How do I make pressing work?

[FalseZero]

Hey Guys, please help me with this! Otherwise my computers health might be in danger^^

Im trying to force my opponent into errors to win the ball as high up the pitch as possible.
Unfortunately, my players dont press properly. They just run at the opponent, but dont attack him. They will stop infront of him and wait. They allow him to pass without hurry or turn around, which makes pressing completely ineffective.

Most of my players have 16+ workrate, determination.
I have tried all combinations of settings (prevent short gk, tighter marking, stuck in, much higher line, close down much more, attack or control, higher tempo, fluidities, opposition instruction closing down everyone & tackling hard)

Would really appreciate it if somebody could tell me how to fix this. Id like my players to aggressively attack the ball when pressing defenders and really sticking to cms, engaging them physically to prevent them from turning around.
Thanks in advance!

 

[Bigpapa42]

Well, you can only go so far in making them aggressive in their pursuit of the ball. FM doesn't allow you to specify types of pressing, pressing triggers, etc.

The main thing will be Closing Down Much More. That's the key to pressing. Tighter Marking is something I often use, but its not really necessary, and can actually backfire if your players aren't as quick. Higher Defensive Line is helpful as it compresses the space, but again, its not necessarily required. Stuck In, Fluidity, etc.... are not necessary.

Its going to come down to the players you have. Work Rate and Determination help. But there are other factors involved. Aggression, Decisions, Marking, Tackling... these will all play a factor in how each individual player reacts when put into a pressing situation.

If you are expecting highly-aggressive, highly-reactive pressing like some German managers use.... not really something you can make happen in FM purely from tactics.

 

[Wigo15]

oh yeah guys, that was the idea for me last week ago! I had remake of TFF's 442 tactic and it make wonderds! i had one for home or clearly winners and away or underdogs as counter mentality! but i was inspired wigh opposite instructions from this thread ---> http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/share-download-fm-18-tactics/372389-bragas-arena.html it is extra pressing and i thought that maybe it could steal the ball somewhere in the middle like in playing fifa 18 but tactic start working worse!!! As much i was testing highly pressing in fm for last couple years i could say its not working as it expected to be! In lower leagues when goalkeeper was very **** i saw my striker stealing a ball few times and scored easy goals (missed a few aswell!!!) but in totall its not worth it! same as high d-line and playing any tactic with 1 striker... amazingly useless!

 

[FalseZero]

Thanks Guys

Thanks for the replies! I feel like that way pressing and a high line are completely ineffective. If people are running at you, but you know exactly theyre not trying to steal the ball but stop infront of you, you can just chill right? No need to hurry = no mistakes. The opposition usually is just able to play around my pressing and make accurate passes. When pressing high, youre taking a big risk and are rewarding that by winning the ball back up front. But if that risk almost never gets rewarded, its a stupid risk.
Preventing short goalkeeper distribution is pretty effective though.
Ive had the most possitive results when having all my defensive players closing down much less.

Ive noticed though that real life teams also do that kind of pressing, just running at the opponents but not trying to steal the ball. Can sb tell me how thats supposed to cause mistakes? Isnt that just preventing longballs? You could just take your time and pass it back to the goalie and pass your way through these opponents that are just gonna stare at you anyways.

 

[Snorks]

I think u need to instruct them to Get Stuck In or at least Tackle Harder with PIs.
Close Down means just that - close down the space. It doesn't necessarily meant they will challenge for the ball.

There are, in essence, three things you can do to disrupt opposition possession and win the ball back:

1: Tackle the player in possession (needs good tackling, determination, bravery etc)
2: Restrict the space the player on the ball has. Closing down blocks passes by literally standing in front of him. Forcing him to play it backwards or in the best case, making a mistake and you winning ball back.
3: Intercept passes, Tight Marking instructs your players to get close to the anticipated targets of the pass, allowing them to intercept the pass before it reaches them.

Tackle Harder is a higher risk strategy but can be useful against strong aggressive opponents. Expect a few cards though.
Tight Marking also carries risks, as you players will be pulled around out of position a bit, needs to be a Fluid or Very Fluid tactic.
Close Down More is a high energy/tempo strategy as you players need to cover more ground quickly. Again. higher fluidity helps.

You can, with some tweaking, use a combination of all these in different areas of the pitch, by blending your TIs, PIs and Opposition Instructions as well as your player roles / duties and mentality.

So, from your OP I would first try:
Counter/Fluid
Control/Flexible

Slightly Higher defensive line.
Close Down Much More
Prevent Short GK Distribution
Very High Tempo

In the opposition instructions, I would find their Key passers, usually CMs, instruct to be Closed Down and Shown Weaker Foot, also there wide players, W/AM LR and FBs as well, Close them Down and Show Weaker Foot.

Find their player with lowest Strength/Bravery/Determination/ Decisions - tackle him harder.

I might also consider instructing my own Wide Players (M/AM LR) to 'Mark Tighter' which tells them to track back with the opposition full backs if they come forward - couple d with a Support Duty this can be effective.

Key thing in the OIs is the 'Weaker Foot' instruction. REmeber, Pressing is about cutting out the passing channels your opposition has available rather than tackling them, you hope to harry them into errors so forcing them to use their weaker foot will increase the chance of a wayward pass/error. Push up on their full backs and you will win a lot of corers with them trying to pass to the GK.

