Pendulum defending in a 3-5-2

[ElJuanvito]

Hi guys.

 

Many teams that use a 3-5-2/5-3-2 do this pendulum thing when out of possession, where the ball-near wingback pushes into midfield, the ball-far wingback stays back and the defense shuffles across, forming a 4-4-2. Is it possible to do this in game?

[WhyMe]

You can defend in a 4-4-2 and attack in a 3-5-2 yes (at least in theory), but you can't do it depending on which side the opposition has the ball.  In FM the formation you have on the tactics screen is your defensive shape and the roles and duties you select will dictate your attacking shape.  So in principle to get what you want you would select a 4-4-2 as your base formation and then pick roles and duties that would approximate a 3-5-2 in attack.  But what you can't do in FM is get the wingbacks to move depending on where the ball is on the pitch.

Edited March 10 by WhyMe

[CJ_Randell]

If you went with a 3CB's and 2 Wing Backs, have one of the Wing Backs on Defend and the other on Attack, then have the CB who's on the same side as the attacking Wing Back be a Wide CB on Support, he should push into a LB slot to form a back 4 in possession.