I’ve played enough FC 26 to know something is seriously broken with defending and passing in the last three weeks. I think the AI defensive logic and ball-control mechanics are completely out of sync.
Watch my clip around the 15-second mark: (https://youtu.be/S0twecJupzU?si=_6622rOdCtlVvSzv) my attacker receives the ball, and the defender reacts so fast it’s impossible for a human with a controller to match. The defender snaps in, pounces, and wins possession almost instantly — far faster than any player could realistically respond.
On top of that, the basics to control any game in football are broken:
- Passing is too slow, and the game places passes incorrectly way too often, handing the ball straight to opponents — this might be worsened by lag.
- Players receiving a pass don’t fully control the ball, exposing it halfway to the defender.
- R1 agile dribble and close control often fails, especially under pressure. Attackers push the ball too far ahead when preparing to shoot, giving the keeper an extra chance.
Combine these control issues with AI defenders that get superhuman reaction boosts, and possession-based football becomes a real pain. You can plan and play patiently, but the system feels like it’s baiting you into losing the ball.
This isn’t football anymore — it’s automation/scripting pretending to be “smart defending.” It feels like EA quietly increased defensive consistency in a recent tuning update — supposedly to make manual defending more rewarding. But in practice, this made defensive assists stronger for all players, even those defending poorly. So now everyone’s midfielders auto-track perfectly, low-rated defenders react like elite ones, while possession-focused attackers feel punished for smart buildup play.
100% agree with everything you've said here and you have touched on it, but for me the most shocking element is the Ai ability to close you down and tackle through you at the speed of light....It has been a constant agony for me over the past couple of years that it doesn't matter if you're playing Barnet or Barcelona the CPU will smell blood instantly close you down and powerhouse the ball off you faster than you can blink. Among other things its hyper unrealistic (I play on Legendary with modified sliders, tight marking turned down to 45) its shocking the devs of this game dont understand defenders/teams logic. How some teams and some individual players with in teams can stand off as well as equally tight marking. But instead they think every single team in world football despite their philosophy tight marks you like a homing missile.
