Where did i ever wrote that i analyze replays? I never watch them.
I should never have written that i consider myself a bad player, because this for some people this site is all about bragging how good they are. I don't care about being good, i never play online.
I just want to enjoy myself in single player. And the game has changed enormously.
How is it possible that with the PS2 versions of the game i could win ML silverware and in the PS3 and 360 era i'm useless (except for PES2011 which had obvious flaws, but where i could play fantastic football with teams like Villareal).
To me PES2012 is frustrating. Games should not be frustrating. And this should have nothing to do with the abilities of a player, both weak and strong players should enjoy a game.
Konami are now talking about PES2013 but can you have confidence in a development team that is still changing the gameplay (with DLC patches) 7 months after the release of the game? The gameplay of PES2012 was perfect in the demo i played and yet they changed it and completely screwed it up.
PES 2012 is a whole other beast than PES 2011 and that is because of the new AI. Every big mistake on pro or higher difficulty gets punished. But it isn't different in real football.
Playing on regular or lower doesn't help much cause not only the CPU gets dumber but your own teammembers as well. The only advantage in the lower levels is that you have more time on the ball, ie. you can do some goals by outdribbling the CPU-defenders, but you have no advantage if you rely on a passing-game.
I would just play on top-player and deal with the challenge, your teammembers are cleverer and you can play some good passing-football.
The cheating is now with patch 1.06 minimal on top-player.
What you need to do to succeed is to get your tactics right. For example choose a formation with 4 people in the defense, then don't rely on the offside-trap, it will cost you, don't have a too high defense line. Very important is to have the right level of compactness, if it is on 10 or higher, your defense will be very loose organized and any good dribbler will rip your defense up and eat it for breakfast.
With a level of 6 for compactness you have a tight defense but it restricts the possibilities in the attacking zone as well, so maybe it's better to have it on 7 or 8.
R2 is your friend in defense, use training-mode to get accustomed to R2-defending, tapping it at the right time will do wonders to your defending capabilities.
Look at the tactic-screen and see if your player's abilitiy-levels have been reduced and let them have some rest and put in other players with higher abilities. During the 70th-minute it can be advantageous to change in some fresh players.
Find the right relation between playersupport and offensive or defensive behaviour. Then, don't forget to look at the tactical help screen, there you can define the attacking-mentality to be defensive, offensive or super-offensive or neutral...
On the pitch, when harassed by the CPU pressuring, don't let it intimade you, you can shield the ball, don't just pass the ball away hastily when the CPU pressures you, shield the ball, take your time and make a good pass to someone who is really free.
Last but not least, get accustomed to use L2-passing in the last third of the pitch, it will do for your attacking-capabilities what R2 did for your defensive ones. With it you can make much more clever throughballs (you don't need the automated throughball-button anymore) and give the ball to the intended receiver, instead of letting the game decide (mostly wrong) who the pass was intended for.. in short it makes clever passing football possible, it's a blessing.
Have fun.