Sorry, on my phone so no screenshots... but here goes.
When tinkering with the 352 that Chelsea and Arsenal seem to be favoring, I recalled that a few years back 'tilted' diamonds were popular in FM... so I tried to apply the logic here.
Rather than 3 central defenders, I set up w 2 centerbacks and a right FB. The LCB was a BPDX (Cahill), the RCB was a BPDC (Luiz). The RB was set as a LFBD (Azcuilapeta), but eventually I went with FBS with some defensive minded ticks in the role screen.
I set up with a LWB (Alonso) as a WB attack, staying wide and running with the ball wide.
I used two central mids, a BWMS (Matic) set up with gets forward more, dribbles more and passes more directly) on the left and a BWMS (Kante) set the same but in the DMR slot.
I set up Moses on the RM slot as a DWS with gets forward more often.
Hazard set up in AML, as an IFS, pretty typical. I set the other attacking mid (Willian or Cesc) as a AMRC as an AMA with all the attacking options ticked- gets forward, finds channels, dribbles and shoots more.
The striker I set as ain the center left spot as a DFS so he would press hard... if it was Costa, I set it up with hold up ball, shoot more and dribbles more... if a smaller less strong player, I set it up as a DFS with finds channels, roaming more, dribbles and shoots more.
-----------------DF-----------------------
-----IF--------------------AM-----------
------------BW-------------------DW--
--WB------------------BW-------------
------------BX-------BC--------FB---
Granted, I was using Chelsea, but I had a solid run, taking the league and winning the Europa Cup after falling out of the CL.
I recreated it w Arsenal, flip flopping it using Bellarin in the Alonso role and Monreal in the Azpilicueta role. Similar results, 3rd in league, played in FA cup and Europa League finals...
Obviously what jumped out is the struggle with the CL in both saves. Not being a huge fan of either sides, I got bored after the first season, so not sure if that was an abberation or not.
I did turn the deeper BWM into a RPS or DLPS if needed... both seemed to not make a huge difference positionally, or results wise.
When looking at player positioning after matches, if I tilt my head it really does look a proper 3421.
(for team instructions, I had standard, fluid, pressing maxed out, playing highest up the pitch, close down gk, get stuck in, cross early, and plays one tick from norrowest).
When tinkering with the 352 that Chelsea and Arsenal seem to be favoring, I recalled that a few years back 'tilted' diamonds were popular in FM... so I tried to apply the logic here.
Rather than 3 central defenders, I set up w 2 centerbacks and a right FB. The LCB was a BPDX (Cahill), the RCB was a BPDC (Luiz). The RB was set as a LFBD (Azcuilapeta), but eventually I went with FBS with some defensive minded ticks in the role screen.
I set up with a LWB (Alonso) as a WB attack, staying wide and running with the ball wide.
I used two central mids, a BWMS (Matic) set up with gets forward more, dribbles more and passes more directly) on the left and a BWMS (Kante) set the same but in the DMR slot.
I set up Moses on the RM slot as a DWS with gets forward more often.
Hazard set up in AML, as an IFS, pretty typical. I set the other attacking mid (Willian or Cesc) as a AMRC as an AMA with all the attacking options ticked- gets forward, finds channels, dribbles and shoots more.
The striker I set as ain the center left spot as a DFS so he would press hard... if it was Costa, I set it up with hold up ball, shoot more and dribbles more... if a smaller less strong player, I set it up as a DFS with finds channels, roaming more, dribbles and shoots more.
-----------------DF-----------------------
-----IF--------------------AM-----------
------------BW-------------------DW--
--WB------------------BW-------------
------------BX-------BC--------FB---
Granted, I was using Chelsea, but I had a solid run, taking the league and winning the Europa Cup after falling out of the CL.
I recreated it w Arsenal, flip flopping it using Bellarin in the Alonso role and Monreal in the Azpilicueta role. Similar results, 3rd in league, played in FA cup and Europa League finals...
Obviously what jumped out is the struggle with the CL in both saves. Not being a huge fan of either sides, I got bored after the first season, so not sure if that was an abberation or not.
I did turn the deeper BWM into a RPS or DLPS if needed... both seemed to not make a huge difference positionally, or results wise.
When looking at player positioning after matches, if I tilt my head it really does look a proper 3421.
(for team instructions, I had standard, fluid, pressing maxed out, playing highest up the pitch, close down gk, get stuck in, cross early, and plays one tick from norrowest).