Let's take a look at the different attributes available

• Short: This will make your players pass at a short distance.
• Direct: In this case your players will use a direct passing style..
• Long: Long balls will be prefered in this case
• Mixed: Last but not least, this attribute will permit your players decide for themselves which way of passing is fit for each situation

Our suggestion

The passing issue is one of the most controversial in CM. Crawling through hundrends of site and having discussed it with numerous fans, i have come to the conclusion that each deploys a different style. The only thing for sure is that long passing is out of the question. You can use it only in the end of a game, when you have turned in a defensive mentality and you have put your players in counter attack.

As regards the other three, you can use which ever you wish, and you will never see a great difference. There are a couple of general rules however.
1) In case your team has good passing and creativity attributes, then you should better try the mixed passing game. This way you will allow the players to decide what is best at each situation.
2) The AI of the game is such that the pc after a number of games finds out the system you are playing and adjusts its own system to yours. This may even happen in the middle of the game, and you will suddenly see that your superiority just vanishes, and you come under pressure. In this case i always check the percentage of passes completed, and if it gets low compared to my team;s usual standards (normallly 70% or more) i change it to some other passing style. More often than not this will work, meaning that it is not as important to choose the right passing style as to choose the right time to change it as soon as the opponent detects it.