Ultimate Team, Rivals

I dunno man. I agree on inconsistent gameplay, that's been known forever. Some games your players feel insane, other games they feel stuck in the mud, I doubt it has anything to do with win streaks or anything like that though. When it comes to low pace vs high pace, I agree, its super annoying. I get that EA is compensating for a player being 'on the ball' and will never be as fast as they are without it, but sometimes the match ups feel ridiculous, someone sub 75 pace should never be able to catch up to someone with 90+ pace regardless of whether they're on the ball or not. And yea rebounds are a massive issue right now, however they're also an issue for your opponent, if its happening to you it will be happening to them as well.

As for your rivals progress, I doubt it's related. Div 6 and lower is sheepville dude. I'm by no means an Elite player, but I am in Div 2. Regardless of good gameplay or not, a good player, say Div 3 or higher will breeze those Divisions. You should only being finding opponents 'hard' when you're within a Division of your actual skill level. I have had players beat me at every Division from starting this game in Div 7 up until Div 2, but I still consistently won more than I lost until it became pretty much 50/50 at the division I'm in. The ability to read and understand the game trumps 'meta players' every time man. That's why you can have pro streamers go 15-0 in weekend league with Bronze teams.