We’ve kept the creation of a formation easy and accessible, without losing any of the options you need.  There are 6 easy steps you will have to go through to create the formation of your dreams. To give you a practical example, I applied the formation creation process to my club, VfB Stuttgart. I enjoyed this a lot, since the custom formation feature allows me to act as their coach, and makes them play like I want them to.

They are currently playing in a 4-1-2-1-2 formation…but I don’t like the formation or the starting 11.

Let’s change it and create a Custom Formation…

Step 1 – Chose base formation
I prefer a 3-5-2 type of formation.  The biggest advantage a formation with 5 midfielders provides is the opportunity to own the middle of the pitch by aggressively pressuring your opponent. This type of pressing forces them to give up possession before they even reach your half. Once you win the ball, you have a lot of options to start your own attack via the wings, or straight through the middle.

Step 2 – Customize positions
Of course, I am not done with simply choosing an 'out of the box' formation, since each player on my team has individual strengths that I want to cater to. Step 2 of the formation creation process gives you the ability to select any player and place him anywhere on the pitch.

Step 3 – Assign offensive runs
Now that you have all your players in position, you can add up to 2 offensive runs to each player. This will influence the direction the player runs into while you are in possession of the ball. For my team, I want the defense to spread out and make the game as wide as possible.

The five players in the midfield can chose to bring up the ball through the middle, or send the right midfielder down the wing, since I put him down as very offensive. While the centre forward will come towards the play and assist the midfield in bringing the ball up the pitch, the right striker acts as a target man inside the box.