i got beaten pretty hard,
I did not say that you got beaten hard, I said that your offense got shut down... Those are two different things. You also shut down his offense to some degree, which kept the game fairly close. But you were really shut down, which by looking purely at the match ratings should not have happened. You shutting him down makes sense, the opposite does not.
I think what you are saying is that under the new engine, you now have to beat your opponent's inside d by 2 full levels or better to get good results, plus you need respectable or higher flow. On the other hand, for an outside offense you only need mediocre-average flow and to beat your opponent's outside d by 1 level.
Does that sound better?
Run of the Mill Canadian Manager