shell plover
I’m glad EA brought R1 back, as it makes the game far more enjoyable and active instead of passive. But there is still too much fidget spinning coupled with too much reliance on AI defending.
Nothing drastic is needed, just SLIGHTLY nerf spinning in place with the ball so that players actually need to commit when making wide changes of direction. Also SLIGHTLY increase the width of defensive shape in the final third so the AI defense doesn’t form a wall. This will force manual defense and switching to close gaps, and will nerf R1 defending because the defender being sent via R1 will have to cover more space, which opens even larger gaps to attack. The AI doesn’t need to be dumber, just slightly less compact.
Make these two changes and there will be far less reliance fidget spinning and AI defending. Switching and defending manually will be a necessity, and the recent jockey buff makes it viable. Spinning in place hoping to create room to R1 sprint into will no longer be the go-to, which will force people to utilize passing combinations, skill moves, and take 1v1 dribble duels against manual defenders in order to create scoring opportunities.
BOTH changes need to be slight, and both need to be done at the same time or else there won’t be balance. SLIGHTLY worse LS spinning with the ball, SLIGHTLY wider defensive shape in the final third, and the game will be engaging and skill based instead of stagnant and repetitive.