Cross-device sync of episodes is better but still erratic and inconsistent

I will give credit where credit is due. The cross-device sync of podcasts is better than it's been in quite a while and a majority of the time my position within a particular episode and the status of other podcasts that have been played syncs as well, but it doesn't always work as it should.

I would also like to see the played episode disappear from the now playing space once it's done, or at least give me the option to remove it manually. This used to be the case, but it hasn't been that way for years now. Like many things Apple, one step forward, two steps back.

And finally, why can't there be an option to delete the downloaded file once the episode has been played? Pocket Casts does this and it works exceptionally well.