Best Way To Deal With Opposition Lone Striker

[Wings69]

I'm struggling against teams who play with just one striker. Honestly in all my years with FM I've always struggled with how to handle that.

Obviously there's a lot more to a team than just one striker. It could be a flat 4-5-1, it could involve two AMCs, AML & AMR, both of them and an AMC etc.

For arguments sake let's say the team plays with a lone striker, and then an AML & AMR then two MCs.

If you play with a flat back 4 for example - how would you line up your team, specifically your central defense?

That's where I am constantly struggling. Basically I don't find having two central defenders ever works out against 1 striker. I've tried various methods like one man marking one not, one stopper one cover etc etc - occasionally I've tried a sweeper as well as putting a defender into DMC but I'm never fully comfortable with it.

Wondering what peoples thoughts are - and obviously there's a lot of variables(ie: fast striker, tall target man etc) so feel free to note them and how it would change.

[Ifail]

lone striker i just use weaker foot and hard tackle oi, and tackle hard weak foot NO closing down on any AM(LCR) if you close down the AMS the lone striker tend to go to the holw of your defence. Then man mark hard tacle the wingbacks(and fulllbacks)

[Auqakuh]

I just put both CBs on defend, set tighter marking and more closing down. But really, my CBs don't have to do much beyond stand in the right spot when the opposing team lumps it upfield... since we have the ball 60%+ of the time anyway. I do however tend to play with an anchorman or a halfback, which means there's technically potentially a covering midfielder if one of the CBs steps out to press.

For defenders, to be honest, I think less about tactics and more about ensuring I have ones with extremely good composure, concentration, and positioning. Good agility and balance is a plus. Marking and tackling as well, obviously, but... if they're standing in the right spot, they don't actually need to tackle all that often.

[swansongs]

Traditionally a back four has been the best approach to playing against a lone striker. One centre back marks the player, the other covers space around him (you don't need to give instructions for this).

[bababooey]

Is the lone striker fast? Don't push up. Is he slow? Pushing up may really help.

If they're using 1 striker then where is their extra man? In midfield? In defense? You have to consider those things. If they play something like a 4-5-1 you have to ask if you're being outmanned in the midfield, and make adjustments if necessary.

Lone striker systems are going to rely on him getting supply from deeper (or possibly higher up if they use AMLR) so just take note of that and make your adjustments accordingly.