I went thru this for the last three seasons - lost 3-4 of first 5 league matches.

Luckily I finished second, champions and fourth respectively. I remember the struggle to get it right. It helped that some teams imploded. I dissected the issue and each time it was a personnel & formation. Either I had the wrong player playing in the formation or had the wrong formation for the player at my disposal. The first time I brought in 3 or so players (on top of the few that I had earlier bought), to fit into the formation I wanted to play. The second time, I tweaked my formation to suit the players. Last season, also had to tweak my formation (was up against a lot of 4-4-2s). Happy to say that I have been promoted for 20 consecutive seasons with this team.

Having said that, sometimes, no matter wht you do, you cant win to save your life.

Good luck, all you need is a winning streak to get it going.