Just so we are clear, I am of the belief that all the decisions are made before the game. For example: If you put the playmaker in the starting lineup, I would suggest that your passing stats will increase and assists for that matter. Should you have a defensive wall defender, I would suggest that the results will show that there are no free kick goals. And so on...
I firmly believe that anything you do DURING the game is a non-factor except to move the nice coloured possession bar back and forth and to change the names of the pre-determined scorers/cards/assists etc.