Squad Battles Problems
Good afternoon, everyone! Merry Christmas!
Today, I would like to bring up certain issues that I am experiencing, but which I am sure many other players are facing as well.
I should mention that I personally am a casual player who prefers to play mostly Squad Battles, and only occasionally plays online, either for certain tournaments or Rivals, in order to complete specific objectives. I should also mention that, during the first two months after the launch of the new EA FC 26, I was very satisfied with how the game was made, but after those two months, everything changed.
Don’t get me wrong, I still like EA FC 26 and I will continue to play it. However, over the months, I have encountered an extremely large number of things that, in my opinion, should be adjusted (I mention that these issues occur in Squad Battles on World Class–Legendary difficulty).
These issues are the following:
1. Fouls: The opposing AI commits fouls constantly, especially on Legendary difficulty. I will attach a video (video 1) that shows two consecutive fouls.
2. Ball shielding: The opposing AI protects the ball at all times, making it impossible to tackle from behind and push the ball away. However, when I try to do the same thing and manually press the ball-shielding button, the opposing AI somehow manages to take the ball from me with a tackle from behind (video 2).
3. Teammate AI movement: The AI on my team simply does not look for free spaces for potential passes. The AI is extremely static. Video 3 shows how my left back simply refuses to move closer to assist me for a possible pass; on the contrary, he drops back. The truth is that my left back is indeed set as Fullback++ with a defensive tactic, but even so, he should still offer some support.
4. Intercept+ playstyle: What is the point of the Intercept+ playstyle if, after a simple misplaced pass by the opponent straight into my player’s foot, he simply cannot keep the ball close? On the contrary, the ball just bounces off my player’s foot with Intercept+ and goes five meters forward, or even back to the opponent.
5. 1v1 situations: The opposing AI somehow manages to beat me in a one-on-one situation on the counterattack through a strange move, lifting the ball into the air over my player while I am trying to dispossess him.
6. Crowded penalty area: When I reach the area near the opponent’s box, there is no longer any free space to create scoring opportunities. All I see is a forest of legs. The opposing AI constantly doubles up on one of my players, making it impossible to pass the ball to any of my teammates.
Conclusion: The AI on my team is extremely lazy and static, while the opposing AI constantly defends with two players on one and has nine players inside the box.
7. Shot blocking: When I reach the opponent’s penalty area and want to use a finesse shot or any other type of shot, the opposing AI somehow blocks every possible attempt. The AI stretches a leg every single time if the box is even slightly crowded, or if that specific area is congested. But that’s not all—the AI manages to block most shots even with its entire body, even when there are visible gaps through which I could shoot.
8. Corners: Corners are extremely weak. As far as I remember, in the previous edition changes were made so that they were no longer so powerful, but now they are far too weak. So why should I even use a defender or striker who is 1.90 m+ tall, with 90+ jumping and 90+ heading accuracy, if it is 90% guaranteed that the ball will either go over the crossbar, into the ground, wide of the goal, or straight at the goalkeeper? I attached a video with a perfect corner, yet I was not rewarded with a goal (video 4).
9.AI patience in shooting: The opposing AI has far too much patience when taking a shot. It appears that AI is waiting for me to make a movement with the goalkeeper. To better explain, I will describe a situation encountered in many matches: the AI opponent breaks on the counterattack and ends up one-on-one with my goalkeeper. It then slowly uses R1 dribbling and waits for any movement. If I move the goalkeeper to the near post, it instantly shoots to the far post, and vice versa. If I try to rush the attacker with my goalkeeper, the AI instantly uses a chip shot over the keeper.
10. Repetitive passing patterns: The opposing AI passes close to the touchline, either on the right or the left side, creating a triangle through which it keeps passing continuously in the same pattern—back, then forward, then into the center, and back again. This is extremely annoying and very difficult to intercept. I noticed that while doing this, the AI had no intention of creating an attacking move or switching sides; it simply kept passing endlessly within that triangle.
11. Through balls: Through balls are far too powerful, and it is probably not the fault of the playstyle, but rather a sign that the AI is weak. This happened yesterday when I played against real players in the Winter Tournament. The player went on a counterattack and played a pass using a player with the Incisive Pass PlayStyle+. Knowing he would attempt the pass, I positioned my defender (1.96 m tall) in front of the opposing striker. Somehow, that pass was not intercepted; on the contrary, the ball passed effortlessly right by me, along with the player I was trying to intercept. I attempted a tackle right next to him, yet my defender executed the tackle on nothing—he stuck his leg out at nothing. He was tackling the air, even though I was less than 10 cm away from the opponent.
That is pretty much everything I wanted to say. I am here not to defame or criticize anyone. All I want is for us to be heard, and maybe this message will reach the people at EA Sports, who might take my feedback into account and improve this game that we have all fallen in love with.
