The first being an away tie in the Champions League (I added Man Utd back in, and what?) where in my final group game I faced Standard Liege. I’d already qualified, but they needed a win to be in with a shot at qualification.
When the 63rd minute came around the commentary team mentioned the need for a Liege win and also directly discussed a change in their attacking focus. From this point onwards Liege essentially switched to a 4-2-4 formation, for which they added relevant subs to complement. But crucially they also switched their play style, adopting a much more direct approach where they regularly launched long balls from deep in to my 18 yard area.
Now this of course made me change up my tactics to try and hold them off and even though they continually pressed I managed to hold on for a 0-0 draw, and they were sadly eliminated. It was scrappy, messy, head tennis at times but it was different, and thus refreshing compared to the AI norms we've become so accustomed to over the last few years. I also saw it working in reverse too.
In a home fixture against Liverpool no less where they took an early 1-0 lead thanks to a tidy finish from Daniel Strurridge. But the pivotal moment this time came just after half time when Jordan Henderson was sent off for an awful tackle on Tony Valencia. After he’d received his marching orders Liverpool changed immediately, and after taking Lambert off for Lucas they essentially setup two banks of four and left Sturridge up top alone. They parked the bus.
Probably most impressive was their complete an utter lack of ambition going forwards and after their change (again noted by the commentary team) the match fell in to a consistent pattern of my center backs picking up loose clearances on the half way line, where I then built up continual pressure. In the 86th minute I made my break through, but Liverpool were incredibly tough to break down and I again had to alter my personnel and tactics to turn the tide.
Not every game played out this though, some just had FIFA’s normal match flow but when these instances did happen, they really stood out which was great to see. To get through ¾ of my season I had to sim quite a few games, so whether even the two scenarios I’ve described become repetitive themselves, remains to be seen. But versus nothing at all, it represents a marked improvement on FIFA 14's AI and hope at last for CM fans everywhere.
I think it's just the Youtube video that makes the running look faster than it really is.
