To be honest chris, Iv got the full game played 3 games in ML and have been fouled by the AI 1-3 times so far, I never had any complaints with fouls in pes 17, seems like it's similar this year but I guess quite a few people want Derby matches in every game to get 10-15 fouls per half in a 10 minute match.
This. Recently in 2017 I had 2 freekicks scored on the same match, and a penalty. And it was a Real Betis vs Barcelona (I even got that recorded hahaha). I never had a problem with fouls, maybe the patch could add some "tactic fouls" in the midfield, but I don't want just what you said: a derby match-fouls when it is a normal match :/
On the long run, the best option should be to pick different levels on the referee, like in older games maybe.