Some people set up a weird formation to deceive other managers then change it at the last minute, an attempt to hide your planned formation. I tried it for a while. I set up a "mystery" formation which had all the players arranged so it looked like a question mark. I posted it on here ages ago, I might try and search it out.

The danger is, if you arrive too late, or not at all, you are stuck with this. Might be what he is up to.