Should West Ham’s Anderson and Arnautovic really have same FIFA 19 ratings?

It’s FIFA 19 ratings time! And as usual there are questions about the numbers next to players names’ and what position they play. But for now, we’ll focus on just two West Ham players.

Big things were expected of both Anderson and Arnautovic by West Ham fans this season, Arnautovic the reigning HOTY and last seasons top scorer and Anderson our new record signing. So it seems EA and the FIFA 19 team couldn’t separate them in the game. Both of the players get an 82 rating from the game, making them the highest rated Hammers.

Whilst 82 is a good rating and puts them in decent company across the Premier League, there are arguments that those ratings should be different from each others, and some on social media are complaining that Arnautovic has been put too low. So how do the cards stack up when compared on the game? And does that match up to real life?

Is this the real life?

Well as this is a preliminary dive into the ratings courtesy of FutWiz, we can’t compare all the minor details as they are not available. The headline numbers are and we can make some comparison there.

On pace there was only ever going to be one winner. Arnautovic is no slouch but Anderson is electric, and his pace rating of 92 reflects that. At 13 points lower on 79, there’s not much hope Arnautovic could beat the Brazilian in a footrace. But when it comes to holding a defender away from the ball, the Austrian will come out on top. With an advantage of 7 inches and and 13kg in weight, a physicality advantage to Arnautovic of 21 is understandable.

Whilst not that important to his rating, I do think Arnautovic’s defending numbers are a bit low. He’s got a solid header on him and he is strong in the challenge, but it is the Brazilian who gets higher marks in defence. I don’t think there’s much between them, if anything, in this department.

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For dribbling there is an advantage to Anderson, after he proved himself to be a great controller of the ball at pace last season, finishing in the top 5 European based dribblers. Arnautovic isn’t bad either, but is still 7 points behind on 81. However Arnautovic comes out on top in their head to head on shooting, which you would hope for as a striker. The Austrian has scored all of West Ham’s Premier League goals so far, something the Brazilian will want to correct soon enough.

The final comparison is Passing, which Anderson finishes ahead on, 78 to 77. I wouldn’t say there was anything between the two, and I know that Arnautovic has tried to simplify his passing game since becoming a striker rather than a wide player. But that does mean Anderson beats Arnautovic on 4 of the 6 ratings. Something I don’t think is particularly fair.

Or is this just fantasy?

All in all this is just a game. Ratings people can get things wrong, and I think Arnautovic is better than Anderson. Anderson has a lot of potential and can still reach beyond the Austrian’s current level, but I don’t think he’s better than our HOTY now. Considering Lanzini is on 81 just behind them, I think that’s a solid rating marker. Both of those players have potential, but are not quite there yet.

However this doesn’t make the game completely flawed, because EA are just trying to fit 1000’s of players into a 1-100 system, so they don’t have time to do the thousands of cross checks it would take to make sure everyone is in an order which can be agreed on. Especially as no-one in this game ever agrees. What is does mean is Anderson could be a very nice FUT card, and one for good use on career mode.