We end our look at the ‘3 at the back’ series with arguably one of the craziest formations within the entirety of SMW. The 3-3-4 is a formation that I personally believe one should never actually start a match of football with due to the unconventional elements of the formation. But, since it is one of the 28 founding formations of our beloved game, it is my duty to display what I believe will be the best balanced starting XI that you can consider using. Disclaimer: This formation serves no other purpose than being a last resort kind of formation whenever you are in need of a quick goal and should only be an alternative to your formation of choice that you started the match with.
Anywho, let’s get into the player roles, shall we?
DEFENCE
For a formation like this we’ll need to have an absolute juggernaut between the sticks and none come better than the Belgium giant. I mean…. Seriously, with all of the praise that Alisson and Ederson gets (in addition to Courtois’ recent ACL injury) many simply don’t give him his flowers since he’s without question the BEST shot stopper in the game today. As a matter of fact, we’ve created an in depth episode taking a look at some of the world class GK’s within S.M.W with the likes of the Neuer and Ter Stegen being brought into the conservation as well. I’ll leave a link to that episode at the end of today’s blog. Now then, on to the rest of the defence: In the central D(C) postion, we have the irreplaceable Mats Hummels, the man who I believe is the “Father” of all modern day ‘B.P.D’s’. In other formations, Mats would just be another ‘B.P.D’ surrounded by other creative players, but for this formation it will be absolutely crucial that we have a player from the back dictating the play as much as possible since the entirety of the 3-3-4 doesn’t allow for easy build up play no matter who you have in your XI. Additionally, we also need two very athletic players alongside our central D(C) due to the fact that they have to do A LOT of running in both the attacking and defensive phases.
MIDFIELD
In the midfield, we have the same thing as the 3 defenders, with the central player being the main source of creativity, flanked by two energetic and workate heavy M(C)’s. In this particular set up, we have Thomas Partey who is technically a ‘B.W.M’ but is very good on the ball and so can also play as a ‘D.L.P’ if needed (which he will need to be due to the ridiculousness of this formation). Amadou Haidara and Saul Ninguez’ main objectives are to simply get up and down the pitch and work as hard as they possibly can for the team both on and off the ball.
FOWARDS
A front 4 tends to get a lot of Soccermanagerites excited to use a formation due to the perceived sense of attacking threat, but the 3-3-4 lacks so much balance that if you don’t get this quartet right , you’ll be in for a lot of problems. Firstly, we’ll need two ‘Wingers’ who have high workrate and are extremeley fast since they will be tasked with running up and down the flanks all day. At no point will they be coming infield during the match (well, only when you have the ball around the opponent’s 18 yd box) which means that they’re tasked with providing crosses as well as being an attacking outlet. Up front, the mixture of Benzema and David will be a treat since David will have a lot of space to get into as our ‘D.L.F’, while big Benz leads the line with a lot of finesse, using his technical abilities to get the likes of Haidara and Saúl in the action with their late runs into the box, and ofcourse seeking to link up with David and get on the end of the balls from Sané Pulisic, Partey and Hummels.
DEFENSIVE TRANSITION
Normally, I’d have a strategy for bascially everything within SWM, but this mess right here? 😶 😶 😶
This is by far the major reason as to why I personally believe that no one should actually aim to use this formation except for when you’re in desperate need of a goal during the latter stages of a match. What this means is that there is really only one tactical set up that will work for the 3-3-4 in defence and it will be applying a high and aggressive press, and I must admit that it has the potential to allow you to win back the ball quickly, but if you don’t then you’re f**ked… 😬
The 3-3-4 is truly a formation like no other and simply can never be replicated. Any manager brave enough to implement this formation throughout the entirety of the league must be hugely applauded (or simply insane). If you’re that manager then make sure to make yourself heard via sending us a DM on FB or X, but you can also leave a comment under the comment section for today’s episode. We will give you a shouout if you do!
Now then, tomorrow’s episode will bring back some normalcy as we’ll be taking a look at arguably the most popular and important formation to ever be created! In a bit…
The Soccermanager Experience 
hello. Why isn’t there any tactics like general/attck/defence?
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Hey there Choco! For season 9 we only focused on choosing the best type of player for each formation within SMW…
We have a season coming up where we explain tactics and playing styles that work well together, but don’t tell nobody I told you about it… 🤫
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