but they are loads of good non rares too (Payet!). It is all about buidling the right team now. Looks like the pin point AI helped passing is toned down, may be that is whu the Kick off glitch of last year doesn't work because of the weak passing stats of many CB's?

My two teams are playing really well. Only two rares in each (well 3 in one now that I have upgraded to IF Gignac).
Played my first gold cup match with the 451 BPL, Bundesliga, Portuguese League side. Was against a full Serie A rare gold team. Three times I went behind to nice goals and three times I levelled up with good footballing goals. So the match went to extra time.
Stamina on both the teams was low on both sides and we both played the game at walking pace in extra time! Managed to win it 4-3 when Rudnevs got free of his marker and blasted it in for his second of the game, adding to Van der Vaart and Holtby goals.

Should be interesting when I play against a full pace team and take it to extra time. Even not sprinting all game, your players really suffer in extra time. Think I only used sprint twice in the whole of extra time. The most messed up player was Jack Rodwell, the CM. A demanding role in 451 and he was dead by the end. Subs will definitely be needed in future for cups. May have to rethink my strategy for the gold cup challenge. Using two teams in one squad without using subs so that the other team can rest is going to be difficult without fitness cards.

Interesting TWS. Some games we've finished the players have been as low as 82 (after the 2nd game). Can only imagine what ET will do to them.

And yeah - agreed that the CM position in 451 is SO demanding. De Rossi (M/H) still acts like a CAM. Nice that he's scoring goals, but if he's up and you lose possession, there is no midfield.

What we're doing, is putting 2 players on the bench that are not in any team (the 'next' team) - using them every game. Good thing that you don't need a keeper on the bench any more as their fitness does not go down. At least you then have 2 fresh players on the pitch & if you do need a 3rd, at least you can give him a single fitness card.

I was thinking about the 23rd space in the squad allowing for one player, but didn't even think about the spot the keeper takes up. Nice one. Getting two decent all rounders, one attacking and one defending is probably the way to go.

well i have to say I've just had a run of 3 or 4 games where I've really been enjoying the game.  Not easy to say that after how the last match finished though.

Was battering a guy in a tough match for most of the game but just couldnt get the break through.  Had thoroughly enjoyed it tho as i had been putting together some great build up play moving the ball around really well.  Everything but a goal really.  Then in 90th minute im on the counter and as TWS had mentioned before, Oxlade Chamberlain pulls up as be broke down the wing, ball runs out of play, other guys throw in, he goes up the field and scores, gutted!!!! so cruel, but i wont let that take away from a really good game.  Just hope the other chap knows he got out of jail there.

In the game before Wanyama (this is after i said he was good) collected a ball out of box from a corner and slammed it in off the underside off bar bouncing back out of the goal.  Goal decision system was used to show that it had indeed crossed the line by a small fraction.

I've gone from thinking the game was better than before the last couple of days, to now being very undecided on it. The more I play, 19 games now, the more the flaws of the game, dodgy programming/messed up AI and the like are starting to appear. With every game comes more BS and the realisation that the game is very unbalanced.
Some of the goals my keepers are letting in are unreal. Reading elsewhere on here about terrible finishing. Wish I could play those players! Every game it's every shot on target goes in. Get in the box, finesse, goal. The finesse is more powerful than FUT12, but the power shot and the keepers can pull out wonder saves.
Also the AI on the defenders can at times beggar belief! I am starting to defend ok, but you can't control everyone at once. They can take up crazy positions. Also the wide midfielders (LM, RM, not used wingers yet) don't seem to get into good attacking position like they did on 14. They can sometimes disappear.
There's several other things that just seem a bit off. We've all said that stats seem more important this year than before. I'm not so sure now, with dribbling at least. Rudnevs, a Latvian striker I have in one of my teams has 63 dribbling and can beat defenders with ease. I think dribbling is a bit too easy this year. Think I preferred it on 14. It just seems like everyone is amazing at running with the ball.

I just don't know about the game. Just seems like so much has changed for the better (crosses, lob through balls, stamina), but the more I play, the more worse thing I am finding (dribbling too easy, finesse shots, dodgy AI). I am enjoying it but there just seem to be way too many dubious things in the game. I'm just wondering what's going to happen after the inevitable patch. Look at what it did last year.

In the game, got to a gold cup final but lost 3-2 to attribute cards BPL 41212 that had 50 odd % pass accuracy. Those side are literally all I am facing already, and they have a new recruit. Brown Ideye is the best player in the world judging by the way he plays against you in FUT!

Played against Rudnev last night, he was hard to get grip on.

Think the game is better balanced, finesse seems OP like in FUT12, but I also seen a lot of misses now. Played a couple last night and kept going my winning streak. Some pretty good games actually, lob passes are rare nowadays which is good. And I do get the hang of defending more and more. Don't bite is my advise.

I am playing bronse, so not everybody has a great dribbling or first touch, you can see the difference between a bronse CB and a striker with high stats in those areas. Good thing! Skilling is nice and very rewarding, no autotackling means you can slip by defenders with a nice move,

keepers: I am not sure yet, fantastic saves combined with big mistakes.....

my only really negative point is that you don't see the connection bar anymore. Last game was laggy as hell.

Yeah Eric - it is really a problem when your defenders are standing still whilst the striker makes the amazing run. There is literally nothing you can do but sprint back and hope he misses.

On another note we had a guy put the controller down after 30 minutes after we went 3 up.  We would've quit if we did not need to rest the players.  Such a waste of time given that we started late due to that attack on Origin.