I'm currently on January 1st of 2018 and our Chelsea has been doing very well despite only having won the premier league one year in the 15/16 season. We got 2nd in the 16/17 season but I feel like we are on our way to winning this one as well. I've changed our tactics a little bit this season so I wanted to update you all on that as well. Inspired by Guido (https://strikerless.com/) I wanted to relive my FM live days of playing strikerless. I have not had success with a 4-6-0 since FML but with Chelseas budget and some inspiration/guidance from Guido I have managed to be doing quite well with this formation.
I'm using a 4-6-0 formation which is slightly different from my FML formation in that the deeper 3 midfielders are actually located more centrally while by attacking mids are playing a mode wide formation. I partly did it this way because of the players I already had in my squad using my previous 4-3-2-1 formation. This has been working well and it is a very aggressive formation although I have had some difficulties against some tough oppositions like Juventus and Manchester United. I think the key for this formation working so far was the addition of Pogba who really stepped up the quality of my midfield. Oscar playing as a Trequartista was originally something I considered a compromise but he has been amazing when playing with William to his right. As you can see I also bough Douglas Costa which has been just an outstanding player for my team, playing in any of my front 3 positions and doing great with set pieces. I also purchased the RWB Danilo from FCP for U$38M. In his first season his average rating was 7.21.
My other unusual formation is a 3-2-2-2-1 using 3 center backs while keeping one of them as a stopper. This tactic was something I wanted to try for a couple of reasons, I have a lot of high quality center backs, and Danilo has been amazing as a wing back when he plays that role. Additionally having Ramires, Pogba and Lucas Silva in the midfield means that I feel comfortable putting less players there and still not leaving the middle vulnerable. Lastly this formation has allowed me to continue playing a fairly wide style of football but with long passes. I haven't tried this formation against tough teams yet but once I finish tweaking it I will try it.
