What formation has the most players forward that allows you to stilll win?

[FootballManager89]

If i'm correct I believe every team in fm only uses formations their head coach likes. So if I were to mess with the editor and create all coaches whos favorite formations are one in which you have 3 strikers 5 in am(LR) and 2 in cm. With all of them having a role in which they all are in the most advanced position as possible. This could lead to some basketball like scores I bet. Sounds fun.

But back to my original question. Lets say you played a 0-0-2-5-3. What are some ways to do that? I'm guessing for cm you would play 2 deep lying player makes on defend. Then for the attacking midfielders I would go with 2 advanced playmakers on the wings and for the attacking midfield I would go with 3 attacking midfielders on support. Then 3 defensive forwards for my strikers. Team instructions would be sit deep and use offside trap close down much more etc. and I would play on contain. Hows this sound?

This league sounds so fun you could have 1000 goal scorers unless the match engine is built in a way to prevent such atrocities.

[herne79]

As far as I'm aware you can't force an AI manager to pick such an extreme formation. AI managers are also perfectly capable of changing their formation, so in two different matches against the same club / manager you can see two different formations used.

Only one way to know for sure though, but I think you'll be wasting your time.

[Kenco]

Personally I find basketball a bit boring.

[knap]

This is my most attacking working tactic. Tested in League with same squad players and the best AI managers in the game. I have used it with Lpool and won about 7 out of 7.

[Svenc]

This league sounds so fun you could have 1000 goal scorers unless the match engine is built in a way to prevent such atrocities.

I'd try it as it's a good way to challenge such "myths" oftenly perpetuated by community. Spoiler:

As many other, it's rubbish. :-)

What I did do on FM 2015 back then for instance was giving every manager in the league the inherent 4-2-3-1 Denmark as attacking plus defending formation in the editor, however it's also important to level club starting reputations, as it is probably the main mechanic by which AI managers eventually gauge where their teams are standing in the game's world. They might pick that formation, but there's also mentality, TIs and roles and duties (and parking bus AI visibly always has like a wealth of defend dutys in there, players always sitting behind the ball except for set pieces). I.e. Ok, we're Darmstadt, so we try to park the bus against Bayern and try to grind out lucky draws. Won't happen that rigidly anymore, everybody is playing a reasonably open game against each others, and even the top dogs have space to break into due to players making forward runs, rather than running into that "parking bus" dropping deep upon intercepting.

Default database:

The edits:

The problem is that the reputations will eventually adjust, naturally, so you'll have underdogs and top dogs eventually. Still repeatably every time. It's also the second by second play eventually making the numbers, not some other way round, and if you watch, even lower league standard has players getting in their default defensive position as outlined on the tactics pitch quickly, i.e. keeping defensive shape covered. FM clearly considers if a forward is actually in space or if he is mauled by defenders when he gets the ball and forced to shoot. A CCC is also clearly not a CCC, same as any shot or sot. However, currently you would need to field creative formations which you can't edit into the db for AI, such as making a single full back the "last line of defense", and then record scores are totally within reach, same as conversion ratios that are through the roof, as players are actually into space and nobody is around them when they try to shoot.

For getting a db which sees some additionally goals, opening the db, filtering all managers, marking them all holding "shift" and editing all their prefered formations for both att and def to inherently top heavy attacking formations that are available, such as that 4-2-3-1 Denmark or more aggressively (which are the defensive shape players are going to adapt) should see an increase in goals. You are influencing decisions which influences play first and foremost, which then rubs off on stats and goals. There is no leveling and no articifial limiters, and this was most apparent in FM 2015 initially also for a couple of reasons, where you had multiple teams averaging 6 goals for/against a match, plus more for human teams depending on their tacs, as attack duty advanced players weren't arsed to track back and just parked at the half way line (curious change by SI quickly patched out of the game for the final patches).

edit: Probably an even better one available in the editor for AI would be the 4-3-3 narrow (3 central forwards), as ever since that FM 2015 final patches, it is central forwards who don't much track. That way you would have sides that when they intercept can immediately launch something on the break, plus always have but 7 players getting behind the ball, oft resulting in totally end to end action throughout when employed by both sides any minute of play. Speaking about, if you would additionally shorten the pitches/grounds to the lowest possibly length, this can prove some additionally fun. With the distance between goals decreased drastically, and this is not for show, it has visibly influence naturally, end to end action totally guaranteed.

[FootballManager89]

lol wow 31-1 now thats what i call some soccer! The most attacking formation i see is the 343dm so i'll have to edit a database and see what happens. Hoping in next years edition they give you the ability to edit to more attacking formations.