Two central defenders just not doing it.....

[ajdedinamo]

My two central defenders, carragher and Skirtl just can seem to keep away the opposition's strikers. There is always a striker left unmarked and gets too much space on the ball. Even with man marking on, and set to mark that specific striker the same thing happens.

Someone please tell me what is wrong, it is destroying my season.

 

[Zebedee]

My two central defenders, carragher and Skirtl just can seem to keep away the opposition's strikers. There is always a striker left unmarked and gets too much space on the ball. Even with man marking on, and set to mark that specific striker the same thing happens.

Someone please tell me what is wrong, it is destroying my season.

Would I be right in guessing that the striker is finding space between your defensive line and your midfield by dropping deeper?

If so, try pushing your defensive line higher (downside is that balls over the top may cause problems) or sit a DMC in the 'hole' to squish out that kind of thing.

If the problem is that both your centrebacks are moving over to one side and leaving a striker free, you need to look at whether or not your midfield is helping out in defence sufficiently as that will happen if you're being overloaded in one part of the pitch.

Another issue could be your 'closing down' instructions. The OI one is dangerous. Use it with caution for players in the centre as that is a surefire way to guarantee your defence runs one way and leaves an opposition free to score if you're not using it correctly. I'd suggest 'tight marking' as a more preferable general alternative.

edit: There's also a little bug in central defenders being split too easily, but that's evened out by the chances being near impossible to score, so I wouldn't worry too much if the chances are coming through the centre with the striker having no angle on goal.