How to Win Against Any Formation?

[Maamba]

It's not an easy one to crack, same with 3-1-4-1-1
A lot will depend on your own players available.
First off how do you match up against his ST and AMC if you have the upper hand then things get a little easier as you can block the AMC and play 3 wide at the back.
From there take his MF out man for man, that leaves you three to attack him with, as he has a DMC you need AMR/AML and a striker to finish the job.
He is probably playing with Focus mixed so I'd put down arrows on my MR/ML and play Mentality Normal, Focus Both flanks, with short passing and zonal marking no offside and no force counter.
If those orders are not working, depending on how he is creating chances then tweak them to Defensive.
3 wide is not the best to go attacking with as you need the off side trap on, which is risky to say the least.
Hope this helps, it's the way I'd play him in any case.

So if I have this right the formation you are suggesting is as follows:

3N-1-3W-2(AMR/AML)-1

----------ST
AML---------------AMR
ML-------MC-------MR
---------DMC
---DC----DC----DC

... with defensive arrows on the MR and ML.

Looks very unusual and heavy on the wings but I like that

Yes I stack up fine at the back and all across the pitch to be honest - my side is 2-3 points better than his in every position pretty much. (Plus my squad is flexible enough that playing this formation has no one playing out of position.)

When I compare what you've come up with to his formation it makes a lot of sense, thank you ... I'll be sure to let you know how I get on in the return later in the season if not before if I meet someone playing the same formation as him.

Great stuff, thank you.