Help me make a narrow 4-3-2-1

[Klyemann]

I have a lot of good MC and AMC players in my squad, so I've set my mind on a narrow 4-3-2-1 formation. Also, since I've just got promoted to the premier league, I would like to play on the counter as opposed to the possesion footbal I played in the championship.

Anyway, here's what I've got so far:

The problem I'm having is that it gets a bit crowded up front. I'm having a decent amount of shots, but not enough goals.

Here is a match analysis against a much better opponent:

And one against a weaker opponent:

As you can see, most of our shots come from outside the penalty area. Like I said, it gets very crowded upfront, so we are forced to try from distance.

Any ideas how I could set up the attacking trio to open up some space, and generate more higher quality chances?

[RocheBag]

Well the roles you are using are all very narrow. No one is really drifting out wide at all, so crowding is bound to happen. I'd change the AP to an AM, as they tend to drift a bit more where as an AP will stay central. I'd also consider changing the SS too, maybe a Treq. If you're set on using a shadow striker though, I'd at least give him roam from position or move into channels.

One of your CM's could be set to a box-to-box as well, to encourage some drifting around to free up some space.

[Klyemann]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention... both my AMCs have instructions "Roam from position" and "Run wide with ball".

I did have the central CM set to box-to-box at the begining, but changed it later on, because he would get to high up right into the crowded area.

[glenjamin]

I'm playing as Middlesbrough and just changed to the 4-3-2-1. Will let you know how I get on.

[jakem016]

I don't really understand what you're trying to accomplish. Why are both of your outside cms playing as a cm-d if you're not going to play with attacking fbs? Right now, you have no width at all. If you want to set both outside cms to a defensive duty, then you should, at least, give your fbs attack duties. my advice would be to either create a setup where the outside cms are more attack oriented (I.e., bbm, cm-a, ap) and the more central one sits back and holds position of at least ask 1 to do so. I would setup with a cm-a cm-d bbm setup, but I've never played with this formation. Another option would be to move one cm to dm.

Also, you might want to reconsider your striker role. Maybe play him with a support role and ask him to roam around. If he's strong in the air, then maybe have him hold position and have your ams running on from deep. This would also create space for your cms to get forward.

[Klyemann]

I don't really understand what you're trying to accomplish. Why are both of your outside cms playing as a cm-d if you're not going to play with attacking fbs?

In truth, I did start out with attacking full backs, but later changed it because of the full backs bug (I was getting killed from opposition wingers).

Anyway, I played around a bit and figured out. that such a narrow formation is not suitable for counterattacking football. So, this is what I came up with:

I have set my AMCs both on attack, one Am and one Treq (like RocheBag suggested)... they both have "Roam from position" and "Run wide with ball". After that, they did start to play a bit wider, and open up a bit of space.

Next, I set the striker to DLF-support, with "Move into channels" instruction. What I wanted to achieve is have my forward draw the defender out of position, dropping back to get the ball and opening space for forward runnig AMCs.

I have abandoned the counter-attacking football and tried with a more patient build-up, hence control mentality with shorter passing and retain possesion.

Things seem better on the pitch now, and the last few games went ok: draw against Crystal Palace 1-1, defeat against Man Utd 1-3, and a 2-0 win against Stoke.

Will try out this formation more, and let you guys know how it went.