I think the frustrating thing that people are complaining about is:-
The harder the difficulty, the longer it takes to complete the kick animation.
AND therefore
The harder the difficulty, the more times you get your kick smothered.
The time it takes to kick the ball probably shouldn't be changed with difficulty, and was also a problem with 2006. Now that smothering is more frequent, you notice it a lot more.
My advice is to handball more...and only try to kick when you're completely clear. I've got the top 5 out of 10 players in the league for handballs....and I've won every game so far (on Normal)....so if you're getting frustrated, try it.
The harder the difficulty, the longer it takes to complete the kick animation.
AND therefore
The harder the difficulty, the more times you get your kick smothered.
The time it takes to kick the ball probably shouldn't be changed with difficulty, and was also a problem with 2006. Now that smothering is more frequent, you notice it a lot more.
My advice is to handball more...and only try to kick when you're completely clear. I've got the top 5 out of 10 players in the league for handballs....and I've won every game so far (on Normal)....so if you're getting frustrated, try it.