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

[Mas Bro]

really helpful thread

[Belgji]

I there!

I ended up winning the semi at Champions; 3N-2(DML/DMR)-3N-2 against 4-4-2...

But, against 4-5-1 Flat/line... lost final at CUP with the 4-3N-3N (all the players with arrows back/blue, defensive, central attack, mid-central pressing, soft tackle, long, zonal defense... counter, no off-side trap's)

I was going to keep, all after midfield players arrows, on staying back/blue, midfielder's with forward/red, and st's normal stand ground... attacking/intensive attack, central attack, whole pitch pressing, normal/hard tackle, and keep on long ball's, man to man... counter, no off-side trap's.

But my net went off.... so couldn't do anything else... ended up with a defeat result off 3-2, at CUP final

Sorry to hear that, Bro!
I lost my cup final too... 3-1
I lost against a weird 4-3-3 formation: his ML is in AML .
I used 4-5-1V . The problem is my best DC (who perform well whole season) was sent off,( f**K Ref), in 48min.
The game was still draw till 64min.
But at last, my 10 players can't stand 11 men squad.

Another info; I got 2nd too in League!
There's no Cup in my hand.. Sh##t.

[Androth]

Counter for 3n-1-3w-1-2 dandelion: 4-1-4-1 DL/DR UP and ML/MR UP

Teams were evenly matched, cup game on level 16, I won 3-0

[rdsouza]

First of all, thanks and kudos to all you guys who take the time and make the effort to keep this updated. IMHO, Formations without supporting tactics are meaningless and most definitely go hand-in-hand. Perhaps for the noobs reading the thread, as a reminder, the formations most generally apply for teams of equal strength - perhaps a bit of a difference as well.

And of course your own set tactics have to be taken in context of what your opponent is using. Opposing formations are easy to see. Opposing tactics most likely to be used, can only be "guessed at" by looking at the opponents historical games and player stats.

Game level: what formation did he use, against what formation, possession / shots at goal potentially indicates passing type, number of tackles / fouls indicate tackling & pressing settings
Player level: Who scores, where do the most assists come from, player form (trend) and if you really REALLY REEEEALLY have time on your hands - player to player skill comparisons - your defense Vs his attack, vice versa...

Example: Your defense in general has a better marking /tackling skill to his forwards dribbling / passing AND you pretty much have a better speed rating down the wing ...I for one, would set to defensive mentality, own half press (make sure I have a wing based formation), and go for the fast counters.

But like I said.... also depends on how the forwards rate against his defense :-) ... no magic answer, just know from experience that it ALL matters and in context of everything else. Have explained away some of what I initially thought were troll results as well.

Doesn't always work as the tactical guess is just that - a Guess! I do know however, that barring unequal teams, bad guesses and a reasonable percentage of Game-Engine related variables (perhaps programmed extra posession / shots for weaker teams), theres pretty good reward for time spent by a thinking manager.

Sorry about the long post, agree / disagree, right / wrong, whatever ... REMEMBER ... I did start this message with IMHO ...:-), so if you do disagree or have a different opinion, please do state it and done be coming down on me like a ton of bricks.

Hello,

as our great member "July Fourth" decided to edit the starting post of the old Table of Counter Formations - What to use? Thread, I decided to inofficially continue the thread.

All given information on this thread is subject to change. New formations and counter formations will be added by the time going. Please note that the given information in this thread is not always correct and that you can still lose against your opponent even though you are using a counter formation.

Credits to July Fourth for creating and maintaining the old thread.

