Hey there, I'm in March in my Sunderland game and I feel your pain. I like to use a mixture of my own (rubbish) created tactics and downloaded tactics when playing with them and i've done alright (10th in the league) I brought in a few players on the cheap and on loans but I would recommend having more than one striker up front, players like Saha, Fletcher, Campbell, Ji and Wickham need to be used considering they take up a large chunk of the wage budget. You've also got very quick players such as Campbell, Johnson, Sessegnon and Rose so I would set up a rather attacking tactic trying to exploit their pace.
In terms of defence, try and get a decent left back because I don't think there is much depth. Four at the back and at least one defensively minded midfielder (Cattermole, Vaughan etc.) should help you stay tight at the back , especially as Mignolet is quality on my save. They would be my suggestions to start with, although they're not brilliant as I've had some rubbish results and 10th isn't really where I expected to be. Oh well, hope it helps!
