It’s mid-September and that means that the football season is well underway and the new football video games for this year are out soon.

EA FC 24 is just around the corner, and over the past few weeks we’ve been inundated with footballers complaining about their stats on the new game.

This time, we’ve heard from the likes of Declan Rice and James Maddison speak about their stats on the England YouTube channel, and despite being a Tottenham player, Maddison has jumped to Rice’s defence on this occasion.

Indeed, Rice has been given a rating of 65 in terms of shooting on the new EA FC game, and Maddison is far from happy with that, stating that he sees his shooting in training for England every day and that he’s actually fantastic.

Photo by Adam Nurkiewicz – The FA/The FA via Getty ImagesRice’s shooting is good

Maddison spoke highly of the Arsenal star’s shooting.

“I don’t think you have higher shooting, just because you don’t shoot that much, his little far-post whips are a joke, but you don’t shoot that much,” Maddison said.

Maddison would again touch on Rice’s shooting ability later in the video.

“I just think Declan’s shooting is that high. Again for what they’re giving you. I see you shoot in training everyday and it should be way higher than that.”

“That is a disgrace, it can’t be based on how many goals you score, you’re a six, but the shots that you do.”

Photo by Visionhaus/Getty ImagesHeard it before

Interestingly, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard a teammate of Rice’s speak in this way.

Last year, Tomas Soucek stated that Rice was a fantastic finisher when speaking on the Premier League’s YouTube channel, so perhaps this is something to look out for.

You don’t think of goals when you see Rice play, but maybe if he was given a bit more freedom to get forward, he’d start banging them in.