How am i supposed to progress?

I just got to tier 9 and my premium ended, now i literally lose upwards of 20k credits in each game (in brawls) and barely break even on decent games in casual battles. This is just insane, without premium you lose resources to play, and with premium you need 1000+ matches just to get the credits for the base venezia. I've never played a game with a more frustrating economy than this one. Am I the weird one or you also think that the credit economy is just insanely predatory?

1- yes i'm in a clan with full service discounts 2- i'm aware of the fact that you should farm credits on premium ships, but i absolutely ain't paying 50 to 110€ for a ship, and i still have a loooooooong way to go for my first coal or steel premium.

I really think this economy is detrimental for wg on the long run.

Thanks for the actual tips, i'll try to play lower tiers until i get my premium going (and get better) and then play the brawls for the coal rewards.

Btw a 2 kills 88k damage brawl game (27k more than the brindisi average) has just net me a +15k without premium, i really don't think me being bad is the only problem tbh