Solid 4-1-3-2 formation (idevices)

[thebugel]

I have always played 433 since FMi 2010, however i believe this 4-1-3-2 formation is defensively better and still creates the chance's of 4-3-3 as well as dominating possession.

This formation is a proper "passing" formation, building from the back with two ball playing defenders, generally i like the DC's to have at least passing as 10. If you want to build a team around a solid formation, this is a must try.

You can play anyone along the central midfield, even wingers as long as CM appears either dark or light green in the CM position.

DOWNLOAD

Formation
4-1-3-2

Attacking
Short
Normal
Yes
No
No
No

GK
WBk BPD BPD WBk
BWM
CM CM CM
CmF Cmf

I have tested the formation with Barnsley, in season one i won the Championship, only signing Vassell, Davenport, Ball and Roseneir on free's.

In season two i finished 4th in the premiership, my only signings were Miles Addison, Fraizer campbell, Karl Henry and Tim Krul.

Give it a try...

[NffcBash]

Gave this a quick try out with Perth Glory, I was 1st but ran into a sticky patch. I kept record of Results, Shots & Possession which should show how well it worked.


Gold Coast Utd (Away) - Won 3-0
Possession 55%
14 Shots

Newcastle Jets (Home) - Won 2-0
Possession 53%
Shots 10

Sydney (Away) - Drew 0-0
Possession 50%
Shots 16

Seems decent enough, will keep going and see how I finish the season.

[Bantam Searley95]

Lots of shots but barely any possession. Still a wins a win.

[NffcBash]

Even with my other formations (4-4-2 Att & 4-3-3) I always have plenty of attempts on goal but possession is rarely above 60%, but like you said as long as I'm getting the points!

[Millsinho]

I've been using a 4-1-3-2 that you described on here a while back (still for FMHi 2011 though), and been having decent results. It was pretty much the same as this, but it had mixed passing, committed tackling, and normal centrebacks instead of ball playing ones. Is this an 'improved' version of the old one, or did you just fancy a change of playing style?

[Dec9693]

4-1-3-2 - The in formation . Nice work Bugel, seems very attacking.

Also congrats on your 2nd child on the way.

[Stuart Warren]

Hi bugel, hope you don't mind me adding a download link for your tactic in the opening post. I've added this thread to the tactics sticky as well.

[chris3lx_afcb]

This tactic is working really good for me so far with QPR.

[ArsenalBoy95]

Works well, as does my personal favourite: 4-3-2-1

---------------GK---------------
--DR----DC-------DC----DL--
--------MC----MC-----MC-----
--AMR------------------AML--
--------------FC----------------

Works a treat, especially with Arsenal, Barcelona and Real Madrid. Haven't tested it on a lower team yet though.

[dthmtlgod]

This tactic is working really good for me so far with QPR.

Tried this with Man Utd V Sampdoria in CL. Won game 4-0, 17 shots, 15 on target and possession was 64-36. No shots for Sampdoria.

[thebugel]

4-1-3-2 - The in formation . Nice work Bugel, seems very attacking.

Also congrats on your 2nd child on the way.

Cheers, certainly will have my hands full when he/she arrives. Im not bothered what it is...as long as it turns out to be a Barnsley fan (and not Wednesday fan like the wife and the in-laws)

[kowak]

I started trying this tactic on a new game with K R Genk. I started with mixed results in my first season, but for my second season I added some key players and won the Europa league, league and cup and on my third season I won the champions league plus everything else. I was then offered the arsenal job and won the Europa league, league in my first season and best of all in my second season I won everything including being unbeaten in the league. Great tactic

[thebugel]

I agree Kowak, it starts slow but turns out formidable, below is my record with Newcastle in my first 12 seasons as manager. as you can see my first season was dreadfull, i didnt win once away in the league!!

[rafafloripa]

I agree Kowak, it starts slow but turns out formidable, below is my record with Newcastle in my first 12 seasons as manager. as you can see my first season was dreadfull, i didnt win once away in the league!!

Well, probably you managed to get a couple of great signings later on... Good tactics may give you some edge, but good players give you titles.

[thebugel]

Well, probably you managed to get a couple of great signings later on... Good tactics may give you some edge, but good players give you titles.

The problem I have is I play the game different to anyone else. The only players I buy are "interested" ones, and attracting good players to Newcastle proved an impossible task.

