2 advancing from a group of 4 is the perfect formula; I hate how third place finishers will advance. However, since FIFA already screwed that up, 12 groups of 4 is the lesser of two evils.

Any tournament where half the entrants in each round progress is always preferable. Going to groups of 4 results in significantly more games being played an even longer tournament, which I'm sure will go down well with clubs. There's ultimately no particularly good scenario when you're only removing 1/3 of teams.

There is indeed no satisfactory way for a 48-team tournament to work. Sadly, FIFA don't seem to have learned the lessons of the equally flawed 24-team format. Forty teams could be made to work. Eight groups of five with the lowest-ranked side in each group missing out on the last round of matches on the assumption that they will already have been eliminated by then.

The only reason FIFA got clubs not to complain about the 48 team tournament was because having them in groups of 3 meant that the teams who reach the final would play the same amount as games as they do in the current arrangement.

 

If they do go back to groups of 4, it's going to mean an extra game and a longer tournament. Clubs won't be happy with players receiving even less of a summer break before the new season starts,