There are definitely a lot of signs that this is quite possible.
A main question that raises is if there exists a specific reason for not letting managers do changes 3-mins before KO Why?
Furthermore, there are examples when managers change a legal formation to an illegal just after KO and yet the result was in favor of the illegal formation (legal before KO).
During the game you may see a message 'Top Eleven app has stopped' or 'Connection lost'. The game most of the time is loaded again when all have come into an end! And you find out that the player you were to substitute at the time the connection was lost because he had a yellow has been sent-off...
Why during penalty-shootout many-many times you watch it and if you leave the game even on 1st penalty taken, you already see the result????
Another way to realize that is when you play from mobile and obviously connection has been lost (e.g. being at the Metro or somewhere with no 3G or close Wi-Fi), why the commentary is still going on like normal??? You only realize connection lost if you make a change or after some time. Could it be that commentary is pre-loaded (decided) on those 3-mins before K.O.?
So, not only do they seem to decide it all on the 3 minutes before kick-off, but in addition they disconnect you when you are to change a pre-defined fact.
That is what me and some friends have suspected from a number of facts happened during our play, sometimes in favor, others against us.
That's why they do not give us clear answers in a large number of issues.
So, better have fun and pay - if you want - to play, but don't get fooled to think that being online on your game helps you a lot more that the 8% of possesion gained. Haha, btw they also have a percent of possesion controlled by them.
Closing, RNG decides the result and the facts before game takes place. After game ends they decide on player ratings. That's probably the reason they do not provide live ratings...
Maybe some of you agree, some not, it's a nice initiative to comment on this, isn't it?