Alright, lads, welcome back to another video! Today, I've got a brand new 4-3-3 variation 2 for you, using two full-backs that I'm absolutely buzzing to show you.
The 4-3-3 Variation 2: The Setup
First off, let me tell you how I've been getting on with this. I'm getting pretty close to Rank 1 with this squad. I've had people in my Discord testing it, giving feedback, and everything. If you want to join, the link is in the description below.
I've been using this team with Steve McManaman for only five games and Jota and DC also only five games. You can see the kind of team I've been building, a Liverpool team only, and it's gotten me really close to Division 1, playing against teams far superior to mine – Mbappé, Haaland, Vinícius Jr., Oro, Van Dijk every single game. So, it's done really, really well, and it's the formation and tactic that I'm probably going to use for quite a few weeks now. I'm definitely taking it into Champs this weekend to see how we get on.
So, without further ado, let's get into what the team is, how it plays, and what I will say is the code is on the screen now and it is in the description below as well if you want to see exactly what you need to type in to get the code and formation tactic into your own team.
Starting off, it's the 4-3-3 variation 2 with one CDM and two CMs. It's balanced with 70 depth. We're pushing up a bit. We've got those two left-back and right-back, the two full-backs coming into midfield, as you can see here with the ball. That's how the team looks, and it's really effective in what we want to do here, which is control the midfield, push the two center midfielders on to allow the inside forwards and the advanced forward on complete for the role to really do their thing and get all the goals.
Now, as you can see, I've got quite a few plus and plus plus players in their roles, but neither of the playmakers on attack, both Harel and SAS, neither of them have got that plus at all, and McManaman with inside forward balance hasn't got that plus. It still works absolutely fine. Like I said, I'm not seeing too much of a difference between plus and plus plus at the moment. I will be doing some more experimentation with it, but not seeing a massive difference.
Player Roles and Instructions
So, it is a 4-3-3. This is what it looks like. So, effectively, the two full-backs go into midfield, and then we've got Gravenberch holding in the middle. So, actually, what we will do is we'll look at it with the heat maps instead so we can see. Let's have a look at the full-backs first of all. They are going to mainly sit as kind of like center midfielders. So, full-back, just so you know, is kind of like the inverted fullbacks, like what Petuol is doing, like what you see Trent doing sometimes under Klopp and for England, a modern evolution of the fullback. This player pushes up the field, adopting a central position when their team has the ball. Now, with balanced, they play as a center midfielder. If you change that to defensive, they turn to a defensive midfielder. We want that on balanced, and you can see the heat map there.
Now, what's really crucial is when you do lose the ball, they do go back into right-back fairly quickly. I wish they stayed central for a bit longer, but they do go back quite quickly already. So, again, you can see on the other side, pretty much where they're going to be.
Now, with holding, you can have defend, or you can have roaming. I like defend because I want to know where my CDM is going to be, the anchor in the middle. If you have roaming, the two greens to the left of them will also be kind of like that more vibrant green to show the heat map of where they usually are. I really think that holding defend is the way forward.
Then you've got these two mids, which I absolutely love. So, again, you can see their heat maps. They're not too wide, they're nice and narrow, mainly in the center mid position, great for knocking the ball about, great for going out wide, back into the middle, getting it to the striker's feet, playing those three balls, the lob three balls, and actually getting in the box and scoring goals as well. We will have a look at Harel and Subers slide stats in that center mid position.
And then it allows our inside forwards, you can see, very balanced indeed, wide forward, central. They're going to pop up where the space is. Now, people in the Discord that were trying out there were lots of people that really liked roaming. I personally didn't, but there's other people that really did. There's other people that felt the same as me that roaming couldn't quite see where the players were to really get the best out of them. They preferred balance. That's something you might want to play around with: is balanced or roaming the better option for you for the inside forwards?
And then the advanced forward for me, it's Darwin Núñez, getting him behind, getting in the box, getting on the end of three balls, really putting a lot of pressure and scoring goals, and this has been working really nicely for me.
Gameplay and Live Stream
Now, I was um and iring whether we go through gameplay clips right now. What I'm going to do instead is I'm going to be live streaming on Twitch and YouTube. Both links are in the description below. So, if you prefer watching on YouTube, I'll be there. If you prefer watching on Twitch, I'll be there too. I am going to be doing that at Tuesday on Tuesday evening this week. So, this is the formation. If you play it and you don't quite understand how it works, how the tactics are working, I am going to be live streaming for you to see. So, please check that out. If you follow my Twitter as well, which is also in the link below, next to my YouTube and my Twitch, then you'll also see the up to date is exactly what time I will be posting a bit early on Tuesday, exactly what time I'm able to go live.
So, that is the tactic. It has been tested by people in the Discord, like I said, that is also in the link below if you want to get involved with that. I'm having a lot of fun with it. As you can see, it's kind of like a 2-3-2-3. It's great, it's balanced, it's reliable, and once you get the hang of it, you can absolutely cook with it. One thing I will say is you've got to be a bit more patient, not passing the ball around 12, 13, 14 times, but if you are getting your full-backs to go to center midfield, of course, you can counterattack, but just be mindful that actually you can't just hit straight to the striker. Let's get our center midfielders involved, let's get our players involved, and that's going to get the best out of the tactic. But you're going to see this when I live stream on Tuesday.
So, that is the tactic. Let me know in the comments below how you're getting on with it if you do try it, and I'll see you soon for some more FC25 content. Ciao for now!