On the plus side, tactically, this years edition is better than last years. It's amazing what sorting out the cm's and am's can do. Last year, they rarely had 7 or above ratings and next to no assists/goals, which, given some of us had world class players, was not good enough. In fact, many tried to argue that that was the new way of modern football, that the most important player was often the one involved in the pass before the assist, such as Modric or Iniesta. That of course was nonsens. They tried to reason that a 60/70 goal a season striker was normal, and that 30 assists and 20 goals from each inside forwards was normal, where as a player like Van Der Vaart, Lampard, etc, should only get 5 goals a year. Last years edition restricted most formations to the use of inside forwards, which immediately cut huge chunks out of potential transfer targets. I mean, why bother buying a winger when crossing in the ME was poor? You're going to go for the insidie forward everytime, and so Hulk, Willian, and Neymar, were in just about everyones team. Why buy an expensive am, when they're ineffective? Modric, Pastore, Van Der Vaart, were all re-trained as inside forwards as well, just to fit them in the team.
This ME seems much more balanced compared to last year, though there is still a massive advantage to dribbling through the middle from the wings, I should know, I've got Hazard proving this, and through balls are too few, long shots far too many. I actually didn't buy this game until after the second patch came out, because I was was so, so dissapointed with the game last year. It really was the worse one ever. I'd never felt as restricted as I did in that, both in choice of a winnable formation, which of course, inturn, ultimately meant fewer possible transfer options. In fact, it was the first time ever I decided to just throw the game away after 4/5 months of play. It was awful! Mind you though, it was nice to get some fresh air.
I agree with others, if they can sort out the through ball issue, ball pinging back off the cross bar quicker than it hit it, yellow and red cards appearing along the bottom commentary bar from the previous game in current game, then it is going to be awesome. I'd already say it's the best one yet. The chance to really manage what you have and set tactics accordingly is a lot smarter than ever before. I've also definitely noticed a huge difference in player styles. The way Torres and Doumbia play in DLF support is completely different. It's probably the first time ever that players aren't just picked for their stats based on fit for position. They all give something slightly different in terms of movement etc, this is more likely to make me rotate my squad and think about who best to use.
