How to beat 4-1-3W-2

[Tactician]

Some players are just better than others (independent of quality) and play some formations/tactics better than others.

This might be possible too.

Another possibility is that the formations might be associated with the team too, that is this does not change even if you sell most of the players and replaced them with other players. Some teams seem to play narrow formations better or performed better when the focus is set to the middle.