Is it me or is it that counter formations don't seem to work as effective any more?

[July Fourth]

I don't know but I think Attacking Midfielders are not effective when playing against flat midfields anymore, Its maybe me or these game engine tweeks that have been made over the last couple of months.

4-5-1 V used to counter 3N-5-2 flat... Not anymore
3-2-2-2-1 used to counter 4-2-2-2 Hexagon... Not anymore
4-2-2-2 Hexagon used to counter 4-4-2 Classic... Not anymore
4-2-3-1 used to counter 4-4-2 Classic... Not anymore

It's gone a bit strange or have Nordeus tried to knockout the effect of counter formations usually winning against other formations? Is there a hidden Team Chemistry on what squads play when put in a certain formation?

The Jury is out! Maybe this counter formations topic is now invalid... http://forum.topeleven.com/formation...-what-use.html

This was someone losing playing 4-5-1 V, against 3N-5-2 flat which 4-5-1 V was a traditional named counter and had a 7 points worth quality difference in their favour... http://forum.topeleven.com/top-eleve...4377-joke.html

Counter formations are perhaps starting to become flawed.

[FC Barcelona]

Same for tactics against 4-4-2. That's really more difficult to counter them now with the previous solutions.

[Morgan O'Bree]

If he used red arrows on the AM's, would explain. If he set passing on the middle, or mixed, instead of full sides, too. If the opponent set back blue arrows on his midfielders to contain ams, same as before. There are so many variabiles in the stuff that it's hard to tell.
So far 4-5-1 V and 4-1-2-1-2 never failed to counter when i used them.

[FC Barcelona]

Notice : 4-1-2-1-2 Narrow Diamond is not working anymore against 4-4-2 classic.

[fmldotcom]

Can you guys explain why a certain formation works against a formation? It will be better than just post which one to use against which. Sometimes its really confusing as well when Adel claims you must use DMC to counter AMC and vice versa yet he suggests using 4-5-1V against many formations that doesn't have an AMC. It seems to me he uses 4-5-1V alot and that's just his philosophy/preference. I also don't understand why use 2 DC against 2 ST and 3 DC against 1 ST. Most of the counter tactics are basically man for man marking, putting opponent on the offense while putting yourself on the defense.

I like certain tactics of yours such as using 4-1-3N-2 defensive, long passing through middle against 3W-2-1-2W-1. You explained it very logical and easy to understand. 2 ST to take advantage of the wide spread back 3, long ball to get over the 2 DMC... I used your tactics and it was well...Some of the others are confusing, maybe re-write everything so it's more detailed?

[dv8r]

Notice : 4-1-2-1-2 Narrow Diamond is not working anymore against 4-4-2 classic.

I can't understand why it would work in the first place

[dv8r]

We rely on counter formations too much. I can just tell someone to use 3-5-2 flat against the butterfly and he'll win by chance. Perhaps that's how this game works.. Totally random.

People should really just use their own style for once instead of asking how to beat XXX formation and then complaining when they lose against it. At the same time, people shouldn't really be playing this game if they're not going to make their own decisions and always ask for help on XXX formation and cry when they lose when a formation is supposed to "counter" another formation.

I used counter formations and won 1-0, 2-0, 3-0 etc against much weaker teams... But as soon as I used my own style, I won 11-0 in the league, 8-0 in the Champions League and today 6-0. So really, using your own style turns out to be better because you know your players and you don't leave any of the best players out when using your own formation.

[July Fourth]

I think Accyrover said he was having trouble using some counter formations against weaker sides as well, It's gone very strange recently, I'm tired of picking a formation against a team in the league and they are 10+ quality worse than me and I win 2-0 most of the time or even suffer a draw or defeat, My friend team in L17 tends to stick to 4-1-4-1 and he does reasonably well (3rd or 4th) without buying any tokens whatsoever.

I don't know what it is with people asking how to beat this formation? arent you the manager? isn't it your job to try and work out whats the best options for your players and team when facing your opposition?

[dimology]

maybe some formations work well against other formations....but there is just too many things you dont know about your opponent to say....this formation is 100% sure to win.

you see someone is playing 4-4-2.....so you go with 4-5-1V motivated.....thats the counter formation for 4-4-2. but you dont know all the settings your opponent put.....so sometimes you will hit the jackpot and sometimes you will be surprised that you barely won 1:0 or even lost.

ppl should use their brains a little and not look for 100% sure counter formations...cuz there are none. sure, we can share our experiances with certain formations and tactics.....but nothing is 100% sure



one of those times when you lack players for "perfect" counter so you improvise. It was group stage and only win was good to me, so with players i had i attacked on left side only since he was going with 3 DC my AML didn't have a lot of pressure on him and with 3 MC i was trying to stop the ball flow. I lost one MC cuz of hard tackling. Then i moved my 2 MCs both to the center/right side, AML to ML position which is natural to him with red arrows and my 2 strikers both to the center/left and continue to attack on my left flank.
Draw was good to him, but he was losing 0:2 on half time.....so he put everything into attacking and i went hard defending with long passing. I didnt change players cuz i didnt have any good ones to put in :P

Overall my point is.....sometimes its not about perfect counter, but exploating the weak sides of opponent....and some luck

[Ljepoje]

Dont know if the "counterformations" work or not, but I experienced that formations like 4-4-2 Classic and 4-5-1/ 4-1-4-1 Flat are more or less effective against all the other formations (mostly the offensive ones). Also, when I play "attacking" I score less. But when I play defensive + counterattack I score at least 6 or 7 goals