retired_rajiv89

I have posted a couple of times about my newcastle defence, but I haven't managed to solve the problem.

I am in my fifth season, and my defense is:

Foster (GK) Zebina (RB), Bale (LB) Hobbs/Schmoller [Brazilian Wonderkid] (CB), Hubshmann (CB).

I play a 4-4-2 formation. Basically, I can't stop teams cutting though my defence. Any suggestions on how to play this? Should I defend deep or high up the pitch? SHould I use man marking or zonal marking for the centre bakcs? Should I close down or not? Should I employ tight marking for my defenders? Any help for this would be great.

Also, do you think it is a problem with the way I defend as a team? It does often seam that the only time I win possession back is when they shoot. I am a bit fed up of this inept defending. I know my defence isn;t the best in the world but I should think that at least it should be capable of getting me into the top half but it hasn't done so so far.

retired_e_fores

Golden rule is very low closing down on centre backs.

Some people have high closing down on fullbacks which works well against 442 or 443 but can be problematic against teams without wingers as the FB's get pulled out of position. I have mine on mixed.

I have one striker on high closing down always to pressue the opposition higher up the pitch. My defensively minded midfielder (or DM) has very high closing down. I then set my remaining MC and FC to team closing down and have it high when I'm attacking or lower when I want to counter. Same for my wingers.

I get my back four to tight mark though some don't like tight marking. I'll only man mark against similar formations to mine. My defensive line is high when I'm attacking and deep when I want to counter and defend. Fast defenders are rare so I rarely have it too high, and only use offside trap with the top teams.

Thats pretty much it, and I do pretty well, though it depends on the team and form too.


A note on wingers. I sometimes put my wingers on high closing down always, it varies. TBH I can't remember what I've got it on atm, and what is more successful.

Thats my 2 cents but perhaps some have better ways.

retired_rayrhi

I believe that it is more important to concentrate on defending as a team rather than concentrating on simply the back four. I don't reckon that it's possible to tweak your back four to defensive success. Defending is a collective art. At home, I attack attack attack, so I am not too worried about defending. Away from home though I use a cautious, global, and team based defensive system that still grabs goals:

http://community.sigames.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=2101905...632082723#7632082723

It may be worth a try. People have been having a fair bit of success...

retired_hope

From observing the AI they have use global pressing until they take the lead.

Then they drop the FB's back about 3 notches and the DC's back about 5 notches, everyone else stays on the global setting.