Overly leaky defense!

[crewe_york]

Heya everyone!

I'm looking for advice on trying to patch up the holes in my current Man Utd defense. I've created a 4-2-3-1 system, which works well in attack, but leaves oceans of space at the back for opposing players, especially wingers, to run into, and causing havoc for my full backs . Another problem is my central defenders not being able to pick up small runs by the opposing forwards when the other team is playing just in front of my 18 yard box.

My current defensive settings are:

CB (Cover) - Ferdinand

Man Marking & Tight Marking, sometimes specific depending on how many forwards they're using.

CB (Stopper) - Vidic

Man Marking & Tight Marking

FB's (Automatic) - Evra & O'Shea

Man Marking

I don't try to use many thus to over complicate the tactic!

My Team settings are:

Philosophy: Rigid

Strategy: Standard

Passing: Default

Creativity: More expressive

Closing Down: Press More

Tackling: Default

Marking: Man

Crossing: Drill

Roaming: Default

I'm wondering whether my wingers need to get more involved in defense as they are both currently set to attack. Or if my ball winning midfielder (Fletcher) & central midfielder (Carrick) should be moving across the pitch to try and cover the danger? Or maybe if letting my full backs stand off a bit more and contain the wingers?

My last game was against Tottenham and we lost 4-3. Bale completely destroyed the right side of my team, and Defoe kept managing to get little runs of one of my centre backs.

Any advice would be very gratefully received, as i don't think I can manage seeing my team get ripped that like again! Thanks in advance!

[ZdlR]

From first glance, you are playing a pressing game while being cautious in possession. On the face of it, given those settings and that team, this shouldn't be too much of a problem, especially against lesser teams.

However, tight man marking against an opponent like Defoe feels dangerous. He is very good in FM 11 and tops the scoring charts on my current save in 2012. I would have played a zonal defence against Spurs because they attack quite a a lot, have good movement and can overload defences.

[SFraser]

With those players I wouldn't stagger the back line, that's encouraging holes when that back line is a brilliant line that is perfectly capable of adopting the best shape to meet any attack, and is well balanced from right to left.

The two key issues are that the Centrebacks have awesome Anticipation and Positioning. They automatically know the best positions to take up to defend against an attack and are very good at reading the game. Imposing "artificial" instructions on them is going to encourage players to rush out too early or drop off too much. You want the two Centrebacks to make their own choices and make choices on "the same level" as each other to effectively cover each other.

And remember also that in that back four you have Power flanked by Pace and Pace flanked by Power. Set these four players up in a line, tick "offside trap" and let them defend as a unit, because they are better at reacting to evolving situations on the pitch than any manager is at instructing an "ideal system".

The next point is that your teams shape works best defensively when it is playing a zonal "space marking" game because it is a natural wedge shape that forces opponents wide. Zonal marking with liberal closing down should help force teams wide as well as hunt down the ball in wide areas.

And finally if your defence is trully horrible then hack down every opponent player you get near to. If the opponent is on his backside in the centre circle then he isn't going to be scoring goals. It's far from pretty, but it is very effective.

[crewe_york]

From first glance, you are playing a pressing game while being cautious in possession. On the face of it, given those settings and that team, this shouldn't be too much of a problem, especially against lesser teams.

However, tight man marking against an opponent like Defoe feels dangerous. He is very good in FM 11 and tops the scoring charts on my current save in 2012. I would have played a zonal defence against Spurs because they attack quite a a lot, have good movement and can overload defences.

Thanks, I didn't realize how much of a threat Defoe was on this game! I've changed my CB's settings to zonal marking and its working much better against the majority of opposition.

With those players I wouldn't stagger the back line, that's encouraging holes when that back line is a brilliant line that is perfectly capable of adopting the best shape to meet any attack, and is well balanced from right to left.

The two key issues are that the Centrebacks have awesome Anticipation and Positioning. They automatically know the best positions to take up to defend against an attack and are very good at reading the game. Imposing "artificial" instructions on them is going to encourage players to rush out too early or drop off too much. You want the two Centrebacks to make their own choices and make choices on "the same level" as each other to effectively cover each other.

And remember also that in that back four you have Power flanked by Pace and Pace flanked by Power. Set these four players up in a line, tick "offside trap" and let them defend as a unit, because they are better at reacting to evolving situations on the pitch than any manager is at instructing an "ideal system".

The next point is that your teams shape works best defensively when it is playing a zonal "space marking" game because it is a natural wedge shape that forces opponents wide. Zonal marking with liberal closing down should help force teams wide as well as hunt down the ball in wide areas.

And finally if your defence is trully horrible then hack down every opponent player you get near to. If the opponent is on his backside in the centre circle then he isn't going to be scoring goals. It's far from pretty, but it is very effective.

Makes a lot of sense considering the players I have at my disposal! Do you mean set them up as CB with defensive strategies rather than splitting them between cover and stopper? and also dropping the FB's into a defensive strategy? Thanks.

[SFraser]

You can afford to give Evra a more attacking mentality because he has Pace and he is also quite effective going forward. I would be cautious with O'Shea.

A good 75% of the time you are going to want your defence to push up and play fairly aggressively because you will hunting the ball back in midfield and fairly high up the pitch. Your two Centrebacks will be pretty much there just to win headers on clearances and nod the ball back to your midfield to start a fresh attack. Other matches you are going to want a more cautious approach sitting deeper and protecting your defence with your midfield.

Indeed I would set my team up to sit inbetween attacking and defensive systems as a standard and then use shouts to control a more attacking or defensive approach, because individual matches tend to ebb and flow somewhat. As you are Mancheser United I would suggest starting out with a Control - Zonal - Pressing system as your mid-point and you can then drop more defensive or go more attacking in a number of different ways via the shouts.

While a lot of people suggest starting off with an "Attacking" strategy I don't like that personally because in FM opponents do have a habit of coming out of the blocks early against Manchester United and if they take an early goal they will simply reduce their defensive outlook even further. I would try to keep the ball for the first 20 minutes or so and then go looking for a goal before half time.

Ultimately your shape is sound and with that shape and that defence you are looking to keep it a good shape and keep nice clear lines. Whatever you do from this point onwards is up to you.