I had a similar one last season (though it was a bloke) who had the strongest team in the league, yet would cheer for my opponents when he had a chance, even in the odd CL matches where we weren't in the same group area.
As for the second part, someone had a strange formation that left the left flank exposed so concentrated my focus on that area, but we could hardly break him down and his far weaker defence than my attack block everything. It wasn't until I switched to Both Flanks that my MR randomly cracked one in straight after the change.