Attacking in a 4-3-3 system

Post a short description of your most successful attacking gameplay patterns whenever you play a 4-3-3 system - against human players or AI-players alike.

Try and give a percentage of success.

And don't forget to mention the difficulty level.

Here is my (sad) display:
- Long pass to winger; angled cross in direction of the first post; header; GOAL! (Level 3 and 4: +- 30%). Watch-out my human opponents just foul the winger!
- One-two-pass straight down the middle at the edge of the area; shot; GOAL! (Level 3 and 4: +- 40%). Just make sure you get the first pass right.
- Corner towards the first post, curling away from the goal; header/volley; GOAL! (Level 3 and 4: +- 25%). Human players get nervous easier than the AI-opponent.
- Freekicks outside the box (Level 3 and 4: +- 40%).

okay check it, firstly you got to have your players positioned right and in the right position names. Frome the back you need right, left and two centre backs; middle - an AMF, and two wing backs; fowards - a CF, and two WF. Cool, now to position them. the 2 CB are right on the edge of the Box, one just in and the other just out (staggered), the left and right backs are at about two o'clock to the respective centre backs and about two pushes on the keypad away from the centre backs. The two WB are hugging the respective lines, the right or left depending which side you attack most is closest to the boundary where you switch from midfield to fowards (this is in the mode when your setting your formation) and the other is more to the centre line (two steps away from the centre line and one from the side line. The forwards hover around the box, the CF in the middle as close as you can to the keeper, then one space back; the WF on either side are placed right at the corners of the box and taken one to the left/right and to the top.

Now you have them all set, the reason that you stagger them and use WB is to cover that big hole in the middle. Now there is a number of ways to attack from this placing. And the chances of scoring are like over the 75% depending on who you play. Against AI, you can almost always score, and with humans you have a 50/50 chance, cause once they figure you out and your one dimensioned, your toast. So this formation offers you the luxury of hitting them through the middle or flanking him and killing him with crosses. Thats where the real stuff starts to work, and you seperate the elders from the kiddies. In the formation screen, you can set the way you would like them to run, so depending on the type of player you are, you will set either wing play, centre or both; you canquick set it, but that is only if you have to go all out attack, have pulled it back and need to get to a more balanced formation. But that is it, put in fit players with tons of stamina, speed for the WB and a balanced defence and attack. The rest you will place as you feel the formation.

But i still think the best formation is a 3-5-2, that will beat any formation any day, that is if you have the players to fill the positions. Enjoy, sweet...

Thats weird. On my master league (6*) i play 4-3-3 with stragety formation change to 3-5-2. I find if i playing 4-3-3 and i'm getting bullied in midfield i switch it to 3-5-2 that swamps the midfield and gives me back control of the game.

thats what it should do anyway

The most difficult issue in the 4-3-3 formation is your midfield. You always need to play 2 CMFs. The question is, do you put an AMF in front of them or a DMF behind them? Both formations have their problems: playing with an AMF in front better suits a 4-4-2 system, playing with a DMF makes it very difficult to build up an attack on the midfield.

my formation is always 3-5-2. with good players in the midfield you have always the control of the game.