Hektor

A lot has already been written about this throughout all the FM versions, but with FM2008 I've decided to try something revolutionary and actually read the manual, paying attention to what it says.

Given that I love to try and invent the kind of mind-numbing, stultifying defensive tactics that would drive away the fans in droves (my heart's already pounding at the thought of this...) I'm really focusing on the defensive aspects of tactics.

So, for an explanation of Tight Marking the manual states that: "Tell your players whether you wish for them to mark their opponents up close or to allow themselves a little 'give' should they be beaten to the ball."

Now, I know that, as with many games, it's best not to ever rely too much on the manual, but surely there must be something of worth in there, no?

It's a little opaque and all, but that thing about "close" and "give" seems to me to suggest something connected to either strength, pace or simply marking...or anticipation...or god only knows what.

Is it suggesting that we shouldn't order a slow player to tightly mark for fear that he'll be beaten to the ball and be left for dead? Or perhaps that we absolutely should demand that a slow but tall, strong player tightly marks a quick midget in the sure hope that he'll win the ball in the air?

As such, are those of us that routinely set all our defenders, or even all of our team, to tight marking losing out because either the slow ones or the short/weak ones are letting the side down? Does tight marking even work with a zonal system? What have been your own experiences?

What do others use tight marking for in the opposition instructions? Against quick strikers, or against the slow ones?

Am I reading too much into all this and it's all just blind guesswork? Let me know what you all think, I'd love to be able to finally strangle the life out of other teams with my 7-man defence and occasional goal from set pieces, inching my way to titles through 1-0 wins and 0-0 draws while the ungrateful fans throw rotten eggs at me...

korzy

did that for my first season, scoring only occasional goals and coming on 4th place ( I tried mid-season to try and play attractive football with no success - a reason I didn't come above 4th place with Man.City )

believe me, playing this way will take off your passion to play the game.

as for the subject - I tried tightmarking for the whole team for most of the season.
results where pretty good for scoring counter-attacks but it was rare that I got a clean-sheet game... I'm still on the race to find the correct balance in defence.