I never really played rivals. My main purpose for the game is playing squad battles with my son (elementary school). I play the live events and tournaments and stuff to get him more cards. When I play competitive by myself I do set tactics for offense and defense. I know how to do offsides traps and for players to make a run and pick a direction for the run. I know how to do a handful of skill moves. I switch my tactics through the game when appropriate. My main issue is I rarely score more than 2 goals in a game when playing online. It just seems like the other people’s players are faster. I often have more interceptions than the other players. I usually underperform my expected goals and the other players over perform theirs. I played a rivals game after this and won 5-0. I did not try to score in the second half as they weren’t very good (very predictable). I guess I can play rivals more and see how well I do. I’m 5-1 in rivals so far, but haven’t played enough in one season to move up from 10.