The 3-5-2 Thread

[Babak G]

What sort of stats does the said libero get for you? I read the article but it didnt show a long-term "test" for the role. Could you share?

[jimbobBRFC]

What sort of stats does the said libero get for you? I read the article but it didnt show a long-term "test" for the role. Could you share?

i only really used it for the last 4 months of my season so there arent any real long term stats. Ill post up what stats I do have later tonight :-)

[ennyment]

So i've been using a 3-5-2 / 3-1-4-2 for quite a while now.

However, I am having a hard time generating enough chances. Most of my shots on goal are long shots, and I dont think I've scored a goal from a cross this season.

My defence however, is somewhat stable, although I concede some silly goals due to my defenders making stupid mistakes.

So far I have been switching between a fluid/very fluid 3-1-4-2 and a rigid 3-1-4-2, but after a few games using one tactic, my team just stop generating chances.

Fluid one

Rigid one:

Just ignore the 2 BBM, as I normally use them as CMs

[Soldatino]

I'm about to try to experiment with a 3-5-2. A flat one for now.

For now I'm considering following settings:

Style: fluid

Strategy: counter or balanced

Passing: shorter or default

Creative freedom: default

Closing down: press more

Tackling: default

Marking: zonal to start, I may see possible change here if needed however

Crossing: default

Roaming: default

And players' roles and duties:

GK - goalkeeper / defend

DCR - central defender / stopper

DC - central defender / cover, should I have a fitting person, I would like to try a ball playing defender there

DCL - central defender / stopper

MR - defensive winger / attack

MCR - central midfielder / support

MC - deep lying playmaker / defend, I'm considering whether to tick him as a playmaker

MCL - advanced playmaker / attack

ML - defensive winger / support

ST - deep lying attacker / support

ST - advanced attacker / attack

I will let you know, how things go on.

Btw. I have seen in many previous posts that "my MC DLP/D" is dropped into DMC position. Is it for better defensive covering, or to give him extra space for his play-making job?

[pedromanuelpinto]

Hello,

I'm trying to build one 3-5-2 or 3-6-1 in the Championship League. Here it is:

GK: GK / Defend

CB: CB / Defend

CB: CB / Covr

CB: CB / Defend

DM: DLP / Defend

W: Defensive Winger / Support (will be on attack if losing)

CM: CM / Support

CM: CM / Support

W: Defensive Winger / Support (will be on attack if losing)

ST or AM: TM / Support or Adv Playmaker / Support

ST: Adv Fwr / Attack

Tem instructions are:

Short pass

Normal mentality and balanced

Retain position

Zonal Marking (all)

Counter attack on

and the rest is the default.

Any suggestion or change?

[Soldatino]

Here's the 3-5-2 I posted previously, so far I have finished 2/3 of Serie B season with Modena. Previously I struggled with 4-5-1, so I was not sure what to expect. For the time being, it has exceeded my expectations and all my hopes. My team is first in the league, having 14 points advantage over the 2nd.

[enders357]

I'm playing as Napoli specifically because I wanted to experiment with playing 3-5-2 (or variations of it) and I figured they were the best place to start. After 10 games in all competitions we've been horribly inconsistent. I realise this could be due to a number of factors but having watched most of those matches on comprehensive highlights the main issues, tactically, appear to be distribution from my 'keeper to the back line going astray, and opposition teams getting in behind my wing backs or doubling up on them.

GK distribution:

I have the team set to pass short and play at a quick tempo but De Sanctis really seems to struggle with this, despite his distribution and composure looking decent. In three seperate games he has ceded the first goal by playing sloppy balls out directly to an opposing striker. What would you suggest to fix this?

WB issue:

Perhaps more pertinent to this post (apologies if the last issue is a little out of place). I started playing with my WBs in the midfield positions and with DW/A settings. Since being exposed several times I have switched them to the WB positions with WB/A settings. I'm finding this doesn't offer as much support in the attacking third as I'd like. What would you say was closest to Napoli IRL, and what suggestions would you make as to how to play this system without being fragile - maybe it's something they'll settle in to?

Here's a bit more info on the whole set-up:

SK/S

CD/D

BPD/D

CD/D

WB/A

DM/S

WB/A

BBM/S

AM/A

DLP/A

CF/A

[enders357]

Also, would people advise the use of a Libero over a BPD?

