well,i had a CL match against a 10-15% stronger opponent ,tried that strategy,hard defending with counterattacks but i lost the matchnot watching games and playing hard defending really does work. i couldnt watch games for 4 days and was playing my biggest opponents. i could train but not watch. i set up hard defending and counters etc won every game 3/4/5 nil.
I think it doesn't work for everyone.