I don’t like this formation. Why? Because it’s bascially a 3-4-2-1 that has a lot of ‘2s’ added to it to make it look intreaging or “cool”. I won’t go into a lot of detail about, it but I will still go over the basics. The 3-2-2-2-1 (yuck) consists of 3 Defenders, 2 Defensive Midfiders, 2 Wide Midfielders, 2 Supporting Attackers and 1 Forward. Now, I get why this might be seen as a more defensive approach compared to the 3-4-2-1, as it allows managers who have Central Defenders like a Marquinhos, Schlotterback or Lisandro Martinez in the Defensive Midfield positions, but the problem with this is that in order to play in Central Midfield in a back 3 formation, it requires a player that is techincally good enough on the ball who can handle the chaotic nature of the midfield due to that areas on thr field always being the most congested. There’s only a handful of Central Defenders who can play in Defensive Midfield within this type of formation so therefore I believe that no one should actually look to play it as a replacement for playing the 3-4-2-1. And for those of you who might counter my perspective by saying: Oh, “What about if I want to play attacking players on the flanks? Won’t the 2 Defensive Midfieders protect my defence better than in the 3-4-2-1?” Well, not really. It’s the exact same thing in the 3-4-2-1, with the only differnce being how you decide to use the arrows to your advantage (If you’re unfamiliar with what I mean by the term ‘arrows’ then check out episode 1 of seson 2 tiIed An introduction to the tactics page) for anyone whose ever played any Soccermanager single player game (SM21 in particular) and attempted to use the 3-2-2-2-1 formation you’d see how much the 2 Defensive Midfieders rarely move from their deep positions thus casusing a huge gap in the center of the field between them and the 2 supporting attackers ( I used to love playing teams that used this formaton!). The same definitely cannot be said about the 3-4-2-1 as the 2 Central Midfielders cover the entire central region of the pitch on and off the ball like Central Midfielders were meant to do.
Damm, I said I wouldn’t go into too much detail but this one might be the longest blog post of the season so far lol. Guess my passion for this game took over. Anywho, I hope u understand where I’m coming from with this one. See you in a bit.✌️
The Soccermanager Experience 