take it as a compliment. If you are playing managers 2-3 levels higher than you, then they have ****ty teams. But that being said, they can upgrade their teams to a point where you cannot compete without sacrificing your first born son. So maybe they can add the aspect of cup-tied players to the mix and you are stuck with the team you enter with. of course that leads to some issues should you buy-sell 10 players but this would prevent such a thing where you enter with a certain quality level and then buy all scouts to win the competition, which happens still to this day.