How to Win Against Any Formation?

[Dorin Marinescu]

Hi guys,

I've searched this forum (and the old one) for a formation to counter or at least to try to play well against a good 3-2-2-2-1 like the one below, but I didn't find any answers. So please, can anybody come with some ideas? Thanks in advance.

------DC-DC-DC------
-DMR------------DML-
------MC----MC------
-AMR------------AML-
----------ST----------


Now, in my particular case, I think this team plays defensive+counter all the time (35%-50% possession) and his goals in the league are scored by many different players either from wings or from the centre, even by the defenders. Except for a few couple of games when scored 4 and 6 goals, this team scored about 1-2 goals per match and having a good defence seemed enough so far cause nobody defeat it yet.

So guys, who can help me with my dilemma? Leave aside my specific case, at least from a more generally point of view, how to counter a 3-2-2-2-1 formation?

[Potemy]

So guys, who can help me with my dilemma? Leave aside my specific case, at least from a more generally point of view, how to counter a 3-2-2-2-1 formation?

I love the 3-2-2-2-1 formation, doesn't matter which areas are wide or narrow, because it covers simply everything, and you can easily switch your focus between the centre or the wings with the right personnel.

For this particular one, I've heard it called the butterfly, you can see he's very attack minded down the wings, DML/R and AML/R compared to a standard 4-4-2's DL/R and ML/R. Therefore, you should also attack him down the wings, as that's where his defence will be most exposed, especially on the counter.

It does depend who's better, but I'd actually suggest you play exactly the same formation as him. The midfield will be matched up perfectly, with 3 DCs against an ST on both ends of the field.