I started by buying only hard working players and from the back replaced them as time went on.

Even now 15 years on there is a couple of players I want to sign but theyr simply not interested in playing in front crowds of 94,000.

***edit to formation***
I have had more success playing*

** * * * * * SC SC
** * * *MC MC MC
** * * * * * *DMC
D/ML dc dc D/MR
** * * * * * * *Gk

I also play a AMC in the middle of the midfield, however I find and mc works the best.

[Zenyatta]

Great tactic, won the prem in my first year with Tottenham.

Im curious if youve tried the tactic with the striker settings different. I dont have a striker that i consider a Complete Forward. Im wondering if the tactic would still be as effective if the striker settings were taylored to the striker, but everything else the same for the other positions.

Also, do you make any changes based on the level of opposition or match location? (ie attacking mentality, counter attacks etc) i didnt change the tactic once during the last season, just want to make sure im getting the most from the tactic.

[thebugel]

Great tactic, won the prem in my first year with Tottenham.

Im curious if youve tried the tactic with the striker settings different. I dont have a striker that i consider a Complete Forward. Im wondering if the tactic would still be as effective if the striker settings were taylored to the striker, but everything else the same for the other positions.

Also, do you make any changes based on the level of opposition or match location? (ie attacking mentality, counter attacks etc) i didnt change the tactic once during the last season, just want to make sure im getting the most from the tactic.

*
You have had a better start than I did with Newcastle, however they did want alot of work doing to them. I have stuck with the same formation in all of my 14 seasons, the only time I changed was in my early days, if I went 2 goals clear away I would change to defensive which worked 99/100.

I played around with the striker settings when putting it together in the beginning but stuck with two cmf's because I felt I was getting more goals.

Iv put together a little snippet of the story so far with this tactic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Zpy6...layer_embedded

The two teams are my current 1st team and my 2nd team which get me through champions league groups, second legs, league cup games (only play second team in league cup regardless of opposition. Also play them against bottom half teams at home.

[Adam-T93]

This is the best formation I've ever used!
I made NO transfers in the first season at Reading apart from signing Fabio Vignaroili, a 34 y/o Italian midfielder. I won the league by 21 points with a GD of around 70!

[Chuey]

Very nice tac. Won Championship with Middlesbrough first season (maybe not hard given their squad), second season finished mid table and won League Cup. Third season now, some great players, kicking ass in all cups (including Euro Cup) but my league form is suffering because i have a lot of trouble with away games, sometimes using Normal instead of Attacking mentality works but not always. Anyone recommend anything to plug that hole?

[jojomarch]

it depends what players you have i have just started a season with shrewsbury i have brought in a few good defenders and defensuive midfielders and have set up an attacking formation with the DM covering the defence abnd the mentality of contain and i am winning most games

[thebugel]

Very nice tac. Won Championship with Middlesbrough first season (maybe not hard given their squad), second season finished mid table and won League Cup. Third season now, some great players, kicking ass in all cups (including Euro Cup) but my league form is suffering because i have a lot of trouble with away games, sometimes using Normal instead of Attacking mentality works but not always. Anyone recommend anything to plug that hole?

My main success started when I played either MC MC MC, or MC AMC MC in the middle of the park. My central defenders are strictly DC's (not DRC or DLC) and my wingbacks are D/ML or D/MR and not DL or DR.


Hope this helps.

[rmayer32]

I just found this and loaded it. I'm playing with Welling in 2012 Blue Square Premiere and so far am 7-1. I've gone from 15th to 6th in the table thus far. Excellent tactic I think!

[walsh06]

This is the formation I use with my reading squad. I mix up the roles more in midfield. It works really well for me

[RabEss.Safc1879]

decent formation.

Had to delete my game but i won the league 4 times, and the cups 5 times, didnt lose in league for 74 games.

[Fritz13]

This formation was great and I used it for years but I stopped using it in the end as it was becoming too easy to win pretty much everything

Good work to come up with it though

[ron.e]

Can anyone help. I've just managed to import a tactic into the game on my ipad. But i've gone into the 'load tactic' section and the tactic isn't there. What do i do? Thanks

[thebugel]

This tactic download is for last years version. The easiest thing to do is select the standard 4-1-3-2 and edit the rest yourself.

