Fully got ya!
and yes, indeed, I noticed those side ways short passes by the AI. That’s a positiv thing I noticed.
still, their mentality is mostly forward! better than, as you mentioned, in the lastet modern titles because they go at least sideways now. But still, and you as a coach well know this, they don’t take the opportunity to pass back as often as it would make sense!
There is one example right in the beginning of your linked video.
cb is behind the 6er (with the ball)… but yeah, they try to pass it through the opponent forward to their midfield player… instead of passing it to the cb and then evolve…
again, I can see the progress but still can’t unsee how much work there still needs to be done to have basic team behavior correct.
edit: I just took the time… first 5 ingame minutes…
red = pass ai does
green = how it should do and 16 does (99%)
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football is a game of avoiding mistakes. Nothing else! That AI don’t gimme the impression it knows this! 🤷♂️