Thoughts on 4-3-3?

I'm looking to settle on one preferred formation. I'm a level 4 manager, and currently I keep changing my formations between a 4-5-1 "V" and 4-4-2 narrow diamond. For a couple reasons, there is a huge temptation for me to focus soley on a 4-3-3 narrow, and here are my reasons:

1. I buy most of my players in the open market, and rarely deal with negotiations or scout players. A 4-3-3 formation would allow me to focus on 6 positions (GK, DL, DC, DR, MC, ST) instead of 10 or 11. If it is one thing that has annoyed me, it is trying to upgrade a specific position (ex. AMR) and going weeks without seeing a suitable candidate on the market.

2. I did not have any trouble scoring goals in the first three seasons of my T11 career, and always finished with a 100+ goal differencial. This season is a bit different, and I was finding it hard to score with 1 ST, sometimes even 2 ST. Mind you, I have two 5 start STs and one 6 star ST. Without really knowing how the game engine works, I'm thinking that possibly going with a 3 ST formation might help in the goal scoring department.

3. Although my primary formation would be a 4-3-3, the formation is flexible and can easily switch to a 4-3-1-2 narrow or a 4-4-2 narrow diamond without too much adjustments to the stategy (ex. short passing through middle) depending on opponent.

I havent seen too much discusstion about this formation, and honestly I'm too lazy to search through all of the threads. Hopefully someone sees this post and can offer some insight. Thanks! :D


League 2X Winner 1X Runner Up, CL 2X Runner Up, Cup 1X Runner Up

1. In my opinion 4-3n-3 is a strong formation. Its the formation that I've had the most trouble against!

2. Figuring out the game engine is trial and error. Two possibilities for it are;

a. Nordeus adjusts it from season to season, favoring different formations and mentalities from season to season.
b. Players are programmed to perform better in different formations, orders, etc... and because of the large overturn in players from season to season, players experience significant variety in what works and doesn't from one season to the next.
c. A combination of "A" and "B".

Regarding your shrinking goals scored and goal differential. (potential internal causes)

a. A player having 5/6* quality, doesn't mean there better than a player with 4*. Some players play better in some formations than others; some players don't perform well no matter what you do. If a 4* player has better form than a 5* player, you're team is better off playing the 4* player. If your stud has poor form, you can try playing different formations (I see you are), some players are programmed to perform better in some formations than others. Also, some players will perform poorly no matter what you do.
b. Top eleven is notorious for having poor form players at the positions of GK, DMC and MC. If you get someone who gets consistent match ratings of "7" at these positions they're a keeper. Mostly 7's, with occasional 6 isn't too bad either. Now if its a ST with such ratings, that's a problem.

Shrinking goals and goal differential (external causes)

a. As you level up, lower goals scored and goal differential is normal. The lower levels are filled with abandoned teams. Top Eleven keeps accounts active for 90 days if a manager doesn't log in. This explains the high volume of teams with several unsigned players, 2* quality, etc... There is a huge decrease in the volume of such teams around levels 4/5.
b. Top Eleven tends to group people whom friends into leagues with each other. So while most leagues at your level are rather weaker, there are some that will have teams which make deep runs in CL, not promoting. When your 9th place team comes in 3rd in the champions league, teams won't be able to do the bottom feeding to get a +100 goal differential. I was randomly placed into a league at level 3, where the 10th place team was a CL semi-finalist; although such is rare, it does happen. How strong are the other teams in your league?