Use D-pad tactics in 3421 to turn on the "extra striker" (press up and then down), one of your CBs will step up into the midfield causing a numerical overload and lots of different passing options.
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For those unfamiliar with the concept, a libero is a center-back who plays slightly deeper as a sweeper on defense while joining the attack and playing farther forward when the team has the ball. Libero's are normally associated with a back three but you could definitely make the case that John Stones has been shaped as a new sort of libero in the way that he steps up into midfield when Man City has possession and drops into a back four-out of possession as a center back. While this is tricky to do in FIFA, it is possible. Unfortunately, instructions like join the attack don't really do much for center backs in this game, at least when we've had that on for center backs they don't really move forward at all. For back three formations, you can put overlap on the outside center backs and while this works decently well they only move up on the outside and aren't as involved centrally as a libero would.
Tactics
Defensive Style: Balanced
Defensive Width: 40
Defensive Depth: 60-70 (personal preference as to how high or low you prefer to play)
Build Up Play: Balanced
Chance Creation: Balanced
We prefer balanced as we feel like it gives a nice mix, otherwise we would use possession.
With this tactic you're going to have a lot of players in midfield (Two CMs, one outside mid, and one CB) so you want everything as spread out as you can to avoid things feeling too cluttered.
Instructions
We have these tactics set up for the LM to act as an inverted fullback and the RCB to be the "libero" that steps up into the attack. You can just as easily flip these instructions around if your RM is better suited as the inverted fullback.
In this position I used TOTS Mitoma, basically you want a winger type player here who is fast and nimble, on defense they will act as a LM.
We used TOTS Havertz here, any striker you like shall do although we normally like a more physical striker, we often would sub Tammy Abraham on.
Any striker you like should work well here, we used Timo Werner here.
We used TOTS Sane here, any speedy/nimble winger should work here, this player will often be your outlet.
We used FUT Birthday Kante here, this should be your more defensive minded midfielder so any midfield destroyer should be good here
We used TOTS Reece James here, you want someone that's well rounded as a midfielder and can get forward as well as defend.
This player will act as an inverted fullback on offense and a LB when you're on defense.
We used Ledley King and Hummels here, any strong center backs you like would be good here.
This is the "libero" and most important player for this to work. In the 3421 we used TOTS Kimmich and he was perfect for the role. However while we were testing this out and trying it with different formations we have also used several players here though including TOTS Reece James and TT Gerrard. Essentially you want someone who is big enough to still play as a CB (although on defense in the 3421 they'll be more of a RB) but is still agile enough with good enough dribbling, passing, and shooting to be effective in attack. We think Gullit would be the ideal here but obviously we have nowhere near enough coins to get him. We also just packed TOTS Llorente from the red picks and he also looks like the perfect type of player for this position
We used Cech, any GK you like will be fine.
How It Works
With these instructions, you'll end up defending in a 442 shape as the LM drops to become a left back and your LCF shifts over to defend as an LM (see image directly below). Similarly, your "libero" won't as much be a central center-back sweeping as they will be a right back, however, they still function nicely in the attacking elements of a libero. Once you recover the ball though your LCF will continue to stay wide while pushing forward and your LM that has been defending as a left back will step into the central midfield space because of the come short and free roam instruction. Meanwhile, your RCB acting as the libero will also step up into midfield:
From there, once your team starts to get into shape, all of your forwards and your right midfielder will be making moves in behind. This is important as it clears out the space in the midfield for your RCB to move up into midfield as well as for your LM to pinch inside and offer support. As you might tell from the layout, you'll have a slightly stronger presence on the right side of the field and so you'll often have the RM free as an outlet as your RCF will often be occupying your opponent's fullback. What's nice about all this different movement is that you immediately have multiple options to play long/direct to going forward or if you need to slow things down you have four players in the midfield area to hold the ball. We leave the CM on the same side as the libero on balance so that those two can interchange with what makes sense at the moment. It should be noted that the movement of the RCB can be a bit unpredictable, on rare occasions we've looked for them and found them all the way over standing on the left touchline. The majority of the time though they will stay in the middle of the pitch moving up the field and at times even getting into the box. Basically, once you recover the ball this is roughly what your team should look like:
As far as general patterns of play, we tend to look for the RCB when we recover possession with one of the defenders as that player will often be moving forward to make himself available. From there we'll look to see if we have a direct pass-up to one of the strikers/forwards. If that's not on though we'll look for the RM as an outlet to give our team time to move up the pitch. If their defense is set, we'll tend to work it around the players in the midfield until there's an opening. You'll also often have a player free in the wide areas because of the width so you can work it back and forth between the middle and outside to try and create an opening. This formation also has worked decently well against five-back formations as it's normally pretty easy to hold the ball and once you're in the opponent's half your inverted fullback as well as libero will at times end up in and around the box an opening to score.
As you can tell from the image above you will be at times open for a counter as you only have two CBs and one CM staying back. However, overall we didn't find that to be too much of an issue. In most tactics we've made and posted about we usually have about 3 players staying back and this is no different. We found the two CBs and CM position themselves really well to root out any counters. You'll also still rarely be outnumbered as people often at most have three players staying forward but most often only have two so most of the time you'll at least be one man spare at the back. Additionally, we've found that this tactic is also really good for pressing. Because you have one of your CBs pushed up in the field and four players overall in the central midfield area it's really difficult for opponents to bypass quickly. As well, when you lose possession, your libero (RCB) will run back immediately and so at times will end up inadvertently making a tackle automatically while tracking back into position without being controlled if your opponent doesn't notice this.
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