The root causes of the current situation and proposed solutions

[wild meadow]

I haven’t played the game for over two months because I’ve been focusing on suggesting system improvements for Clubs mode, so I don’t know the exact current state — I’m guessing based on limited info. (The reason I’m making this suggestion is simple: I want the dev team to pay attention to my proposals about Clubs mode.)

First, I don’t think players are upset just because playstyles matter more than raw attributes.
You can equip playstyles through paid upgrades.
But not every player can buy as many paid upgrades as they want — everyone has a limited budget.

I’d like to suggest a solution that can cover the company’s interests, big spenders, and regular players.

Widen the tactical options

To stop an expensive player like Pina — who has great dribbling and shooting — from dribbling through midfield defenders and scoring, there should be a tactical option to adjust defensive width.

If you narrow the defensive width, the space between defenders becomes tighter, so when Pina tries to dribble he’ll face pressure from two or more defenders and breaking through becomes harder.

Giving everyone the option to change defensive width is fair because it’s available to both big spenders and regular players.

Narrow defensive width makes it harder to attack through the center but opens up space on the flanks, so wing play and crossing become effective. However, cross-to-header goals are currently abnormally weak, so the success rate of headed goals should be increased.

Big spenders would likely switch to crossing-and-heading as a main tactic to bother regular players.
But regular players can respond — for example, by using a five-back formation to block the wide areas.

Using a narrow defensive width and a five-back to counter big spenders is also common in real football.

however, In the past, pro tournaments banned five-back formations (I’m not sure if they still do). The reason was that the number of shots per game became extremely low and matches were less fun.

One way to fix this is to make team press more effective. Right now team press drains too much stamina and players move too slowly to apply pressure. If you lower the stamina drain and increase pressing speed, the boredom caused by five-back formations can be reduced.

By expanding tactical choices like this, the company can also make more revenue than now.

You get revenue simply by stopping players from leaving and increasing overall player satisfaction.
And big spenders will be pushed to buy more — not only players like Pina but also good headers, players who can cross well, and high-stamina players who can sustain pressing.

Regular players facing big spenders would mainly need quick attackers for counters, decent center backs, and one midfielder who can play long passes. Still, expecting regular players to beat big spenders consistently is unrealistic.

[rain rose]

Bruh everything you said besides crossing being more effective is exactly what’s wrong with the community… No we do not want another 5 at the back meta coming back. Do you honestly think it wouldn’t be abused…. Because what if I put 5 at the back and limit the width… come on bro

The solution is to make the pitch bigger, reduced Ai defending & remove team press all together to give both options as viable not just in tactics but in gameplay. I can’t believe you said to increase team press like we’ve complained to have teams press for years and finally it’s been reduced and yet here we are we are asking for it to come back… this community is so backwards I can’t even blame EA sometimes so if your going to ask for things to come back and changed think about the long term effect

[wild meadow]

I have further looked into the issues related to the use of five-at-the-back formations, team press, and AI defensive strength. (If there is any incorrect information or additional problems I may have overlooked, please let me know.)

First, in addition to the fact that five-at-the-back formations make it easy to circulate the ball horizontally across the defensive line due to the inefficiency of team press—making the gameplay boring—they have also been perceived as overpowered because it is extremely difficult to break them down through central area passing.

The difficulty of attacking through the central area is believed to result from the inherent characteristics of five-at-the-back formations (the horizontal spacing between defenders is narrower than in four-at-the-back formations) and the slow movement speed of players who drop back or move laterally to receive passes.
Since the narrow defensive spacing is a fundamental feature of five-at-the-back formations, it should not be considered a problem. However, the movement speed of players repositioning to receive passes needs to be increased.

Next, I will outline the problems with team press and suggest possible solutions.

In the past, there has been significant feedback that team press made it very difficult to build attacks through passing.
When the opposing team applies team press high up the pitch, passing becomes difficult due to the inherent nature of the tactic and the slow repositioning of players attempting to receive passes.

The fact that players around the ball carrier are tightly man-marked during team press is a core characteristic of the tactic and should not be considered an issue. However, increasing the speed at which players drop back or move laterally to receive passes could help resolve this problem.

Lastly, I would like to propose solutions to the issue of AI defending being too strong, which makes scoring overly difficult.

This issue could be addressed by improving cross and header effectiveness to expand attacking options, along with increasing the movement speed of players repositioning to receive passes.

To summarize all of the above suggestions:
Providing an option to adjust defensive width, improving the effectiveness of team press, enhancing cross and header success rates, and improving off-ball movement for pass reception could collectively resolve these issues.

[rain rose]

I get what your saying and with that expanded elaboration I get what your saying however with this iteration of this engine I don’t see that happening unless a new engine is put in place. In the past FIFAs I never had a problem with any formation being overpowered because the variations of plays existed and the Ai was smart to balance making attacking runs, receiving passes, dynamically finding finding space, adopting to the situation… now it’s just attacking and barely any adopting so going against a five at the back in this engine and it being meta would be back to FIFA 17-25. The engine needs to be revamped that’s the only solution to fixing everything from the bottom up otherwise whatever suggestion and change we’re demanding it’s useless

[wild meadow]

Defensive width adjustment, improved team press effectiveness, and enhanced cross and header success rates have all been implemented in the past, which means they are fully achievable with the current technology as well.
The only remaining aspect is adjusting the speed of off-the-ball movement, and this does not appear to involve significant technical difficulty.

[rain rose]

Yeah I’m pretty sure it’s manageable and perhaps you’re right maybe it’s just the speed they are allowing the ball to travel but I prefer when it was down to how much you applied the power button, from passing to crossing, now it all feels the same regardless of the power being it has no impact it’s like it’s all pre determined that’s why every cross goes either to the keeper or the ball just doesn’t travel in front of the player but the player runs go both in hand in this situation which is what I was talking about. In the moments of crossing the player don’t adjust

[wild meadow]

Thank you for sharing your valuable opinion.
Beyond addressing the overall balance issues of the current game, I sincerely hope that solo play will also be allowed in Club Mode league and playoff matches, providing players with a wider variety of gameplay options.
I believe this would help further revitalize Club Mode and ultimately lead to increased revenue for EA FC, creating a win-win outcome for everyone involved.

[rain rose]

Yeah that’s a very good idea! I will follow you and support you should you need any help! The whole community in each mode needs to be heard on the matter of gameplay not just competitive vs authentic… like literally mechanics fundamental

[wild meadow]

Yes, thank you
If you have time, I would appreciate it if you could take a look at the post I shared about allowing solo play. If you agree with it, I would be grateful if you could leave a short comment such as “agreed.”

[wild meadow]

Fixed a mistake that incorrectly referred to the 'central area' as 'midfield'.

[rain rose]

Okay bro will do

[wild meadow]

note- Problems that may arise when reducing the influence of AI control and increasing the impact of manual control:
Increased player fatigue → decreased playtime → longer matchmaking queues, a decline in peak concurrent users throughout the day, and higher churn among older players → ultimately creating an environment that is disadvantageous for both the company and its customers.