442 formation
The 442 formation in hattrick in theory is a compensated formation: strong defense, decent midfield and good attack. In practice, compared to 352, you increase defense by lowering the midfield, which is the most important line of the game. It doesn’t seem like a good option.
As a defensive tactic you can have your chance, although there are better ones.
Standard mode (most used)
Defense
With four defenses you will draw a stronger defensive line than with 352. Normally the defenses are usually distributed with two as centrals, and two in the bands set to ‘defensive’. Although logically it will depend on the rival.
Midfield
The midfield is the most important, so three central midfielders and one end (usually placed in the middle) are usually used.
In the other band an offensive end could be placed to reinforce the attack of one of the bands, but at the cost of lowering the midfield. Be careful.
Teams are also often seen using two midfielders and two ends toward the middle. But you’ll get more midfield using three central midfielders.
Attack
Two strikers up to get a good central attack (and one side if you put an offensive end). They can be put to the side to reinforce the side attack, but you lose central attack. It will depend on the rival.
Variations:
In defense:
– if your defenses have lateral, they can be put as lateral defenses in ‘normal’ or ‘offensive’, to reinforce the attack by the bands
– if you need more defense by the bands, you can give your central defenses the order ‘to the side’. It will lower its contribution to the central defense, but increase it to the lateral defense.
– if you want more midfield, you can put as a central defense a player with plays, with the order of ‘offensive’ (eye, does not increase the attack, increases the midfield). Logically it will lower your defense quite a lot.
In midfield:
– in the midfield, your midfielders can help defend if they have defense. And more if you put them as ‘defensive’ (but lower their contribution to the medium a bit).
– in the midfield, your midfielders can help increase the central attack if they have passes. And more if you put them as ‘offensive’ (but lower their contribution to the medium a bit).
– in the midfield, your midfielders can help increase the lateral attack if they have lateral, for this you must order them ‘towards the lateral’ (but lower their contribution to the medium a little, a little more than the ‘defensive’ or offensive ‘.
At ends:
– in the extremes, it should be clear that if what you want to reinforce is the midfield, you have to place a player with moves, with the order ‘towards the middle’. If you want to increase the attack, you must choose a player with a side, with the order ‘offensive’.
– you can put both ends ‘towards the middle’, to achieve even more midfield. But as we said before, it is better option to use 3 midfielders + 1 end towards the middle. We usually play like this when we want to attack only in the center, since the side attacks will be lower.
– in the extremes the ‘normal’ order is not usually chosen, since if it has plays it will be better ‘towards the middle’, and if it has lateral it will be better ‘offensive’. The ‘normal’ order can be more useful when you have a player with moves and side.
– at the ends the ‘defensive’ order is not usually chosen. It would be to put a defense here to increase the defense, but it doesn’t seem like the best option.
In front
– you can place them ‘sideways’, to increase the side attack rating, but you will lose central attack. Useful for playing against teams that close down the center but neglect the band. But they will need to be supported by offensive extremes, and in a 442 you may notice too much the average descent
field (when changing one end towards the middle for an offensive one).
– if you put here a player with plays, with the order in ‘defensive’, your midfield will increase (but the attack will decrease).
Workouts and 442
– Goalkeepers : in all formations a goalkeeper plays, therefore 442 is as good for goal as any other.
– Defense : option to consider, since you train 4 defenses. But to train 4, maybe 451 is a better option.
– Playmaking : quite rare, if you are going to train plays it is much better option to use a training with five midfielders .
– Side : another rare option, because you should train two side fenders and two ends, but with two extremes your midfield will be quite low.
– Annotation : only two strikers, you lose a position. To train only two, the 352 seems better option.
– Other : if you want to train passes, there are other formations that are better suited (both short and long).