Alright guys, so as you know, it was the FC Pro Open this weekend, where the best players in the world were battling it out. I thought, "Let me try some custom tactics from one of these pros." These guys, even though I'm happily retired, are still at the top of the game and they're going to have the best stuff up their sleeves. I tried this formation and tactics I found on Twitter from a pro, and my God, it is disgusting! So, as always, I'm here to give you guys the best chance of winning. If you don't like the ratty five-at-the-back stuff, I do apologize, but hopefully, this helps. Let's get into it!
Formation and Player Roles: The 5-2-1-2
So, as you can see, it's the 5-2-1-2. This five-back stuff has completely taken over FC 25. Seems like there's no going back. I've heard there's a gameplay patch coming, which seems pretty significant, but you know, if I know EA like I think I know EA, it's just going to be the same old, isn't it? There's always going to be the broken stuff, the things people are exploiting, and there's always going to be a way to play the most ratty way, especially in stuff like Foot Champs. You just can't avoid it.
I'm going to take you through this. When using these tactics, it made the game so much easier to play. I think the way these tactics are made, especially by pros at the top level these days, is that the tactics do a lot of the stuff for you. When you think about getting your players moving, having players behind the ball, you know, overloads in the attack, AI movement, you want as much assistance as possible. It's the same with controller settings; any extra help you can get on the game from EA, you need to take it, and that is exactly what these tactics are going to be doing for us today.
So, it is the 5-2-1-2. I will leave the code somewhere, either on the screen, in the comments, or pinned in the description. It's going to be somewhere, okay? It's going to be somewhere.
- Strikers: We have "Poacher" on one of the strikers. Now, I don't know whether it was because this particular pro was using Haaland, and we know that with Haaland, if you have him on "Poacher Plus Plus," he's just a bit broken. So, I'm not 100% certain whether if you don't have Haaland, you would just go "Advanced Forward," because that's the popular one. But for the sake of this, we have Haaland as well, "Poacher Plus Plus," and then "Advanced Forward" on the other striker.
- Midfield: What I have noticed from a lot of these pros now is they are prioritizing the actual role over what the player has in a plus. For example, you know, you see Joe Gomez there; he doesn't have a plus on the defender role, but you play him there anyway. And it's the same with the whole midfield here. We have Payet as a "Playmaking CAM," we have "Deep Line Playmaker" on the left center mid, and "Box to Box" on the right. The way I've been running my tactics is I've been having basically all my center mids on "Box to Box." I think the reason "Deep Line Playmaker" on one of them can be good is because they're just not going to go forward as much, even when you're attacking, so it's essentially having like a CDM there in a way. So, you have "Deep Line Playmaker" on one and then "Box to Box" on the other.
- Defense: For the actual defense, obviously, we're in a five-back here, so we're going to have two attacking wingbacks. They're going to get forward as much as possible. For that particular role, you're wanting as good wingbacks going forward as possible. So, for me, Cap and Trent, two good forward-thinking fullbacks, that is going to work really well. And then the three center-backs just all on "Defend." I have found that to be the best for a while. Just "Defend" on your center-backs. None of this "Stopper," "Ball Playing" messing about; just get them on "Defend," whether they've got the plus or not, that is going to work very well for you.
Tactics: Build-Up and Defense
In terms of the depth and stuff we're running:
- Build-Up Play: We have "Balanced" on the build-up style, rather than "Counter." You can experiment. It seems that, you know, "Balanced" and "Counter" are the ones that are mainly used, and then you have "Short Passing," which I've not seen any high-level player ever touch.
- Depth: And then 70 depth. Again, there's no real right or wrong here, in my opinion. If you struggle with your defending, you can lower it, but then again, at the same time, you know, playing the high depth and squeezing your opponent in is actually a way of helping your defensive vulnerabilities as well. So, that's something for you to experiment with. But in terms of this formation and the player roles, these are the bees knees, boys! I'm telling you, you're going to find it so easy to attack and defend in this setup, and I hope it helps you.