Pure shenanigans.
I've been for 22 seasons. Arrows, tackling, attack through left or right, all bogus.
Even if you play defence or attack looks pretty much useless.
The game result is mostly decided before it starts (during those 3 minutes, action is being calculated in the server and you just get a simulation that picks small changes every 5 game minutes - substitutions and to check if your formation is valid or invalid).