Table of Counter Formations v2.0 - Which formation to use?

[Samuel Lai]

Don't you guys think we should document the results and form a sorta database to make better analyses?

[Eugen Cristea]

4-1-4-1 as a counter to 4-3-3, DOES NOT WORK!
I use 4-1-4-1 as my standard formation.
I lost and inot only thet.
I always played very bad using 4-1-4-1, just against 4-3-3.

[Mo.CJ]

I'm not so sure with countering 4-1-2-1-2 wide diamond with 3-5-2 flat.
Tonight, I have a league game against that formation and first I thought about using 3-5-2 flat. But my worries are, what if the enemy uses motivated wings? In this case, he would outnumber my defensive players with his offensive players.
With my theoretical approach, I think that a 4-1-4-1 with four motivated wing players should be more effective against the wide diamond and less risky than the 3-5-2 flat.

Opinions?

[aster]

Opponent has a weird 3(W)-3(W)-1-1-2 formation. Any ideas how to counter this one?

I'm thinking of using 4-3-3 and focusing passing down the middle due to him being so spread out in the back (D/DM).

[subrosa]

In my cup match today i play against an opponent 2 levels my senior (im s7) but with pretty much equal quality, who used a very difficult formation which is not listed in the OP's "counter formation" table so this can be added together with my counter solution.

He played a 4-2(centre mid)-3W(att mid)-1. I've seen this formation used with more regularity now and its very attacking while reasonably secure at the back when the centre mids have blue arrows, so it's not an easy one to navigate past.

But I did I won the game 6-0 and dominated - first time this season and against my hardest opponent.

I set up with 3W-2DM-2(wide mid)-2(centre att)-1

Defensively this covered all his attacking players without letting him play in front of me as my 2 dm's could cover that space. I used blue arrows on all 5 of my defending minded players, even the DL & DR so as not to leave my only DC one-on-one with his striker.

My 2 wide midfielders had red arrows to exploit the empty wings and avoid his 2 defensive minded CM's. Then for my 2 central attacking mids i put BLUE arrows. This meant that when he had possion of the ball they would drop back into CM and cover his 2 CM's, but then when i had the ball they could still wreck havoc on his flatback 4, especially with my 2 over-lapping wide mids. My striker had no arrow so he could roam and get more involed with my attacking plays.

The tactics i use were... Team mentality : Normal (not def coz i need to attack and get a good result in a cup game. And not attacking because i didnt want to be left too open).
Focus Passing: Both flanks (I felt that is where his formation was weakest. Could equally use mixed for better possession)
Pressing: Whole Pitch (This is to stop him playing in my half and was vital to the outcome i think).
Tackling: Hard (I didnt want to be bossed)
Passing Style: Mixed (to bypass his overloaded forward players but keep as much possession as possible)
Marking: Zonal
No Counter / No Offside trap

... 6-0 Great result!
Hope this helps if any of you come across this formation. Good luck!

[Peter Ngan]

how to counter 3N-1-3N-1-2? use 4-5-1 V style? any experience on that is much appreciated. thx.

[Belgji]

how to counter 3N-1-3N-1-2? use 4-5-1 V style? any experience on that is much appreciated. thx.

Heyy..

That's an illegal formation. u will surely win!!

[Peter Ngan]

Thx. will keep u posted.

[Incredipede]

I just changed a few counter formations which made no sense in my opinion.

[meis]

anyone ever tried 3n-3w-3n-1 ?? yea super defensive