Can anyone explain custom formations?

[BigMacAttack22]

I'm sure this has been discussed before but I can't find exactly what I need at the moment. So, instead of just reiterating this to me, please link me to the info if you know where to find it.

Anyway....

I've played with custom formations a lot, and I've made a lot that are pretty effective. But I still have a lot of trouble understanding exactly how some of the options for customizing them works. I generally understand the positions and that where you place outfielders will affect their offensive and defensive abilities. What I really need to understand is how player positioning and work rate actually work.

So my questions are: What do the arrows in the player positioning page actually do? Is it just where players make runs or does it affect something else? And with work rate, what parts of the play does it affect? And can you use any of these to correct defensive positioning that would otherwise not be so great?

[Yeats]

The arrows determine attack direction whereas attack intensity is determined by players' workrate (that's what I've seen anyway). To see the effect workrate has on players, watch how slowly your low-defense CPU-controlled teammates move back into your end compared to high-defend teammates. The low-defend guys, especially the FWs, jog back at an insanely slow pace. Good if you want them up the pitch for a quick counter-attack, but not so good if you're looking for defensive support.

Quote: Originally Posted by BigMacAttack22

And can you use any of these to correct defensive positioning that would otherwise not be so great?

The thing that most affects offensive-defensive positioning are the line sliders. If you want to force your teammates to come back and help out defensively, set both length and height sliders to 0. Examples:

[BigMacAttack22]

So if I wanted to play the fullbacks wide, coming to help the centerbacks when play shifts to the defensive half, and have the centerbacks to hang back and stay close together, would that come from playing with the back line sliders or would that come from a mix of custom positioning and arrows?