EA Sports caused no shortage of controversy with their player ratings for FIFA 21.
Timo Werner was bafflingly given a downgrade despite competing for the European Golden Shoe, while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was bewildered that his rating came crashing down too.
Romelu Lukaku even went as far as claiming that the video game company deliberately provoke players for publicity upon inexplicably not receiving an upgrade after his 34-goal season.
Henderson vs Pogba
However, no alteration from EA Sports seemed to get under the skin of football fans quite like Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson being given an overall rating of 86.
That might seem pretty fair on paper bearing in mind he's led the Reds to the Premier League, Champions League, FIFA Club World and UEFA Super Cup since mid-2019.
But the situation gets a little more tricky when you consider Henderson's rating places him above Bayern Munich's Thiago Alcantara and on a par with Manchester United's Paul Pogba.
Both players rated 86
To say the Old Trafford faithful, as well as Premier League fans in general, have been upset with the latter decision would be an understatement - but let's not get ahead of ourselves quite yet.
Regular FIFA gamers will know that overall ratings are only half of the story and you can differentiate between players rated the same by looking at their in-game attributes.
The performances and ratings of players are informed by at least 29 attributes focusing on the physical, mental and skills-based side of the game, so how do Pogba and Henderson shape up?
Well, we used EA's very own 'comparison' tool on their FIFA 21 top 100 page to find out and we discovered that there was indeed a winner out of Henderson and Pogba. Check it out below:
In Game: Physical
Acceleration: Jordan Henderson and Paul Pogba (66)
Agility: Paul Pogba (73)
Balance: Jordan Henderson (68)
Jumping: Paul Pogba (82)
Reactions: Jordan Henderson (86)
Sprint speed: Paul Pogba (79)
Stamina: Jordan Henderson (91)
Strength: Paul Pogba (89)
In Game: Skill
Ball control: Paul Pogba (90)
Crossing: Jordan Henderson (82)
Curve: Paul Pogba (85)
Dribbling: Paul Pogba (87)
Finishing: Paul Pogba (75)
Free kick: Paul Pogba (82)
Heading: Paul Pogba (75)
Long passing: Paul Pogba (91)
Long shots: Paul Pogba (82)
Defensive awareness: Jordan Henderson (81)
Penalties: Paul Pogba (83)
Short passing: Jordan Henderson and Paul Pogba (86)
Shot power: Paul Pogba (90)
Sliding tackle: Jordan Henderson (77)
Standing tackle: Jordan Henderson (83)
Volleys: Paul Pogba (84)
In Game: Mental
Aggression: Jordan Henderson (84)
Interceptions: Jordan Henderson (85)
Positioning: Paul Pogba (81)
Vision: Paul Pogba (88)
Composure: Paul Pogba (87)
Final score: Paul Pogba 19-10 Jordan Henderson
Pogba has the edge
Rejoice, United fans, you have somewhat been vindicated because Pogba has a clear advantage over Henderson when you see what EA think about the individual aspects of their games.
It should perhaps come as no surprise that Henderson has the edge in many of the defensive categories, but Pogba's superior skill-set seems to have made the difference overall.
Sure, you could argue that it makes EA's decision to whack them both with an 86 rating even more inexplicable, but clearly they secretly think that Pogba is the better rounded player.
That being said, United fans, don't expect Kopites to stop reminding you about it all season long...