Alright, lads, I had a feeling this day would come – the return of an infamous formation that's probably going to give you nightmares! I'm here to give you the tactics for it. This setup has really sorted out my game, and I'll explain more in a second.
Formation and Build-Up Play
We're going with the 4-3-2-1, a classic for a reason. In the build-up play, I'm using Balanced. This gives you a good foundation to start your attacks.
Defensive Setup
The key to this formation is the defensive setup. I'm running 70 depth. You can experiment with 71, but I'm not entirely sure if that triggers auto offside traps. I'm still testing that out.
Player Roles: The Secret Sauce
Now, let's talk player roles. This is where things get interesting, and where I've been doing a lot of experimenting.
- Striker: The Poacher role is almost a must-have, in my experience. They make much better runs than anything else. It's not ideal with my current striker, who has the Advanced Forward role, but the Poacher role is the way to go.
- Shadow Strikers: I'm building my teams around fitting in these meta roles as much as possible. It's honestly making the whole experience a lot worse, but it's what you gotta do.
- Midfield:
- One Box-to-Box midfielder.
- A Deep Lying Playmaker in the middle. This is crucial for controlling the tempo and starting attacks from deep.
- A Playmaker.
- Fullbacks: Stay Back While Attacking. This is a big one. In this game, as soon as my fullbacks go forward, I'm getting countered. It's brutal. If you're a defending genius, you can try having them go forward, but I'm struggling to deal with it, so they're staying back.
- Center Backs: I have one on Ball Playing Defender. The issue I'm finding is if you're not playing players in the role that they're A Plus on, they just play so much worse.
In-Game Strategy
This 4-3-2-1 plays really well in-game. You can play a similar style to what you might have used last year. This isn't the variation where it defends in a 4-4-2, but it's not needed as much because we've got our fullbacks on defend. We're sacrificing a bit in the attack for a more solid defense.