Sounds like Diego Costa, hit someone in the face and the other guy will be sent off!
But just asking, how many games did you test this with? A sample size of less than 10-20 games is definitely too small to measure something like that.
This is one "complaint" I also have. Man-man defense is just -- waaay -- to good with with a nutty defensive formation. It especially feels like if you pressure someone a bit, they can get away with anything defensively. IE if you face someone with a defensive hole and that team is better than you, that hole is very often exposed with counter attacks etc. But if you face a team with a defensive hole that you own possession against, and presumably they play man-man, their defense more often than not is rock solid.
For example, last season in the cup I faced an extremely offensive wide 3 D team, and the DC was sent off in the second half. I was maybe 105% and this guy 110%. I pressured him some for the reminder of the second half and the 2x15 additional time, but his D was just rock solid still. You just can't even remotely play with 3 STs, a AML and a AMR, 2 MCs and only a DL and a DR in real soccer just because you play "man-man". I was the better team in both the first leg and second leg before he had a player sent off too, so it was not some scenario where a much better team just prevailed (both games finished 2-2 and he won on the penalties...).
In short, a simulation engine for soccer is faulty if it works to play DL-DC-DR to start with in my opinion. I don't know what you guys think? I mean, from my point of view it just wouldn't work in real life. The DL/DR are pretty offensive with the ball and they are still not exposed defensively. I definitely would love to see some tinkering with this from Nordeus side. I think you see a lot of teams playing this system right now and it just takes a bit from the game since it's very unrealistic. I think I am going to take it up in the suggestion section, but I would want to hear what you guys think first!
On the other side of the coin, I think it's a huge plus in TE that formation choosen isn't what decides everything. You can't just like play some nutty 4-2-4 that beats everything else. But IMO the fact that a DL-DC-DR defensive line works so well is takin it too far.