[Shakes]

It's a matter of pick your poison with the positioning of the wide players. Put them in the ML/MR positions and they'll get forward well and close down well higher up the pitch but will let players in behind them. Play them in the WBL/WBR position and they'll not offer as much of an attacking threat but also wont stray too much up the field defensively instead forming a solid back 5, they wont try to win possession but they also wont let so many dangerous crosses come in. If playing with a WBL/WBL I think playing a DMs or a BWM is helpful as you'll have someone who gets out to the flanks ahead of them and doesn't allow the opposition to just knock it around all day under no pressure.

If you have the players who can play both then playing them in ML/MR for games you expect to win and WBL/WBR for games you expect to struggle in or once you grab the lead and want to shut up shop is probably the best compromise.

Libero vs ball playing defender are two different types of players. The libero is more of a get forward role (although don't expect too much, he wont constantly be providing attack, he'll do it a few times a game) where as a BPD is like a deep lying playmaker, he stays in position but looks to hit through balls when there's a chance. Pick a role based on the players you intend to play there.

[MrGol]

I'm about to try to experiment with a 3-5-2. A flat one for now.

Btw. I have seen in many previous posts that "my MC DLP/D" is dropped into DMC position. Is it for better defensive covering, or to give him extra space for his play-making job?

It's mainly for defensive covering, as it's hard to replicate the Pirlo role in FM. Putting a playmaker in the DMC position will help with getting the ball out of the defense, but after that he won't be that involved in midfield play. In my case the playmaker was getting around 25 passes per match, while my two MC players were getting around 40-50. If you want to have a DLP dictating the game I would suggest playing him as a MC, and ideally have someone with the "comes deep to get ball" preferred move.

[davidmn27]

With Newcastle, I have a very effective home 3-5-2 playing with both a DLP in and a APM in AM and a BWM. Flat back 3, 2 wingbacks on attack and I mix my strikers depending on personel. I play control, balanced, short passing, with various shouts depending on the match itself. I win most games and am very happy, however ive been having trouble adapting this to away fixtures. I'm currently trying the following with mixed results...

G

LD X

CD C

LD X

WBR A

WBR A

BWM D

DLP S

AM A

APM S

AF A

I generally have less than 40% possession and dont create a great deal. I've not had terrible results but I'm not happy with how I'm attacking. Any sugestions? Too many specific roles? wrong set-up in midfield? wrong striker set up? Thank you

[Tom14]

I'm finding that my DW(A)'s are making a lot of mistakes. Is anyone else finding this? I want to find out if it's because of the tactics or personnel.

[davidmn27]

Anyone??

[Bruce Drundrige]

I'm having real trouble against a 3-5-2 (i'm playing 4-1-2-2-1)...is this the place to ask for help??

[davidmn27]

Probably because its a very solid formation and hard to break down. With my Newcastle team I'm only conceding 0.7 goals per game, and thats with Ash Williams as the only defensive addition.

I'd exploit the flanks, overlap against the wingback. play narrow too as most of their attacks will come through the middle

[davidmn27]

Anyone with any thoughts on how to get the best out of the variations of 352? Especially away from home..

[Puni]

Anyone with any thoughts on how to get the best out of the variations of 352? Especially away from home..

I've currently started testing a 3-2-2-1-2, in the following setup:

----------GK

--CD(X)-CD©-CD(X)

WB(S)-----------WB(A)

----BBM(S)-BWM(D)

--------Treq(A)

----DLF(S)-AF(A)

Very rigid, zonal marking, more creativity and more roaming. I generally start out on Standard, especially away from home. At home, I sometimes use control or even attacking. I'm a relegation candidate in the League One (just got promoted), and started using this tactic against Tranmere. First half was with no specific creativity and roaming orders, but I barely created anything. Turned both on hoping to create more, and went on winning the game well deserved with 2-0. Three days later, played away against Sheffield United, currently third in the league. Started out on standard instead of control, but kept the more creative and more roaming setup. I pretty much blew them off the pitch, ended 0-4 an could've been far worse for them as I created 7 CCC's (vs. none for them).

I know Cleon suggested wing backs don't work properly in FM2013, but in these two games, with a tactic that my squad hasn't even fully mastered yet, they've been outstanding. Now more than when I employed regular full backs, they tend to snuff out the passes to the wingers instead of letting them receive them. The WB with the attacking role in particular was outstanding.

[davidmn27]

That sounds impressive. Do u not find that your dlf and your treq get in each others way? Do your wingbacks contribute very much or do most of your attacks go through the middle?

Do u use short passing or default?

I put my wingbacks on hug touchline to keep the width which works well.

