Hey mate,
If you in the second season then I am not able to give you any recommendations because everything is different in your save... it's only possible to give some recommendations only from start of the game.
I suggest you just take common approach as I always do... first of all, take best players who are available for loans then do transfers.
You just need to survive first season in EPL then your reputation will increase and you'll get additional transfer budged and it will be much easier to find players. Also you will be able to increase your scouting network.
Yes, I also would recommend follow instruction from OP and start matches with "base" version because you always can switch for "overload" version in second half if you don't happy how things is going.
Luke, do you struggle with Southampton...? show average CA of your team and your full season results.
bumpy bump!