Center Back Roles - Cover and Stopper

These are 2 roles that i have never used but would like to use them. The problem is im not sure which players are suited to which roles?

Also when would and wouldnt you use these roles?

Am i missing out on 2 good roles?

I don't use the cover role, but I typically have one 'center' defender set to 'defend' duty, and one 'limited' defender set to 'stopper' duty. You want a stopper who is strong, fast, and has good anticipation, because he'll charge forward towards the opposition offense. I play mine as a limited defender because he has the mental and technical stats of a donkey, but he's fast and strong. I use this role almost all the time, but I'd recommend not using it against teams that are much better than you and/or super fast, because if the stopper charges out to intercept someone and misses then he'll put your whole defense at risk. Also, don't use two CBs in a stopper role because no one will hang back.

On the tactics screen click on one of your centre backs, then change his role to either of these. It then gives you a written description of each role and below it highlights the key attributes for each role and you players ability at them.

I started playing cover/stopper combination a couple of saves ago and have become a 1-0 win specialist as a result.

Stopper = more aggressive

cover = quicker

I started playing cover/stopper combination a couple of saves ago and have become a 1-0 win specialist as a result.

Stopper = more aggressive

cover = quicker

Same here, my teams defence became a lot more solid when i used this combination but you might also want good anticipation for a defender with a cover role. Basically i look for aggression and strength for a good stopper, and better acceleration/pace and anticipation for a cover defender.

currently im playing 2 stoppers and a libero...check out this thread for more info on this (and the team im using):

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=201756

for more regular tactics, if you have good defenders (and a good team in front of them), run them as ballplaying with cover/stopper roles, just like charlo116 discribed the diferent roles, if your defenders are not that good, play a pair of central defenders with the fastest one of them on cover, and the other one on defend

thats more or less the formula that have worked best for me so far

I started playing cover/stopper combination a couple of saves ago and have become a 1-0 win specialist as a result.

Stopper = more aggressive

cover = quicker

I've never understood this before myself, i might try this if i need to!

I tend to go as 1 bigger,slower and more aggressive defender(e.g. vidic) as stopper and my smaller,faster defender as cover(e.g. Ferdinand)

One cover and one stopper for me. Cover needs good positioning and anticipation, the other good aggressive stats.

Stopper- Vidic, Terry, Carragher

Cover- Ferdinand, Carvalho, Agger

A word of warning: some people feel the gap between "stopper" and "cover" defenders is too big. If you find this, it seems to be a better idea to change to "cover" and "defend".

I use both defenders set as 'cover', that forces the attacking players to either shoot from distance, which mostly ends up going over or straight at my keeper who saves it easily, or attempting a through ball that my defenders intercept easily and get me on the attack again, works a treat for me.

If I'm up against a couple of pacey strikers but I want to keep a fairly high line, I'll set my most mobile defender to "cover" and leave the other on defend.

I'll instruct one CB to be a "stopper" if the opposition is only playing one up front, typically the better tackler of the two. This allows him to aggressively guard the area in front of the back line and almost act as an extra midfielder. If he's particularly adept at it I can even forego a defensive role in midfield and look to overload the opposition when going forward, but it depends largely on the quality of the opponent in the centre of the park.