Formation	Counter Formation
3N-2-2-2-1 Butterfly	4-2-2-2, 4-3N-2(AML/AMR)-1
3N-1-2-1-3	4-1-3N-2, 4-5-1V
3N-1-3W-1-2 Dandelion	4-5-1V, 4-4-2, 4-1-2-1-2 Wide Diamond
3N-1-3W-2(AMC)-1	4-5-1V
3N-1-4-1-1	4-1-2-1-2 Narrow Diamond
3N-1-4-2	4-5-1V
3N-2(DML/DMR)-2-1-2	4-1-2-1-2 Narrow Diamond
3N-2(DML/DMR)-3N-2	4-1-2-1-2 Narrow Diamond, 4-5-1 Flat, 3-5-2 Flat
3N-2-3W(AML/AMC/AMR)-2	3-2-2-2-1 Butterfly, 4-4-2, 4-1-2-1-2 Narrow Diamond
3N-3-2W(AML/AMR)-2	4-3N-2W-1
3N-4-1-2	4-1-2-1-2 Narrow Diamond
3N-4-3	4-3N-2(AML/AMR)-1, 4-4-2, 3-5-2
3N-5-1-1	4-1-2-1-2 Narrow Diamond
3N-5-2 Flat	3N-2-2-2-1 Butterfly, 4-3-2(AML/AMR)-1
3N-5-2 V-Style	4-3N-2(AML/AMR)-1, 4-2-2-2 Hexagon
3W-1-3N-1-2	4-5-1 V-Style
3W-1-3W-1-2	3W-2(DMC)-3N-1-1 Tower, 3N-5-2 Flat
3W-1-3W-2(AMC)-1	4-5-1 V-Style
3W-1-4-1-1	4-5-1 V-Style
3W-1-4-2	4-1-2-1-2 Narrow Diamond
3W-2-3W-1-1 Maple Leaf	4-5-1 V-Style
3W-2(DMC)-2W-1-2	3W-5-2 V-Style
3W-2(DMC)-3W-1-1 Maple Leaf	3N-1-4-2
3W-2(DMC)-3W-2	3W-5-2 Flat
3W-2N-2N-2W-1	4-4-2
3W-4-1-2	4-1-2-1-2 Narrow Diamond
3W-4-3	4-2-2-2 Hexagon
3W-5-1-1	4-1-2-1-2 Narrow Diamond
3W-5-2 Flat	4-5-1 V-Style
3W-5-2 V-Style	3N-2-2-2-1 Butterfly
4-1-1-2N-2	4-5-1 V-Style
4-1-1-2W-2	3N-3W-2-2
4-1-2-1-2 Narrow Diamond	4-5-1V, 3-5-2V
4-1-3N-1-1	3N-5-2 V-Style
4-1-3N-2	4-3N-2(AML/AMR)-1
4-1-3W-1-1	5-1(DMC)-2-2
4-1-3W-2	4-5-1 V-Style, 4-4-2 Classic
4-1-4-1	4-2-2-2 Hexagon, 3W-4-3
4-1(DMC)-2-3	4-1-4-1
4-2-1-3	4-5-1 V-Style, 4-3N-2W-1
4-2-2-2 Hexagon	3N-4-1-2, 4-5-1 V-Style, 3-4-3
4-2(DMC)-1-2(AML/AMR)-1	5-2-2(AML/AMR)-1, 4-4-2 Classic
4-2(DMC)-1-2(AMC)-1	3N-1-4-1-1
4-2(DMC)-3W-1	3N-2-2-2-1 Butterfly
4-3N-1-2	4-3N-2(AML/AMR)-1, 4-5-1 V-Style
4-3N-2(AMC)-1	3W-2(DMC)-3W-1-1 Maple Leaf
4-3N-2W-1	4-4-1-1
4-3N-3	4-1-4-1
4-3W-1-2	4-1-4-1, 3N-1-4-2
4-3W-2(AMC)-1	3W-2(DMC)-3N-1-1 Tower, 4-5-1 Flat
4-3W-3	4-4-2, 4-5-1 V-Style
4-4-1-1	3-5-2 Flat, 4-5-1 V-Style
4-4-2	3N-4-1-2, 4-5-1 V-Style, 3N-2-2-2-1 Butterfly
4-5-1 Flat	3-5-2 Flat, 3-5-2 V-Style
4-5-1 V-Style	3N-2(DML/DMR)-3N-2, 4-3N-3
5-1-2-1-1 Narrow Diamond	3N-5-2 V-Style
5-1-2-1-1 Wide Diamond	3N-5-2 Flat
5-1-3N-1	3N-5-2 V-Style
5-1-3W-1	3N-5-2 V-Style
5-2-1-2 X-Style	3N-1-4-2
5-2(ML/MR)-2(AMC)-1	4-2-2-2 Hexagon
5-3N-2	3N-4-1-2, 4-4-2
5-3W-2	3N-4-1-2, 4-4-2
5-4-1	4-4-2, 3-5-2 Flat
-	-

• "W" = Wide
• "N" = Narrow
• "V-Style", "Narrow Diamond", "Wide Diamond" etc. = How the formation looks on the field or a special name for the formation.

You can ask your questions about the formations in this thread. Feel free to post your successfull experiences and results against other formations in this thread. You can also suggest new formations and new counter formations.

I'm sorry if there are a few old formations missing, I got those formations from the most current Google Cache of the old thread.

Regards,
Incredipede

[Marian TFn]

A lil' tip about countering 4-2-3(aml/amc/amr)-1 , i'm beating it every time with 3N-3W(dml/dmc/dmr)-2-2 ( deffensive/normal - depending on the opponent) ! It works every single time

[Kristian Travis Trevland]

3n-1-4-2(3-5-2) was nearly super effective against 4-1-4-1! Had 64 against 36 in possesion without watching. Won 4-0.

[oh035545]

really helpful
thank you

btw
it will be better if using color to distinguish red or blue arrow and Recommending tactics

[Sng Kwang Peng]

Hi guys I would like to seek advice for counter formations and orders for the following opp I will be facing later on... He is playing a super defensive formation 5-2(DMCs)-1MC-2STs

I refer to the table abv is not exactly the 5-2-1-2 X style so shd I still go for the 3N-1-4-2? If yes how abt the orders shd I put? I am juz 0.3 higher than him

[Chester FC]

3N-1-4-2 is NOT beaten by 4-5-1 V-Style

3N-1-4-2 is beaten by 4-2-2-2 Hexagon or 4-4-2 Classic
4-4-2 Classic is beaten by 4-3N-2W-1 (red arrows for middle MC, AML, AMR, ST) or 4-5-1 Flat (red arrows on ML, middle MC, MR, ST)
4-5-1 V-Style is beaten by 4-3N-3
4-1-4-1 is beaten by 4-1-2-1-2 ND
4-3W-1-2 or 4-3W-2N-1 is beaten by 4-1-4-1
4-1-3N-2 is beaten by 4-3N-2W-1 and 4-5-1 V-Style
4-1-3W-2 is beaten by 4-2-2-2 Hexagon or 4-4-2 Classic

[Ricardo Rivera Abad]

How to beat 5 -2mc -2(amr/aml) -1 ?