I did very similar with my Den Haag game this year when it comes to Scouting Budget, (I’m only signing players who are no older than 17 when the season starts), opened up the the scouting network, and loaded up my Scouted Players list for real bargains, mostly from Northern Europe.
Had similar problems to you with defending and tracking players back, was fine against the lower teams in the league, but anyone of any strength killed me, started with a 3–2-2-2-1 with wing backs and inside forwards, but now promoted, (Kishna and Verhrydt were the difference) I’ve had to revert to almost a 5-1DM-1-2-1 to stop conceding, it’s very much a team of two half, attack and defence.
Great read as always