Okay, so today I messed around with the “centurions attacking mid” setup in my game. I’ve been trying to find a good, solid formation, and this one has been on my radar for a bit.
First thing I did was jump into Squad Battles. You know, gotta test things out against the AI before risking my rank in Rivals. I picked a pretty weak team, just to get a feel for the player positioning and movement without too much pressure.
I started with a basic 4-3-3 formation, nothing fancy. The key was setting the instructions for my midfielders. I put two of them on “Get Forward” and “Get Into The Box For Cross”, really pushing them up the field. The third one I kept back a bit, more of a holding role, on “Stay Back While Attacking”.
- Midfielder 1: Get Forward, Get Into The Box For Cross
- Midfielder 2: Get Forward, Get Into The Box For Cross
- Midfielder 3: Stay Back While Attacking
My wingers, I set them to “Cut Inside” and “Get In Behind.” Trying to create those diagonal runs and overload the defense.
The first few games, it felt…clunky. My midfielders were getting in each other’s way, bunching up in the middle. My striker felt isolated. It wasn’t working, the passing lanes are blocked.
So, I tweaked things a bit. Instead of both attacking mids on “Get Into The Box”, I changed one to “Free Roam”. I figured that might give him a little more freedom to find space, instead of just making a beeline for the penalty area.
And that helped! It wasn’t perfect, but the movement was definitely better. My midfielders started finding pockets of space, making those late runs into the box that I was hoping for. I scored a couple of nice goals from cutbacks, which was a good sign.
I also realized I needed to be more patient in the build-up. I was trying to force things too much, rushing passes and losing possession. Once I started slowing things down, taking my time, the opportunities started to open up.
Further Adjustments
After a few more games,I even switched to a 4-3-2-1 to have a more CAM position mid player.
I think the key takeaway is that this “centurions attacking mid” thing isn’t a magic bullet. It takes some experimenting, some tweaking, to find what works for your playstyle and your players. But when it clicks, it can be pretty effective. I’m still not totally sold on it, but I’m definitely going to keep messing around with it.