[Puni]

I'm using default passing. Depending on how the game evolves and my pass completion, I then tend to adjust through shouts if necessary (into space or into feet). My DLF and my Treq tend to find eachother rather nicely though. The reason why the DLF still need to fall out and come deep is to allow the Treq space to play in the AF. He's the one who usually gets a lot of chances. I have to say that results in the next few games have been mixed, so I'll need to tinker some more in order to fully understand the flaws.

[Julien62740]

I'm trying to make a 3-5-2 like Juventus. I mean like this:

cb - cb - cb

dlp

rm cm cm lm

af dlf

I set it to fluid and attacking. Cm's are a box to box midfield and a attacking centre midfield. But I don't know which role can I use for the wide midfiel players? And is the AF and DLF association a good one or is there something better?

Passing is set to mixed, high pressing, zonal marking. I didn't make any other changes. I played 2 and won 2. 65% possesion but only won by 1 goal.. Any suggestions will be nice!

[davidmn27]

Could u try a ball playing centre back? Also, if you're playing a highline u probably wont need anyone in the DM postion so u could try puching him up one, and putting a CM in AM.

I'd put your wide players and WM's and hug touch line, that way they'll stretch the pitch wide.

AF and DLF (S) works well, but if u have an AM u could try a target man instead of the DLF.

Also, u have a lot of specific roles for a fluid style

[Fabian Jonsson]

Well, as I stated earlier in this thread I'm using a 3-5-2 formation in my Oxford City save, and it has taken me all the way to the Premier League (5 promotions in 8 years )! I started out using wingbacks (2 x WB/A), but the last couple of seasons I've been using 2 x DW/A instead, like Cleon suggested.

It largely works well, but against some teams that play very wide and with a heavy focus on wingplay I can struggle at times. I often find then that it helps to move the DM up to MC (so that we play with a flat five in midfield) as it forces the MCs to press the flanks better. Of course, we are more voulnerable through the middle that way, but as I only do it against teams who focus on wing play it hasn't caused me any trouble yet.

One thing that I do struggle with at times - particularly as my team almost invariably play with the odds heavily stacked against us (hilariously the pre-season odds this first season in the Premiership came in at 5000-1, for example), is the fact that my midfield trio is often put under very heavy pressure. Not seldom are the only chances we give away to the opposition results of them pressuring and successfully tackling the DM who fails to pass the ball quickly enough. I've tried to mitigate this by playing at a high tempo (which I like to do with this team anyways) and by deploying a good passer with "plays short simple passes" in that position. This, together with 1 MC coming deep and 3 DCs behind them should be enough to play out of the press, I thought, but apparently that's not always the case. Does anyone else experience this, and does anyone have any good tips on other ways of combating that particular issue?

[mojojojo101]

I'm trying to make a 3-5-2 like Juventus. I mean like this:

cb - cb - cb

dlp

rm cm cm lm

af dlf

This is similar to the way I've set up my Man Utd team and it really is working wonders for me, especially defensively ( It's mid-November and have only conceded 3 times so far this season )

I set up like this:

SK(S)

BPD(D) - CD© - CD(D)

DLP(D)

W(S) - DLP(S) - B2B(S) - W(S)

CF(S) - DLF(A)

The BPD is set to have RFD and RWB to 'sometimes', other than that the roles are pretty simple. I use Phil Jones in this position normally ansd when combined with his PPM's he advances with the ball reasonably often offering a different angle to my attack, he has chipped in with a few goals and assists by doing so.

I did try to use a DLF/AF partnership upfront but I found they got too isolated and struggled to bring my onrushing midfielders into play, switching to a Complete Forward allowed me to keep the positional flexibility of the strike partnership but meant that I found it easier to hold up the ball when necessary.

The combination of two deep-lying playmakers may seem odd at first, but was a pretty important part of how I wanted to play. When I have the ball the two of them create a double pivot at the base of the attack, allowing me to easily move the ball from side to side, as well as mopping up any attacks that break down. Again though the players used are quite important. In the CM position I use a more conservative player (Carrick/Powell) whereas in the DM position is use the more combative player (Capoue/Ekdal - both have 'Get Forward Whenver Possible' PPM). It works pretty well and the late runs of Capoue/Ekdal into the box has given me a decent number of goals over the last 18 months I've been using this system.

