This isn't a comparison thread, but at the risk of taking it off-topic, I've been going through this journey myself over the past week or so.
(Essay incoming, sorry.)
I know exactly what you mean re: PES 2021. The latest Holland mod for it is sensational, honestly, in terms of balancing the physics, responsiveness and defensive response - I've really enjoyed playing it again. But...
...I don't think it's possible to remove the dreaded 1v1 coding that both EA and Konami added in a response to online players' complaints about "AI defending" (and the aims have simply changed - from making a football game that represents all 22 players at once, to a game that only cares about the 2 nearest to the ball, in order to shut up the moaners who say "you only beat me because the AI helped you" - play a 1v1 shooter or something then).
With that being the case, in PES 2021, the pitch feels like it's miles wide, with acres of space all the time and it being far too easy to go from defence to attack in the blink of an eye (even if you play manual).
The only "fix" for the AI is for modders to 1) make the opponent press you constantly, which is a very binary response that's a poor experience and easy to bypass by simply passing quickly, or 2) implement "fluid formations" to try and force players into defensive positions - but this has no relation to where the ball is, so you just have players running into their designated zones for no purpose.
EAFC has the same core issue (with "Hypermotion" skewering a virtual pole through the defensive line and moving them in perfect sync barring the 1v1 code kicking in, which looks, and feels, like some weird cartoon table football game).
@Anth James' mod for EAFC does a hell of a lot of work to move multiple players out towards the ball carrier and block off passing options, which just doesn't happen with PES 2021. Combine that with his physics work, and you have a game that is (in my opinion)
categorically better than PES 2021.
Like you, I would never (ever) have said that last year. It's entirely thanks to Anth I can play EAFC and enjoy it for what it is.
That said - going back to FIFA 16 (but only with
Anth's ball physics / speedhack mod via Cheat Engine 7.5)...
I would beg everyone in this thread,
even if you've played it before and got bored of it... Try it again and just remind yourself of what we've lost.
It's easy to forget just how much
fun it is when the AI pushes defenders ball-side to stop your progression, and when defensive players are allowed to move independently from everyone/everything else, truly
forcing you to pass sideways/backwards in order to find an opportunity.
It's an entire gameplay feature (as important as passing and shooting) that's been deleted from the game, from FIFA 19/20 onwards. Anth's mods do as much as humanly possible to add it back, but for as long as the 1v1 code exists, I can still far-too-often hit a couple of passes and have a striker ready to shoot at the edge of the box - or run from box-to-box down the wing without being impeded in any way - without having to think about what I'm doing at all.
Finally...
@Anth James - if it wasn't for the thousands of hours you've poured into modding down the years (everything from camera placements to physics changes)...
You've given me personally so many hours of joy that I wouldn't have otherwise had - versus the AI, against my football gaming friends, even with my old dad (who I've recently been playing a 1966 World Cup with in FIFA 16 using your unbelievable mods).
Without your mods, I just wouldn't be able to play any of these games any more. Not even FIFA 16, but
especially not EAFC.
This community owes all the modders that post here a massive thank you, for using their free time to produce things for others to enjoy.
But for me personally, it's your work that's given me the most hours of joy - thank you for everything you've done over the years, and if EA ever decide to ditch 1v1 and make a team game again, I hope you're still a part of the "scene" because I know you'll make everything as realistic (and fun) as it can be.