This game is like a low budget cult classic movie or the strip club Dave Chappelle got a 3-dollar lap dance from.

Yeah it's low quality trash, but I'll still have some.

EDIT:
To be fair it takes some time to get used to it. It's a man management game more than anything, tactics are basically non-existent. All you have to do is make sure the personalities don't clash too much in the dressing room and keep everyone fit, trained to some extent and happy. And make sure the little tactical options there are match the players at least somewhat, and of course - most importantly - do your best in the transfer market which is always my favorite part in these games anyway.

I don't know what to expect competing with worse quality players consistently yet, but so far every time the opponent was of similar quality or higher the best I could really hope for was a draw. Two times I won a cup match in extra time only (which drained the stamina almost to a crisis level just those 2 games even though there was a small winter break right after), and the third one in the best of 16 round I lost in extra time. The first 2 matches against the other 2 teams competing for top spot I just lost almost routinely, and only after getting better players in January I won against them in the second matches.
Other than that I occasionally perform badly against much lower quality opponents, and then it complains to me about not playing with wingers and what not, I suppose the devs are not aware of the 4-1-2-1-2 formation? More managers should use that IRL too, since if you don't have an exceptionally good winger it's just too easy to park the bus against the usual wide plays (I hate spraying crosses, it just shows the lack of quality of the manager. Give me tika-taka and forcing an opening through the center all day.). I hate if the game forces you to play a certain way... Especially since that certain way is a recipe for failure in real life.

So most importantly you need to have better quality players (which they are very difficult to manage to get financially) than the opponents, and if you do then tactically you just need to not do something really stupid. So far to me it seems the best way to get better players with low budget is by taking long loans with option to buy (you get a nice discount if they reach new levels during the loan and they can improve your team immediately for really cheap), pre-contract signings (you can get better players around the 27-32 years of age), and straight up buying relatively good old timers (33 to 36 year olds).

At least that is mostly realistic, as in real life even a top quality manager that elevates his players above themselves ultimately cannot really hope to win against teams with much better individual quality (like Klopp's first Champions League final against Real Madrid, and the others too...) - and it's like Guardiola's whole career with top quality players, if you just don't do something really bad then it's more difficult to lose than win (other than in the Champions League where he didn't win so much because the competition was more even...).

I'd still say it's low quality exactly like a low budget science fiction flick.