Well its hard to say at this stage as I've only played like 50 games or something. I do feel your pain though, I've played against teams who have a value of 250 million, and one of them had only played 200 games. How is that possible? They must be cheating somehow???
I'd say Its vital to get 2-3 decent players in attack, that way you can cause most teams problems.
The players I got are as follows;
M.Diouff - Striker (Quick, good dribbling, scores goals) 26 in 35 games. Price around 1.2 million (before wages)
Birsa - Att Midfield (Can win headers, good dribbling speed, decent passing, can score from distance)
Price around 1.2 million (before wages)
E. Frimpong - Def Midfield (Decent on the ball, ok passing, seems strong) Although he's got no stats he seems to be a decent player and has chipped in with some big goals!
Price around 700K (before wages)
Danny Rose - Left Midfield (Quick, good dribbling, good crossing)
Price around 1 million (before wages)
I also recently bought Milan Baros to go up front and he has been very good, getting about 10 goals in 10 games.
But he was more expensive, like 2.2+ million . . .
I'd recommended any of the guys I've bought . . .but you can probably get someone better than Baros for the price. I just went for him as a random one . . .he's been good though!