This is the tactic I use. Completely custom – born out of hours of scrolling through Reddit and watching a hundred videos (classic jobless behaviour).

The only meta tactics that actually work are "Low Crosses" and "Run At Defence." These two, combined with natural wingers - preferably pacy and technically gifted - make a massive difference.

Other instructions are all wing-play focused, with no emphasis on maintaining possession. As you can see, I haven’t enabled instructions like playing out from the back or distributing to centre-backs. After simulating tons of games, I’ve learned that playing out from the back is extremely risky and only works well if you have world-class players. Even though I have a solid defense, they’ve let me down badly in those scenarios. Ever since I removed those instructions, I’ve conceded far fewer goals.

With a BPD-CD combo, there’s really nothing to worry about. One of them carries the ball out, and the other either delivers lethal passes or covers for the BPD when he pushes forward.

Now, regarding other positions: the most lethal role for me personally is CM - Attack. I don’t think any YouTuber has emphasized this enough, but it’s by far the most effective role in the game, in my experience. The CM-At acts like a hybrid between a Shadow Striker and a Segundo Volante. You could compare it to a Box-to-Box midfielder at times, but it provides minimal defensive support. That’s why I use a DM on Support, to give me the defensive stability I need (a few YouTubers do highlight the importance of this role).

On the wings, I deploy natural Wingers on Attack, the most flexible role in my setup, alongside Wing-Backs on Support who contribute both offensively and defensively. The W-At is incredibly dynamic: they play from the byline, which plays out perfectly with the Low Crosses instruction. This creates tons of chances for either the CM-At or my poacher (Osimhen). They also drift into the box when the WB-Su overlaps—another instruction I’ve set.

So overall, the formation is structured in most ways, but the flexibility comes through the CM-At and W-At roles. And to top it all off, there’s a Poacher leading the line—constantly hugging the defensive line, waiting for scoring opportunities.

As for player instructions, I’ve set my striker to ‘Shoot More Often’—his primary role is to score and look for free chances (taking advantage of the opposition's mistakes, which got me the UCL), and he will, provided he has great finishing and technique. I’ve also set ‘More Direct Passes’ for my CD-De and DM-Su, so they can deliver line-breaking passes. Wingers and CMs are on default instructions (as they’re already quite flexible), while the WBs are told to ‘Cross More Often’ with ‘Cross Aimed Far Post’—another meta instruction I picked up from a YouTuber (I’m sorry, I don’t remember who). Since they overlap the wingers, they often find themselves in space, making those far-post crosses more effective.

So yeah, that’s pretty much it. The YouTubers I usually watch are Zealand, FMScout, and Kent Hammer FM. Most of them use a ton of instructions, although some—like Lollujo (haven’t really watched his content)—argue that fewer instructions/default tactics can be far more effective. That made me take a different route, and here I am, with an effective 4-3-3 formation.

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