I'm not a big FIFA fan, but like alot of people I like to give it a chance, well certainly a try out. FIFA 2005 was the first FIFA since the days of FIFA 95 that I actually played on for any great length, it was different and it held my attention till PES4 came out. FIFA 06 IS an improvement over it, but not a big one.
The 'first touch' has been toned down, now you need a really good player to bring the ball out of the air, and even then it can be a hit and miss thing.
The midfield do seem to get forward more, without you having to 'make' them run, and now the calling for a player to make a run seems harder to do, well at least the right one!
Long balls, I think they are much better in this version, you can now 'ping' a ball across the field, or knock it over the top without it just running into the keepers box.
The pitch now seems bigger all over, longer and wider, making for a far more expansive game of footie.
COM defending, it is much harder to run clear of defenders, no matter who you are, so it's very like WE/PES of old this way, you do have to pass the ball much more.
Kits and player likenesses, probably the worst area, they have the licences, yet they cant achieve what alot of the WE/PES patching community can, on the Arsenal kit, the O2 is too small, the Premiership badges look blurred and the whole kit looks totally flat, collar and all. For West Ham, down the left it looks like the Paul Konchesky twin show as Etherington is a spit for his left back. Marlon Harewood looks like Bobby Zamora still and vice versa.
Manager mode, this does indeed look superb, and this year you dont have to start with a Div 1 or 2 club either, most clubs will let you start there. The whole signing a new Sponsorship deal is good too.
Game modes, more than you can shake a stick at, cups, leagues, more cups, challenges, cups and more leagues, you'd never ever finish every single scenario in this game.
Shooting, most comments in the thread has been about this, it's true that this year they seemed to have hit a snag here, although shooting now seems more accurate, the exceution of it seems badly implemented, it's kinda like PES4 on Live last year sometimes, you need to shoot early due a slight lag between you pressing the button and the shot happenning, but a few more games and you soon get the hang of it.
Slow down, something I certainly wasnt expecting and it seems very random at times, now this it the XB copy I'm playing, but often there is slowdown in some areas of the game, and it's just at certain times, it's actually hard to know when it happens, it can happen in the middle of the pitch when you try a long pass, but it doesnt seem determined by alot of players on screen at any one time, nor is it waiting on the commentary either, hard to explain why it happens, but still shocked it's in the final code.
Commentary, probably the best of any football game ever, and thank goodness they got rid of Motty, it's Clive Tylesday and Andy Gray who they used in the UEFA Champs League game and they do a marvellous job.
Overall it's not as bad as people say on here and it is FIFA getting near the WE/PES series playabilty wise. Stadiums and sound is fantastic, just a pity the kits and overall playabilty aint there, but there could be a time when they do it right, maybe by accident, but who knows.
MrJFlores, in terms of recent FIFA's and hell even not so recent FIFA's this game is stand out, it really has come on along way, I by no ways am saying it's as good as PES/WE, but what I am saying it's not as bad as everyone on here is saying, in a world where there is no PES/WE and for along time there wasn't an official stateside version of that game, this is a decent game. 
and as for the net animations I thought they pretty awesome when I hit the goal from 25 yards out with Damian Johnson. 
