My current formation now is simply 433 with (2 CBs, RSB, LSB), (2 CMs, 1 RMF), (1 LWF, 1 ST, 1 CF).
The back line is pushed more towards the mid field.
It is very similar to default Arsenal formation, but pushing the LMF to a LWF position.
Back line and the the two center midfeilds are set on High Defense, and the remaining players are set to meduim. No low defense. Spaces between my team in general are reduced to minimum to make sure the team acts as a one unit in defense and attack and to create a war zone in the midfeild to the opponent.
I will keep the attacking arrows for later hopefully when I have more time.
Team strategy is set to back line A, and Offside B.
My strategies are offside trap, Counter Attack, Formation A, and CB Overlab.
Formation A is slightly tweaked to free my front line, when I noticed they are man marked ( I will keep that formation to myself for a while). But I seldomly switch to it, except at emergency.
The magic key here is the off side trap. The second the opposition is having the ball, my players perfrom huge pressure coupled with an offside trap (activiated with circle + R2). If you master this strategy alone, You would make wonders with this formation. You just need to perfect the timing. Don't hesitate to activate it, even more than one time during the same attack. When mastered perfectly, this strategy acts more as a bug in this game
. My opponents usually complain about it, especially when they end up the game with more than 10 offsides!
Setting an offside strategy with the back players applying pressure on the midfield make the opponent have very limited space for creativity. Even in those rare situation when he manages to pull on a through pass, your back players will have very long distance (my entire half of the pitch) to easily catch with the opponent attacker.
I tried this formation against possibly all formations played by skilled human opponents and AI. I also tried it in double players, where me and a friend were playing against 2 other friends. I score an average of 5 goals per match, and I concede 1 or 2. Of course, I lost some matches, but I won more and in general I am very pleased with the performance of my team. I even tried it against skilled human players with 4*2*4 formation and yet I had total control in defense and attack. And when the team is set to all-attack, then it is really awesome!
My center back is the third scorer in the master league thanks to the CB overlap strategy and every player in the team, except the goal keeper, scored at least once in by the end of my first season.
Try it at your own risk