Hi
Nice find!
I can confirm, that the 'determination' attribute is not really linked to starting strategy. It is just, like determination for any other coaches or players, an attribute that measures how determined hard the manager is willing to work to bring success to his club.
However, I can confirm that the others attribute work like a treat in providing an excellent, basic framework to a working tactic.
For example:
1. you can start a 4-4-2, use Sir Alex' attribute to set the tempo, width, time wasting, tackling, and philosophy.
2. Then, choose the appropriate strategy, for example, Man U home against Bolton would be Attacking, Man U away to Chelsea would probably be standard or counter.
3. Assign appropriate player roles with respect to the strategy you've chosen in part 2:
Important! You must maintain enough defensive shape while doing so. I.E. Just because Barcelona has a bunch of great Adv. Plymaker dosent mean they should set all their central midfielders to attacking advanced play-makers. If you start with standard you probably will have more players on support and defend than, say, if you start with control or attacking.
4. Tweak slightly player roles and instructions according to your strengths and weaknesses.
Works a treat for me!
Update:
I find, that, for my Chelsea team, I had great success using either Rafa's 4-2-3-1 (with two DMCs) or Sir Alex's 4-4-2 flat. Both of these tactics are fairly direct which probably suit my Chelsea team.
My re-created 4-3-3 tactic from Arsene Wenger, Andre-Villas Boaz and Josep Guardiola has not been as successful. All of them plays slower, shorter tempo passing which, I guess does not suit Chelsea as much. No wonder AVB is having such a hard time IRL
Did anybody find a 4-3-3 that plays slightly more direct?