I really hope you guys are correct about defending needing skill now, playing online against random people tonight I got so pissed off at how people can just get two players at a time to sprint at you for 90 minutes, both of whom can tackle at ridiculous/impossible angles, react instantly to any turns, push you off the ball etc... and don't get me started on the ridiculous ping-pong assisted passing which is IMPOSSIBLE to intercept (defenders literally watch it go over their toes).
It's killed the game online, it's worse than FIFA 08 was for it (I think 09 was a step backwards from 08, I really do), and to have a somewhat decent game on 09 now, you need to follow the
simulation rules, which say you can't hold A to pressure, nor hold B to get an AI teammate to close down, so you end up moving your player round with the analog stick and getting walked past like a twat.
So even on all manual with simulation rules, FIFA 09 is a fucking awful game and I can't wait to see the back of it...
I still doubt FIFA 10 defending will actually need a lot of skill, I can still see double-sprint-pressuring being the tactic of choice for everyone online... (even people i've played from Evo-Web do it...)
We should be able to just go online, play a match and enjoy it like we did on PES5 without following loads of rules to have a realistic match, the only rules on PES5 I used to go by were; no cutbacking (passing across goal for a tap in) and no free kick bug (35-40m lay off free kick which lobbed the keeper)... other than those two things you could do whatever you wanted and have a fair, realistic game