Not my experience. Maybe it depends on tactics. Pressure is out of whack. When the AI bunch up and run/press like headless chicken there's always space to exploit. Do tactics even work properly in the demo? Bayern are setup to constant press only on ultra offensive, yet they never stop pressing like mad, and i'm creating chance after chance on the counter, when that shouldn't happen... because they're WINNING. No team plays like that. Dortmund are set up to play possession on all 4 formations, yet all they do is constantly launch a long/through ball and counter. Maybe you are right for teams that are setup in a more balanced/defensive manner and sit back organised, but it's so rare.
Well easier/harder is subjective I suppose. I never feel like I have to engage in a challenging activity when passing and i end up with 80-85% completion, and not on assisted... on semi. I think that if you only ever play assisted on fifa and someone changed the setting to semi to prank you, you would never notice. Frankly I can only feel that some players are worse at passing when playing at semi. The only difference I think is that this year if an opponent can intercept a pass he will do so, so maybe this is harder for some? I don't know.
I don't really mind that though. That's a debate for their e-sport. My problem is the AI hyper response time and the way they play. 85%-90% would be fine for them... if they could chill out and do it playing possession, while not sprinting forward and their passing is realistic (some passes/shots should simply be impossible to make but still happen, like in 18).