Ass man sometimes tells me to turn on counters and/or offside trap. As well as to press higher or tackle harder. Is there anything to his advice? It feels random.

I never press high or tackle hard in response to his advice simply because I never do.

I usually turn on counters if he tells me to because it does not feel very risky.

I turn offside trap on if the opponents does not have AMs, but then it would probably be already on in that case.

I have no idea if his advice has ever helped me or hurt me because I don't follow it all the time, only when it coincides with my own gut feel.

One big takeaway from your and Arion's comments is that OT or no OT should not be determined by the mere presence of opponent's AMs, but rather by the total number of his attackers and relative strength (speed? or P&M?) of my D and his A. And on whether he is passing long. I hope I got this much right.