This patch is terrible and not fun
The December patch was SOOOO close to being the right pace of play. I felt like I deserved more losses than RNG or the servers luck decided for me. Even going 7-8 in Champions felt deserved. I was having fun most of the time. Games were often close and in the 4-6 total goal range.
This new patch is AWFUL. Stats feel even more meaningless. You can SEE the momentum changes. Players literally start walking around the pitch, and no matter what you do your team will never catch the other team. I played a Rivals match last night and the guy had 100% pass completion at half time. They did four first time 100% power spinning passes from the midfield, striker, midfield, backline/midline, back to the striker in the span my game recognized a single player switch, and my defense was just jogging to mark the striker. One trap and he scores without even the slightest chance of stopping it. Another opponent off the kick off, passed to the CAM, flicked passed to the RB and immediately first time whipped crossed to Mbappe who was already at my penalty box before the camera even caught up. It did just in time to watch them chest trap by my defender, shoot and score with barely a minute on the game clock. Neither of these situations were stoppable. That's not skill and its not very authentic. Its super arcade-y and not fun. There's no beating a beater opponent like that because the opponent now is whatever AI sliders you have turned to the max.
Except for the defensive AI sliders you just ruined. My defense just watches people sprint by them without even moving to mark/contain now. I'm used to my CDMs just standing at the 35 not marking back, but now the CBs just let players go by. Today, I've watched my RB just retreat in fear of Mbappe instead of marking him. My whole club value isn't even enough to buy Mbappe if they were tradable. Its ridiculous.
Formations are so broken as well its not even funny. There's maybe 3-4 formations that actually work well. The rest of them just cause players to stand in open space and do nothing to contribute. No amount of attack/defend, ++ roles, second man press, or team press will fix it. The players are rooted to a weird, random spot on the field and will prioritize being in that spot above anything else while the opponent scores . Or worse when the opponent just passes around their back 20 yds. You can drag players and second man press all you want, but 1 striker formations will never press that high to win the ball back.
Set pieces are even more polarizing now. Free kicks in your half will have all your players sitting at the penalty box. As soon as its kicked, they automatically try to move up like an offside trap and get locked in a running animation that the offense can just waltz right by.
Players can spin, pass and shoot on first touches with hardly any accuracy loss. Games all feel like the WW Mystery ball event. I haven't seen a 'loose ball' in MONTHS. Everything ALWAYS falls to a predetermined player or goes out of play. Deflections are cranked. Goalie deflections coming all the way back out with curve to the touchline beyond the penalty box??? Unbelievable. When I second man press and contain, my players either move towards a spot the player isn't or just stop 3 yards away and jockey. More often than not when my opponents do that they just full sprint, with turbo glitch-y leg animations, right thru my player and suddenly have the ball. I concede so many stupid goals to turbo charged forwards who apparently have better defense and intercepts than actual defenders. Its not fun. Its not beautiful football/joga bonito. Its cheese.
Apparently I'm probably in the minority, but give me back the park the bus, good defensive AI, and poor shooting accuracy meta. I'd rather grind out a 0-1 loss any day, than get roasted 1-10 with no chance of being competitive, while also being penalized if I quit. Games are back to ending with 10+ goals without even trying to sweat. There is no defense. Its whoever misses an open shot first loses. No need to manually defend when you can just score right?!
