Defending is HORRENDOUS

It's unbelievable how bad they've made it.

I'm all for this being an attacking game, the auto defending the last few years has been so over the top. But they've over-tuned how bad it is this year.

I like how you have to be more manual with defenders, cover passing lanes, reading plays and understanding what the opponent is doing and then countering it is great. But the fact that it's completely manual is insane to me. Defenders turn like absolute trucks in this game at the best of times, but that along with the fact that they will basically stand there and look at the ball unless you control them is making this game horrible.

There's next to zero cover from defenders in and around the box, they don't even slightly try to cover passing lanes so that at least when you switch to them you might have a chance at cutting/intercepting the pass/shot. Not only that but its forcing the absolute worst playstyle out of opponents . Half my games now are like my opponents players receiving the ball, then just spinning in circles until they've tricked the AI and basically just walk around any player that might be trying to cover them, the same around the box, L1 R1 turns constantly while my backline just watches in awe. It's not football.

I do like this arcade style feeling of this game play, it's nice now that you feel like you can send players on runs and over the top through balling and other things along those lines is viable. That being said, if you want this to be a skill based game, don't force a playstyle that allows braindead players to act like ballerinas scoring terrible goals after the fact. If my attacking players can anticipate where the ball is going to be, or go on runs themselves to make space for a pass, then so too should my defenders be able to anticipate where the ball will be to one degree or another.