Career Mode Gameplay Issue: Defensive AI Is Too Weak

In Career Mode, the defensive balance is currently broken and heavily affects gameplay realism.

Defensive lines are too weak and poorly positioned, even when playing on Ultimate difficulty with CPU pace and pressing sliders set higher than the user’s. Midfielders consistently fail to track back during defensive transitions, leaving large gaps between midfield and defense.

As a result, it is extremely common to find yourself 1v1 or even 2v0 against the goalkeeper, with no defenders attempting to recover or protect the box. These situations occur far too frequently and feel unrealistic, especially at the highest difficulty level.

This issue is not related to player ratings, tactics, or team quality — it happens across different teams and setups. The lack of defensive awareness and recovery runs breaks immersion and removes any sense of tactical challenge.

Career Mode should reward positioning, buildup, and smart play. Right now, the AI defensive behavior makes matches feel unbalanced and arcade-like, even when all difficulty and CPU advantages are maximized.

A review of:

Defensive line positioning

Midfielder defensive tracking

Recovery runs and transition logic

is strongly needed to restore realism and challenge in Career Mode.

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