The beauty of PES over the years was that it allowed creativity on the pitch when it came to managing a football game,It gave you real turning points during a match where you need to adjust your approach,tactics,subs and sometime your playing style and direction.
For example red cards, player and team fatigue, lack of form, Pass link status between individual players as well as where are the CPU threats are originating from. For example if you played the OP Adriano you had to make sure he doesn't turn and shoot, Or Against the likes of Robben,Robinho you had to make sure your midfielders tracked back down the wings using tactical arrows and such, Also man marking.
Playing ML this year I find myself using the same players every game against an identical playing style without any other variables influencing the match, And that's on a 20 mins match.
I hope this can be addressed soon by the community or perhaps Konami as the fun right now is very limited and I feel like being forced to play in a certain way all season.
Shez I've just started a Master League and I can tell you that stats and individuality works in Pes 2018. . .try put players with a rating of 60 as your central defenders and you will soon find out. . .strong players are pushing smaller weaker players off the ball.