How to choose the best formation for your team
There is no winning formation: there is the right formation for YOUR squad. A practical guide to choosing your shape, with the classic mistakes new managers make.
How to set your line-up in ELDT: formation, mentality and pressing, the auto-pick buttons, the bench, the captain, set-piece takers and the Save button.
The video is in (Argentine) Spanish, with Spanish subtitles.
Video transcript
- In Line-up you pick the team for the next match. At the top you see the opponent, the prediction and how both teams compare in each area of the pitch.
- In your tactics you choose the formation from fifteen options, the mentality, from very defensive to very attacking, and the pressing, which sets how the team moves.
- If you don’t want to do it by hand, there are two buttons. One fields the highest-rated players, nothing else considered.
- The other picks by form and fatigue using the same maths as the match: from seventy per cent fatigue a player performs worse and gets injured more, so the exhausted ones go to the bench.
- On the pitch you see the eleven starters, with fatigue dots under each one. Further down is the bench, with the seven substitutes.
- On the right you choose the captain and vice-captain, who add a boost based on leadership, and who takes penalties, free kicks and corners.
- Finally, tap Save: if you don’t, the match is played with your previous line-up. All set, boss!
Every new manager asks the same question: "what's the best formation?". And every old hand gives the same annoying answer: it depends. But "it depends" isn't an excuse — it's a method. This guide lays it out.
Rule number one: the shape follows the squad
The classic mistake is picking the fashionable formation and forcing the players into it. The right way round is the opposite: look at your squad and ask what you've got. Are your best players in midfield? Go with a packed midfield. Have you got two good strikers and weak wingers? The double 9 is calling your name. Are your full-backs your biggest strength because they get forward? You need a shape that gives them room to do that. In ELDT each player has 22 attributes — the right formation is the one that puts the strongest attributes in the positions that use them.
The three go-to shapes (and when to use them)
- The 4-4-2: the eternal balance. Two banks of four, two up front. Easy to understand, hard to break down. Ideal if your squad is fairly even without stars, or if you're still learning: tactical mistakes are less costly.
- The 4-3-3: for doing damage out wide. You need wingers with real pace and dribbling — if you haven't got them, it's a 4-3-3 in name only and a problem in practice.
- The 3-5-2: dominate the middle at the expense of the flanks. Five midfielders help you win the ball, but your wing-backs have to cover the whole pitch: without the legs, the shape falls apart in the second half.
Mentality: the half people forget
The same formation changes with the mentality. A 4-4-2 on the attack and a defensive 4-4-2 are two different teams. The question before every match is: does this rival force me to go for it, or to protect what I've got? Away to the league leaders, taking a point can be a tactical win. At home to the bottom side, sitting back is gifting away two points.
Study the opposition (properly)
In an online manager game, the opposition is a person with habits. Check their recent matches, their position, how they're coming into it. In ELDT you can spy on any club and see their recent form — if they've lost three on the bounce, they'll come out fighting; plan for that.
The final checklist
- Is every starter playing in their natural position?
- Does the formation use my 2-3 best players in what they do best?
- Does the mentality fit what's at stake TODAY?
- Have I got a saved line-up for this kind of rival?
If you answered yes to all four, you're already in the 20% of managers who actually think the game through. The rest is decided on Thursdays and Saturdays at 21. Set up your first team free.
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