Win against 4-1-1-2w-2

[Toxcatl]

No one knows how do they work exactly. What adifairus has written is right, but it's more like an artistic representation of the game mechanics.

Read carefully the descriptions in the game. All the rest is speculations, and you should always take it with a grain of salt.

Short passes increase possession and % of completed passes, but reduce attacking efforts. Long passes do the otherwise.
Force counter-attacks reduce possession, but increase the probability of counter-attack.
High pressing "improves the defending efforts", but increases condition loss by 30-35%.
Man-to-man does the same on paper as High pressing ("gives you a defensive boost"), but works somehow differently. I don't know synergies, though I have some suspicions. You also need numerical advantage over opponent's attack.