Central midfield is the battleground of this piece. It’s the area of the pitch where creativity stems, where defence transitions into attack, and where it can either go horribly wrong or wonderfully right.
In recent decades football’s brightest minds have dabbled with two- and three-man midfields, and both systems have their merits. Which is better though?
Sports Interactive's Andrew Sinclair and FM Grasshopper can’t hope to answer that, but they have done an experiment with two K-League 1 clubs to demonstrate two contrasting approaches to setting up your midfield, showing how they differ and offering insight into how the central midfielders complement your wider tactical approach.
Visit The Byline on the Football Manager Website to find out how they've got on with their experiment.