Last night I should of been going to bed early but you know the feeling when there's something on FM you want, you just have to stay up because you don't want to wait Well for me I was playing along on my Tottenham save which I'd been using to develope the "Play Like Pep" tactic. My defence was good but there was still something bugging me about the pushing up/marking/communication with the goalkeeper. The tactic incorperates the Nike system which has been very popular since the very early days of CM.
Let me just run through a little background. Back in the days of CM 3 (when I was still a rookie when it came to wibble/wobble) a theory arose on the forums called DDL (Diagonal Defence Line). Basically what it was you could set up a defence line which was diagonal depending on which side the opposition had the ball on. It was a good system, not perfect, but it seemed to throw the AI out of whack. As the games progress it started to faulter because it just wasn't defined enough.
A couple of versions later a new theory arose on the forums called the "Nike System" due to how it looked like the Nike Tick. I believe it was Cleon and Buxton who originally "invented" the theory which was highly popular in tactics. Basically it's asking one of the central defenders to cover. Obviously the defender asked to cover has to be more agile and quicker (think Carvalho/Gallas partnering Terry). IRL it was used by Mourinho at Chelsea as he needed a faster partner to Terry who just kept his position in defence.
So how to incorperate into FM? It's very simple actually and I believe, don't quote me though, that you can incorperate a Nike System defence into any philosophy apart from Very Fluid which is meant to be a more global system where defenders, midfielders and attackers all help each other in defence and attack. But the defence has to be set up in the Rule of One to make it work and also must have quite a high defence line (without the offside trap which I painfully made the mistake of playing with ). It also allows the Goalkeeper to be part of the defence rather then staying in his position. Here's the set up -
Goalkeeper : 7
DC (Cover) : 6
DC : 8
Fullbacks : 10
MCd or DMC : 9
I just used random numbers to make it easier to understand. Obviously it means your MCd or DMC will focus a lot on helping your defence out but it does allow for the fullbacks to be part of the "transition band" of your tactic because their mentality will allow them to be Rigid rather then very rigid. The rest of the team you can set up by yourself whether you want them to be Fluid, Balanced, Rigid or very Rigid.
With this set up in defence I managed to achieve "Park the Tank" Steam achievement (not conceeding in 10 games) with Tottenham and before you say they were easy games, you are gravely mistaken. The run included Man Utd away (2-0) Liverpool at home (2-0) West Ham away (1-0). There was a few cup games and teams like Hull and Burnley . But still, not conceeding in ten when only 2.6% of all steam users that have FM ahve achieved it makes it quite a mean feat
Hope it helps your defencet