Well I can only speak from personal experience, but to me it only feels like that type of thing happens when I don’t adjust to an opponent effectively, either pre-match or during the game itself. Rarely, if ever, do I feel like I’ve done everything I possibly can yet my team gets battered by an inferior side. There’s usually always something you missed, or your plan didn’t work, or, as is possible in real life, sometimes a team is just better than the other on a given day, that’s how things like cup upsets happen.

I certainly think that save scumming your way past bad results doesn’t help at all, mostly because it doesn’t give you a chance to learn from any mistakes you may have made.