FIFA 22 is here and everyone is looking for the perfect formation for their team. With thirty formations to choose from it can take a while to get your squad set up perfectly. We take a look at four of the best formations and delve into custom tactics to set your squad up for career mode success.
The best formations on FIFA 22
4-4-2 (2)
4-4-2 (2)
That's right, you read this correctly. The 4-4-2. The classic. The two defensive midfielders will provide great stability to your otherwise attacking team, allowing you to focus on wide players who can really hurt your opponent. There are very few gaps here for your opponent to exploit. Be wary, however, that if you are chasing a goal then you may want to switch to a more attacking formation or selection of players.
4-1-2-1-2 (2)
4-1-2-1-2 (2)
This has been many people’s go-to formation across many FIFA’s and this year is no different. While the lack of natural width may put some players off this formation is compact and puts lots of pressure on your opponent while you have the ball. The crucial player in this formation is the CAM they’re the one that pulls the strings and feeds your two strikers. Make sure your CDM likes to stay back though, if he strays forward, you can be left open to a counterattack.
3-5-2
3-5-2
See this formation as five in the defence and five in the attack. This creates a great balance across your squad with the CAM, wingers, and striker providing your goal threat. At the other end, the two CDM’s and three CB’s should provide a strong enough base at the back. You want to make sure your wingers are well rounded as they will have to track their opposite number back at times too.
5-2-1-2
5-2-1-2
This is a left-field choice. Now this may sound ultra-defensive and on paper it is but there’s a few tweaks you can make to make this one of the most robust formations in the game. The key to this formation is the wing-backs, they need to have excellent stamina to get up and down the pitch. When attacking make sure you look at either wing and, you’ll find a switch across the pitch that will find the wing-back in space. You also want to have defenders who are good on the ball as with the extra cover you’re able to bring them out with the ball.
4-3-2-1
Want to bombard your opposition’s defensive line with a deadly three-pronged attack? Then this is the formation for you. The three forwards don’t offer huge amounts of width but with one of the CM’s joining the attack too it because almost unstoppable going forward. You may want to set one of the CM’s to drop back to help cover the defence as you’ll need to get width from your fullbacks.
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Guide: How to score penalties every time on FIFA 22
Custom tactics on FIFA 22
Getting the right custom tactics can set you apart from your opponents
Getting the right custom tactics can set you apart from your opponents
Getting your custom tactics right can often be the difference between winning and losing a game of FIFA. While everybody’s play style is different, we’ll dive into each section with our recommendations.
Defensive style
Last year drop back was the go style. With EA removing the so-called meta from this pressure on heavy touch keeps your defenders on their toes while pressuring in situations when they believe they can get the ball.
Width and depth
New for this year is a more in-depth sliders allowing you to alter your defensive width and depth between 1-99. We recommend dropping the depth slightly to between 30-45 depending on your play style. The width depends on the number of defenders in your formation. Five at the back allows more width into the 60/70’s while you’ll want to keep three at back narrower.
Build up play and chance creation
Another new feature this year is chance creation with balanced, possession, forward runs, and direct passing. This is a feature that should be entirely down to the way you play but direct passing seems to work well this year for getting in behind.
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Build up play lets you choose from slow, fast. and direct passing. If you have a packed midfield, you can be more patient, but if you want to counterattack quickly look at fast/direct passing.
Our guides to the best players in the game:
- The 10 best young strikers in FIFA 22
- The 51 best defenders in FIFA 22
- The 31 best wingers in FIFA 22
- The 21 best strikers in FIFA 22
- The 39 best midfielders in FIFA 22
Width
This very much depends on your formation but starting at the default 50 is a good place to begin. If you have a narrow formation with no wingers, you may want to up this a little to help cover the wings. On the flip side, if you’re playing with wingers you may want to bring it down to help get the wingers involved in the game.
Players in box
This is exclusive to when you’re in a position to cross the ball. The higher you set this number to the more players that will try to get into the box. The default is 5/10 and usually provides enough men in the box to create scoring chances. If you have a couple of star wingers, you may want to up this for players to get on the end of their deliveries.
Corners and free kicks
If you have a tall physical team pack the box for your set pieces. You can choose between 1-5 players in the box for this. The default is three so start there and see if you find yourself scoring from these situations. Be careful committing too many men to this as you could be caught on the counter.
