Could be the orders.
It also could be a variety of other factors as well. Blue and green packs in addition to the win bonus affect nordeus revenue so the game engine accounts for these things. If your opponent had one match that day (or you were his first match) and you played a match earlier, plus he maxed his win bonus and invested blue packs it might explain some of your teams struggles.
There is also the hidden mode attributes; those stats that impact a player performance which skill points can't be allotted too. It's why some players (drives me nuts when its my scout list adds) can't get good ratings no matter what the manager does.