Which team, formation and default tactic in FIFA-2011 are best for those under level 10?

Can you recommend a team, formation and default tactic that can stop my losing streak in FIFA 2011? I'm still level 1 - I'm guessing Spain/Barcelona are the obvious choices.

Choosing those two teams feels like I'm selling my soul but I'm bored of losing 3-0 every game.

You could give Real Madrid a go. Ronaldo is pretty over-powered, so throw him up front and score heaps of goals.

Ok so that wasn't the most serious answer. The beauty of football is that it can be played a variety of ways, and any team can be successful on their day. Other things can influence this as well, such as the formation you play, or the custom tactics that you use. At the end of the day, you need a team that compliments the style of football you like to play.

Possession / Passing Game

This style focusses on keeping the ball, and is my favourite style of the game. Basically in defence you want to get the ball back as quick as you can, and then keep it. Be patient and build up your attacks slowly, moving the ball from one side of the pitch to the other with short, sharp passes.

The main aspect to attacking with this style is the use of off the ball runs. If you're running into space with the ball, tap R1 (on Playstation) a couple of times and send a few guys on runs to create some space. When you give a pass with a midfielder or attacker, in many cases you'll want to hold R1 again to ensure you are creating passing options for the next man.

Team: You can't go past the classic footballing teams. Barcelona or Arsenal. Great passers, they're fast, and they can finish.

Formation: You'll probably want to use a 4-3-3 variation. This gives you both depth and width, and natural triangles for passing opportunities.

Tactics: High movement, Free Form attacks, High Pressure defence all over the pitch.

Long balls

My most hated style of the game. Not because it's ineffective, but because I find it ugly. It can definately be effective, for example you'll create lots of 2v3 and 3v4 opportunities, where a mistake from a defender can create a chance on goal. Don't forget to attack down the wings either, as having a couple of finishers in the box can net you a few goals.

Team: What you're looking for is a team with 2 strong attackers, who can hold the ball up and protect it, then finish. Think along the lines of Manchester United, with Rooney and Berbatov up front. Or Manchester City, with Tevez and Adebayor up front.

Formation: Some variation of 4-4-2 should do the trick. Flat midfield if you play down the flanks, or a diamond to give more depth in the midfield.

Tactics: I can't think of any specific tactics that would help, however you want the 2 front men sitting as high as possible.

Counter Attacking

This style can be very effective given the right team, a really fast team. For most of the match you'll be just waiting. Let the other team have the ball, and play defensively. Don't put too much pressure on them, or you'll tire out you're players. Then wait for an opportune moment, for example when you're defending a corner, and from there you rush out of defence with 2 or 3 passes, and have a 3v3 or better attacking chance.

Team: Someone fast. Arsenal come to mind, or perhaps Real Madrid.

Formation: Play defensively. I'd suggest a 4-2-3-1 for this style of play. You get both depth and width, to break fast from defence, and go either wide or down the middle.

Tactics: Bring down the amount of defensive pressure you're team puts on in defence, and make the attacking moves Free Form with risky, medium to long passes.

Hope it helps.

I think this is a tough question because it depends upon your preferences. I have two combinations for you:

Barca: 4-2-1-3(2-1)

Valdes

Abidal - Pique - Puyol - Dani Alves

Mascherano - Buquets

Xavi

Messi - Inniesta (Pedro) = attacking wingmen!

Villa (Krkic)

It should look like Inniesta and Messi are wingmen; do not forget to set Dani Alves to come up with the attacks and Busqets and Mascherano to play in backwards defensively.

Try it out.

My personal favourite is Arsenal:

Fabiansky / Clichy-Vermalen-Djouru-Sagna / Song(Abo diaby)-Nasri(wilsher)-Fabregas(rosicky)-Walcot-Arshavin / RVP

A simple 4-1-4-1 formation, where Walcot and Arshavin are wingmen.

Hopefully this will help for you too.

The easiest teams to play with are those with 'stronger' players (ie: hard to tackle), and formations that encourage longer passing.

So playing with Barca & Spain, who both have formations that encourage short passing and well controlled dribbling may prove difficult for beginners to utilize their full potential.

The formation & settings of the Mexican team América is very spread out and in my opinion the easiest to play with. A spread out formation gives the player plenty of time to make a pass and look for the next pass. They are only 3.5 stars so make sure your opponent chooses a similar team.

As for a 5 star team, try sigh Man Utd or Real Madrid. The likes of Rooney, Berbatov, Ronaldo, Kaka etc. are easy to dribble with as they are hard to tackle and both formations are reasonably spread out especially through the midfield.

As for some general advice for someone who is continually getting beat, first and foremost keep the ball on the ground, and when you find yourself up against a stronger opponent try to retain possession for as long as possible, treat it like training and forget about scoring goals, just try to improve your passing. Good luck!!

Edit: I notice you are asking only about formation. But what is just as important (if not more) are the custom tactics. Here you can set all sorts of settings that affect your teams positioning and behavior. You should know about these settings, but I encourage new players not to toy with them. Default settings are almost always better then anything you can come up with. But at least now you should be aware of why a 4-3-3 works with some teams, and not with others - who may have settings to work well with a 5-3-2