It's great to hear people enjoying it this much! I'd love to be able to as well.
Oh man, took the words right out of my mouth.
I think when an option file comes along that revamps formations and gives teams the right advanced tactics, it'll be much better, for me. But even then, you have to be able to overlook the reeeeeeeeediculous number of first-time-passes-in-a-row throughout the game, lack of fouls (BUT a patch might help there at least), etc.
I've been hammering the ML, trying to see the positives, but I've found that a poor team spirit is reflected in the game by:
A) DECREASING YOUR RESPONSE TIMES: There's an example in a gameplay video I uploaded the other day where I've pressed the long pass button to hit a clearance in defence, and the power bar appears above his head, with the striker 10ft behind him - but he waits for about two seconds (I'm not sprinting, the ball is DIRECTLY in-front of him) - allowing the striker to run around his side and kick the ball into the net. When people say ridiculous things like "it's still a PS2 game", it's this kind of bullshit they're referring to (though it's still obviously such a hyperbolic statement) - and I get it.
Representing ability (or inability) by essentially going "la la la you didn't just press a button la la la", in 2017, is just mind-boggling to me.
B) INCREASING THE OPPONENT'S ABILITY (mainly to first-time pass the ball all over the place): Playing as Newcastle against Watford, I was drawing 0-0. They'd attack and my defenders packed the box. I'd attack, their defenders packed the box. Same thing I'm seeing most of the time (hence my wish for a tactics option file, which I think could potentially iron this out completely). However, I made two substitutions, and the team spirit went from 70 to 50. Suddenly, Watford were pinging 10+ first-time passes together at a time, and I barely hung on.
Our pass accuracy dropped slightly (and it was random players giving the ball away rather than the two supposed "weak links", which doesn't really sense), but absolutely BLATANT was the boost that the AI was given.
The game has lots of these little "shortcuts to realism" and they feel horrible, IMO. Reducing the AI's short-passing abilities to 40 and seeing the pass accuracy difference at the end of the game (i.e. literally no difference) is the biggest proof of that, and after seeing that, I really don't know that I can look past it. When you know the AI's abilities are "filled in" using a combination of difficulty level and your team spirit.
Just my (lifelong PES fan) opinion...