I'm going to repeat myself here, sorry. I know I'll sound like a broken record.
Played three pre-season games in a new Career Mode game (started again after the latest patch just to be cautious).
I switched to assisted passing, which annoys me because I love semi. But when the AI's passing is never off-target, I just got fed up of putting myself at such a blatantly unfair disadvantage.
On Legendary, with nearly all default sliders (bar pass error 60, pass speed 40, FT error 60), it was phenomenal. I mean, amazing. The occasional AI driven pass, but other than that, it all clicked. Three different experiences.
Tactically, I had to read the game. I was playing one up-front (good header of the ball) and he was marked out of the game. I changed his individual instructions and managed to get him to play as a real target man, and I could get down the wings (in 2/3 matches anyway) but he couldn't get onto the headers.
Switched formation, put a CAM behind him and subbed him for a player to hit through-balls to, and bang. We were in business. (But the biggest scoreline was 2-0.)
Ended up getting to the pre-season tournament final and losing on penalties to PEC Zwolle. Looked, felt, perfect.
First game of the league season, against Leeds, and it was like the game switched from SLOW speed to FAST speed, and the pass error reduced to zero. It turned into PES.
It's either team styles, or (more likely) just that the "extremes" in terms of attributes are way too high.
As I've said before, I've got a FIFA 17 save going with Blackpool - on Professional! - and every game is very similar (but at least the midfield exists).
BUT, with FIFA 17 and those sliders that I think are genuinely perfect, if I play a Kick Off game as a Premier League team, the game isn't fun any more. Twice as fast and the AI twice as ping-pongy (though not quite as much as 18).
I'll just have to keep restarting the game on a different difficulty every time I start a match and see that it's going to be one of those where the AI's passes are so fast that they could set the fucking pitch on fire.
To me, it's the Schrödinger's Cat of football games. Before the match, you don't (and can't) know whether it's going to play at 1x or 2x speed / accuracy.
It exists as the best virtual football I've played and (some of) the worst, both at the same time. Quantum football.