to have a word with EA. It was 90 last year!"
Florian Wirtz: 86 - 77 PAC, 79 SHO, 86 PAS, 88 DRI, 54 DEF, 61 PHY
The German midfielder was hit with a few downgrades, some warranted, some not.
Frimpong was looking on the bright side, and noted that "the dribbling is very good, the passing could be higher, but the pace needs to go down! [laughs]"
The number 7 found the funny side at least.
Giorgi Mamardashvili: 83 - 82 DIV, 81 HAN, 75 KIC, 83 REF, 47 SPD, 82 POS
The goalkeeper wasn't even interested in his stats and just wanted Diego Maradonna's icon for his Ultimate Team. Good to see he's got his priorities in the right place.
He was reminiscing over his 84 card last year and 85 he had with Valencia the year before that. After his performance against Tottenham he's on the right track to get back to those heights.
Final thoughts
The hosts were astute in their conclusions that they didn't "think the players were happy with their ratings".
Frimpong added that some "expected to be higher", which was the root of the disappointment.
It's understandable, but the Reds are certainly on the right path to improving those ratings come FC 28 after an undefeated start to the Premier League.
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