Originally Posted by
Dennis Janosch
I use standard 4-4-2 mostly as it gives me good results. Just like mentioned above, in that case I go for default settings except I choose offensive mentality. Changes on orders are only made to exploit obvious oppenents weaknesses as described earlier. Or to cover my own. I only go for other formations on rare occassions. When doing so it highly depends on the opponents formation. No general answer for that. Even if I do I often try 4-4-2 in the first half. When the sh*t hits the fan I change at halftime. Before the match I got a ready plan for that. To give an example I had problems with some teams using an amc to exploit my weakest defensive spot. I changed to 4-1-4-1 or V-Style then, depending on his formation. If your team is stronger, mirror formation is always a choice too. When the opponent changes as well, just be quick. Only change formations if really neccessary during a match, as changing too often in the match gave me bad results.
I can´t advise 4-4-2 as a jack of all trades. But in my special case, being 10 levels stronger than most league opponents, it worked well as it is very balanced. It has almost no real weaknesses. It also gave me wins against similar or even stronger cup opponents that were 2 seasons higher. So it might work in general too.