4-1-4-1 no longer counters 4-3N-3?

[Chris Rath]

Hi, I had recently many problems in finding a good formation against 4-3N-3.
I used to chose 4-1-4-1 and attacked over the wings. Somehow the formation does not work anymore for my team; against equal quality teams I lost this season and against weaker opponents I got no safisfying results. Moral and marks of my players are ok, even in these games with 7 or 8, so I think it must be a tactical reason.

Has anyone made similar experiences or even better find a good formation vs. the 4-3N-3?

[Chris Rath]

I tried something myself with one of the team (one that does not do so well, so I can try something).

I started with total football: 4-DMC(right-up)-MC(left-up)-MR(up)-AML(up)-AMC(up)-ST and the orders described in the total football thread.
But this did not work well, my AMC saw red and he scored after as standard situation. I joined the match and sacrificed the RB for a new AMC. The orders were not well chosen, because he was still pressuring my defense. But I waited until halftime to not confuse the match engine too much. I moved the AML/ML backwards from AML to ML and switched from attacking short passing to mixed passing which suits counter attacks better. This had a positive effect and the team turned the match around to a 3-1 win.



So, this was a win, but against a weaker team with us being one man down. So consequences? 3N-1-4-1-1 could be a suitable 11 players formation. Has anyone made experiences with it?

[Buffs Mad]

I recently played 4-3N-3 against (almost) a 4-1-4-1 which was same quality than mine and won 2-0.

I've been trying 3N-1-4-2 against some 3 striker variants recently and it seems to work well. Not tried it against 4-3N yet.

[Chris Rath]

Thanks, 3N-1-4-2 sounds like a good option. It avoids similarities to 4-5V-1 which is usually punished hard by 4-3N-3.

[jacks]

4-1 (blue)-4-1 works.

[Brian Dang]

Still works well for me...4-1-4-1..
I am using it against ND and 4-3n-3...it's still works like charm..

[Chris Rath]

Thanks guys, maybe I used the wrong orders. I usually play 4-1-4-1 against 4-3N-3 players with about same quality:
- normal mentality
- mixed passing
- down both flanks
- own half pressing
- normal tackling
- no offside trap
- no counter attacks

[Buffs Mad]

It might ofc have been a one-off/strange day but on same day I left my team in 4-3N-3 they drew with a 4-5-1V but then beat a 4-1-4-1 (with AML), which was a surprise.

Additionally my custom set up for a 4-5-1V to own 4-4-2s in Cup has been faltering a bit. So I'm finding I need to change some of my previously reliable counters.

So I offer it as an option rather than the results of extensive testing.

[samupro97]

Hi, I had recently many problems in finding a good formation against 4-3N-3.
I used to chose 4-1-4-1 and attacked over the wings. Somehow the formation does not work anymore for my team; against equal quality teams I lost this season and against weaker opponents I got no safisfying results. Moral and marks of my players are ok, even in these games with 7 or 8, so I think it must be a tactical reason.

Has anyone made similar experiences or even better find a good formation vs. the 4-3N-3?

i always use 3-2DML/R-2MC-2AML/R-1ST and counter on wings against this (better use defensive)

[A R R O W]

i use an 4-4-2 classical