Defending the Cross

[AndyFromDonny]

Having a few problems defending the crosses at the moment. It's frustrating me a bit as I seem to concede from a lot of crosses. I'm kind of unsure what to do about it. I'm thinking of signing full backs who are good in the air, my full backs seem to be getting beaten on the crosses to the far post. My keeper's pretty good at coming for crosses, but my full backs are frustrating me as they're letting the crosses in. This is even with the closing down for my full backs set quite high and their tackling set to quite aggressive.

Any advice or thoughts as I'm a little stumped at the moment?

[ZdlR]

If the opposition seem to be getting a lot of crosses in, I usually use the 'play wider' touchline shout. If this is their main threat, like Stoke use, then you need to stop the crosses at source. You could even have your full backs close down as soon as possible but jockey the winger with easy tackling. You might end up conceding a few corners that way, but they can be easier to defend if you flood your box.

[thezogsageordie]

Just because closing down is quite high doesn't necessarily mean they will block every cross. If they are constantly closing everything down really hard they will get tired quicker. Maybe the problem is in midfield were they aren't winning enough balls? Or maybe you are sitting too deep and allowing a full back to assist the winger? There are a few things that you may want to look at.

[lam]

Andy,

Aggressive tackling on wingers is not really advisable. You are asking wingbacks/fullbacks who are traditionaly not the best tacklers in the world (vs DC of course) to make tackles on players that are running at pace, have dribbling skills, running to the byline and who are only likely to be marked by the FB. To make this even worse, if your FB/WB's are of the attacking type, then it means that they are having to run back at pace to tackle someone that is running away from them.

This all makes for a bad combination of either missed tackles which then lead to a ton of space and time to get a cross in AND in all likelyhood then draws one of your DC's out to make a challenge or it leads to a free kick.

Personaly, I would try for a normal or even soft tackle. This way it ensures your players stay on their feet and hassle the winger and to go more for the 'block' than the massive tackle.

LAM

[AndyFromDonny]

Cheers guys a few things to try there. I win the ball ok in midfield. One thing I did notice already was that playing wide midfielders has made a big difference. One of the problems was the opposition full backs getting too far forward, playing too wide players in midfield has really cut down on their ability to get forward.

I guess I'll try the 'jockey' approach and see how that goes. I think attacking full backs was a problem when I played the narrow style with no wide midfielders. The full backs were used to get forward down the sides and provide the crosses but this change has made some difference. It decreased to some extent but was still a problem. Setting the team to play wide has make a big difference aswell. Plenty of things to try and I'll use some of your advice.

[lam]

unless they have changed the rule set in 2010 from 2009 which I understand they have not. playing a wide tactic set will not make changes to your defensive approach. This is actualy stated somewhere (the manual i think).

If you are playing with no wide players or with AMLR's rather than MLR's then you need to take into consideration the OI's for the opposition fullbacks. you should considerd marking, closing down etc etc. OI's are very usefull for team formations that do not match or mirror, at least to a small extent, that of the opposition.

LAM