There's a couple of things I need to work on. Away from home I can struggle to keep the ball in advanced positions and so am a little prone to 0-0 draws (not been a massive issue though as my strikers have been in good form this season), I did find that switching to 'Counter' from 'Control' did help. Last season I did have some trouble with srikers scoring goals (apart from Rooney who got 26 goals van Persie only managed 12, Hernandez and Welbeck 9) but this was helped by the fact that my midfield and defence contributed a lot of goals (Carrick and Scholes were the only first team outfielders not to contribute). This season that hasn't been a problem though so I don't think I'm going to worry about trying to fiddle with it.

[hehehemann]

So far into the first season using these tactics I am top of the League, P12 W10 D1 L1. Scored 23 and conceded only 5.

[Tom14]

Is anyone else playing this basic shape having trouble with defensive wingers getting too narrow. When I have the ball in the final third my front four are all in a line and very narrow. I didn't want to set the wingers to 'hug touchline' in case it messed something up. Wondered what other people's experiences of this are.

[andre_costa]

Yeah, at least Def.Winger on Attack tend to 'cut inside'. This probably has more to do with they having "Hold the ball" ticked!

[Tom14]

I have both defensive wingers set to attack and both of them are q little reluctant to bomb down the wing when I have it. I want them to have a defensive winger role as they are my only players who play out wide so they need to defend. I guess I'll tinker with the 'hold up ball' setting and get them to 'hug touchline' and see what happens.

[alsocan]

Well, as I stated earlier in this thread I'm using a 3-5-2 formation in my Oxford City save, and it has taken me all the way to the Premier League (5 promotions in 8 years )! I started out using wingbacks (2 x WB/A), but the last couple of seasons I've been using 2 x DW/A instead, like Cleon suggested.

It largely works well, but against some teams that play very wide and with a heavy focus on wingplay I can struggle at times. I often find then that it helps to move the DM up to MC (so that we play with a flat five in midfield) as it forces the MCs to press the flanks better. Of course, we are more voulnerable through the middle that way, but as I only do it against teams who focus on wing play it hasn't caused me any trouble yet.

One thing that I do struggle with at times - particularly as my team almost invariably play with the odds heavily stacked against us (hilariously the pre-season odds this first season in the Premiership came in at 5000-1, for example), is the fact that my midfield trio is often put under very heavy pressure. Not seldom are the only chances we give away to the opposition results of them pressuring and successfully tackling the DM who fails to pass the ball quickly enough. I've tried to mitigate this by playing at a high tempo (which I like to do with this team anyways) and by deploying a good passer with "plays short simple passes" in that position. This, together with 1 MC coming deep and 3 DCs behind them should be enough to play out of the press, I thought, but apparently that's not always the case. Does anyone else experience this, and does anyone have any good tips on other ways of combating that particular issue?

ive been experimenting with an asymmetric version of 3-5-2.. idea behind it is to draw a balance of strength in the middle and with creating width to stretch the opposition as well as cover the flanks in defence. i have come up with the below formation:

GK : Sweeper Keeper

DCL : BPD: Defend

DCC: CD: Cover

DCR : CD: Defend

WBL: WB: Support

DMCR: DM: Defend (wld use a DLP Defend here, but i currently dont have a good enough player)

MCL : BWM : Support

MCC : Adv PLaymaker : Attack

AMR : Inside Fwd : Attack

STL: Complete Forward : Attack

STR : Poacher : Attack

Instructions:

Fluid

Standard

Passing default

CF default

Pressing : More

Tackling default

Marking : Zonal

Crossing default

no offside, no counter attack

Tweaks

DCs, depending on their stats ie. passing, composure, decisions, technique i will increase TTB to mixed, obviously BPD is the best candiate, if not just scale all DCs back to CD,

WBL. make RFD mixed, RWB often, cross from mixed (idea is to make WBL hold position and then beat his men off the dribble and swing in a cross from deep, instead of default from byline)

MCL : BWM, TTB to often

MCC: Adv Playmaker: RFD, RWB to often to play like a Frank Lampard

AMR: In Fwd: Wide play Move into Channel

I also use specific man - marking. Depending on opposition formation, i set the players to specific man-mark oppnenets based on proximity. I however always keep the DCC zonal and Poacher Zonal

[Gooner SJ]

All I use now across all my saves is a 352 or a 3142 if we are labelling each incarnation correctly I guess. This is the only formation I use and currently use it with Palmeiras, Sheffield FC, Sheffield United, Paysandu, Newcastle and Gateshead. Below is how it looked at the beginning;

The back 3 change all the time in terms of what kind of roles/duties they have. Majority of the time I use the outer ones as Stoppers and the central one as a cover. The game the screenshot was took from though I didn't play that way as I didn't need to. But most of the time its like I described.

