So I took the backgammon reference as a useful comparison to show what type of game Top Eleven is, I don't think anyone was suggesting you're actually playing backgammon!
Top Eleven is definitely not a realistic simulator. I don't think it's even advertised as a simulator? If you want something close to a football simulation you should be playing Football Manager, not a free-to-play game that you only really need to spend 30 minutes per day on. So you may be right that people expect a realistic simulator... but they really shouldn't!
This matches my experience of the game. I occasionally lose to teams I don't expect to, but the majority of the time I beat teams that are significantly weaker. I don't agree with the 95%, I'd estimate that it's probably about 80-90% at present, which seems about right to me.
In terms of how we lose, the game has to come up with some sort of 'explanation' for each match result. I've no doubt Nordeus could do better in this respect, but at the moment one of the ways the game justifies a loss is a poor performance from the goalkeeper. The animations and the player ratings are just a way of representing the outcome of the game engine calculations, as such sometimes they might be a bit unrealistic. Personally, I think most matches should be watched looking at the statistics tab as that's likely to be a closer representation of what's actually coming out of the calculations.
I've been playing for a couple of years now and I find that over the course of a season I get the results that my team deserves (without spending real money). I generally do well in the league and win the Cup or CL every now and then. I suspect most players on this forum are in a similar position. I try to ignore the odd random result that comes with any game involving luck and enjoy my longer term successes![]()