3-2-2-2-1 & 4-1-2-2-1 are both good depending on the formation they are up against.
4-1-2-2-1 can struggle against flat 4/5 MF motivated.

6 man MF's rule the roost in general so for a general formation that you do not want to change much, 3-2-2-2-1 is best, when playing against one striker open up the the back three to DL/DC---DC---DR/DC if you have them that way you can close them up if he brings on a second striker.
When playing with defense wide focus should be, both flanks, narrow mixed, IMO and dv8r's