After Reading the Gameplay Deep Dive, I'm More Worried Than Excited

I've read the entire Gameplay Deep Dive.

Right now, match results are getting ridiculous in almost every mode. It's common to see 8–10 goals in a single match. That tells me one thing: attack and defense are not balanced. Is this supposed to be a football game or a shooting game?

While AI attackers are becoming smarter, making better runs and finding space, AI defenders are becoming even weaker. On attack, you only need a few inputs and the AI does the rest. On defense, you're expected to control everything yourself. How is that balanced?

Please make this a football game again. Even AI defenders should know when to pressure, tackle, and react. They shouldn't just watch the ball roll past them or let attackers dribble straight by without challenging.

The new Off-Balance Dribbling also looks overpowered based on the gameplay footage. Why does the player seem to speed up during the animation? In real football, a player might keep possession after contact, but they certainly don't become faster while stumbling.

Honestly, I don't see anything truly new here. Many of the ideas you're presenting already worked well in older FIFA/FC games. Then they were gradually broken through patches, and now they're being presented again as new features in a new game. It feels like the same cycle every year.

I genuinely hope EA gets serious competition soon. Maybe that's what it will take to finally bring football back to a football game.