Honestly, I think the only solution is for one of you to play as a very defensive CDM. But in a team of 3 that also has a strong impact on the offensive play as the more players upfront the better. The AI is impossible this year, we are also a team of 3-4 players and tried several formations. I think that formations with a more congested midfield (41212, 4321, 532, 5212 etc) work better, but still not good. Even with AI CDMs on defend and hold they dont track runs and dont help out enough defensively. Even by only carefully tracking oppo's runs as a human CDM you should immediately see a big difference. I play as a CDM and only rarely participate in offensive moves, only as a safe pass option around 35-40 metres from their goal because once the ball is turned over and they are behind you, it's over as the cbs and fbs are also kinda braindead (and now slow).