conceeding too many goals from crosses.

Lukeeggy

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Hi

Pretty much guarantee every time team gets ball wide it's a goal. Conceeded 3rd most in bundesliga last year would say 90% came from crosses and fumbling in the box.

Any ideas on cutting this out?

Settings for my FB (WB A) ?

Close down more? Less?
 
close down less, tackle harder.

It works

Hopefully they will sort the ******* game out!! to many goals
 
You need to consider the overall team shape and roles and duties, because changing one and not considering the others will cause problems elsewhere. It depends what formation you're playing.

I'm playing a 4-3-3, and I had this problem a lot when I first started so I put my fullbacks to FB-S, player instructions to stay on feet (the last thing you want them to do is go in for a sliding tackle, miss, and then leave the entire wing area open for them to dribble into and pick out a perfect cross). No man marking, just zonal, because you will have the same problem if the opposition wide men switch.

The full backs should stay back and do a better job of picking out those flank clearances / passes. If you're still struggling try playing a more CB type player there rather than a complete wing back (Balanta for example, will just vacuum up anything knocked down his flank). The problem now is that if you play wide forwards who don't take advantage of the wings, like an advanced playmaker or a raumdeuter for example, that you have no wide play. I have a raumdeuter on the left and a winger-Attk on the right. In my flat midfield 3 i have a roaming playmaker, advanced playmaker and a cm-d. I like the AM-C to play through the middle, and he has a PPM for it, so no point in asking him to help out wide, so I ask my roaming playmaker to run wide with the ball. He runs out with it, the raumdeuter looks for the space created by my F9 and my right winger does his thing on the opposite side. If this leaves you feeling a bit skinny in midfield, push your defense higher up, or consider changing one of your FBs to an inverted wing back so he steps in to the centre of midfield. Doing this will expose your flank again but it's preferable to having the opposition pass straight through the centre of your midfield.

EDIT: If things are really bad (like, Brazil vs Germany bad) and you're wide defenders are getting dicked all over by the opposition wide attackers try playing limited full backs. I wouldn't do this because it doesnt suit my attacking style and leaves too many areas of my team unsupported but it might be worth a try, so long as you compensate with changes to other roles and duties.
 
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What about marking overlapping full backs. I have two inside forwards set to ATTACK with a F9 S. Great going forward but too many 2 v 1 in defense.
 
There's loads and loads of things to take into account - PPMs of players, positioning and anticipation etc etc. I dont like to set my FBs to close down more because it pulls the defence out of shape, so I set opposition wide players to close down always on the OI.
 
another issue i have noticed is when using a defensive mentality centre backs will put no pressure on opponents inside the box even into the 6 yard box i understand that setting a defensive mentality lowers their individual mentality but how can we stop the opposition having free reign of our box? ive tried tighter marking and tackle harder to no real effect, setting specific man marking just drags the centrebacks away and leaves too much space for runners to exploit, and im not ven going to try using close down more as that will leave gaps for pacey strikers to run into. anyone had any luck keeping it tight at the back? i ask as i could really do with a sound defensive tactic in my boavista save as im leaking goals from near post crosses and unmarked/free players in my 6 yard box, my last game away at braga i set up my defensive 4411 i lost 3-0 all the goals where either near post crosses or unmarked unpressured players in the 6 yard box
 
I took the unusual step of playing my home game against Hibs (I play a 2-1-2-2-3 attacking with a DM, very fluid) with no team instructions or individual player instructions (because players tend not to understand/follow them anyway) and got a solid though unspectacular 2-1 win, with their goal coming from the penalty spot. Crosses and corners were dealt with well enough, and some poor finishing was a bonus, but it was a huge improvement from conceding 5, 3 and 3 in my last three games. Won all three, right enough. Gonna see how it plays out in my next game.
 
I have my answer - not well at all. They didn't even try this time out. With or without instructions, it's like watching headless chickens run around trying to understand what they're supposed to be doing. Shame there isn't an instruction 'Tell them to use some initiative'
 
If I put close down less will it affect my formation. While team is set to close down more?
 
If I put close down less will it affect my formation. While team is set to close down more?

i would remove close down more as that pulls your team out of shape and better players can beat your defenders, i have had success with setting close down less team instruction and then player instructions set the full backs to close down less and tackle harder and the centre backs to tighter marking and tackle harder this way i have noticed when balls are sent into the box my defenders at least challenge for the ball as opposed to standing around like headless chickens
 
i would remove close down more as that pulls your team out of shape and better players can beat your defenders, i have had success with setting close down less team instruction and then player instructions set the full backs to close down less and tackle harder and the centre backs to tighter marking and tackle harder this way i have noticed when balls are sent into the box my defenders at least challenge for the ball as opposed to standing around like headless chickens



My team plays very fluid so the close down more is important.
 
Plus all my back for have ratings of 7+


ah fair enough i havnt tried very fluid with these instructions as im using a very technically limited boavista team which just dont have the skills to be fluid, but by setting those instructions i have cut out alot of defensive errors maybe you should try ease off tackles that way they will close down but only tackle when they think they will win the ball so by not commiting to a challenge the ball carrier cannot get past you easily? not sure if that would work but in my mind it could would need testing tho
 
When I keep close down on the full backs my goals go down. Took it off for 2 games, conceeded 9
 
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