Prepare for new season

I am currently into my third season. Both in my seasons 2 and 3, I come across a strong team in the first round of the cup and get knocked out even if I play my best eleven (at that time).

I play with 2 wide AM , 3 MC and a striker. My 2 AM are only 3 star now. The rest of the squad is pretty strong with at least 4 stars. Both my AM's score well this season, but I fear that they will come short at the start of next season.

Should I spend a lot of money on new AM. Is it necessary to have at least 3* at the start of the season. Will my star player who is only 3 stars now able to survive next season when he becomes 2*

Any experience would be welcome

It's really unpredictable I'd say. My 2* MC has 7 goals in 13 games this season (he played like 3 matches and scored 0 last season) and my 5* ST has 2 goals in 12 matches... I don't even know how to deal with that.

If you are out of the cups I would advise keeping hold of your tokens until day 1 and buying players then as you could get better star quality players then.

Some player Will continue to play well no matter the number of stars.

In one of my teams i have a 1* ML/AML 34 years old, he already have 7 goals scored and 7 assistes and he is 2goals away of the 100th goal for the club. Last season as 2* he scored 7 goals, 2 seasons ago as 3* he scored 19 goals.
But of course not all the players play like this.

Yes no worries about that, they performe different from season to season. My 3 striker and 1amc together 100milion worth scored last season about 100 goles together, now they injured regulary, play half the games, scored yet about 30 goles, and my amc has 15 alone, the strikers still young 19 now but this year perform bad, but i wouldn't think of waste token as i know sooner o later they score again, sonetimes just is like that. Specially now second half as season end soon i think no need buy new player, cause competition end soon anyway. U just keep on training and if u see it keeps bad then buy new but yes not this season, its waste of your token
They drop a star, but quality remains, my striker was scout now this season cause many injurys i couldn't bring him from 5* to scout again, so next season he will be starting as 4* with same quality as always and about 18 million worth, its more than a new 5 star, if u buy expensive player they lose a star but if u see their market weigh still higher than loads others cause quality remains so a great player if drop to 4* Stil much better than many with 5*