Good write-up. Most of this is true on PS4 too. I've only played around 10 games but I think this is a much better offering than 2014; there are still issues with passing being a bit too air-hockey like, appearing to zoom about in straight lines rather than bobble frequently or appear scuffed, or 180 degree passes losing a lot of accuracy. The funny thing is that the game does have bobble, or passes that are hit so hard that they actually lift 20-30cm off the ground, or you can use manual/advanced through ball to trace a curve and hit a swerving pass. 2 bar passing feels pretty good at the moment, it allows you to hit the ball into space quite effectively without removing the instinctiveness, individuality and fluidity of modern football in the way manual passing often does in football games. I'll give 1 bar a second try tonight, now that I'm more familiar with the dribbling (Goetze's a nippy bugger, as is Asamoah) and the defending.
I still feel like defending needs to have a bit more precision and certainty to what you're trying to do; there doesn't seem to be an option to stand-off unless you just control your player manually, and sometimes it feels like your teammates should be closer to their marker. At times midfielders do at least cut off passing lanes quite well though.
Also - where are all the defensive tactical options in the team management screens? I think Konami made a mistake by getting rid of the ability to easily tweak player positions. It's not intuitive at all at the moment, hiding it behind so many button presses.
