I play half season with DEFS, and DMS. The resting part of the season, I play it with all of the STARS.
Here's a very good trick. I just noticed that Nesta is the best tackler in the game. I compared Nesta to all defenders, and Nesta without a doubt is the person to slide and tackle without the fear of getting a foul. Here's what I do in my first half season. Hint: The bigger the defender, the better, example: Ferdinand and Stam
I use a 5-4-1 formation. Instead of putting a RB and a LB, I noticed it's much better if you put a QUALITY defender instead.
----------------------------Buffon------------------------------
-----------------------llllll_Nesta_lllll--------------------------
Ayala---------Ferdinand------------Stam-----------Samuel
-----------------------Vieira-----Makelele---------------------
-----------Emerson-------------------------Davids------------
------------------------------Vieri--------------------------------
This formation is probably the best I've played with. Nesta, Ayala, Ferdinand, Stam, and Samuel pretty much don't let an opossing player shoot the ball at all. Just slide and tackle the right way, and you will have no problems. Now here's the important part, the DMs truely do help the team a lot. I noticed the MIDFIELD is much more solid. Infact, I play on WC, and I hardly see the best of players near my defense. DMs really do help a lot. Now Vieri, the only attacking player. Vieira, Makelele, Emerson, and Davids have a pretty good rating, without a doubt, their passes to Veiri are exact and precise. Some of you might go like "huh?" LOL, but trust me, this formation wont fail you if you don't want to be scored a goal or you just don't wanna suffer during the game. If you didn't like some of the defenders right there, it's simple, simply put another one with the same quality, or above. One more thing. Make sure to put a DEFENSIVE mode in the game for this kind of formation, you'll have a stronger and more balanced team in the back. Never use an ofensive mode with this formation which is 5-4-1.
Now on to the other formation, I use a 2-3-5 if I just want to have a good time.

Or if just want to score goals all over the place. One thing though, you are very exposed to all kind of attacks with this formation. I only get score a goal with that formation. If they score a goal in one minute, I score 4 more. When you have guys like Rud, Vieri, Totti, Ronaldinho, Del Piero, Henry, etc. Use those kind of players on the 3-5 lineup. For the "2" backzone, I would suggest using quality defenders if you seriously are planning to not suffer in attacks. Try Nesta and Samuel together. If not, make sure you try 2 world class defenders. If you don't like the idea of putting 2 DEFs because you think you are going to get attacked anyways, then put ATTACKING stars. I tried it once, but attacking players can't defend or can't tackle, therefore, it's very asured you will receive a goal by a world class team if you put those kind of mega stars. But one thing, you get to have a lot of fun. Just experiment and see the difference and judge for yourself.


Just make sure to put an offensive mode to even have more fun.