I honestly dunno what is so bad about them. of course it owns 1 v 1 (ever try to fight them when they are on those city centers? :(, they never rout!!!), but what kinda human players allow that on the open field? are you saying your army melts before you can kill off ai's cavalry and use it for rear charging? only way this could happen is if you play on very hard battle mode, when peasants can kill your elite stack. I simply don't understand the trouble you are having :() even heavy skirmishers last a pretty long time, at least more then enough for your cavalry to get free and start rear ramming.