Problem defending.

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stephen1974

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I'm having a real problem finding a way to make my defenders play well, or rather making my central defenders play well. I've even tried working with good teams and still I can't get these two players to do their job. The only thing I have found that works is playing two MC's with a DM just in front of the DC's but that screws up the rest of team structure. I've tried playing with 3 DC's and they still fail.

Currently I'm trying to make it work with arsenal but against the better teams I'm getting wrecked by 5 or 6 goals.
 
do you have tacticts familiarity at a good level?
and do you set opposition instructions to close down many of the oppositions CMs or AMs?
I often see that my CB run out of position to close them down and they play a through ball through my defense.

I close down the oppositions wingers and full backs if they are good at crossing, and I set tackles to hard in center midfield.
one of 3 CBs should be on cover duty IMO.
both my CBs are on defend.
I play 4-2-3-1 wide with WingBack attack, and one of 2 CMs is always box to box, CM defend or ball winning midfielder (support or defend)
 
it depends a lot on your tactics.

given you are with Arsenal, I'd say you try the following:

GK- SK(S)
short passes, take short kicks, distribute to full backs..

RB- FB(Au)
LB- FB(Au)
RCB- CD(st)
LCB- CD(co)
make sure your CB's are set to "Close Down MUCH LESS" and to "HOLD POSITION"!
the full backs to move higher, cross more from deep to the far post, close down much more.

DM- ANC
close down much more.

RCM- BBM
LCM- AP(S)
midfielders to close down much more, you can have them to shoot more if their long shots is decent.. move forward and so on..

AMR- W(A) - AOC is the best player in your team AFAIK! he'd be a beast in this role. cross more, dribble more, move higher, wider, etc etc.

AML- RMD/IF
sit narrow, shoot more..

ST- F9
less shots, dribble, run with ball more, hold up ball, close down more etc..



fluid system, team to close down more, push higher up, whipped/float crosses..
 
If you're getting beat by that much, your entire tactical setup is extremely poor. It's probably way too attacking/aggressive as well. Look beyond just the defenders.
 
WJ said:
If you're getting beat by that much, your entire tactical setup is extremely poor. It's probably way too attacking/aggressive as well. Look beyond just the defenders.
Click to expand...

Very true this - if eg the CBs are consistently venturing off position most probably its to cover for other players in front of them not doing their job properly/venturing off position themselves.
 
Completely agree with WJ and MANUMAD here. If your CB's are performing really poorly then maybe they have way too much work to do covering for other players, there are multiple reasons why...for example you could be playing with the defensive line as push much higher up with an attacking mentality, pushing your defence far too forward, or maybe your midfield or full backs are too far forward leaving your defence in two minds of whether to hold position or close down a player making a mistake.

Best option would be to post your tactic and explain how you picture the team trying to play and everyone can give as much advice as possible. I wouldn't just copy the tactics someone posts here, otherwise you'll never fully understand it and why it is working/isn't working. It has worked a lot for me, most guys here can explain it in detail for you.
 
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stephen1974 said:
I'm having a real problem finding a way to make my defenders play well, or rather making my central defenders play well. I've even tried working with good teams and still I can't get these two players to do their job. The only thing I have found that works is playing two MC's with a DM just in front of the DC's but that screws up the rest of team structure. I've tried playing with 3 DC's and they still fail.

Currently I'm trying to make it work with arsenal but against the better teams I'm getting wrecked by 5 or 6 goals.
Click to expand...

Show us the setup lad.
 
Well as i said, i've tried multiple tactics. The one I use most however is a 433 tactic where I opted for trying to outscore my opponent by lots of goals rather than by preventing goals.

You guys are probably right about the tactic being overly attacking so i'll try something new and see. I can't post any images of the tactic at the moment. However:

Mentality: Attacking
Team Shape: Very Fluid
Instructions: Shorter Passing, Run at Defence, Play Narrower, Close down more, Much Higher Tempo, Be more expressive.

I guess I wasn't focusing on defensive tactics. I assumed players at that level would be competent enough to do their job.

I'll try something else and see what happens. However, i've found any tactic that doesnt have 3 forwards results in very few goals and still a **** defence.
 
You HAVE to be aware that there are defaults for each mentality. Attacking already has a high tempo and lots of closing down. It also has short passing at the back and direct passing up front - in line with what an attacking team should have.

You ramped up the tempo even more and shortened the passing. Do you realise how technically difficult that would be do pull off? Players need to be technically brilliant and have superb mental attributes. Your tactic will need to be absolutely spot on as well.
 
Well i started again. I changed the way my defenders were playing but still lost in the community shield 3-1. Then I saw some comments about not using so many instructions, I think I was using 12, so I dropped all but two team instructions and instead looked at the roles I wanted my players to do and adjusted individual instructions instead. It made a big difference.

I got off to a very good start but have had some set backs. Currently i'm 4th in the league after 10 games with a 7-1-2 record and 26 for, 7 against and a 19 GD.

Tactics are now:
Formation: 4-2-3-1 which consists of:
Left and Right Fullbacks on auto with Close down less and Hold position.
Centrebacks with close down less and Hold Position.
Two Ball winning Midfielders with shoot less often and tighter marking.
Two Advanced Playmakers with Cross from the Byline and Aim at near post.
Attacking Midfield on suport with Shoot less often, Pass it shorter and Move into Channels.
Complete Forward on Attack with shoot more often.

Mentality: Control
Team Shape: Structured.
Team Instructions: Shorter Passing and Higher Tempo.

It works well except when the game predetermines a loss because of complacency or some **** like that.
 
7-1-2 is much better record than what you had before, right?
a few more tweaks, checking opposition weaknesses and strengths, changing a few things here and there before some games, and you'd do even better! :)
 
stephen1974 said:
It works well except when the game predetermines a loss because of complacency or some **** like that.
Click to expand...
The game pre-determines nothing. When you start a match, the game doesn't even know what the final result will be.

It's not really that you shouldn't use too many TIs (well it is, but there's a more important point) but more that people seem to tack on TIs that make absolutely no sense, so they make their tactic far worse than what it should be.

You've now gone the opposite way with roles and duties though. It's very aggressive defensively. Your defenders are going to struggle because they have 2 mad men in front of them. Any team using an AMC or forward dropping deep will find lots of space there.

Attacking-wise, who apart from the forward will get you goals? Teams who will start to sit back against you will defend well, because there's very little movement from anyone.
 
All game pre determine outcomes on certain things.Is jus how they are designed to work.

On attack im getting plenty of goals from all my attacking midfielders. Rightside seems to be better than left with players getting 3 and 4 goals in games.
 
stephen1974 said:
All game pre determine outcomes on certain things.Is jus how they are designed to work.
Click to expand...
This doesn't. Trust me. I actually know how THIS particular game works. That's why this ME needs 2-3 million lines of code. It's proper football simulation at 8 times a second.
 
the "lag" right before a goal has on my somewhat slow computer also become "the lag when opponent breaks play"
and I suspect its because the simulator is running crazy with all the different options the player on the ball now has for a counter attack.

I used to believe FM was rigged too, when I was a kid playing CM I used to save and load, won the first leg in CL against a better
team but lost the 2nd leg 140 times in a row. of course the game wasnt rigged, the opponent was just better and very much set on kicking our ***!
 
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