Ok so i did some testing tonight but maybe i need to test more.
Basically i played the same game 3 times with 1.02 standard, 1.08a and 1.08b.
On 1.02 i won the game 4-0 and even though im not sure if i just had a great game some of the passing was brilliant great link ups all over, never short of a man to pass to or a player running into space, goals scored were nice 7-8 passes then a goal mostly. The ai hit the post once.
Then i tried 1.08a winning this time 5-1, the play was decent passing was fairly crisp it wasnt the same as the first game, with barca like play but it was good non the less goals were in places slightly more scrappy the speed felt nice kinda pes2010. For the ai goal i got caught on the counter(through ball clean on goal) as i was mauling them i was pushing up a lot.
Then i tried 1.08b, here i won 6-1 for the first 20mins or so i was struggling more with passes, im not sure if it was me or my imagination that i was also not getting as much support as usual making it harder to get attacks rolling/lacking flow often getting cut out or shutdown fast through lack of options. Then after a while maybe getting used to it i started getting goals quite quickly it was 5-1 at 50min mark, it could have finished much higher. Also the ai made some quite big mistakes - one was a pass across goal letting me 1 on 1, i realise this could be random also so it needs testing more.
I think i may stick with the original 1.02 or 1.08a for the time being, the slow down(1.08b) for me seems to be un-natural and disjoints my passing game.
Id be interested to know exactly whats changed as opposed to Improved AI etc... How is the ai improved exactly, whats been fiddled with to make it 'better', despite that its also good thats theres kind of different flavours for everyone.