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When playing FM, your objective is to win. Quite logically really. It also makes sense when I say you win games by scoring goals. However, it is also important to realise your opposition wants to score goals as well. Preventing them from scoring goals is therefore also important. As an extra way to help you boost your defence, me (Guido) and James (Intergalactic_Jester) have come up with the Cordon Sanitaire Theory.
Cordon sanitaire
Cordon sanitaire is a French phrase that, literally translated, means quarantine line. Though in French it originally denoted a barrier implemented to stop the spread of disease, its use in English is almost always metaphorical and political, and refers to attempts to prevent the spread of an ideology deemed unwanted or dangerous.
French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau is credited with the first use of the phrase as a metaphor for ideological containment. In March of 1919, he urged the newly independent border states that had broken away from Bolshevist Russia to form a defensive union and thus quarantine the spread of communism to Western Europe; he called such an alliance a cordon sanitaire. This is still probably the most famous use of the phrase, though it is sometimes used more generally to describe a set of buffer states that form a barrier against a larger, ideologically hostile state.
In terms of FM, it's the idea behind a defensive structure you can use to decrease the chance of conceding goals. Literally, to stop the the opposition before he reaches your goal.
Applied to FM
When applying the concept of the the Cordon into the FM tactical engine, the basic idea is that the two wing-backs and a defensive midfielder create a sort of wall, a cordon, around your own penalty area.
The red lines indicate the Cordon, sort of. The settings you have to use to create an effective cordon are all related to individual player settings for the two backs and the defensive midfielder.
As you probably know, the mentality of players is determined by a slider bar. The mentality is crucial for the Cordon to be effective, as it relates to a players positioning. Use the following settings to create an effective Cordon.
Centre-backs: 7 Wing-backs: 9 Defensive midfielder: 10 or 11
The exact numbers are not that important, the difference between the numbers is however. The wing-back mentality should be slightly higher than that of the centre-backs, but lower than that of the defensive midfielder.
Next, make sure the defensive midfielder and wing-backs have maximum Closing Down and no forward runs and run with ball. This way, they stay in their zone and attack every opposing player that enters their zone, thus creating the Cordon I mentioned.
Player stats
What type of players would you need to effectively use such a Cordon? Well, for starters you need players that are able to win a duel from an opponent. Look for players with high stats for:
These are the main stats to determine if a player is likely to win a duel or not. Stats like Anticipation, Off the Ball and Positioning determine the way a player positions himself. Last but not least, you need a player with stamina and physical strength.
interesting theory, though it really seems you need to have some world class players to make it work. In that case, if you have such great defenders, even the default tacts would work fine, with a bit of common sense added, of course.
The name is really cool, as is the idea, though I'm not sure how effective it would be for any team without world class defenders or the money to buy them...
Cordon sanitaire 
Linear Mode
