Even if they aren't - those tactics are being entirely ignored, so what's going on? If "team styles" aren't in the beta, they should be doing something. If they ARE in the beta... They're hidden, and they totally override the tactics...
My bigger fear is that maybe "team styles" are country-wide, cos I played an MLS game with teams who have very similar tactics, and it was half the speed and with actual build-up...
The more i read about people's experiences with the Beta the more it reeks of tokenism on EA's part - they just didn't want to be in a position where they looked defensive when Konami has been so refreshingly open with its Beta this year. It probably says something about the relative confidence each company has in the innate qualities of the respective games that EA appear to have wanted to hide some of the key features it has emblazoned across its PR from its Beta. What is the point of releasing a Beta without Team Styles in it FFS??
In a way it is typical EA marketing in relation to FIFA. It has always displayed a tendency to want to control the public discussion of each iteration by limiting information to soundbites, slogans and buzz feed and leaving it at that. The hype builds itself with considerable amounts of uncritical repetition from much of the gaming press. This has changed slightly with PES building more of a profile and i hope that this continues as EA need to be shaken out its complacency. PES improving its gameplay and then its open Beta has been quite salutary in exposing EA's Soviet style management of the message by comparison. EA's Beta still looks like an exercise in only giving so much so that it cannot be accused of not moving with the times. Ironically, it seems to have backfired as they have provided a Beta devoid of the features it is marketing to actually try and get people to buy the game from what people are saying.
The development cycle for FIFA gameplay has got a bit stale this past few years as it focuses through Frostbite on how the game looks rather than how it plays. I hope that PES can push on as EA are in dire need of more inspiration and this can only come if it is has a true competitor in my view. I am not naive to think that PES will ever outsell FIFA no matter how good it is. Its an unfortunate fact of life that licences do matter to people. However, When Dave Rutter got involved with FIFA around 07/08 there was a concerted effort to actually innovate as he recognised that PES was the better game and they wanted that kudos.
I'll give the demo a go as i do every year and i hope that many of everyone's criticisms will have been addressed as we get a later build of the game to play.