Another thing that has gone undiscussed: AI players are superdirty. They use supposed "strategic fouls" that will get yellow every single time - never red - despite it being really on the border and a potential red irl. In previous games I've seen AI teams go 2 red cards up.
This doesn't happen in career as there'd be consequences, and few players online don't resort to these tactics to save their hide. But I guess it's just another tool for AI to cheat their own difficulty system, to stop the player from scoring logical results (like 15-0 against those bronze teams).