But then I bought a few young defenders who were 15 (on my Brazilian Saves) and I'm training them to play the Libero. So I play like this;

I'm also developing a certain type of AMC/Striker and when they all have the correct PPM's I'll be switching yet again to a strikerless one that looks like this;

Hi, Cleon. I have not used Gateshead, but I wanted to ask how you fared defensively with them, and if they had good defensive wingers. I have been working on a 3-5-2 in the lower leagues, but I find that I can't stop them down the flanks. I am playing two DW's(S), and my back three are CB(X), CB©, CB(X). I find that once a winger reaches a certain point in the pitch, my DW just abandons the play and the CD(X)'s don't actually come out to hassle the player. My team is not overly low in work rates and teamwork either.

Edit: I also set my DW's to man mark the opposition wingers. This would be generally in a counter attacking strategy, so zonal marking, more cautious tackling.

[Gooner SJ]

Well, it seems as my troubles are against a specific formation 4-1-2-2-1, as I went the next three games scoring 10 and conceding just 1. So against the 4-1-2-2-1 in the next game I did not man mark the wingers with my defensive wingers. Instead I just played zonally and had my players stay on their feet. The crosses still came in, but there wasn't a case of the defender being in two minds about leaving the man on the ball to mark another player nearby and I was able to see off the crossing threats.

Cleon (or others), would still appreciate hearing how you all approach defending against that formation when you are playing 3 at the back.

Sorry for the edits -

Ok, so I did find one game in the Chalkboard thread where you man marked the wingers. But was that without tight marking? I can try to post a video of what is happening to me in game if it remains a problem, but hopefully I have it sorted now.

[Fletchdt]

This is my 1st try at making a 3-5-2. I have already won the league with 6 games to go using a 4-2-3-1. So i thought i would start making a different tactic ready for next season. Here is how i have set my players

All the players are set to the default instructions

I currently have the team instructions set up like this

I have a couple of questions

1) My AF, DLF and Teq are all set to Attack. Is this a good idea or will they all get in each others way?

2) My DW are set to Attack, will they get caught to far up the pitch while im defending? So am i better in setting them to Support?

Any recommendations or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[Falahk]

the trequartista is pretty much a support role, and for the strikers you probably should use attacking roles so that they dont drop back on top of the AMC (the main reason to put a striker on a support role would be to have him linking up with the midfield, this is not really needed if you also have an AMC who is already linking your midfield to the strikers)

so your current set up seams logical/good enough to me

[Soldatino]

I would consider using one of the DW as a support duty. I'm mostly playing with the 3-5-2 flat formation posted several posts above, the left midfielder is defensive winger / support, he arrives late in the area and scores either from crosses on far post, or from deflections etc. In most of my games, penalty and free kicks excluded, the ML player scored most goals of all my midfielders. Just a suggestion you may want to try :-) good luck!

[Tom14]

I usually have at least one DW on support too as I (try to) play a patient passing game and found that both my wingers were too advanced and so I constantly had a front 4 and no wide passing option. If you get the ball forward quickly though you should be fine to have 2 DW on attack.

[Fabian Jonsson]

Just wanted to share a slight variation of Cleon's 3-5-2 tactic that is working brilliantly for me thus far. It's still early days, but the attacking moves have been exceptional to watch, and I've won the first four games using this tactic with a goal difference of 14-1.

Instead of 1 DM and 2 MC and 2 ST, I've opted for 2 DM, 2 AMC and 1 ST. The defensive wingers and 3 DC are of course still intact.

The idea is to push the defense back and spread them via the two defensive wingers and an advanced forward, to make room for two attacking midfielders who can then exploit the space opened. It's a very simple idea, but it works very well. Granted, I play in a smaller country so the central defenders are not exactly world class, but they really don't handle the situations that arise well, and my team gets a lot of good chances via through balls.

Since I have a lot of players in attacking positions/duties and given the fact that I have a hard-working team, I've opted for an aggressive defense with a balanced control strategy + press more + push higher up.

[PeeKay]

I have used a similar formation but with MC's (DLP(d) and CM(d)). The two AMC's against 442's works really well. Have you tried putting one of the AMC's on support duty?

[Fabian Jonsson]

No, not yet. But the AP stays back a little bit more than the AM, so they don't run into each other at least. I've been experimenting with setting the DLP/S to a DM/S instead, to let him run into the space created when the AM moves into channels, but so far it has been with mixed results. I have some other ideas I wanna try too, so I'll write an update if some of them works out.

