To be honest that's not the problem. Apart from the last 3 years or so I always bought PES and I was always brilliant at it (dont mean to brag - but I was usually ranked top 500 in the world). PES 2011 is the first I'd properly played in 3 years and my first friendly I put it on Top Player and won 3-1, so it's not getting used to a harder game I'm struggling with, it's just a very poor game in my honest evaluation.
Nobody agree that the passing is horrendous & waaaaay too fast?
You mean top 500 from a few countries in Europe?
Still, very impressive, but we don't play the world on PES, just select European nations online.
As for giving the game an hour or so, that's pretty stupid really. You've played PES enough to know it's the type of game that requires time and patience to really gel with and get to grips with, especially this year more so than the last 4 or 5 due to the changes in the mechanics.
As for exhibitions, I'll probably start playing more of them and trying out different teams but I've been quite busy with the ML and apart from a 4-1 win in my ML on Top Player, I've not scored more than 2 goals in a match. I'd probably find it a touch easier with good players mind. It's hard to put my finger on but after just over a week of playing it, I have to say that the AI isn't up to scratch in almost all areas in the sense that they're just not ruthless enough and focused in the conviction of everything they do.
The passing though I find to be really great, the majority of the time if I simply tap the button a hospital pass will be played. There's a lot more control over every aspect of the passing, while still allowing the player's stats to play a big part which is an achievement from Konami in itself. The passing I find to be a decent pace as well, I don't particularly like overly fast football games which is why I play PES on -1 speed but the passing is fine to me.
I'm not sure whether you were expecting a ground-breaking game, but it certainly seems like you got your hopes up. It's definitely a step above previous PES titles on the Xbox 360 in terms of gameplay though and it's a solid foundation for Konami to now build upon.
PS: Stop calling people names or I'm afraid I might have to give you an infraction. It's just not necessary to stick things like "fuck off" and "bellend" at the end of a sentence.