I don't see a huge difference in difficulty between 4 and 5*. I played on 3 for a long time, and moving up was frustrating to start with. The main differences, to me anyway, seem to be
1 - The number of your passes to be intercepted greatly increases.
2 - The comp sticks 13 men behind the ball at all times (or so it seems)
3 - If you still have the default goalie (whichever one you use) in the 1st division, you might as well have no goalie at all, as he can't stop the howitzers fired at him.
Having said that, once you find "the knack" for beating the COM team, it applies to all of them, and they soon all become fairly easy to beat. I use 3-5-2, with the OMF pushed right forward, and start a lot of attacks down the wing. Defensively, I try to push attackers wide and block their cross. Seems to work OK.
1 - The number of your passes to be intercepted greatly increases.
2 - The comp sticks 13 men behind the ball at all times (or so it seems)
3 - If you still have the default goalie (whichever one you use) in the 1st division, you might as well have no goalie at all, as he can't stop the howitzers fired at him.
Having said that, once you find "the knack" for beating the COM team, it applies to all of them, and they soon all become fairly easy to beat. I use 3-5-2, with the OMF pushed right forward, and start a lot of attacks down the wing. Defensively, I try to push attackers wide and block their cross. Seems to work OK.