Iceflow
I respect your opinion. I don't want to resort to a childish bickering match, but I have both FIFA 2004 and WE7 for PS2. I am not just going by magazine reviews. I play both games, and have to say that the tackling in FIFA is not very subtle. Whenever I press tackle in FIFA I always get the ball.
Also, when a defender challenges me from behind, I can tell that a FIFA "set animation" kicks in, and my player just freezes, and the player wins the ball. It's like my player has been hit with a tranquiliser dart! In WE7, you can actually shield the ball by switching to R2. A player coming from behind you will have no chance to win the ball fairly, and might foul you instead. This subtlety does not exist yet in FIFA, because of the animations, which are still too coarse-grained.
As for animations, I played WE7 after giving it a break for a while, and I have to say that in no other game I have played, is the overall player and ball mechanics so realistic.
I am not another fanboy. I do think that FIFA has improved ALOT, to the point that it is enjoyable to play, but deep down i still have an empty feeling once the razzamatazz wears thins. The presentation in FIFA is amazing, and the players look great FROM A DISTANCE... it's only on the replays and close ups where I feel the players look strange. You can tell where different parts of the body have been joined together, whereas the players in WE7 look like solid single entities. I realise that many like the "photo-realistic" nature of FIFA, but I feel this should not detract from the more consistent graphics of WE7.