Quick back story: I'm Forest manager and actually won the Premier league in 2026 with a 3412 with wide midfielders. We weren't convincing all the time, in fact we won the league on GD with 75 points which must be a record low. Anyway the tactics worked mostly well obviously and suited my squad.
Then since the winter update it's been terrible. I ended up finishing the next season 8th and on the verge of being sacked.
Tried everything, been as basic as possible with 442/433 etc, tried to be clever with false 9s and inverted wbs, tried 3 at the back, 4 at the back, wingers, multiple AMs and so on...nothing is working to a consistent level and its not like I don't have the players. As a rough guide to my squad I have Silva, Guehi, Rico Lewis, Livramento, Musiala, Bellingham, Mokouko, Tel, Madueke, Tchoumeni and plenty more.
I try to create my own tactics but I even had to resort to plug and playing some of Knaps creations to give me a boost and nothing really came off, or it would work for a few games then tail off again.
What I'm after is something that actually looks realistic to something you'd get IRL rather than a 23311 or something like it's CM 01/02 again. Ideally I want my teams to keep good possession and create chances but I'm really struggling.
Anyone else had a similar experience or has any tips to rectify this? Cheers