Clean Sheets

[Brewer85]

Ok, this is insane. 1 clean sheet in 10 EPL games, with Spurs. Just played a game with Wolves at the Lane - 3 a piece. Milijas taking on 3 defenders, Kevin Doyle scoring a TWENTY-FIVE yard header after a Hahnemann punt, and Dave Jones with a scorcher. I can take the headers, but EVERY low league team can score rockets. Is this poor defending or is it something the patch is supposed to fix, because I heard pre-patch you concede a lot more?

I have King and Woodgate who aren't the fastest, but they aren't the slowest either. Both are set to close down often, and both are set to Limited Defender to stop them wandering to much. Zonal/Man marking both result in conceding lots of goals - it's now 12 in 10 games, it gets ridiculous.

Is there any advice you guys can give me?

[Brewer85]

Sorry for the double post, but I really need some help with this. Even with two DMC's I still leak 3 goals at the Emirates - more respectable I know, but Kranjcar scores to make it 3-2 and LITERALLY from the restart Arsenal score. Literally. Tactically, how do you even combat something like that? I would appreciate any help, this is driving me insane.

[looknohands]

Have you tried numerous formations/player combos so far? Have you changed up your squad much by bringing in new players? My team went through a similar spell for the first ten or fifteen games, but I never deviated from my formation/lineup and my team is now a good streak thanks to their understanding of each other and the tactics.

[speople]

Sorry for the double post, but I really need some help with this. Even with two DMC's I still leak 3 goals at the Emirates - more respectable I know, but Kranjcar scores to make it 3-2 and LITERALLY from the restart Arsenal score. Literally. Tactically, how do you even combat something like that? I would appreciate any help, this is driving me insane.

To stop conceding straight after you score is simple. The millisecond you score, press pause, go to tactics and pull more men back etc, and change touchline shoutsto defensive etc, after the restart has come and gone pause again, and put your tacs as they were. Works every time for me

[Brewer85]

Yea, I played a 4-3-1-2 for a while, and that got me a few good results, but I still leaked ridiculous amounts of goals, so I keep changing my tactics. I'll stick with the 4231 for a while and see if the team can get some consistency. And thanks for the advice about straight after kick offs - I always just thought straight away it would be impossible to score, as the team would be back in their defensive positions, so I'll give it a try next time.
Thanks guys!

[craigcwwe]

well with England i kept 7 straight clean sheets playing an attacking 4-4-2, i played Egypt, Mexico, Holland, Chile, Russia and 2 others that i can`t remember.

[Brewer85]

I don't get on well with 4-4-2. I've been playing a 5-3-1-1 which has been working fantastic, Modric is so much better as an advanced playmaker than on the wing. I need to find a prolific lone striker as Pav is ok but not great.

Anyway, the defence is still letting in a goal almost every match, but they do look a little tighter. It just seems so easy for the opponents to slice through them with a through ball, or for the opposing strikers to lash one in from miles out. I've told them to close down these shots, but the faster forwards can easily end up behind my defence onside. Still working on this. Maybe I need faster defenders?

[looknohands]

What mentality do you have your defenders set to? I'm using the classic tactics setup, playing a standard 4-4-2. I have the two CDs barrowing down to the sweeper position with an ultra-defensive mentality, the outside backs are set to defensive mentality, and one midfielder barrows back to play as a DMC on defense. I never have my defenders run with the ball, and the outside backs only make the occasional run forward. My outside midfielders have an average mentality and make the occasional forward run, as well. I think what makes tactic work is that I have my forwards (one all-out attacking and the other average mentality) set to run with the ball often- they'll dance around the field and slowly pull up the rest of my squad into the play. If I turn the ball over (usually around the opponent's box) I usually have at least 4 players near the midfield line to get back on defense. The pace for my defenders is: LB-11, CB-13, CB-14, and RB-20. With a faster group I'd maybe risk playing a bit less defensively, but so far this is working for me.

[Brewer85]

I've done what you suggested about the 4 4 2...and still leaking goals. Is it not a problem that the patch is meant to fix?

The main problem is that theres just to much space behind my defence. It doesn't matter how far back they are, they always get caught cold by through balls.

[leaderoftheshed]

I have noticed I seem to be conceeding more since I installed 10.3 and havnet had a clean sheet in 8 games. Interesting what was siad about opps scoring straight from kick off - this has happened twice to me in those 8 games after ive gone 2-0 up, and a further time the opp had a goal disallowed for offside. I play with a very attacking set up (7players with attack mentality wing backs, 2 cms,2amcs and st in a xmas tree) that perhaps you cant get away with in 10.3 the way you could in 10.2.

