Defensive advice needed

[the blue ferret]

Hi, just struggling a little.

My defence is consitantly split open by through balls from inside the opposition half, even against teams 2 leagues below me. My defence also cannot deal with 'out the hand' goal kicks, they just bounce over my defenders and some striker runs through to score, usually hitting it from from outside the box.

I play a high Defensive Line, which I suspect is the issue, but I pretty sure that if you have attacking mentality you are supposed to the have a high DL.

To compile my misery, my team doesnt like attacking either. I want to play wide and get crosses in, but my players dont do that. Should I lowers their creative freedom?

[Jedditte]

Hey there,

I think your problem is definitely related with the D-Line and width settings.I suggest try lowering d-line first and then width a little.Had that issue at first as i was playing a high d-line and wide game on 08, to ensure pressure and possession over the opponents but in this version i found that lowering the d-line gives your fast players more space (considering when you lower your d-line AI will try to close you down that gives you more space on their half) which is pretty logical.

If those do not work you can try lowering closing down settings on your DC's to prevent them caught up out of position.This may be tricky of course if you play man marking but i was never a big fan of man marking instead i can tight mark the opposition if needed.

Another point is closing down on the midfield.You have to cut the supply of thru balls especially if AI uses an AMC, hence you can try Tight marking on Opp.Instructions.

However if you're relating the 'thru balls' coming from the 'Super Keepers' insane 200 yard kicks i think there is nothing you can do about that

About the wingers, dont give them too much attacking mentality just over 2-3 notch over the normal,this ensures they dont seperate from your midfielders and take the ball to dribble.Also you can give them CF above normal if they have good flair and skills.Thru balls Rarely and Long Shots rarely if you just want them to cross.Some players generally youngsters with low mental abilities can work with the little CF with Often/Often/OFten RWB,FWR,Cross from byline, ensuring they don't try anything else, just take the ball run to the byline and cross to keep it simple.

Well those stuff worked for me at least and hope they help you as well.

[the blue ferret]

Well, I lowered my DL and width, which were both pretty high. It worked really well. I played Bolton in the league cup, the league above and we were really in the game, went extra time and lost 2-0. One was a long ranger, the other was a defensive error, the sort that is forgivable not the sort where you think 'wtf are you doing' which I think is a problem a lot of people are having with the new tactic system

[supersaint]

Its nice to see that you got use of the tips:)

Another thing I might add, that helps for me, is to look for where they are getting through. Is it outside or inside DC? If they get through inside, you might need narrow width. If they get around on the outside, a more wide defence might be a solution. This does vary from game to game.

It might not be the solution for your team, but my team is doing better when I adjust width like that from game to game (far from perfect, but better).

[the blue ferret]

On the inside for sure. Though, im into a league match with these changes and 4-0 down at half time. I put that down to it being Portsmouth, who have Benjani and most their UEFA cup squad up against my very young regen Leicester side. They have Defoe on the bench, so they must be pretty strong. I can almost forgive the defeat cause they have Jurgen Macho in goal who has a squad number of 77. I thought he retired, but its good to see him back in the 2010/11. Plus at the final whistle they had 7 shot, 4 on target, I had 8, 5 on target and lsot 4-1. So it isnt my tactics in this case I dont think, just a bad game.

Thanks for the advice. It was a pleasant suprise lowering attack, DL and width and actually creating more chances