u/Flag_Shagger

people have mentioned that defending is awful in this game but I want to prove that it goes beyond just the horrible AI.

- First of all, tackling just doesn’t work. 80% of the time it doesn’t register - if you want proof, go into a practice game and try tackling, it doesn’t register most of the time, especially when you are close to the ball (i.e. when you need to tackle the most)

- Second of all, even if tackling registers, it still doesn’t work. 90% of the time a standing tackle is just an easy way to give a foul, get a red card or let them take you on into goal. Slide tackles are even worse, they almost never work at all. For a game that claims to be “skill”, there’s not a lot of options..

- Jockeying. This is basically how everyone defends because tackling and AI are so horrible. The problem with jockeying is that there are two types of jockeying that use the exact same controls, with no feedback.. for example, the first type of jockey is sprint jockey, pretty simple, you use this to cover angles, contain players a certain way, bait angles etc. The second type is the shoulder barge, which is used for gaining direct possession..but this uses the exact same controls, so can you reliably transition from one to another, when there is no feedback? As you can see, these two types have completely different purposes, require completely different intentions, yet are binding by the same controls, with no feedback (like a vibration when you attempt a shoulder barge)

- Since all the fundamental pieces of defending are broken, including AI, manual tackling, jockeying, and shoulder barging, there is no viable way to defend like we should be encouraged in a game that promotes “skill”

I want to start this off by saying that this is meant to be constructive feedback rather than a rant. Here are all the issues with this game (in my opinion):

1. AI - This is by far the worst part of the entire game. Since it’s so horrible, this deserves extra bullet points. Attacking AI - attackers don’t attack open space, L1 runs don’t work most of the time, wingers often stand off the pitch (wtf?) and never come inside. Midfielders rarely come forward. Fullbacks never cut inside. The attack plays nothing like football at all, it’s a circus.

2. Midfield AI - the midfield in this game suffers a serious problem, it’s like they don’t even exist. Most of the game they’re too far forward to defend, whilst simultaneously too far back to attack. They have no initiative to actually do anything. They just sit in the middle, don’t cut off passing lanes, don’t track runs, don’t drop back beaten. Some might say, “well you are supposed to bring them back manually” - but that just doesn’t work, you’ll see why later.

3. Defending AI. This is horrible. Defenders don’t track runs, don’t close down space, stand on the wrong side of the attacker. Often times both my centre half’s will just let the opponents striker run straight inbetween them without even attempting to track the runs.

4. Tackling. What can I even say about this? You can argue that the defending AI is horrible so that players need to manually defend, but what does that mean when tackling is basically unviable in this game? 95% of the time you are better off just hoping to sprint jockey or cutting passing lanes. Slide tackles have a 2% success rate, and half the time it feels like the player just decides to flop on the ground than actually put a slide tackle in…and combined with the horrible referee, it’s never worth it. Furthermore the punishment for missing a standing tackle is not worth the risk, you basically get thrown out of the play due to the recovery time after a missing tackle.

5. Interceptions/auto tackle. For some reason manually controlled players seem to be even worse than the AI when it comes to winning the ball. That’s why one of the most effective ways to score is just to straight up run through the defence with a high skill dribbling player. For example you might be perfectly containing a striker in a 1v1, and even get within centimetres of the ball, but the player won’t automatically get the ball in this situation, you physically need to manually tackle - but because of the issue above (manual tackling has a horrible risk/reward ratio), you are left in a place with no good options, despite doing everything right. This means that the ball sometimes just flails around and your manually controlled player just doesn’t get it until inevitably your opponent scores an easy goal.

6. Passing. I don’t understand how something so fundamental is so broken and inconsistent. The issues are various. For example, passes often go completely to the wrong player, especially through balls. You can be on in glaring 2v1 and for some reason your through ball goes to the winger on the other side of the pitch instead. Another issue is that there is no “cancel” button like in other games, so once you press something, good luck changing your mind. This makes passing a complete nuisance, and the ball often just goes back and forth because you and the opponent are having the same issue. So many goals have been scored because of passing mistakes next to the goalkeeper. Another issue is that your passes will go to someone much farther away who is clearly going to get intercepted, combined with the issue of AI not moving to get the ball (they’ll just stand and wait) instead of the player in the same general direction but moderately closer.

7. Player switching. I heard a lot of people suggest manual defending as a feature not a bug, but how can you reliably use manual defending when player switching is even worse than EAFC/FIFA (which are already bad), it’s like there’s no logic. For a game that marketed itself against “bullshit”, this does feel awfully like luck of the draw. I think the game needs options for player switching like in EAFC.

8. Jockey feedback. There is no feedback when jockeying, it feels like you are either phasing through players or that the opponent just miraculously overpowers you without fail, with no time to react. This issue is worsened by the fact there’s no counter-jockey. How can jockeying be such a core mechanic in the game without the ability of an attacker to protect/shield the ball? That’s part of the reason why attackers just turn in circles and wait for an opening.

9. Player stats. I don’t even feel like I need to explain this but seriously, how did this pass testing? It’s like player stats have no semblance of reality. You often get players that are horrible in the positions that’s on the card, and clearly much better suited elsewhere. Why do I have a CB with 85 shooting but 64 defending, for example? It’s genuinely nonsensical. Because of this, player ratings mean basically nothing; a highly rated player might have no value in their position because of the way stats are calculated…

10. Referee. I’m surprised nobody has mentioned this, but it’s awful. You can be 40 yards out with nobody on and still get a red card, on the other hand you can basically kill the player on a counterattack and the ref doesn’t even give a yellow.

11. Lob/chip shot. I don’t need to explain this at all. I even heard someone say it was a common complaint in the beta but wasn’t even fixed. It’s weird that goalkeeping AI is so detached from reality, and I say that as a goalkeeper myself. As a keeper, you are always trained to get relatively low in a 1v1 to cover as much space as possible but it’s like the opposite happens in the game.

12. Obviously, pace. I don’t even feel like I need to explain this. I feel like the problems above all mean pace is going to be fundamentally broken, and it’s not going to be an easy fix considering how embedded the issues are.

13. Formations and player positioning. As I’ve said about the issues above (in terms of player stats), we really need more customizability in formations (like choosing a DM instead of a CM)

Unfortunately, this game seems fundamentally broken on many levels, and I can’t imagine these are easy fixes at all. I’m sure there are more issues but these are the major ones. Feel free to add other issues or changes you want made.

For context, I’m a DIV 1 Fifa player (80W 4L) but I don’t understand how I’m so bad in this game. Every game I am having the same issues, and I don’t know how to fix them:

1. My defenders never track runs. Obviously you might say that I need to manual defend, but I can’t. I can only control 1 player at a time, and it feels like nobody does anything automatically. Often times both my centre half’s will just let the opponents striker run straight inbetween them without even attempting to track the runs.

2. The attacking AI is horrible. I don’t know how my opponents striker makes auto runs, but mine? They do nothing, they just stand there, half the time offside and on the wrong side of the defender. Since nobody is even attacking open space, there’s nowhere to pass to make progress. L1 pass get almost always auto tracked by the opponents defender, but mine don’t, I don’t understand. Oftentimes when you dribble into space your teammates just stand in the way of you and don’t even attempt to move into open space, it’s so frustrating. Furthermore, the wingers play right on the line, sometimes they’ll even stand off the pitch (behind the throw in line) - wtf? they don’t even have the basic AI to attack open space even if it means the winger should drift inside.

3. The passing is horrible. Passes are so slow that oftentimes the most effective way the opponent wins the ball is by just full sprinting at whoever I pass to. Combined with the horrible heavy first touches, you are constantly under pressure since everyone’s playstyle is basically the same.

4. The tackling is horrible. They need to buff manual tackling. If they want manual defending, then they need good tackling. At the moment manual defending is literally just about jockeying, there’s no ability to get a good tackle in because the risk is so high and mostly you are going to be unsuccessful. It’s a completely counterintuitive game design that tackling is so underpowered.

on the card, underneath the position stat there are two more stat, there is a random number and a lightning bolt, what do they mean??