Bit of a quandry with my three AM's. Thoughts and advice appreciated>?

Been doing quite well with a 4231 but the one area that is tough trying to get the right balance is the three AM's behind my CF A. I don't want to change the role of the striker because both Diafra Sakho and Lukas Podolski are scoring pretty regularly in that position but it's getting the other three involved more that's the problem.

Enner Valencia (before I sold him) for instance scored 4 as a RD on the right once but then you didn't see him for several games. You try a winger, IF and so forth but again it's very difficult to get any consistency with those roles. My AM S does a good job overall and on support covers well but obviously you lose his presence in the box so therefore playing say two wingers is pointless as you only have the striker in the area. If you put the AM on attack you lose his ability to cover as any AM with an attack duty tends to stay forward. That's half the problem with an IF S as well as he gives decent cover on support but you can't get him in the box.

Defensively I am doing ok and obviously I am scoring goals but they are very much coming from the striker. So without changing the CF A role which is serving me well has anyone got any ideas?

Set up -

Various mentalities/Fluid philosophy.

TI's - Stop GK distribution, close down more, push higher up

--------------------CF A-------------------

??------------------AM S-----------------??

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

-----------------AM D----BWM S----------

WB A--------CD D--------CD D-------WB S

---------------------GK D------------------

You seemed to list all the roles and just as quickly dismissed them. I'm confused. Perhaps it's a suitable player issue in those roles listed?

You seemed to list all the roles and just as quickly dismissed them. I'm confused. Perhaps it's a suitable player issue in those roles listed?

Yeah quite possibly. I have tried various and pretty much tried different players and the same players have difficulty keeping it consistent in the same role so it's not so much me chopping and changing. Think it's more balance between attack and defence. Supporting roles are helping me defend better but aren't getting into the box.

Podolski is a great example. He was banging them in up front and got injured so Sakho came in. Sakho is scoring so can't leave him out so playing Podolski on the left but he is left footed and not really a winger and obviously being left footed he doesn't make a good IF on the left. He is listed as awkward on the right but may terrain him up as an IF on that right side so he cuts in on his left but at 30 not sure if that would affect his re training.

If Podolski has got the attributes to play IF then don't worry about his positional rating, the attributes are primary.

Think it's more balance between attack and defence. Supporting roles are helping me defend better but aren't getting into the box.

If you set your IF(a) to man mark his full back, you'll have a goal threat that still tracks back. Perfect compromise, in my opinion.

Sometimes the frog just stay there and the hollow

An Idea for your AMC: I also like to play attacking mid on support so he tracks back, and to get him to go further forward, just use that PI! he'll still track back

An Idea for your AMC: I also like to play attacking mid on support so he tracks back, and to get him to go further forward, just use that PI! he still tracks back

Yeah tried that along with move into channels and it worked ok with both Podolski and Zarate but was still not sure on the wide men and I am trying not to get them in each others way. A RD seems very hit and miss from what I have tried anyway.

It seems I am just wondering how to get the best of that attacking 4. I guess the options are wingers with trying to get the AM and striker in the box or holding the AM back and trying to get the wide men into the box. Maybe even doing away with trying to play the wide men and play a narrow AM three behind, maybe two AM S flanking an SS?

It depends on what you want. If you want your wide AMs to score, then maybe your forward and AMC should support them. Since you sound happy enough with a CF(a) scoring a lot, then use wingers or whatever to support him. They will still score some themselves but if you wan't all four of them to score 20 goals a season, that might not be possible.

One thing I just thought of is making your BMW a CM (or maybe regista/roaming playmaker) so he can play through balls to your wide AMs

It depends on what you want. If you want your wide AMs to score, then maybe your forward and AMC should support them. Since you sound happy enough with a CF(a) scoring a lot, then use wingers or whatever to support him. They will still score some themselves but if you wan't all four of them to score 20 goals a season, that might not be possible.

One thing I just thought of is making your BMW a CM (or maybe regista/roaming playmaker) so he can play through balls to your wide AMs

Yeah I must admit I have wondered about the BWM. Early on I played a RD on the right so the BWM covered the fact the RD didn't track back too well but with both an Anchor and a BWM maybe I don't have the greatest creativity in the centre.

Funnily enough I just beat Leicester away 4-1 playing :

_________________CF A______________

__________AM S___SS A___AM S_______

______________AM D___DLP S_________

Was quite surprised how well the AM S covered wider areas and all four goals came from striker, AML S, and one each from Nolan and Podolski who came on for Nolan in the SS spot so four goals from the front four which is food for thought. Certainly the narrow AM three got more involved than a wide AM three but again it was only Leicester.

I have AP(S) on my left and fake IF(A) on the right. Fake IF(A) is a IF(S) with forward runs often and roam from position as his PI. As Lamela has only average workrate of only 10, I often see him neglecting his defensive responsibilities when put on attack duty, leaving my poor fullback to fend for himself.

In 17 games so far, Lamela is the 2nd top scorer in my team and the league with 16 goals.

Hey Sussex, its one of my favorite formations with 3 attacking mids but i had not used it in years since the inside forward/wide wingers positions had better players. But i recently downloaded an attacking formation from fm scout.com (Reds somithing like that) 4-2-3-1 narrow ATT mids and its the best formation i have used by far. id look at downloading that or at least using that as a template. I have won everything with arsenal in the 1st season and looking like doing the same in the second season. the Attacting midfield postions are AP(S) - AM(S) - AP (S). Depay was retrained to AMC and is a beast, loads of assists and goals.