If you have a good all-round Striker, you can tell him to press the GK as well. A DF will press the centre halves or the DM.

With the right players, it works really well - I used a Gegenpress tactic and blitzed the National League with it.

 

[FalseZero]

I think u need to instruct them to Get Stuck In or at least Tackle Harder with PIs.
Close Down means just that - close down the space. It doesn't necessarily meant they will challenge for the ball.

There are, in essence, three things you can do to disrupt opposition possession and win the ball back:

1: Tackle the player in possession (needs good tackling, determination, bravery etc)
2: Restrict the space the player on the ball has. Closing down blocks passes by literally standing in front of him. Forcing him to play it backwards or in the best case, making a mistake and you winning ball back.
3: Intercept passes, Tight Marking instructs your players to get close to the anticipated targets of the pass, allowing them to intercept the pass before it reaches them.

Tackle Harder is a higher risk strategy but can be useful against strong aggressive opponents. Expect a few cards though.
Tight Marking also carries risks, as you players will be pulled around out of position a bit, needs to be a Fluid or Very Fluid tactic.
Close Down More is a high energy/tempo strategy as you players need to cover more ground quickly. Again. higher fluidity helps.

You can, with some tweaking, use a combination of all these in different areas of the pitch, by blending your TIs, PIs and Opposition Instructions as well as your player roles / duties and mentality.

So, from your OP I would first try:
Counter/Fluid
Control/Flexible

Slightly Higher defensive line.
Close Down Much More
Prevent Short GK Distribution
Very High Tempo

In the opposition instructions, I would find their Key passers, usually CMs, instruct to be Closed Down and Shown Weaker Foot, also there wide players, W/AM LR and FBs as well, Close them Down and Show Weaker Foot.

Find their player with lowest Strength/Bravery/Determination/ Decisions - tackle him harder.

I might also consider instructing my own Wide Players (M/AM LR) to 'Mark Tighter' which tells them to track back with the opposition full backs if they come forward - couple d with a Support Duty this can be effective.

Key thing in the OIs is the 'Weaker Foot' instruction. REmeber, Pressing is about cutting out the passing channels your opposition has available rather than tackling them, you hope to harry them into errors so forcing them to use their weaker foot will increase the chance of a wayward pass/error. Push up on their full backs and you will win a lot of corers with them trying to pass to the GK.

If you have a good all-round Striker, you can tell him to press the GK as well. A DF will press the centre halves or the DM.

With the right players, it works really well - I used a Gegenpress tactic and blitzed the National League with it.

Wow thanks so much dude! I just felt like just closing down the space didnt make my opponent lose composure enough. Therefore I thought going for the ball might give the opposition less time and cause more mistakes. I will try your tips out! Id be really thankful if you could explain to me why youd chose a combination of fluid/counter or flexible/controll? Just interested in learning the game

 

[ChivuStoica]

I've generally just used close down more/higher line (unless it's on attacking mentality in which case I don't bother)/prevent short GK distribution/offside trap, combined with always having a ball winning midfielder in my midfield three. I don't normally mess with the marking or player instructions, except to close down the opposing players who might be vulnerable on the ball (I generally don't say "tackle harder" on them though, I'd rather my guys win the ball on their feet). Tends to work fine for what I want, which is to get the ball back and launch a quick attack in transition. It's not necessarily sophisticated pressing since you can't program in specific types of pressing traps or pressing triggers, etc., but it works well enough.

 

[Snorks]

Wow thanks so much dude! I just felt like just closing down the space didnt make my opponent lose composure enough. Therefore I thought going for the ball might give the opposition less time and cause more mistakes. I will try your tips out! Id be really thankful if you could explain to me why youd chose a combination of fluid/counter or flexible/controll? Just interested in learning the game

No problem.
The Counter/Fluid and Control/Flexible kind of dependent on having the intelligence in your players.

More Fluid and your players will wander from position a bit more and find space, making themselves available for a pass - can be useful as Counter mentality attacks space left when opposition defenders get drawn forward.

Flexible means there is still a bit of player movement, but is more structured for a Control mentality which is a more considered build-up with the ball, so keeping your shape is more useful.

If I am honest, I am ultimately flexible in my approach to the TIs, I will tweak them as I see fit according to opposition analysis and what I see happening on the pitch so don't get too distracted by what I use - what works for your squad is the only right thing to do.

If your players are pressing/closing down, they will get drawn from their defensive positions, so when you win the ball back, a Structured approach will ask them to get back into position relative to your formation, whereas a Very Fluid approach will ask them to make themselves available to receive a pass in the nearest available space.

It could also be worth leaving it out of the TIs altogether and just giving individuals the instruction, for example, say a midfield three, two MCs with Close Down as a PI and the DM with Tackle Harder instead. I've never tried it but the opposition midfield should then be closed down and have passing options reduced and if they beat your player then the DM will clatter him!

I nearly always use OIs htough, the opposition full-backs and wide midfield/wingers nearly always have Close Down - Always and Show onto Weaker Foot as I feel it discourages their crossing if they are wingers and keeps them wider if they are IFs.

Experimentation is the key - remember closing down a player with high Flair and Agility will usually mean he beats your man anyway, closing down a player with low Composure will make him panic so look at the opponents as well.