Alright, what's up everyone, it's Omidix here, and welcome back to another video! Today, we're diving deep into the 4-2-3-1 Wide formation and breaking down why it's one of the best formations after the patch. Let's get into it!
Formation and Tactics
The formation we're using is the 4-2-3-1 Wide – the one with the LM and RM, not the one with the three CAMs.
- Build Up Play: Counter. We want those runs and general movement. The attacking AI is a bit... well, let's just say it's not the sharpest in FC25, so anything that gets my team moving, I'm all for it.
- Defensive Approach: Aggressive. Line height of 92. Having it on 70 is fine too, but when a formation has such a presence on the press, I prefer a higher depth so I can get the ball back as soon as possible.
Player Roles and Instructions
Let's break down the player roles, starting from the top:
- Striker and CAM: Pure and Shadow Striker is the best combo for a sole Striker and a CAM behind. You just have a single Striker up top, and the only central support they're going to get is from a single CAM. You want both of these players to be on their Plus+ roles, whatever it is, because if these two aren't having the best chemistry and the best movement boost this game can offer, the formation is just offensively going to collapse on itself.
- Striker: Plus+ role.
- CAM: Shadow Striker (even with the Plus version) or Playmaker Plus+ if you can't get Shadow Striker. My CAM tends to stay a bit closer to the striker since she's on the shadow role. My Striker starts a run and pushes back the offside line, then the CAM goes forward on a late run for an easy one-on-one. Also, the Finesse shots with the play style plus are back after the Patch.
- Right and Left Midfielders (RM/LM): Inside Forward and Balanced. It's way better if you can get players for these positions who actually have the Plus or plus plus version. Their contribution to the attack is very simple: we want them narrowly wide. When we're on the wings, having them in a spot where the opponent can't predict if we're going to shoot or cut inside and pass, that's what makes Wingers on this setup great. So if they're too wide, yeah, we can find the free pass to them more often, but the shooting option is out of the equation. So you want them as close to the striker as we can get them.
- CDMs: Deep Line Playmaker and Holding CDM.
- Deep Line Playmaker: Your ground pass master. This player sends all the incisive pass through balls and connects a lot of the buildup plays. Tiki-taka, incisive pass, or pink pass is what you're looking for in this player.
- Holding CDM: This guy rarely goes forward, sitting right ahead of your center backs is absolutely a machine. If he has the long ball plus play style, a single trigger drawn on the wings and this guy's long balls beats so many players in a fraction of a second.
- Make sure your whole Central midfielders have play styles that help in that department.
- Fullbacks:
- Defensive Fullback: Fullback and Defend, Tuck Inside for a three at the back and all that good stuff. It helps a lot if this player is particularly fast and strong.
- Attacking Fullback: Wing Back and Balanced. The overlapping run on the left-hand side gives us an extra passing option in the Midfield and also helps a lot to find some width in an attacking scenario, especially when both of our Wingers are narrow-minded and action.
- Center Backs: Defender and Defend. That's the most meta option to go for. With our aggressive defensive approach with the line height of 92, we're already pushing the whole defense line pretty high up the pitch. We don't want these two center backs to go any higher than that.
- Goalkeeper: Whatever role Plus or plus plus they might have. Sweeper Keeper is the best option to go for here.
Gameplay and Strategy
The 4-2-3-1 has always been a classic FIFA formation, but it's always been the narrow version that dictated the meta. On FC25, I still think the 4-2-3-1 narrow has the edge, but there aren't enough CAMs yet who have all the necessary stats. Imagine to find free fast skillful cams with good lengths who can dribble with some vak foot capabilities and a shadow Striker role Plus+. It's just a struggle, but later on the FC calendar year I'm sure we'll come back to it when we have a more extended variety of players to go for.