[thebugel]

Anyone care to see if this still works for 2013, I'm intrigued....can't get on game until my new charger arrives.. :-(

[Jugster]

It was effective for 2011, but I found a 3-5-2 for a top team was immense. In last years version wingers were a waste of time and the best formation was 4-3-1-2 or 4-3-3 when required. Be interesting to see what this year's best formation is or whether the tactics engine actually works as real life would. Not holding my breath, needless to say.

[Alari Naylor]

We've made a lot of improvements in the match and packing the middle should definitely be less effective than last year.

[Jugster]

We've made a lot of improvements in the match and packing the middle should definitely be less effective than last year.

It isn't a question of whether a tactic is or isn't effective. All attacking tactics should be effective, with the right players, if played against the right defence and defences should be able to stifle flair teams if they have the right players to do that. That's the problem, there have just been those tactics that are more effective than others with the right players. Once you find the right combination then you just play the same thing and only change it if you aren't winning by going to a plan B. All you've done previously is tweak it. So hopefully, the improvements in the match engine will work out well - obviously need to play for a season or so to see. Aside from some sexy new features, it's the one thing the game really needed.

[Twenty4/7]

Stumbled upon this thread earlier today.
currently 9 games in with Wimbledon.
Won 6, drawn 3 lost 0, for 37, against 12 (4.1 goals per game)

Ps realy enjoying this game, it's my first taste of portable FM, struggle to find time for PC version.

[Fritz13]

off-topic a bit - apologies

I have always played a 4-2-3-1 formation (WBs, BPDs, BWMs, APM, IFs and a CMF) over the last few years on the iOS version.

This year I thought I'd vary the formation depending on the team's individual players - previously I have simply sold the players who did not suit the formation - so I used to sell Xavi & Iniesta as they couldn't tackle ... terrible I know !!

Juventus get a a 3-3-2-2 with Pirlo dropping deep to play between the 2 wingbacks

The old adage of not fixing something that is not broken rings true, but re-invention is great too.

Looking forward to Bugel's next tactical offering ... hope it's as good as the last one .. no pressure

[odd1ne]

Last year when I played I used a 3-4-1-2 formation and it did work pretty well, getting lots of goals. Need to make sure you have good defenders and a keeper.

[Alari Naylor]

Just wondering how those playing this year are finding results and tactics so far, we spent a lot of time working on making the match calculations more realistic and more representative of the manager's tactics so it would be great to know how people are finding this aspect of the game.

[coolsmurf]

instead of short passing, i used direct for my newcastle team.

[JD1866]

Have been using 4132 with United having played around with 41221(wingers in aml amr) and 4312. I nearly always play balanced short with aggressive tackling and pressing. I tend to use offside trap aswell.

GK
FB DC DC FB
DLM
APM BWN CM
CMF CMF

Now I did use United but team did click very quickly and ran away with league, though we dont do aswell vs 4411 or any big team wide formation, we still made it to FA cup final and Quarters of Champs League (narrow loss to Barce who won it) and won league cup and league by may

[odd1ne]

Just wondering how those playing this year are finding results and tactics so far, we spent a lot of time working on making the match calculations more realistic and more representative of the manager's tactics so it would be great to know how people are finding this aspect of the game.

Well my formations I used last year now dont work as well...just changing formations a lot to find one I like. Not settled on one yet though.

[JD1866]

Just wondering how those playing this year are finding results and tactics so far, we spent a lot of time working on making the match calculations more realistic and more representative of the manager's tactics so it would be great to know how people are finding this aspect of the game.

Tried a few of the "uber" tactics from last years FMH (2,2,3,3 - 2,2,2,1,3) and a few others that used to exploit the omnipresence of Wing-backs to pack midfield and they seem to leave me wide open to all wingers. Even with my succesful 4132 its play thru the middle that gets my goals not constant wing play from the fullbacks, so overall seems much improved !

[Jamie King]

Tried a few of the "uber" tactics from last years FMH (2,2,3,3 - 2,2,2,1,3) and a few others that used to exploit the omnipresence of Wing-backs to pack midfield and they seem to leave me wide open to all wingers. Even with my succesful 4132 its play thru the middle that gets my goals not constant wing play from the fullbacks, so overall seems much improved !

Good to hear. We did mainly focus on balancing those tactics that packed the midfield - the 4-1-3-2 was one we paid particularly attention to, so hopefully we're getting the balance right now.