Jimbokav1971

In my opinion, it's not exactly "closing down" that is the issue, more "positional awareness" of players closing down if that makes sense.

I've been thinking hard about how to word the above and sorry if it isn't done the job.

What I mean is that I see my players working hard to get back and get into position, (and close the opposing player down), only for them to not quite finish the job and seemingly stop just short of what I consider the required position.

I am finding this espacially the case with full backs who seem to defend "side on" rather than "goal side" as I would expect.

Now I'm a little stuck in my ways, and have suchg, have only just now started experimenting with "opposition instructions", and I think that if works at all, then "show onto foot" should improve this situation immeasurably.

Please note that I'm not looking for tactical advice on how to fix the "closing down" issues, (as I would much prefer to discover them for myself), I'm really just wondering if what I have described above is what other people consider to be the "closing down" bug, or whether it is something else entirely.

I can honestly say that I don't have a problem with "closing down" in midfield, and as for my centre-backs, well to be honest they are of such poor quality that what I am seeing on the match engine looke to be a fair reflection of their abilities. Quick one-two's on the edge of my area generally tend to lead to a goal-scoring opportunity, but then my centre-backs are both big lumbering oafs so........

Is this something different to "closing down", or am I just experiencing it only defending my flanks?

Alphaaz

its a game of two halves mate, at the end of the day, you'l be sick as a parrot

chopper99

That's three posts I've seen by you now in a short space of time that have been pointless and contributed nothing to the topic in question. If you've got nowt useful to say then just say nowt.

As far as the closing down thing goes Jimbo I've had similar issues to you. My players do close down but can be seen to then not bother making the tackle.

But as I'm playing in the Blue Square North I've so far just assumed it is because they're completely useless. Interestingly though my full backs do seem to get very low ratings compared to the rest of my team so you may be onto something.

Neville_Roach

I couldnt agree more and i will state the most common problem i find with CB and you can tell me if this is what you mean.

A long ball is hoofed over the top, if i set closing down high then they will try to get to it first, but often miss and get caught out of position. - I believe that to be accurate.

If i lower closing down however i get a long ball hoofed over the top and my players will chase it, i like pacey centre backs so threy look odds on for the ball and then they slow down or stop just before they get ball and allow the striker clean through. Meanwhile they barely bother to put him under pressure.

Another occasional one is a long ball (cleared from my corner for example)and my player closer than the computer with pace to burn against say marcus stewart(to illustatre the point) they dawdle over to the ball as the attacker flys down the pitch, knocks it past the last man and gos on to score.

Meanwhile im standing on the touchline screaming wake up! Get rid of it!

Jimbokav1971

One of my full backs has the PPM, "dives into tackles" and it's not really working for him either which I find strange. Maybe it's because he appears to be showing the attacker the outside, only for the attacker to do him with ease and my full-back never make up the ground.

I'll see what happens with opposition instructions.

It is there for a resaon after all .

delibey

It saddens me to see you exist.

OP: I don't think it's the same thing as closing down. The closing down bug was that in the centre of the field your players wouldn't get close enough to the player with ball to stop him from doing anything he wanted. Wingers are a different story imo. You generally don't want to close wingers down because they are usually fast and will get by your man and create trouble. Show onto foot is the best way to deal with wingers mainly because it tells your man to close down but stay at a distance and force an opposing player in a certain direction.

I won't give tactical advice since you don't want any.(:thup: for that) But as far as I can see the former closing down bug is not the same thing as your fullback problem. That's a quite common problem with fullbacks IRL actually.

delibey

Dives into tackles for a fullback can be a double-edged sword. Tamper with your opp. instructions, see what you get. I'm curious to see what happens to that kind of fullback myself.

Suzie MUFC

I agree with you, perhaps "closing down" isn't the right term for this issue. I've found defenders running behind the opposition strikers, which is a bit disturbing. And like you said, tracking back and then stopping short and letting the opposition get away.

Sector7g

This is certainly a bug in the match engine and it's not closing down. Like previous posters say, defenders sometimes just take terrible routes to the ball.

A ball played behind your back four, the striker runs on to the space where the ball is going to be, the defender runs towards where the ball was passed from......oh dear. It's probably the main reason why there are an unrealistic amount of one on ones against keepers in every game.

Bananas

This actually borders on an issue I've had with FM ever since the dawn of 2D, namely the lack of anticipation from the players. In the case of the CB trailing behind a striker towards a 'hoofed' ball, you'd expect the CB to realise it when he's beaten for pace and instead try to cut away towards goal, to allow the striker to gather the ball and instead place himself between the ball and the goal. Similarly, I have been frustrated by the inability of players to realise which one of the 5' forward and the 6'2 defender will win an aerial challenge and take up appropriate positions. These two situations (and many others) always make me think that the decision-making of the players is way too much down to where the ball is than the players that actually influence where the ball may end up next. They simply do not seem to read the players around them properly, as in the case of the aerial challenge above, it seem the players around all reckon it's a 50/50 ball and it could go either way. Or in the case of the back-tracking defender, he simply doesn't realise he's well beaten until the striker he's chasing actually reaches the ball.