Best defence against those pesky through balls...

So I am with a fairly average LL team (Hampton & Richmond) with fairly slow DC's (pace 8-10). Was getting robbed match after match because my assistant kept saying to 'defend deep' . . so I did - and got through-balled to death close in on the box.

However, after reading a post here - I started to play my DC very defensive mentality/zone marking/NOT tight marking and most importantly - press very high up the field. It worked wonders and they all-but nullified the opposition's pacey strikers 4 games in a row.

But - just played Woking and they scored 5 goals in the first half alone! I had the same - up-high/zone etc defending but what went wrong?? The strikers were no faster than usual - but they seemed to slice through my defence effortlessly. I tried to 'cut off the supply' to them by hard tacking and closing down (the only slightly above average) MC's - but that seemed to do nothing...

What should I be looking for against fast teams?

Is the high up the field/zone mark/not tight/extreme defence the best way to counter fast strikers??

How can I 'cut off the supply' to the strikers?

Thanks...

No one thing works its a combination of things and depends on your team.

First thing I do to defend the through balls is to get the best keeper I can, then good solid CB's.

I've used both a higher and deeper defensive line successfully against fast strikers successfully, just depends how much i want to close down my opponents, but I tend to favor a deeper line.

Close down the midfielders supplying the through balls. I usually play a 4-4-2 straight or diamond, if I play it straight I'll always have a ball-winning midfielder role. That allows my CB's to stick to the strikers while my mid's close down theirs outside the area.

I very rarely mark tightly, and I never do it against fast strikers.

Make sure you are also showing players onto their weaker foot also. Any striker or CM with a 'Weak' or 'V.weak' foot I always do this just to add extra pressure and most off foot shots go wide or are easy saves.

But what works for me might not work for all teams, I spend most my time playing MLS so things will be different at a higher or lower level most likely. But I also look for players that will work in this system, so if you don't have the right players it won't work. But it does work for me, my team is always in the top 3 of fewest goals conceded in the league (if not best).

The thing is the ME isn't really like irl, through balls into the area are common as heck in-game so you will never be able to stop them. All you can do is prevent them getting control like that or to have a keeper that's going to stop that ball off the strikers foot.

If you are pushing high up against strikers with a bit of pace and midfielders who can pick a pass, your centre backs will suffer if they are not fast themselves.

I'm playing as Woking and Ademola is very pacy for BSS level, he is also good at running off the defender's shoulder. I presume he got at least a couple of the goals against you.

You need a keeper with good 'rushing out' stat at this level. You should also try and kick the creative midfielder that is playing these through balls up in the air.

But it's hard to know for sure what went wrong without seeing the match, maybe you could upload the PKM somewhere?

The through ball madness started somewhere in 10.1 or 10.2. Since then I've been playing a dedicated anchor man to protect the centre backs, using a sweeper keeper with according stats and trying to keep the distances between the lines as tight as possible. Pacey defenders help a lot as well.

I still can't completely shut down through balls ( nor should I be able to, mind you ), but they've dropped from my worst nightmare to somewhat of an annoyance. I still concede the occasional goal but that's to be expected and the diamond of my anchor man, two CBs and goalie take care of most of them.

My system is this:

deep defensive line + stopper/cover DCs (and a sweeper GK if you dare).

However:

I set my fullbacks to be very negative until my players got used to the system. I am convinced that this is essential and that waiting for a system to start working is better than trying to tweak your way to a perfect tactic. (I was able to start pushing my full backs up after a few games.)

This way I don't "waste" a midfielder with a purely defensive role.