odie072

Seems to be something this game doesn't do. Playing Arsenal, solid 442, second to Man U. Any good team that i play with some form of lone striker tears the 442 apart, creates loads of chances - as it did consistently with FM07 I seem to recall. Seems to destroy a flat back 4, no matter what marking I set, what closing down etc. I win a lot of the games but only when the AI misses a pile of chances.

Defenders seem to just do a headless chicken, Liverpools daft 4-6 stupid no width diamond thing does it (against me anyway, AI seems to handle it), any reasonable team with 2 wingers pushed up does it. And Man U - hah, what a laugh, goals fly in from every direction, and watching it my defenders seem to be bowing in awe or something as Rooney and co wander by. Even tried reloading a few times to see what teh ehll was going wrong, playing a back 3, changed marking etc, unstoppable.

Anyone got any ideas on how to stop/combat it - especially with the closing issues that seem to just exaggerate it even further? I mean I can take losing to Man U at Old Trafford, but 3-0 and 8 chances down after 7 minutes?

retired_lauriek

If the opp plays attacking wingers, I try to get my wingers (in flat 442) to man mark them, and maybe do barrows on my fullbacks if they have a lot of pace. I think the objective there is to stop them from getting too much possession, as they can cross the ball in to the waiting lone striker in the box.

There's still some situations though which I still need to figure out, like newcastle's 4-4-1-1, with a flat midfield and one amc.

retired_cscttu

I always check out the striker first, and gt the right man marking him, eg; if he's an aerial threat, I get my best header/jump on him, and if the forward is pacey, I pin a the paciest defender who can mark availabble on him. In any case, the other defender backs of (lower mentality and CD than marking partner) so he can sweep up and cover. I tight mark their wingers, and show them, and their mids, onto the weaker foot, if possible. That makes the service to the striker poor more often than not, while the striker has a marker on him to match his strengths and a covering back if it all goes wrong.

With all that, I usually don't have too much trouble at all against lone forward. That's done at a higher level, with a top team though, so I'd recommend trying it, but I would promise anything. If you've already tried all that at once, then I've no other suggestions.

retired_jennielynn

i find that the easiest games ive ever played have been against these teams.

In 2 seasons ive never lost to the big teams, always beat ManUtd, Arsenal, Liverpool, Flogged Barcelona in this formation easy.

One thing i did was drop my defensive line WAY back but still attacking mentality, play 2 MC, with 1 back arrow to DMC, and 1 AMC with back arrow to vacant MC poisiton, a AML with backarrow to ML and 2 strikers. (no RM)

I found it styfled them and then sprung attacks really well that there pushing forward players never REALLY got back to defend against.

I think in the quater finals of the champions league, my 2 games versus Barcelona ended with an aggregate of 6-1.

werwin12

Close down the single forward on oppo. instruction. Show weaker foot if they have one. Works for me.

If he is slow, you can tight mark him instead and close down their playmaker instead...

Dont try to close down so many players(+3) from Oppo. Instruction!