Kill Rock Stars

i've found that you can only get away with having slow goalies and central midfielders - in any other position slow players are a complete liability

for wingers it renders the dribbling stat somewhat pointless as an average winger with good pace will constantly speed past a good yet slower full back without the full back even getting close enough to make a tackle

quick centre backs are also extremely important - with defensive ai currently rather poor, leading to strikers getting a lot of clear cut chances, the most important defensive attribute is pace as it allows a defender to cover back and atone for his inevitable mistakes

GillsMan

Basically, what Kill Rock Stars said. I signed Martin Laursen for my Championship Gillingham side. It was 3rd season in so I think he would have been about 33 years old. His attributes were good, high strength, high heading, high jumping, etc, but his pace was really low (sub 7 or 8 I think). I didn't pay too much attention to this, because I thought he'd be a great signing, but he's been terrible (not as terrible as Danny Murphy, mind). As others have said, he kept getting caught out and skinned by opposing strikers. I've remedied that with a new DC with pace and things have improved already.

In summary, I agree that pace is vital in some areas of the pitch, especially in defence.

polegategavin

I have to say, I have found the same to be true, particularly in the Premeirship in England.

Once I got promoted my players seemed to always be a good 2 or 3 yards behind the pace, and particularly the opposition wingers would run rings around my defenders.

cafe_latte

I have Christian Zaccardo and he's ace ar right back despite not being as pacey as other right backs in the game.

Macyst

Forward, winger and attacking players need to be fast; otherwise, they'd fail to make major impacts. Even with high dribble, they can't pass any faster defenders since they can only knock the ball through but can't rush to get it.
I'd only keep players to age of 33 since after that they'll decline quickly in their speed and stamina.

chopper99

The trouble is that, while this is true in the game, it's not that realistic. There are plenty of real life players who lack pace but play very well, particularly in the lower leagues.

In the game these players are generally useless.

Gypsum

I've got a regen wonderkid Centre-back with 11 for acceleration and 12 for pace. Fortunately his other stats are more than good enough to stop anyone getting past him.