It often seems like the actual speed of the players in game doesn't match their pace stats. For example, in a recent match against Villarreal, I played a lobbed through ball to my youth academy striker with 99 sprint speed and 92 acceleration. He was probably 3-5 yards ahead of the CB that was marking him, who was Victor Ruiz (sprint speed in the mid 60s, acceleration is high 50s), but the CB closed the gap and muscled in front to reach the ball first. This happened around 20', so it wasn't due to low stamina of my striker. The striker was similarly beaten twice more that match.

This brings me to the question - how much does pace really matter? Is the AI adjusting run speeds as part of its "momentum", or to keep a pacey striker and a world class regista from dominating the match with lobbed through balls behind the defense?