I do it by tactics, and surely I have done it using formations other than that overrated 4-5-1(V). LOL.
If this formation was so good as so many have claimed, don't you think that it would be in my advantage to use it a lot? Yet, I have only used it 3 times this season, and not even once last season.
Also for some cases, like I said in several of my posts, it seems that nothing much can be done when the game has already decided a lot against you.
I, myself, I am an experienced user of the defensive and counter-attacking 4-5-1(V) in this game; I used it a lot in 2015. But, I don't use it much these days. I only use it situations where I think it would be appropriate to use it. By the way, I am sure I have had more losses when I used 4-5-1(V) compared to other formations. This includes a C-L final, a C-L quarter final, and lately a Cup final. Also, my worst defeat so far in this game has happened when I was using 4-5-1(V) for at least a significant part of the match. This formation is overrated. It has been used successfully by teams that had a lot of 7-9 star players, where in many case many players had special abilities and multiple positions; this is the important point that you need to consider in there, that is, it has been successful not because of its superiority as a formation, but most probably because of the large superiority in quality and also because the managers were able to make modification in the formation when it did not seem to work, for instance switching players to other positions and switching orders too. 4-5-1(V) as such, is a very limited and predictable formation. On top of that, it is relatively difficult and costly to maintain.
So, briefly, maybe you need to find something else for you to use as your main formation.