I dont know how you play the game if you think referees are not that bad. You have your players sneezing at the other team players and the foul is called.
You have your player passing the ball to the striker, defender comes out, runs into your striker and the fouls is called against you.
You have players tripping over each other and the fouls is against you. Always against you.
On a flip side - you have AI bashing into you like a bull on steroids inside penalty box and no whistle is blown. Referees are by far the worst they ever been in PES.
You get the odd foul here and there (mostly illogical, random and out of nowhere), but if you do and if you are semi-skilled - 99% of free kicks will end up being a goal.
It got to the point where I was getting pissed off when I scored from a free kick, coz they are so ridiculously easy to score.
As for player awareness - your team is like children in the fog. No one seems to have any idea where the ball is. You pass into space and nobody bothers to get to the ball.
Wrong players are switching, players are, literally, running away from the ball, or not moving at all. You have to hang yourself on Super Cancel to get any reaction from them.
(Which by the way is not an answer. Super Cancel should be advanced mechanics, not necessity)
19 had worse AI (cross into the box + top corner tap-ins being AI way to score 9/10 times) and there was very few fouls there (which might be why referees didnt seem to be that bad), but when it comes to controlling the ball - 19 was far less frustrating, coz your team members didnt act like a bunch of blindfolded morons.
Honestly - bless your heart if you truly dont see how broken the absolute basics are.
Maybe best if you dont look into it any closer and try not to see what I mean.
If you are enjoying it - great. Leave it at that.
Id love not to see any of it myself.
And im not being sarcastic here.