[Tom14]

What sort of passing do you use to for this system?

[Fabian Jonsson]

The team settings are all default except pressing (press more), marking (zonal) and crossing (drill crosses).

I've used it for about a year now, and the results have been excellent. I'm currently in the year 2019, and I took my team (IFK Göteborg) to an unexpected quarter final in the Champions league, after having won a group consisting of us, Fenerbache, Inter and Chelsea, and having knocked out Marseille in the round of 16. Some pretty strong showings against tough opposition, and I'm really pleased with the amount of chances we create even against the best defenses in the game.

I ended up setting the DMl to DM/S instead of DLP/S and it adds a little bit more movement in midfield. If it gets too congested I just change it back to DLP/S. Also, the AMCl (AM/A) is an interesting position as it can hold many different players and still work well. I've had playmaker types when I want to keep possession, dribblers when I want to exploit a high (or poor) defense, and pure attackers when I want more presence in the box or want to vacate the midfield to open space up for the other central players.

[TheBigBoss]

I'm playing this formation with Juventus and I'm seriously struggling to create chances

[Tom14]

It seems to have dried up for me too and I'm having to rely on set pieces and crosses a lot more. My main problem with it is maintaining width or a passing option as the centre of the pitch gets a little cluttered. A lot of my problems are caused by my players not being good enough in possession like spotting a pass or even execution though.

[R-Clark]

hi, this is a 3-5-2 i have created with my betis team. been using it for about 2 years, when i first used it i was around 5th until january then form slipped and finished 8th. a couple of tweaks and managed a 3rd place with much better consistency. sorry if my screenshots didnt work

[Tom14]

You need to edit your post and take the space out between the [ and the /. So it should look like this [/img] rather than [ /img]

[R-Clark]

ok i think i got it. thanks

[siambluebird]

I am using this with Oxford City in the BSN.

____________GK(D)_____________

_____CD(S)...CD©...CD(S)______

WB(S)____________________WB(A)

____CM(BWM(S))..CM(DLP(D))_____

____________AM(A)_____________

________TM(S)....DLF(A)__________

Decided to use this with a low level team because I sort of want a style that will become synonymous with Oxford City. It is difficult to find a good sweeper at this level, so I tend to drop deeper and uses the central CD as a cover. Wingbacks are also not great, but they seem to be doing alright. At the moment we do concede a little to much, but we are scoring. Probably won't get promoted this season, but I hope to get more suitable players in for the next.

[Fabian Jonsson]

I used a variety of tactics in my Oxford City save (depending on what players I managed to sign), but played 3-5-2 formations a majority of the time. I preffer to use the formation Cleon wrote about with a DM-MR-MC-MC-ML formation in midfield, although I sometimes bump the DM up to MC if I want more natural width in midfield (the MCr and MCl closes down the flanks more if they have a MCc between them).

Good luck with Oxford City, and check out the team thread in "Good Player & Team Guide" section. I was just about to post a quick update on my own progress there.

[siambluebird]

Cheers Fabian. I am wary of that thread as I want to find my own players and develop my own style

[Fabian Jonsson]

Ah, but that thread is not really about that. Mostly it's a place where people who manage Oxford City write about their careers. It's not really about who to by from where. Lower league management usually means that you buy/sell, release and snap up player at a fast pace, so it's not really interesting to write loads about which players you happen to have at the club this very moment...

Anyways, the 3-5-2 is very good for lower league management I feel, although I have sometimes had difficulty dealing with very attacking fullbacks that - together with the wingers - overload the flanks. It's important to find hard working central midfielders that can help close down the flanks, as well as aerially dominant central defenders that can clear crosses that do come in.

[valehannes]

So this is what I've been running:

Some of the losses are obvious like against Corinthians and Palmeiras, especially considering the team isn't gelled and not all parts of the tactics are fully fluid. But the loss against Sao Bernardo (nonleague) really irked me. All the goals came from crosses into the box that were flooded by their players. They managed to rush 4-5 players into the box and then one unmarked player scores. My defenders are quite tall (186-192) so that makes it even worse.

How would one go about fixing this? Tighter marking or closing down somehow?

[valehannes]

Here is a sequence of events that I see too often with my 3 in the back formations:

This is on a counter attack with 'man marking','more pressing' and 'agressive tackling'

These are enemy strikers and amc, no wing players involved.