The manual adjustment of player positioning and ability to create a custom formation option that has been in the game for decades should never have been removed. For an unknown reason, EA developers decided to redesign and implement the new tactics sheets, player instructions, and player roles, an option the gaming community never asked for, and for the most part, do not appreciate. The new system compartmentalizes players on the pitch by creating forcefields around their designated regions, which removes user AI controlled player abilities from reacting to game situations properly, and the 'locked in' player roles prevents user players from executing attacking and defending scenarios, based on CPU interactions on the pitch. In every match since the release of the game, I will pass the ball to a teammate that is slightly wide, perhaps one or two yards, and the player will stop running and watch the ball cross the out to touch sideline, because the ball is technically just outside of the player's 'hardcoded' region.
The removal of the manual player positioning and individual player instructions in the squad sheet was a conscience decision made by the EA organization, and will not be changed at any point this year, for the reason that a complete game overhaul would be required to undo the present state of the game to achieve. At best, if enough people in this community make clear that this is unacceptable, then perhaps, it may be added to EA FC 26 as a new feature.
