[Qb]

Like most sports games, with all the different ways to play it depends what you want out of it.

I don't play FUT, so I'm not able to speak to that or online play in general. I play a buddy every now & then and we have a good time using manual controls. I also play Pro Clubs sporadically, which can be really fun, but you also have the occasional match where your AI teammates are clueless. And it can get repetitive due to the online meta of assisted controls.

I mostly play in a career mode using the OS Community sliders (slightly tweaked for my preferences) and manual controls. This is the first time in a few years I played through a season without simming and use 15 minute halves so that should count for something! Once again, it depends what you're looking for. Champions and Europa league branding adds some spice. International tournaments are there (but aren't officially licensed) if you don't mind double duty. While they added some things to CM like press conferences and negotiation scenes, they are fairly shallow and can get repetitive (still, I don't mind them). Transfers and cpu squad management are still iffy at times, but probably not as bad as it once was and it doesn't impact my enjoyment. But if you're looking for all the big teams to mostly play their "real" starting 11 and only make "realistic" signings, then YMMV.

Long story short, if you want uber deep/realistic management options and tend to simulate matches, you should be playing Football Manager. If you enjoy actually playing matches, I think FIFA is pretty good. However, I don't play it like most people since I use sliders, long matches, and manual controls.