Defensive Line- What the hell does it actually do, and how does it work?

[Flohrinho]

Hmm alright as far as I understand the manual the d-line setting will have two different effects on your players behavior.

1. When your team is in possession the d-line setting will work as some kind of mentality modifier for your defenders.

2. When the opposition is in position the d-line settings kick in and your players will position themselves according to it's settings and ignore the mentality setting as far as positioning goes.

If the ME really works that way it would actually make sense imo. As long as you attack it's more important that your players keep their offensive shape so the mentality setting outweighs the d-line setting in terms of positioning of your defenders. But as soon as the opposition has the ball it's important they will drop into the position you want them to be for defending to either stop fast strikers or strikers that drop deep.

None the less a few questions remain, when exactly does closing down kick in. As far as I can tell closing down will only start to kick in once the player that needs to be marked has the ball or even earlier once someone plays a pass to him. Another thing I would like to know is how do your tackling settings influence closing down and positioning of your player?

[drunkrob]

None the less a few questions remain, when exactly does closing down kick in. As far as I can tell closing down will only start to kick in once the player that needs to be marked has the ball or even earlier once someone plays a pass to him. Another thing I would like to know is how do your tackling settings influence closing down and positioning of your player?

If you have a defender with high closing down and he has a team mate in midfield in between him and the ball does the defender close down or not? If the ball comes beyond that midfielder does the defender then close down instead? If all eleven players have maximum closing down would they all converge on the ball at once or in turn once each team mate is subsequently beaten?

I have a feeling the closing down is a modifier on how far you want your player to stray from position to win the ball when he is the nearest player to the ball (goal side?).