how to beat 4-4-2 Classic.. VS slightly better quality team?

[BMD23]

I've found 4-1-3w-1-1 to work well for me this season. Throughout the game I either add a red arrow to my amc or a blue arrow to increase possession whether the blue arrow actually helps Im not 100% sure. I also toggle between attacking the flanks and mixed passing. I always have red arrows on my dl,dr,mr,ml. I figure my wide backs Will cutoff his wide attack while supporting my flank attack while ml&r are free to attack.
I have also had good results with the wide diamond believe it or not. WD has been one of the stronger formations this season. I keep reading that 4-2-2-2 hexagon is the formation to beat this season but I tried using it a couple times to see what all the hype was and had no such luck. I have a pretty strong team and toyed with 3w in the back quite a bit and was surprised to see great results although I assumed it would leave me exposed. 3w-1-3w-1-2 has been pretty effective. The guy in 1st place in m y league swears by it and has only lost one game all season(to yours truly). Love this site guys. Keep up the good work

[SoMBrA]

I've found 4-1-3w-1-1 to work well for me this season. Throughout the game I either add a red arrow to my amc or a blue arrow to increase possession whether the blue arrow actually helps Im not 100% sure. I also toggle between attacking the flanks and mixed passing. I always have red arrows on my dl,dr,mr,ml. I figure my wide backs Will cutoff his wide attack while supporting my flank attack while ml&r are free to attack.
I have also had good results with the wide diamond believe it or not. WD has been one of the stronger formations this season. I keep reading that 4-2-2-2 hexagon is the formation to beat this season but I tried using it a couple times to see what all the hype was and had no such luck. I have a pretty strong team and toyed with 3w in the back quite a bit and was surprised to see great results although I assumed it would leave me exposed. 3w-1-3w-1-2 has been pretty effective. The guy in 1st place in m y league swears by it and has only lost one game all season(to yours truly). Love this site guys. Keep up the good work

This guy is right.
I had a great result against 4-4-2 playing 4-1-3W-1-1.

Made it to the CL final just an hour ago, thanks for sharing!

[PabloSanDiego]

My 4-4-2, which has helped me to a comfortable first place position, was just CRUSHED by a slightly lesser opponent by a score of 1-7. I was the away team playing against a slightly lesser opponent (86.8 v 86.4).

He played a 4-4-1-1. My settings were Defensive with Counter-attacks.

I wonder if the game settings have just been changed?

A major caveat here too, I was down 3-1 when I picked up a red card but still at the time I was getting killed in score and statistically (possession, shots, etc.). So maybe there isn't enough data here and it was just a fluke where the computer randomly gave him goals on his first few shots.

My comfortable 6 point lead is now down to 3 with 3 games to go.