Ive also conceeded twice where my sweeper keeper has been beaten to the ball by a striker. dont remember that happening before...

[erik86]

Wolves seem to be really good on the game.. Miljas especially.

[backpackant]

**TACTICS SPOILER**

10 games in as Leeds in League One and I'm finding 10.3 very easy. Not one goal conceded in the league (only one in the cup in an 8-1 win), and mostly 2-0 wins, so nothing obscene. I expect a slump is just around the corner, but enjoying while it lasts.

Basic tactic: 4-4-2, defence as default, 2 wingers, a DMC set to "ball winning", an MC/AMC set to "box-to-box", target man as the right FC (left footed) and poacher as the left FC (right-footed). Fluid style. "Attacking" at home, "Control" away. Counter-attack ticked.

I tweak that a little throughout the matches, but not a heckuva lot.

[The Gaffovski]

I've done what you suggested about the 4 4 2...and still leaking goals. Is it not a problem that the patch is meant to fix?

The main problem is that theres just to much space behind my defence. It doesn't matter how far back they are, they always get caught cold by through balls.

It has been on my save. Started a new game with 10.3 by the way, in case that has anything to do with it. On a run of 16 wins with only 2 goals conceded.

So I'm amazed at how easy it seems to keep clean sheets now. I have to say, quite apart from my bias because I'm winning etc, that this is the best defensive simulation ever in a FM game (can see them doing their job far better than ever). And the attacking has also been improved so congratulations SI (this comes from someone who tends to criticize/suggest improvements a lot lol).

Tips:

Use Zonal marking for your back four. Man marking will pull players out of position, creating more space.

Can use Play Offside Trap with medium to high defensive lines.

Give goalie same mentality and closing down as your two centre-backs so they play better as a unit and goalie sweeps more effectively (haven't noticed any crazy rushing out so far).

Keep your full-backs close to the centre-backs' mentality (not more than two clicks).

Playing with a DM will stop so many through balls from happening in the first place.

Closing down for centre-backs should not be very high, and it's worth giving them both exactly the same values. Even if it means sacrificing a good ball-playing defender by making him as defensive as the other one.

Keep an eye out on your Team Width, in case your centre-backs are too spread out when you lose the ball.

Defenders with high concentration are especially important when playing with a high defensive line. Just takes a split second of going to sleep and the striker is away.

[Brewer85]

Your advice is great, thanks guys, its gone a long way to helping - there's just one problem.

I can't install the patch. I downloaded the game off The Game's website, meaning there's no disc or installation through Steam. When I install the patch it starts to tell me I need the disc...so I'm screwed, basically.

[mackemforever]

Tips:

Use Zonal marking for your back four. Man marking will pull players out of position, creating more space.

Can use Play Offside Trap with medium to high defensive lines.

Give goalie same mentality and closing down as your two centre-backs so they play better as a unit and goalie sweeps more effectively (haven't noticed any crazy rushing out so far).

Keep your full-backs close to the centre-backs' mentality (not more than two clicks).

Playing with a DM will stop so many through balls from happening in the first place.

Closing down for centre-backs should not be very high, and it's worth giving them both exactly the same values. Even if it means sacrificing a good ball-playing defender by making him as defensive as the other one.

Keep an eye out on your Team Width, in case your centre-backs are too spread out when you lose the ball.

Defenders with high concentration are especially important when playing with a high defensive line. Just takes a split second of going to sleep and the striker is away.

I do agree with most of those points, there are just a couple that I don't agree with.

Marking - I much prefer Man marking and have had far better results with it.
DM - I don't think that it is necessary. So long as you have a CM who is set to play in a relatively defensive fashion it can work just as well. It gives you a player who can drop back to act as a DM but can be involved in more attacks.

Both of the two things above were used in my first season with Sunderland and the result was this:



I kept 26 clean sheets in the premiership. Most of them were 1-0 wins or 0-0 draws but its still a damn impressive number.

Also, just to annoy the OP, here is what a good run of form looks like for a keeper:



He stepped into the first team when my first choice keeper got injured and at that time my tactic just clicked. 12 clean sheets in 13 league matches :P

[craigcwwe]

Well he had an impressive season

[mackemforever]

Well he had an impressive season

You could say that, or you could say that he only had to play 3 matches against teams in the top 10 :P