[Android] How do I build a defensively solid tactic?

It seems like I'm always conceding goals, regardless of team, league and tactic. Always the 3-2 win or 2-5 defeat, hardly ever 1-0 or even 0-0. Any hints and suggestions for making a solid "2-0 win" tactic? It would be highly appreciated!

Funny came on here to post in another thread yet this one is very relevant to me.

I WAS getting turned over early part of the season and really needed to do something?

Who Re you playing and how's the budget?

I'm Aston villa and looking at championship/cheap west Europe imports and may have solved this conundrum.

At least, I got a creditable 0-0 draw against Norwich in the first fixture away and they're a physical team who'll batter you into conceding.

What I've done is set up a 3 man triangular midfield to dominate. Couple of ball players but v.good in dominating headers etc.

Yep, haven't worked out how to get a goal glut but I had 60% possession and 3 times as many shots on target so I'm getting there.

Had been having a private convo with someone saying this fmh

Mularkey isn't about tactics but squad building. He's half right but with the right players I've got a sound defensive 4411 though I play attacking.

My away point to Norwich which I dominated was done using the following;

AMC : ballwinning midfielder, liam trotter

mcl: advanced playmaker fairs haroun mcr: dlp Chris McCann.

Solid midfield built for 10m will not give the opposition a sniff plus have goals in them.

Hope it helps a little

Cheers Neil and Mark, I'll try using your suggestions.

Had been having a private convo with someone saying this fmh

isn't about tactics but squad building.

I got this impression too. On older CM's, I always had a chance when my smaller team was drawn against big clubs in the FA and League cup. Sure, Notts County vs Arsenal should be an easy win for Arsene's men, but in older CM's there was always that small chance that your solid tactic could do miracles ... not in FMH. Whenever I'm drawn against better teams, I lose. Big time. 4-3-3, 4-5-1, 3-5-2 ... doesn't matter. Vice versa, when my team is superior to the opposition, I usually win. At home, at least.

I guess this is hard to balance. It is incredibly satisfying to find a over-performing "cheat" tactic, but on the other hand, it is rather boring to always win.

In all my games, I make heavy use of defensive tactics. Typically, if I am up by one, I set the team to counter attacking around minute 60, and this often holds. I also recommend going "defensive" and "men behind ball" helps, although for some reason, I've had better luck with plain CAing against superior opposition. I will sometimes switch formations to park the bus when I get ahead and really want to hold on.

As Marc says, keeper is fundamental (and there are lots of good cheap ones out there), but I have always relied on one or two DMs to be the backbone of my games. The game seems to like them a lot, and most anyone has consistently gotten ratings of 8+ for me. Currently I'm playing Liverpool in 2016 and concede about .5 goals/game.

Can you explain what needs to be in place (formation, players etc ) to successfully counter? And surely you need to have men behind the ball anyway for this to work?

My rule of thimb is use 5 defensive players at least (4 defenders and 1 DMC/Midfielder with DLM or BWM). To counter you need players with pace; mainly on the wing and direct passing.

My rule of thimb is use 5 defensive players at least (4 defenders and 1 DMC/Midfielder with DLM or BWM). To counter you need players with pace; mainly on the wing and direct passing.[/quote

Gotcha cheers. Yep I've got that in spades so cld work well!

Should I also put men behind the ball, or just against better opposition/playing away?

I normally only do it when holding a lead against a vastly superior team. It could work but you may be stuck in the "England sitatuation" with no one up front to attack.

Thanks. And apparently that answer was too short.....

Tactics certainly matter, but at the end of the day there is no sacrifice for talent. (relative to the league/division you are in) If you are THAT bad in defense I would suspect the talent level of the defense is questionable, unless you are just using an absurdly offensive formation.

Keeper might be the most important position in the entire game. I address is first in virtually every game I start. A defense can go from average to good with a quality keeper alone.

Also, a quality destroyer (DMC) in the middle of the pitch is vital to protect your DC's.

Thanks. May have it sorted now. Got a good destroyer who can also pick a pass and two solid CBs. 2 good goalies. Reckon my new 2-1-4-1-2 is quite a find. I have potential defenders across the pitch and with a back 2 can play offside.