Conceding from crosses.

[maxchaplin55]

So I concede an awful lot of crosses. At first I thought my full back must just need protection, but then I realised when the guy who crosses, crosses, he actually has 2 men on him already. So whether its the defender closing him downs fault, or the defenders in the box' fault, i do not know.
Someone offer any advice/ideas on how to stop this, whether its any instruction combinations or whatever?

 

[Dynamo_ZahnZee]

We need a lot more information that that mate, we can't do a thing since we've no idea what players you're using, what formation, tactical instructions, what their PPMs are, ect.

 

[maxchaplin55]

I understand that, I was waiting for a response before spending all that time explaining with no resolution.
I am Gillingham in League 1. Pretty bad centre backs, but i refuse to believe that this is the reason, as they are still professional CBs.
Basically, wingers can get past my full back (support) with ease. Then **** a ball, usually over my keeper, for a tap in at the far post. Obviously other types of crosses happen, but this one in particular.
My CBs roles are standard, with defend duty. Full backs are FB with support. My wingers are attack, and i am aware this can leave FBs open, but i usually get them to man mark the opposition full backs incase they bomb forward. I also have 2 DMs, a DLP(s) and a BWM(d).
My only defending TIs are 'get stuck in', 'tighter marking' and 'offside trap'.
The FBs PIs are 'close down much more' and 'tackle harder'.
I hope this helps you find any suggestions. Thanks Brendn.

 

[SebastianRO]

I know what you mean Chaplin. However, i score a lot of games from crosses and concede very few in this manner. So farm I found out that

1. 3 man defense helps a lot against this kind of crosses-goals
2. If you play a clasic back 4, then put your full-backs to tackle harder
3. If the opposition has players on the wings with good crossing, set your respective full-back/s to Limited fullback. This way, they will be more aggresive on whoever is gonna cross.

 

[Lippo255]

Sounds like the problem lies with your fullbacks getting skinned to often. I'd take "close down much more" off & instruct them to show their opposite onto their weaker foot. This might make them harder to get past.
Also the "sit narrower" instruction may encourage them to get in closer to the sticks when defending the far side.

 

[Hitman1991]

I play with wingers at AML and AMR and noticed the same thing, my wingers weren't tracking back and I was conceding a lot from crosses. I changed my wingers to 'support' and instructed them to close down more, seemed to help a lot.

 

[maxchaplin55]

I know what you mean Chaplin. However, i score a lot of games from crosses and concede very few in this manner. So farm I found out that

1. 3 man defense helps a lot against this kind of crosses-goals
2. If you play a clasic back 4, then put your full-backs to tackle harder
3. If the opposition has players on the wings with good crossing, set your respective full-back/s to Limited fullback. This way, they will be more aggresive on whoever is gonna cross.

The 3 man defence sounds like something I may have to experiment with, never have before on fm.
I always have the full backs on tackle harder, but perhaps in lower leagues it would be a good idea to set them as limited fullbacks.
Thankyou for your suggestions!

 

[maxchaplin55]

Sounds like the problem lies with your fullbacks getting skinned to often. I'd take "close down much more" off & instruct them to show their opposite onto their weaker foot. This might make them harder to get past.
Also the "sit narrower" instruction may encourage them to get in closer to the sticks when defending the far side.

I have tried the show onto weaker foot, and this helped a lot. Although the sit narrower- it makes sense in that the full back not being challenged will be closer to the sticks, however, it also means when a long ball is played quickly to the winger on their side, that they wont be as tight to them as needed.
Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[maxchaplin55]

I play with wingers at AML and AMR and noticed the same thing, my wingers weren't tracking back and I was conceding a lot from crosses. I changed my wingers to 'support' and instructed them to close down more, seemed to help a lot.

I have experimented with support and attack, and although support does tighten up the defence a bit, I find it limits the attacking side of play way too much.
Although yes, the close down more is effecting- I also found that 'tighter marking' works, aswell as instructing them to man mark the opposing full back on opposition instructions.
Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[Subtle]

Closing down will indeed help you solve your issue, simply because it limits the amount of times that a currently murky mechanic (central defenders' ability to deal with wide balls) is actually called into action.

It does hinder you going forward a little, but that's miles better than the alternative.