MIDDLESBROUGH stars Ben Gibson and Britt Assombalonga spoke exclusively to EA SPORTS, official partner of the EFL  

The Northern Echo:

Here is what they had to say:

EA SPORTS: Who is the best FIFA 18 player at the club?

Ben Gibson: I’d say Patrick Bamford, he’s pretty decent, very solid.

Britt Assombalonga: Yeah I’d say Pat.

EA SPORTS: Do you remember the first FIFA game that you appeared on as a player?

BG: I was 17/18 because I’d been on the bench for the 1st team [Boro] so, 6 years ago yeah.

BA: I think mine might have been FIFA 10/11, when I was at Watford.

EA SPORTS: What were your thoughts on your FIFA 18 ratings?

BG: I’m really not happy with my pace to be honest, I’ve been done a bit unfairly there. But they’ve been generous with my physicality so I’ll take that.

BA: I think I’m lower than last year, I think I was 74 and now I’m 72 … but no I can’t complain … I’m happy with my pace [82].

EA SPORTS: How much do you play FIFA?

BG: I used to play UT a lot when I was a scholarship player here, I think it was about £130 a week and I’d spend £50 on gold packs for my UT.

BA: I play FIFA ‘Pro Clubs’ with my friends all the time.

EA SPORTS: Did you always pick yourself on the game even when you weren’t that highly rated as youngsters?

BG: Even when you’re garbage.

BA: Yeah, you’d rank up your player to the best they can be.

EA SPORTS: Who was your footballing idol growing up and why?

BG: Mine was Gareth Southgate, obviously England manager now and he was Middlesbrough Captain at the time and I loved Boro. He was everything that was good about the town, he was Captain and he used to epitomise everything about the club. He led us to the UEFA cup final, lifted the Carling cup the club’s first trophy in 128 years so he’s probably the most successful Captain we’ve ever had.

EA SPORTS: How far do you think Boro can go this season?

BG: We think we can go all the way, obviously the table doesn’t lie and we haven’t played as well as we should have up to this point, all be it the games have been won and lost by small margins we know we could have done a bit better. Whether that’s keeping the ball out of the net more often or taking a few more chances, but we aren’t a long way off where we need to be and things can change very quickly in this league. We believe we can get promoted and that’s what we will aim to do, nothing different.

BA: Right now is an important part of the season, the second half of the season. If we can put a run together everything changes. You can see how it changes after we win 3 games on the bounce, so if we keep calm and get to grips with everything we’ll be alright.

EA SPORTS: Have you set yourself any personal goals for the season?

BG: I know the big man [Britt] will, with goals and I’ll set him 25 minimum now alright. We as a defence obviously do the same for clean sheets, we want to average one in every two games. About 23 clean sheets really and that should give you a good chance of being promoted, it was roughly what we achieved last time we got out of the league and we will be looking to match it .. if not better it.

BA: I actually have no goal targets. Just as many as I can.

EA SPORTS: Britt, of the goals you’ve scored this season, which has been your favourite and why?

BA: Probably has to be my first one, against Burton, or the second one, the tap in, because everyone else was stood still and I was the only one moving.

EA SPORTS: And have you ever done a celebration from FIFA in real life?

BA: To be fair the one I do now is from FIFA. I kiss my tattoos and give a little fist pump. I took that from ‘Pro Clubs’, my character does it, so I said to the boys .. you know what I’m going to start doing that celebration and I’ve done it for my last 6 goals.

EA SPORTS: Ben, it must be very flattering to be linked with Premier League clubs around the transfer windows, how big of a driver is the aim to play in the Premier League?

BG: Yeah it’s massive, I mean I think it’s the best league in the world to play your football. The amount of money that’s being spent to bring in the best players, that’s why, everybody wants to be there … You’re playing week in week out against the best players, the best teams and that’s the promised land. We sampled it last year and we didn’t really do ourselves justice, it was a wasted opportunity that we worked so hard to get and we wasted it. Obviously, our season fell apart for different reasons and now we’ve got a different squad and a different manger and coaching staff, a different team, and we want to make sure we get back there because its where we all dream of playing.

EA SPORTS: It must be good to see teams like Brighton and Huddersfield holding their own this season?

BG: Yeah they’re doing really well so fair play to them, but it’s a long season and I think at this point last year you would have said the same about us. We were up there and our season turned very quickly so that’s an experience, all be it not a nice one, that we will use for when we do go back there … I say for when we do rather than if because I’m convinced we will get there and now we just need to make sure that it’s this season.

EA SPORTS: And Ben, how much did you learn from being involved in the England set up, and what was it like to reconnect with your England under 21s coach and boyhood idol Gareth Southgate at the senior level?

BG: Yeah it was great, he’s just a good person, a good manager, just a right good guy. Everyone that works under him wants to work for him and they are qualities that will take you far. If you’re a good manager and you have people who want to break their neck and run that extra mile for you it helps, and he’s that person. He’s always there to talk to, to give advice, he’s always positive … so yeah he’s a good person and it was great to link back up with him.