How to Win Against Any Formation II

Since the original thread has been closed down we still need a Mega Thread here where people do need to ask for help on How to Win Against Any Formation. Unfortunately the information that was obtained from the old forum at the beginning of the thread has now been lost since the old forum has been closed down and the information on here has been deleted. For a General Guide on what formations to use when playing other teams don't forget to visit the Counter Formations thread first. Table of Counter Formations - What to use?

4-4-2 Classic
----ST----ST-------------------ML--MC---MC--MR -----------------DL--DC----DC--DR Possibly the most common formation in football and common in Top Eleven, It's a got a good balance all around the field and is a good choice for any manager to use if they are not clued up on tactics. Quite versatile too. Effective formations known to beat the 4-4-2 Classic are 3-5-2, 4-5-1 V and 4-1-2-1-2 Narrow Diamond.

4-3-3
--ST--ST--ST------------------MC--MC--MC----------------DL--DC--DC--DR 4-3-3 is an attacking formation that many managers like to use especially those that just like to fill their team with tons of strikers, however its very weak in the midfield and again formations like 3-5-2, 4-5-1 V and even 4-4-2 Classic should be able to beat this.

4-5-1 V-Style
-----ST----AML-----AMR ---MC-MC-------DMC---DL-DC-DC-DR Named 4-5-1 V-Style for a reason, the 5 midfielders in the formation make a V-shape and this is a very good formation to use in Top Eleven if used correctly and many managers frequently use this formation, It can be difficult to counter too. The 3-2-2-2-1 works well against this formation and also 4-1-2-3 is also a possible counter to this formation as well.

4-1-2-1-2 Narrow Diamond

---ST--ST------AMC------MC--MC------DMC----DL-DC--DC-DR The Narrow Diamond's name comes from the 4 midfielders in the centre of this formation forming a narrow diamond since the midfielders are central and also this formation is based on attacks from the center of the field and through the middle, It can be very effective again if played correctly, It's attacks can be thrawted if you stop its attacks using a DMC and this makes formations like 3N-1-4-2 and 4-5-1 V-Style both effective when playing the Narrow Diamond.

4-1-2-1-2 Wide Diamond

---ST---ST-------AMC----ML---------MR -----DMC----DL-DC--DC-DR This one here is the brother of the Narrow Diamond. The Wide Diamond, Played with a ML and MR instead of 2 MC's but this formation can be beaten if you decide to dominate the middle of the of the field by playing MC's and the way to do this is by playing 3-5-2 flat.

3-5-2 Flat
-----ST--ST--------------------ML-MC-MC-MC-MR -------------------DC-DC-DC----The 3-5-2 flat focuses on the midfield area and trys to dominate the midfield area while giving support to the 2 strikers, to have a good chance of overcoming 3-5-2 you need to use formations that can battle with 3-5-2, The 3-2-2-2-1 butterfly is a formation that can work well vs 3-5-2 as can the 'WM' formation which is 3W-2N-2N-2W-1 which looks like a 'WM'

3-2-3-2
----ST--ST----------------------MC-MC-MC--DML--------DMR ---DC-DC-DC---The 3-2-3-2 is a variation of the 3-5-2 with wing backs, effectively a hybrid between 3-5-2 and 5-3-2, since the midfield is no longer a flat midfield we can use the 4-4-2 classic against this formation because it takes the DML/DMR out of play here.

3-4-3
---ST-ST-ST-----------------ML-MC--MC-MR ------------------DC-DC-DC--Some managers like to go for broke and play all out attack and a formation that does this is the 3-4-3, fortunately for us, this is a formation that is very easy to counter and formations like 3-5-2, The 3-2-2-2-1 Butterfly and even simply the 4-4-2 Classic can easily deal with a formation such as this.

3-2-2-2-1 Butterfly
-----ST----AML-----AMR --MC--MC--DML-----DMR --DC-DC-DCThis formation here is getting more and more popular with managers to use on Top Eleven, simply because of how players are spaced out over the field and it is very difficult to counter, but recently we have found a formation that is named the 4-2-2-2 Hexagon can be effective against the butterfly.

4-2-2-2 Hexagon
----ST--ST---AML-------AMR ---MC--MC-----------------DL-DC--DC--DR This is the 4-2-2-2 Hexagon formation, Called the Hexagon because the 6 attacking players midfielders, attacking midfielders and the 2 strikers make a hexagon shape. this is an attacking formation with using wingers instead of left/right midfielders as 4-4-2 classic, this formation can easily be countered by using a flat midfield formation such as 4-4-2, 3-4-3, 3-5-2 or 4-5-1.

5-3-2
-----ST--ST-----------------------MC-MC-MC------------------DL-DC-DC-DC-DR Like the 4-3-3 this formation can also be easily beaten by putting many players in the midfield area, it is very defensive with a flat back 5, formations like 4-4-2, 3-5-2, 4-1-2-1-2 Narrow Diamond and 3-4-1-2 should be effective against the 5-3-2.

5-4-1
-------ST----------------------ML--MC--MC--MR ----------------DL-DC-DC-DC-DR Another defensive minded formation, quite tedious and horrible to play against as your opponent has parked the bus, but since he has one man up front, you wont need a lot in defence, so the 3-5-2 flat should be an effective formation to use against the 5-4-1, you want to be attacking often.