Believe me, this is one of the worst versions of the game ever—it has nothing to do with realism.
There’s no variety in playstyles, just ground passes with the "X" button and constant physical battles.
Crossing is bad, headers are bad, through passes are bad, long through balls are bad, bicycle kicks are bad.
Even when you're deep in midfield and your winger is making a run, you try to send a through pass to him, but the ball goes to the striker instead.
It's just a continuous mess, forcing players into random, ground-based, and short-passing gameplay in a frustrating way.
That’s basically what’s happening.