Title decider, unique formation

[DoctorRedDevil]

Hello everyone. I need a bit of assistance.
Tomorrow I will play a team that is top of the table two points ahead of me. A must win game for me. He plays a formation I never faced before.

----ST-----ST----
-------AMC-------
ML--MC---MC--MR
------------------
---DC--DC--DC----
--------GK--------

His MC, AMC and two STs have 6*. All others have 5*. His ML is a dribbler and his 5* MC is a CK specialist.
Here is my team's most usual line-up and formation.



Everyone has superb morale and will be in top condition when the match starts. Vidal will be fit.
Now, what should I do? And when I ask that, I mean about everything: from the playing, tackling, passing and other styles all the way to the arrows on the players. Should I totally change my formation? Should I look only at quality of the players or also have their recent forms on my mind? Should I even go out in the transfer market and buy someone??? If any experienced guy here reads this, please give me some sort of advice. It would mean a lot. Thanks...

[Gintaras Račas]

Unique formation? Been playing 3N-4-1-2 for two seasons now And what I've found out is that AMC is crucial in this formation (because my AMC is top scorer for these 2 seasons despite being only 3-4*). So if you're able to take care of his 6* AMC, you should be ok.

[DoctorRedDevil]

Interesting. I will check out how his AMC performed. But surely you lost at least one match. What did the opponents (that defeated you) do?

[Gintaras Račas]

With THAT formation I lost only once this season vs same quality 4-4-2 team and I wasn't at the match! Also, it's harder for me to play against 3N-4-3 (got a couple of draws).

[RJSlow]

I use 4-5-1 v style against this all the time and do very well

[Pete Cresswell]

Looking at your team, I'd move Morelli up to DMC to cover his AMC, and drop 1 striker for another DC. Pass mixed or long through the middle (as you may need to put the ball over his midfield line to your AMC), and put red arrows on your AMC & STs, blue arrows on the DCs.

That option minimises changes to your current side, as an alternate, you could try 4-5-1 V style, but I've found that formation struggles to score enough goals in the last couple of seasons, even allowing for the attacking wingers having a free run with him having no fullbacks. If you had a DMR then 3N-3W-2N-2W-1 butterfly might be an option too.

[DoctorRedDevil]

Never have I changed more formations so oftenly as in this season, which is my 9th. I tried a 4-2-3-1 which won me the CL previous season vs a token hacker, but it didn't work in this season. I tried the 4-4-2 hexagon, also failed. I have been the 4-2-1-3 I posted for some time now. To have come this far is a good result already, because I haven't been on top of the table yet and I was 8 points behind him after the 13th round (1st half of the league). I haven't lost since that first clash we had-12 matches unbeaten. What you are suggesting to me is a 4-1-2-1-2, which served me well on many occasions, but there is always worry. Are you definitely sure your first suggestion will work well Pete?
Also another question to everyone... what about the win bonus in these kinds of matches?

[RJSlow]

if you really want to win at all cost, any little bit of edge will help. Win bonus on max

[DoctorRedDevil]

I am probably exaggerating, I am aware of that. But whatever I do, I am very serious in it. After all, this is the first dramatic finale I have faced since playing T11, and it has been 9 months since I began. Thanks for the help all three of you, really appreciate it. Will post the result tomorrow.

[Pete Cresswell]

I am probably exaggerating, I am aware of that. But whatever I do, I am very serious in it. After all, this is the first dramatic finale I have faced since playing T11, and it has been 9 months since I began. Thanks for the help all three of you, really appreciate it. Will post the result tomorrow.

Good luck!
Whichever of 4-1-2-1-2 and 4-5-1 V you start with you ought to be able to set your bench up to change to the other with 1 sub if it isn't working (AMC to AMR, and Striker off for AML, or vice versa).