Can't hit div 1 need advice

I'm f2p but got lucky with free coins getting Messi, Ronaldinho and Thuran. However, yesterday I was on a good wining streak I had 2 matches left to rank up when I started pairing against broken squads that put mine to shame. Since then I've been dropping and I don't know if I'm bad at the game or it's the same for others. What can I do to improve?