Help with 4-2-3-1

hi guys, I wonder if people could share with me their ways of deploying the 4-2-3-1 formation. Its my formation of choice, but I often am undecided as to whether the '2' should be DM or CM, and whether the '3' should be on the midfield line, or the AM line

I've experimented with various combinations but struggle to perfect it - can people give their views on this?

Formation with 2 MC's and 3 AM's works best for me if you assign suitable roles to your players.

I generally use this formation.

I use 2 of the CMs in the CM line. One is central midfielder set to DEFEND.

I have one AMC in the AM line, set to ATTACKING PLAYMAKER

However, i have no idea what to do with the other CM in the CM line. Whatever I set him at - Central Midfielder AUTOMATIC, Central Midfielder ATTACK, or Box to Box, he is anonymous and adds nothing to my team. This is with players like Fabregas, Javi Martinez and even Iniesta/Xavi!

Help please!

Formation with 2 MC's and 3 AM's works best for me if you assign suitable roles to your players.

Why not have one of each?

2 DMs and 3 CMs for a more defensive approach.

2 CMs and 3 AMs for a more attacking approach.

Change them around during the match to suit.

Ball-winning (D), Central mid (D), AMC (S), Wingers (A), Advanced forward 9A). Works a treat for me with a fluid mentality.

I play 2 defensive midfielders. One is Anchor Man (Defend), one is Deep Lying PM (Defend)

Striker is Advanced Forward. Behind him is Advanced PM (Support), flanked by 2 inside forwards (attack)

--------------STR---------------

---IF---------APM----------IF---

---------------------------------

--------DLP----------AM--------

--DL-----DC--------DC-----DR---

--------------GK----------------

Mentality Fluid, Control.

It depends what mentality you want to play with. A more attacking mentality would involve wingers and an AMC, whereas more defensive would involve two defensive midfielders. I've used both and they both seem to work alright. Just make sure you have your attacking midfielder on a support role as sometimes the gap between him and the defensive midfielders can be quite big.

I made such a tactic with two DMC's. I don't use roles, but I suppose the DMC's have attacking roles except they are to run from deep rarely. This is to be sure they are aggressive enough.

The AMC is an Advanced Playmaker. I suppose he is on a reasonable attacking duty similar to that of the striker except he runs from deep sometimes instead of rarely.

The wingers are roughly on attacking duties, cutting inside. Run with ball and through balls often, run from deep and crossing sometimes.

The tactic is quite similar to my 4-2-2-2 wide tactic, except some tweaks to accomodate a playmaker.

This has been working very well at Atletico Madrid (newest update) with Diego as the playmaker. There's some really pretty attacking plays going on

I also use the 4-2-3-1 tactic and have had alot of success with one of the CM'S been set to defend and other one set as box to box midfielder with support then both widemen set to wingers with supportduty and the AM set to attack have had a decent amount of succes with this layout.

Everybody will do it a different way because everybody has different personnel. What makes a good manager is finding a formation that suits your strengths. And like others have already said, the situation. No formation is going to work every game or every situation. You have to be able to adjust, although the 4-2-3-1 is great because it is easily adjustable without changing the entire formation around.

If will be easier to give suggestions if I know the personnel. What's your midfield+wingers look like?

Edit: My favorite way to play is with 2 DM's with one of them set as defensive playmaker support and the other DM defend. Which might seem a tad defensive for some but I also like to play with attacking wingbacks... so it's also about how the formation works as a whole.

However, i have no idea what to do with the other CM in the CM line. Whatever I set him at - Central Midfielder AUTOMATIC, Central Midfielder ATTACK, or Box to Box, he is anonymous and adds nothing to my team. This is with players like Fabregas, Javi Martinez and even Iniesta/Xavi!

Help please!

That's because none of those players are box to box midfielders. They are all playmakers or pure attacking midfielders. You need someone like De Rossi.

On my 4-2-3-1 I have my 2 CM set up right behind my AMC (Advanced Playmaker)... one is a box to box or central mid on SUPPORT depending on the match. But the other CM is a Ball Winning Mid on SUPPORT. Works like a charm getting the ball forward quickly, or if needed to slow down and hold possession.