I get this tactic in every match I play apart from against the really top teams. In CM I can confortably beat Chelsea 3-0 and Man Utd 4-1 because they seem to ease off the pressure a bit more, but then I play the rest of the division below them, and they all double, even triple press exactly like you describe.
I even went into the team setup screens to see how they were doing it, and just like you say, the way the game sets up the team's approach has absolutely no bearing whatsoever with how the AI then makes them play. They all press, lay deep in their half, and counter, regardless of what team settings the game sets them as. Every team plays in the same way.
As for that patch announced, it's a disgrace. Like FIFA10, there are TONS of huge bugs that, according to EA, the community didn't ask to be fixed? How about the fact that it's impossible to buy most of the game's top players because there's a bug which means if you try and buy, for example, Ozil from Real Madrid, the game will block it because he's "just moved to a new club". Fair enough, this is fine for the first season of CM, but 3 or even 4 seasons in and it still blocks you from buying him (or anyone else who moved clubs this summer).
For a career based game mode that has placed all the personality plus emphasis on the game's top players, who you then cannot buy, then that's a total farce.
So is this a real issue? I wouldn't know since I've yet to play as a team with the financial resources to acquire a top player, meanwhile I rarely try to sign the same player over multiple seasons, so I haven't noticed whether the "just moved" tag goes away or stays after one season. Sorry to beat a dead horse but if this is the case then it's one of those examples I was talking about where an attempt at realism has in the end been more of a loss than a gain. The concept is fine - although I don't think restricting transfers to players who have been at a club for more than a season was ever a priority among MM fans - but its implementation sucks.
Regarding high AI pressure in CM, I swear in my CM it's when the CPU plays away.
Actually, I'm honestly enjoying my current CM, playing with Lillestrom in Norway. Though it's not about enjoying CM (after almost 1.5 seasons I've had hardly any player growth, despite a fairly successful first season, great form this season, plenty of "high-potential" players, and solid match performances, argh!) but rather I'm finding a style of gameplay that brings out the best in FIFA for me.
First, I've dropped the difficulty to WC. Second, to create more of a challenge on defense, I refrain from using any of the tackle or teammate pressure buttons, relying solely on the combination of jockeying and the new (over-powered) auto-tackle feature. This is basically the same style of defending I had been playing before, and similar to what others like nerf i believe play, however I've added a couple new twists that I've found make for not just more of a challenge but much more realistic gameplay in general: I do my best to refrain from using the sprint button on defense while also setting as a goal to do my best to avoid committing fouls (which is more of a challenge than it sounds when only relying on jockey and auto-tackle -that I get as many cards as I do when not pressing any tackle buttons is just ridiculous).
Now I am not perfect at adhering to these self-imposed restrictions - I do catch myself cheating now and then! - and I also make exceptions for my back line players or when it involves stopping a one-on-one or easy scoring opportunity. In these cases - especially when controlling one of my back four - I'll allow myself to use sprint but still rarely anything else other than jockey and the auto-tackle - you just don't need anything else.
Limiting my use of sprint on defense has not only made defense challenging again - sprint + jockey = many of the worst offenders of realistic physics that I previously highlighted as being responsible for over-powered defending this year - but it has "opened-up" gameplay and added to realism substantially. Maybe most important, without using sprint on defense I now must play more cautiously on defense (and so more realistically), switching to the defender that is not necessarily closest to the ball but instead in the best position to slow or close down the dribbler.
As one consequence this means I am much less likely to regain possession immediately after loosing it - a defining characteristic of FIFA 11 - but I am also allowing the CPU a tad more possession (although not much more as it's near-impossible to not finish a game without having 60 percent of possession, unless playing a far superior team). Another consequence is I am conceding more goals than before, but the increased enjoyment from a greater challenge more than makes up for it. The slightly weakened defense is also somewhat offset by what I think is a gain to my offensive play by allowing the game to be more "open" and pulling the CPU players from their half of the pitch and out of position.
The other major change I've made recently is with the controls I've been using, and this change has had just as much if not more an impact on my enjoyment levels. Typically I'm an all manual player, but in the past week I chose to go back to basics, resetting all controls to their default levels. I did this because I felt over-whelmed by the physical side of FIFA 11, and I thought that if I eliminated the extra challenge of manual controls I could then focus on improving other aspects of my game, specifically shielding and protecting the ball while dribbling.
And it worked! What I did is emphasized LT close dribble and RT shielding, to an exaggerated extent. Basically, if I had the ball, I was holding down LT or shielding. I experimented with depressing LT or RT upon receiving the ball, and much of my game would be a series of pass-shield-pass-shield-pass-shield-shoot. It was a bit much, but by going back to basics and treating myself like a noob, I have not only improved my ability to maintain possession but my goal scoring record is *vastly* improved.
I have also been steadily making my way back to all manual, right now playing with all manual except semi passing. If I go up by 2 or more goals, I immediately switch to all manual. Since I suck at crossing, sometimes I go with semi for crossing.
I think the problem I was having is again due to the extended length of time manual passes take to "power-up." FIFA plays a frantic brand of football by default, and rather than using the tools to slow down play and maintain possession, as under-effective as they are, I was trying to actually play faster with manual passing, trying to be quicker with my passes to avoid CPU challenges, rather than focusing on holding off challenges, then passing. Passes that should be viable options, and are viable options with the quicker semi and assisted settings, would cause me to be tackled as I was powering-up the pass.
Playing FIFA this way may sound obvious, the offensive part at least (though it works, the way I have to play defense is ridiculous), but it's not. As Rom has said here and elsewhere, FIFA can be played in a way in which football wins out, but it is not the way that FIFA seems designed to be played, nor is it necessarily the most effective way. Slowing the game down can be an effective strategy, at least against the CPU, but when you exploit the overly-effective defensive tools FIFA 11 provides, or when the CPU plays with uber-high aggression, or just when you're having an off day, FIFA can descend into a frantic, mindless, overly-physical brand of gameplay that seems to have as much in common with hockey as football.
If anyone is struggling on offense, finding defense far too easy, or you just want to see if you can squeeze a little additional realism from FIFA, I suggest trying some or all of what I've done. Limiting the use of sprint when defending (as well as on offense of course) really makes for a better game I've found, maybe even more so than refraining from using the tackle and teammate pressure buttons. I swore off FIFA 11 months ago but I've now found a way to make gameplay not only tolerable but even a little fun.
Now CM as a game mode is a whole other story...
