SWaRFeGa

Hate playing the likes of Bolton. 4-5-1. They play one striker, and i struggle. How many defenders should I use? 3 central defenders? 2 central defenders and wing-backs? None of these seem to work. Flat-back 4 seems a waste against just one player.

Cleon

I guess you struggle because you loose out in the midfield battle and are always 2nd best?

A bit more info from yuo would be helpful like what system you been playing and the settings etc. Where exactly are you strugglign against Bolton etc

SWaRFeGa

It's more a case of how many defenders i should be using against just the one striker. Once that is sorted, i can decide how many midfielders will be used. I'd like to make the most of their defensive formation, use it to my advantage.

Cleon

While it looks like a 451 on paper, isn't it actually a 433 when in possession? Thats what Bolton normally use on my games.

The Lambs

A team playing with only one forward, will often add a second forward during the game, especially if they are trying for a big push to win the game.

I play a 4-4-2 or a 4-2-2-2. With both of these I find that against a loan striker I need to do a few things;

1) Set my fastest central defender to man mark that loan striker, but as soon as they have a second striker, remove this option.

2) Play my spare central on a little less mentality to mop up any times the midfield wins the battle or my fast striker messes up.

3) Make one midfielder slighly more defnesive to cope with their Central midfield.

4) Man mark both of their wingers, either in the opposite instructions or as instructions for my full backs. This cuts out the crosses.

Do not do this unless you watch the match in full or play close attention to their formation

If you play this and they switch to 2 up front or make a sub, you can find your defence is out of position and you will get ripped apart.