Defensive Line

[SaintMotbot]

Hey Guys

Really loving this years FM but it has me tactically a bit stumped in terms of defensive line and when to push up and when to drop back. At the moment I am playing with a slightly higher defensive line, closing down more and playing the offside trap. My two centre backs are both on CD (D) as Stopper/Cover doesnt work overly well with the offside trap. This works really nicely against teams with slightly slower strikers, but as soon as I face a team with a bit of pace it falls to pieces. I have tried dropping deeper, closing down less and staying on feet in an attempt to remain a bit more compact but I find that just puts me under an immense amount of pressure and I will leak goals anyway. Any advice on when to play which defensive line?

View attachment 213193
Just as a bit of background, I am trying to press higher up the pitch to win the ball back early and then play as directly as possible forward with a high tempo and direct passing. I was hoping the striker being an advanced forward would push the defensive line back to allow the AMC more time to pick his pass through to one of the wide men. The AMC position has been troubling me somewhat, I have tried a TM (S) up front with a shadow striker in behind which hasnt worked, but if I keep my striker on a support duty and drop my AMC back as well there is nowhere near enough of a presence in the area.

Thanks in advance for any help

 

[WJ]

The defensive line is just part of the issue. Ask AVB and Sherwood when they were at Tottenham, a high line means zilch if you don't put pressure on the ball carriers and players around them. That would be my first worry.

 

[SaintMotbot]

So you think its more of an OI issue? Picking and choosing who to close down and mark tightly?

 

[WJ]

So you think its more of an OI issue? Picking and choosing who to close down and mark tightly?

If it's coming mainly from 1 or 2 players, then obviously that's one way of trying to shut them down. Just make sure you at least have players close by and that they don't get to him too late.

 

[macca72]

I would be tempted to try also changing the DLP to a (d) duty. The CM(d) closes down quite a lot by default, so there's nothing wrong with having 2 (d) duties in the MC strata.