Squad battles difficulty increase

I have literally just noticed this today (thought i was going mad) after not playing for a few days as i had completed my 12 games and focused on other game modes. 2 games against legendary teams i would easily beat at least 5 or 6 to nil and i struggled with a 3-2 win and a 4-3 win. The AI was reading every move, running at me full pelt for the whole game and dribbling at insane speed. Then firing missile shots from all angles. A couple of strange things to notice were constant back heel passes by the AI (even on professional) and my players moving out of position (more than normal!).

I then beat a 90 team 6-0 on world class and then get beat 3-2 on professional playing an 88 rated team. It was unreal, i literally felt helpless. Constant pressure and harder than legendary - WTF!

And then i am losing 2-0 and get back to 2-2 and i get a disconnection. Every week i am generally Elite 2 or Elite 1. However this week i will be fighting for gold!!!

Something has definitely changed - for me anyway.