i mean hard attacking if facing much stronger (>30% than yours) that you don't have any chance to win even you play defensively they may score also, so just play hard attacking, that's what i meant by "nothing to lose" with hard attacking in this case. you may still lose if play defensively, so why not to keep attacking?
anyway, i usually play normal mentality when facing slightly stronger team about 10~20% stronger than me.
i will put down arrow on my DC, eventhough i know it weird to order your defender to do defending job, you don't have to order their default job.
but, DC with down arrow and OFF offside trap seems works well when facing stronger opponent. maybe because in this case, DC is slower than opponent attacker, so DC with down arrow and OFF offside trap is kind of playsafe, ofcourse with zonal marking.
then i will use 2 MC or more to make sure i don't lost at midfield. i will start the game with short pass and change it during the game depends on the situation. sometimes i will get crucial win and sometimes just draw. to draw with 10~20% stronger team is fine for me.
but, if i face much stronger opponent (>30% than mine), its different story,
i usually use defensive with counter attack at area the opponent lack of defend.
but i don't always win with this style. i never tried hard attacking anyway.
and i will try it someday if i has chance to face the >30% stronger team than mine