u/CryptographerDry8646

New here, is it normal that I’ve been waiting 10-15 minutes for a game in showdown mode? Or am I doing something wrong?

I still enjoy the game, I still win and have fun, but if I played an opponent last week and won 5-0, I might win against the same opponent 5-4 or even draw/lose after the patch.

This patch killed manual defending. You might win a tackle 1 out of 10 times. You just have to predict the pass to intercept it to avoid conceding. 1 on 1? You are cooked.

Defenders’ pace doesn’t matter anymore. A 50 pace striker will smoke a 99 pace defender. But a 99 pace striker will smoke a 90 pace defender (which is fine but why not the same both ways?)

Just revert the patch please.

To the crybabies that take time to come here and post to the world that they took the important world-changing decision of leaving the game:

GET A LIFE.

Just buff manual defending to the max, it’s MANUAL, so if I can and know how to defend manually, I should definitely get rewarded. Currently in attacking if I know how to bypass the defenders I’m almost 99% scoring. So it should be the same in defending. If I read the play correctly and time a tackle well, I should just take the ball! If I read a pass well and run with my defender accurately I should intercept it, not just let it go through my legs. If I’m able to keep up with the dribbling of the attacker and come into a position where I’m running side to side with the attacker and my CB has 95+ physical, I should be able to shoulder barge him.

It is so simple. Manual defending = rewarding, no need for AI defending whatsoever.

Today’s and yesterday’s posts just have to make you laugh. Let’s recap the community’ rants and shouts:

start of the game: defending is terrible, passing is terrible, AI attacking non-existent>>>>> what do devs do: update and buff defending, slightly improve passing, improve attacking AI

A month almost into the game: defending is too OP, dribbling is too OP, goalkeepers are trash >>>>> what do devs do: nerf down defending a little and reduce AI defending back to almost manual (thank god), improve GKs

Last week: GKs are too OP I can’t score!!!, defending is fine almost but please improve AI a little, zigzaagerssss, fidget spinnersss, BRING THE GAME BACK TO DAY ONE RELEASE>>>> what do devs do (two days ago): nerf defending back to almost day one release, nerfed GKs a lot, improved and working on improving passing.

today: DEFENDING IS WEAK WHY DID TOU BRING IT BACK TO DAY ONE CONDITIONS, GKs ARE SO TRASH ALL SHOTS GO IN!!

I mean really what do the devs need to do anymore?

This is a competitive game after all it is not a casual offline football game. Competitive games all have some sort of meta that many players will seek and abuse to get higher ranks. Anyone that puts in the time to master these skills/meta/OP mechanics, they will be in higher ranks. People that rant about OP mechanics are just not cut to competitive gaming.

My message to anyone responsible of the game if they see this post: Game is fine. Game is going into the right direction. Game is fun. Just improve ranked rewards, more tournaments, more events occasionally, maybe another player or two like Ronaldinho please, and that’s it. Can’t wait for the 5v5 full release!!

I honestly don’t understand anymore, whatever the devs do, whatever update comes, same people making new complaints or repeating the same complaint. I was waiting for the 5v5 test play, and once it dropped I gathered my friends and played for like 5 hours straight. We were laughing our pants off.

I go into Reddit to see some posts about 5v5, expecting of course some “constructive” feedback on some aspects (that’s why it’s a test play) and maybe some videos/funny/positive feedback of fun good time.

But of course, it is all about “zigzag is so OP”, “ Fidget spinners”, “can’t pass”, “defending is bad”….

THE GAMEPLAY IS JUST FINE. Yes it needs some MINOR tweaking, but it is sooooooooo playable. LEARN HOW TO DEFEND. If zigzag or spinning isn’t defendable, all of you would’ve been rank 1. You can pass and build up just fine, I do it, soooo many of my opponents do it.

JUST ENJOY. Some of you need to just go learn coding, get the equipment, and build your own tailored-to-you game!!

Edit: They even dropped 5v5 challenges without ANY WINS needed for people just to play and have fun with their friends.

Why is everyone saying the GKs are buffed to an extreme? Am I missing something? The only thing I noticed is that angled shotes (normal, not finesse) are much much much harder to score now, so you almost always have to cut back and shoot.

But other than this sole attacking scenario, everything is the same. 1v1? Finesse goes on, skill to go past the keeper works, chip shot works, other non-1v1 scenarios with finesse still goes in. So am I actually missing something or is this just another exaggeration by people that want to hate this game just for the sake of it?

So I never posted anything on Reddit before, I selected rant but I guess this is a positive rant? For this game I just felt like I need to share my opinion based on what I have been reading on this sub over the past month.

I have been I die hard fifa fan from even before ultimate team was a thing, I rarely play any games other than football. I played fifa since fifa 2002, up to EaFC 26. I love ultimate team to the core. In EaFC 26 I am an elite dog player, get 13-15 champs one weekly. Trust me am not trying to flex, I just want to explain my point. Despite the fact that I am pretty good at that game, it is extremely exhausting. And the main reasons are: AI interference, super low payback to your game time, and generally the way the game is done where you need to do so many things but never guaranteed a good outcome.

I am a 32-year old dad, so by May 2026, EaFC got to me. The exhaustion, the stress, it was just too much and not fun at all. Then I played GOALS. And I can’t emphasize this more but I FINALLY LOVE PLAYING A FOOTBALL GAME AGAIN.

I honestly have no idea why are some people hating the game. Let me by clear, it’s not perfect, but what game is? The positives outmatch the negatives by a mile! It is a simple football game that you want to keep playing because of:

1. No AI defending slop! The people that say defending is messed up, defenders are standing still, etc…, GO TO EAFC YOU WILL HAVE A BLAST!! I’m a great GOALS player? Not really, I get elite 2 maybe in knockouts and dig 4-5 in ranked. I am a much higher-ranked player in EaFC, but I don’t care whatsoever.

2. They system of the game has a much much higher chance of being rewarding than EaFC, don’t just be trend follower and say it’s pay to win. Of course if you pay more you get a better team, but what game isn’t? You say this as if EaFC is sooooo free to play😂😂.

3. You want to play, you can keep playing as playing itself is rewarding. The fact that they have things like added objectives everyday, new things every week, the Ronaldinho campaign (assuming things similar will be coming), are just incredible!

4. Yes I’m saying it again, NO AI DEFENDING SLOP!!!! I hated fifa/Ea because of this. You are annoyed by fidget spinning (which btw is so OP in EaFC too) but you don’t like that defending is manual? That literally summarizes that you want an easy game, you don’t want to actually play a game. If you want to play football (passing, building play, realistic defending), go play career mode! This is online PvP football, there will be ALWAYS a meta that a lot of players will abuse to win (as in every online PvP game!!)

Sorry for the long post, but I’m really annoyed with the bad reviews. The bad reviews are literally saying what makes this game great, but they are just AI merchants. If you don’t like the game, just leave it. I just don’t want to the devs to think “oh let’s fix this so we get these people back to the game”, THIS HAPPENED AT THE BEGINNING OF EAFC26 AND THE GAME GOT DESTROYED (iykyk).

Yes of course the game could become better with modifying ranked rewards, tournaments structure and rewards, another offline mode, co-op (5v5 and 2v2 are coming which is great), but the gameplay as it is I really believe it’s in the right direction (few tweaks here and there of course, but not to flip it 180 degrees).

Other than that, thanks to everyone that developed this game, I really am enjoying the fact that I can play a football game again without feeling like my soul is getting sucked out.