how do i keep a DC/Cover from overstretching himself?

[Neil Train]

low aggression. zonal marking. 2 x DM and a stopper not too far away. low closing down. low creative freedom.

YET he made a mistake in trying to close someone down well outside the 18yd area and it led to a goal.

is true, i don't quite "get" positioning and marking, hence me choosing zonal across the pitch, but this chap has 15 for both so should know what he's doing.

what was going on?

EDIT: thought i'd go back to 30 seconds before the goal and play in slo-mo. ok, i can see that the opponent was theoretically in "the zone" for zonal marking, but no real threat and my man is told to stand off and isn;t aggressive, and there are two strikers already goalside who i;d imagine are more of a threat to whatever the "zone" is.

[Falahk]

is he set to do tight marking? its default on most central defender setings as far as I know or does he have a ppm that tell him to do that?

[Neil Train]

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is he set to do tight marking? its default on most central defender setings as far as I know or does he have a ppm that tell him to do that?

ah. one out of two. tight marking, but ppm is "stays back at all times."

think i'm gonna widen the scope of this thread somewhat. it's unfortunate, i've been asking defensive questions since about year 2000 when i was playing cm3. and there wasn't even a 2d engine then.

but i still struggle.

so anyway OT1 is what is a novice-haven't got a clue-way to post a screenshot to better show what happened, if i haven't explained it well. basically though he closed down a midfielder, 25-30yds out, but the midfielder got a decent ball away before my defender could do anything. the ball went wide and was put into the box where someone got on the end of it because my defender was still busy trying to get back.

watching it over and over.

the ball got wide becasue my fullback went to cover the space left by my errant defender. the dm(anchor! ah!) doesn't move forward to originally close down, my "cover" does it.

and yep, my defender, rushing back having been well out of position, just doesnt recover to stop a tap in.

don't worry, i'll play with exporting the goal.

so i'll lose tight marking, but even zonal, i'm playing 442 vs my opponent's 352. so 2 central defenders, 2 strikers. shouldn't, even on "zonal" the defenders be sticking close to the strikers, and leave 2 x dms to worry about their central midfield?

yes, he was tight marking but made a dash upfield to try and intercept a player that should have been covered by someone else, namely a dm. UNLESS where i've gone wrong is having an ANOCHOR who wouldn't budge. have watched, and throughout the move he doesn't pop up anywhere useful/ just basically stays where he would at kickoff in his place in the formation. just sticks to a position between their midfield and attackers, unable or unwilling to trouble either.

hope i've explained it ok. at some stage i should just accept that i'm in the mould of kevin keegan. i know how to get teams to score goals but i'm tactically inept when it comes to defending, i just WANT to learn. example; i still don't know the difference between zonal marking and positioning, and i've read and re-read threads on attributes. pfff......

edit: searching the tt&f forums for threads on positioning and marking. again. and a lot of the threads i've started in years gone by. will go off and re-acquaint myself.........

[leovii]

i find on the team instructions if u set stick to position and low creativity the defenders seem to listen to your instructions more as a unit problem is the OI instructions can mess it so be careful this isnt bein used if u wanna defend as one unit.

[gechal]

I've been using a defensive 442 in certain games, and for the first time I seem to be able to play very defensively and do it well.

I'm so happy with it I've been meaning to post up something , just finding time. I find using a rigid defensive strategy Works well.

Centre backs on basic defend duty, same for full backs.

2 x centre mids, on defend. 2xwide midfielders, on support.

1x deep lying forward support, 1xpoacher.

Start off the game with shouts drop deeper, play narrower , stand off opponents , pump ball into box. Deep lying forward set as target man, supply to head.

All with the aim of crowding out the other team, restricting them to long shots, trying to be a scruffy goal at some point durin the game. We concede a ton of possession , but the centre backs are rarely stretched, and we rarely concede clear cut chances.

It's worked really well so far , with a side that is not one of the best in the league. Sometimes the shouts change during the game, I use pass into space and set poacher to target man, run on to ball. I just change it as I see the game going.

It does sometimes , not always , struggle against teams that have 3 players in the middle of midfield, and changes I would do then include losing a forward and adding in a midfielder.

I didn't think it really possible before , I think it's so hard and frustrating to set up a real defensive and effective side. it seems to be working this time.

[Neil Train]

ok, done all the right things. read some stuff on positioning. not TOO much, my little brain can't process too much information, but enough for me for now. i've scouted a player who might help eradicate too many of these mistakes in the future. but i still feel like keegan:( the player is cheap but he's all-round good and i prefer to actually know what i'm doing and being able to prioritize 4-5 attributes.

anyway, well out of my comfort zone now. uploaded the mistake/goal to youtube so if you have the time to view, please tell me what went wrong. i hope this is right: