Loved civ as well.
In T11 the only progress are the training drills you can unlock, and the buildings. And once you have them all, it's just marginal gain.
Apart from that, difficult to compare Civ to T11.

In the former, there is always a long term objective of conquest and world domination.
In T11, it's more as Nik said: How long can you stay on top?
Your team's strength is constantly eroded. Nothing lasts. Your brilliant AML will be the shadow of himself next season.
How to keep up? what will your team look like early next season?
I think it's quite alike to the challenges of real football manager. Think how long Arsene Wenger, Alex Ferguson etc have been doing that very same thing?

For the rest, I agree tanking is a problem (I don't like to play against teams that want to loose), and I'm ready to revise my opinion when I feel I need to tank too. Not happened yet.