FM09 (Yeah I Know) Advice Request and My QPR Save

Bought FM09 3 years ago, quit playing July 2010 frustrated at being robbed sometimes. Anyway, I started playing my QPR save again about a month ago and started to finally have real success, made it to 3rd in the Championship, clinched playoff spot then lost to a bad Sheffield Wednesday team last match of regular season, dropped to 6th. Took on Ipswich first round at home which has nowhere near my talent/quality but is annointed by the game to be good this year. Outshot them 15 to 1, completely dominated the match, had 2 goals disallowed, scoreless draw.

So now im screwed and probably going to lose 1-0, 2-1 etc. on aggregate because homefield advantage seems to = magical dirt in this game unless you are me in a playoff, and having a gigantic talent advantage doesnt matter. My first choice lineup left to right front to back is something like this Strikers: Jonathan Cristaldo, Federico Laurito, AML: Radja Nainggolan/Douglas Costa, Midfielders: Costin Lazar, Dario Venitucci, AMR: Hogan Ephraim/Costa or Nainggolan, Backline L to R: Franck Quedrue, Matthew Connoly, Loic Nestor, Samoel Cojoc, GK: Olivier Sorin (captain).

Any case I know I can't alter the guts of the program im frustrated at and I didnt really come to whine. This playoff away at Ipswich is the biggest fixture of my whole life playing the game. I have a team in revolt because its mostly Premier League quality talent playing in the Championship and if I don't get promoted I am going to probably have to transfer out a bunch of unhappy talent (like 7 first choice players maybe) in order to not lose them for nothing because they won't sign new contracts and will have to largely rebuild what I think is a very talented team.

I finally made the playoffs after 3 seasons of building an almost all new squad with countless hours of relentless scouting, and now im on the verge of none of it mattering. What tactic should I play to give me the best chance away in 3 days? I'll include a link to my save file if anyone wants to look and get a better idea, i think its a pretty interesting save. If nothing else I'm really proud at how much talent I assembled here. Douglas Costa to QPR yeah right.

http://www.mediafire.com/?sfe766njni38aeg

I always tend to play better away from home in the play-offs.

I went off on somebody who deserved to be went off on in this thread and all of the controversial posts got eliminated haha. Aside from stupid people in the forums who are just here to be dicks, here is the main thing about this game that makes me quit playing it for months at a time. Whether or not it actually decides my games before they happen irregardless of massive talent advantages I have and just basically makes the games based on whether I am home or away, which I call the magical dirt rule, I feel that with evenly matched teams homefield advantage matters. When I have a gigantic talent advantage based on my constantly reading hundreds of scouting reports and signing talent, but I can't beat Derby because apparently the dirt there is magic, whether or not this game determines who wins without what I do even mattering, this game gives me the distinct impression that what I do and all of my hours of focus make absolutely no difference.

Giles Barnes and Douglas Costa are about equal in talent (they're not) despite Barnes being your typical slow no talent bag of **** english player, and I should focus on telling Gary Taylor-Fletcher to do it for the fans 18 times this season over reading and thinking hard about thousands of player reports. 4 Championship teams are annointed to suddenly be good every year despite their talent being ****, one will get blessed to beat me in the playoffs, then will get relegated, the other 3 will finish less than 15th the next year, and I'll perpetually have half my team sought after by the Premier League to sign, but I can't beat Sheffield Wednesday on the magical Hillsborough dirt. Here is the bottom line, whether or not it is the case, I basically have the impression that my hard work at this game does not matter, and that should matter to the people who program it. So whether or not that is the case, this is a video game I work very hard at so it should matter that I believe that nothing I do in this game matters. The fact that I feel like nothing I do matters in your game, is a fatal flaw in your game, and I know I am not alone. Other than that the game is very addicting.

If your players are taking to the pitch with the same attitude as you have to lesser talented teams, then it is no wonder you can't beat them. Ever heard of "Home Advantage"? the phrase exists for a reason. Whether magical dirt contributes to this advantage I'm not sure, but it may have something to do with players being more relaxed and confident in familar surroundings and the extra support provided by a greater number of fans, not having to travel etc, even the phrase itself might provide some sort of psychological boost.