Alright, YouTube, we're back with a formation that I honestly never thought I'd be making a custom tactics video on, but trust me, this formation is absolutely amazing. I'm telling you, it has got absolutely everything. It's perfect in defense and it attacks very, very, very similar to the 4-3-2-1 from last year. Let's dive into the custom tactics.
Tactical Setup: The 4-5-1 Flat
The Tactical Preset is set to Custom. The formation is the 4-5-1 flat, which, on the formation screen, might look like a 4-5-1-2, but it's the 4-5-1 flat with three central midfielders instead of a central midfielder and two CAMs.
- Build Up Play: Balanced. I'm really liking balanced. It's reliable. If you're struggling to create opportunities or are conceding a lot of goals, you can try Counter and let me know in the comments.
- Player Instructions: Vary between forward runs and coming short.
- Team Transition: Steady. This is really, really, really good. Just trust me, use balanced, you will love it.
- Defensive Approach: High.
- Defensive Depth: 61. This is a bit of a running theme with a lot of my videos recently. I am using that 61 defensive depth, and it's working absolute wonders for me.
Player Roles and Instructions
The player roles are set up to create a dynamic and attacking style, very similar to last year's 4-3-2-1, with a few tweaks.
- Left Wing Back: Overlapping.
- Left Midfielder & Right Midfielder: Left Center Forward and Right Center Forward.
- Right Central Midfielder: Playmaker and Attack. This right central midfielder will have a lot of license to get forward and will get a lot of goals and a lot of assists for you, believe you me.
- Central Defensive Midfielder (CDM): Hold and Defend. This player's role is to stay in that middle area of the pitch, shield and protect our back four, win the ball back, and then pass it to the better players. Very nice and easy, very nice and simple when you break it down like that.
- Left Central Midfielder: Box to Box and Balanced.
- Center Backs: Defender and Defend. I do like ball-playing defenders, though, so definitely give that a go if you do want to use it.
- Right Back: Fullback and Balanced.
- Striker: Advanced Forward and Complete. I want my striker to be in them central areas of the pitch and also kind of like have the complete freedom to move where and when they want to.
- Left Midfielder & Right Midfielder: Inside Forward and Attack. This is the key thing. This helps us to attack like last year's 4-3-2-1.
In-Game Strategy
Without the ball, the team defends in a traditional 4-5-1, making it very hard to break down. With the ball, the formation transforms, creating attacking opportunities.