FC 27 Fans Say Defending Is Broken, EA Says It's a Learning Curve

Published 2026-10-14 · DB.Coins Blog

The argument splitting FUT right now

Two weeks into FC 27, the loudest fight in the community is not about a promo or a ratings leak. It is about whether defending in this game is genuinely broken or whether players simply have not learned it yet.

EA's position is public. In its launch feedback update, the dev team said the removal of heavy AI assistance was deliberate: the goal is to reward anticipation, positioning and timing instead of letting AI teammates auto-tackle for you. EA also said Team Press had become too effective near your own box and was taking too much defensive responsibility away from the player. Crucially, EA framed the current difficulty as a learning curve, pointing to match data showing players who have adapted are getting better results.

A large chunk of the player base is not buying it.

What players are actually saying

Reading through EA's own FC 27 forums and the threads being passed around on Reddit and X, the complaints cluster into a few repeated themes:

• Player switching is the real villain. The most common argument is not "tackling is too hard" but that you select the wrong defender at the wrong moment, especially defending crosses and corners. Players say that is a systems problem, not a skill problem.
• Fullbacks sit too deep. This one has even been acknowledged in coverage as unintended rather than by design, which weakens the "just get better" response.
• Scorelines look silly. A recurring line in forum posts is that matches are turning into shootouts, and that casual players are getting hammered by anyone who has drilled manual defending.
• The game feels heavy. Separate from defending, plenty of players describe sluggish response, slow-motion strikers on PC and input delay on PS5. That complaint spiked around Title Update 1.0.4 on 7 October, even though EA confirmed that patch contained no gameplay balance or tuning changes at all.

The other side of the debate is just as vocal. Players who have adjusted argue jockeying, not lunging in, and defending with the second man were always the correct way to play, and that every FC launch produces this exact thread. They point out that FC 24 and FC 25 had near-identical "defending is impossible" posts, and that an AI rebalance was the single most requested change before launch. Asking EA to reverse it now, they say, is the community arguing with itself.

My read

Both sides are partly right, and that is why the argument will not resolve. The design intent is reasonable — manual defending with real consequences is what competitive players asked for. But a mechanic that depends entirely on user input also depends entirely on the input layer working, and switching plus fullback positioning are clearly not there yet. "Learning curve" is a fair answer to difficulty; it is not an answer to selecting the wrong centre-back.

The practical point is the timeline. EA has signalled it wants more play data before making major balance changes, and 1.0.4 touched Career Mode, Ultimate Team and The Grounds rather than gameplay. Any November tuning window you see floated online is speculation — nothing has been confirmed.

What it means for your coins

This is where the debate actually hits your club.

The sensible play for Indian players is restraint. Do not sink your whole balance into expensive meta attackers while a tuning patch is an open question, because a gameplay change is the one event that reliably resets card prices overnight. Season 1 is also expected to close around 22 October with a new season and a Halloween-themed promo widely tipped to follow — both still unconfirmed by EA — which means fresh supply and a likely price dip on current cards.

Hold liquid coins, upgrade your switching habits before your squad, and buy after the patch lands rather than before.

If you would rather be ready with coins in hand when the market moves, DB.Coins offers safe trading that increases your coin balance, with instant delivery and support in IST hours — Get FC Coins.