Alright, let's dive into this 4-3-3 variation 3 tactic that I've been having a blast with. It's a formation I haven't really touched in previous FIFAs, and there's a good reason why I've chosen it now. Let's break it down!
Build-Up Play and Defensive Setup
We're going with a Balanced build-up style. The 75 depth is key here, and the player instructions will make it all click.
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Defenders: Both fullbacks are set to False Back and Defend. I know, I know, wingbacks were the meta at the start of FC25, but post-update, I've gone back to fullbacks. Experimenting with balanced and defend, I've settled on false back defend. This makes them act more like CDMs, which is crucial.
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CDMs: Both CDMs are on Deep Lying Playmaker and Build Up. This is super important because a lot of players are running the 4-2-1-3, which is basically the same formation, but with a CAM instead of a central midfielder. This creates a massive gap between the CDMs and the CAM. We want to fill that gap, and we do it with two deep-lying playmakers on build-up. If you look at the heat map, you'll see they occupy that central space, which is completely vacated by that gap.
- This setup is especially effective against formations with two CDMs, which are very popular right now. The deep-lying playmakers fill the gap and make the space between them and the center midfielder really small. We still have those triangle passing options, but we maintain two defensive midfielders with the false backs. They don't always bomb forward; sometimes, they fill space further up the pitch, but they dominate that central area.
Midfield and Attack
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Central Midfielder: My favorite instruction: Playmaker and Attack.
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Striker: Advanced Forward and Support. This is like a more aggressive false nine. I like the positions they take, and they get the ball to feet, but they also get in behind. I don't massively like Advanced Forward attack. I like my striker to have the ball to feet sometimes. False nine felt a little too defensive and possession-oriented with the wingers.
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Wingers:
- Right Winger: Inside Forward and Attack.
- Left Winger: Winger and Balanced.
You can invert these if you prefer. The reason for this setup is to get the inside forward attack nice and close, nice and central, as quickly as possible. This ensures my advanced forward and my playmaker don't get too isolated. I don't want to just get the ball to the advanced forward and try to beat five men. I want my right winger involved and getting close to the striker. I don't want my left winger to also be on inside forward because it gets very congested. We want to create space for the playmaker in the center to attack the penalty box. If we have two inside forwards, there won't be as much space or a clear space for an easy pass for the center midfielder to work with. That's why we have a winger to balance things out. If we need to spread the play, pull the defense apart, get a fullback out wide, we have that with the winger. We still have space for the playmaker to attack, and we have two players in and around the box. The winger will join a little bit later to get inside the box to attack.
I'll be showing this tactic in action in a full game tomorrow, breaking down the pros, cons, the good, and the bad. So, if you try this out, let me know in the comments what you found!