It is unappreciative people who always complain like you guys that led Konami into this direction; even in those "glory" years of PES, fans were complaining. When their gameplay was near perfect and new iterations came out, it is people like you guys that said things like "same old same old", "same game as last year with minor tweaks", "WTF Konami, stop releasing the same game", "this gameplay needs to evolve", "Konami is stuck in the past", "Fifa is improving and updating every year while our PES is just staying the same", etc, etc. When the gameplay for PES was near flawless, fans still complained when they didn't fix what wasn't broke. Reviews didn't help out either as reviewers kept saying in a dismissive fashion "new year, same old PES gameplay" and things of that nature.
I too like to talk about the glory days and still yearn for the gameplay of those years; however unlike you guys, back in those days, I knew that I was playing the most beautiful sports simulation ever and I never wanted to change. In fact, I kept saying things like "next year, release the SAME GAME, just naturally improve the graphics, minor tweaks, have transfer updates, try to get more licenses, and work on good online play."
And I am not being an apologist for Konami as I currently cannot stand the whole R-stick dribbling notion, the removal of wingsbacks, the extremely frustrating and counterproductive removal of agility and shot technique stat(my biggest gripe of PES2012), the absolutely garbage form and condition system in MLO which completely ruins MLO, the fact that cheating is still possible online, the fact that I can't hold the pass button longer so that I could pass the ball to the person behind the designated player(maybe I just do not know how to do it), the light and a slightly floaty feel that players have, the mouse-arrow/player substitution menu, the fact that stats are divided up into four sections, and a few more that I currently cannot think of.
However, ever since Konami did decide to head into this 'updated' direction, PES 2012 is the best version of PES since those glory days in my opinion. I feel the game is very fun and realistic, and I just want to reiterate once again how much I appreciate the smooth online play.
Having said that, PES fans are very passionate about their games so I can understand their disappointments if it did not meet their specific expectations because I remember some previous PES games where fans defended them and really liked them while I thought that they were terrible. In fact, I skipped those games that I thought weren't up to par and kept playing older iterations those years so I do see where you guys are coming from even though we disagree. I am just glad that I actually enjoy this year's version as I know how it feels and how much it sucks to wait another year for a new PES game that hopefully I will sincerely enjoy without forcing or faking my affection for the game just because it is PES.