rashidi1

Personally speaking I'm more inclined towards a holistic approach towards defending, limiting any discussion on defending to just the backline seems to be insufficient imho.

I haven't been using tight marking simply because, at the lowest echelons of league football, you just can't find the right players to do that kind of a job. What I prefer to employ is high closing down upfront, this forces the AI to spend less time on the ball, get my midfield to play more of a holding role and perhaps here is where tight marking can be employed.

At the back, the CD's will come up to mop those lose balls becos, regardless of what their closing down levels are, their defensive duties are more a function of the Defensive line. So if the defensive line is set too low..you'll find your CDs staying back more,but if they are set to the lowest notch of normal they do come out. Whether you have a split mentality for either DC does not seem to really matter here...the one closest to the ball seems to make the first move.

If the fullbacks have a closing down set of around 13-15, which is high, you'd find that if the ML/or MR is on 8-12. they will be some 2 on 1 action here. The question one has to ask, is whether this is what they want....I don't really mind that as much, cos I hate defending deep crosses. Can manmarking work...maybe..tho I must add my years of seeing it fail just act more as a hinderance to adopting it, and my lack of playing time recently has made it tougher.

I still think any discussion on defense cannot and should not just focus on the backline. A good defensive formation needs to account for the roles the forwards, midfielders and defenders do. You can make the 3 sets play as a team. If you can do that successfully then making the formation work is a cinch

rashidi1

I don't think zonal and tight marking can work with high closing down...there will be too many loose pieces on the board

If one wants to employ tight marking, then the players in defense need to have low closing down, i still think that you can employ high closing down upfront to force the AI to give up possession easily and this could lead to a solid formation.

This would mean that the fullbacks could be on the same closing down as the defenders or within the same zone..say 6-8.

11v11

Nowdays top teams seem to drop off into thier own half rather than have a systematic and strategic high closing down although their players tend to tease defenders to release the ball. Defending seems to be a design now, like rashidi1 mensioned although some of the midfielders seem like they defend loose. If we take a look at the C.Ronaldo's and Rommedahls, they seem very weak in defensive duties but drop low both to pick up and to cover defensive holes but totally lack direct defensive duties.

jaycar

When was it called Swoosh?

Anyway, I think it's the ideal time for me to try my old theory again as my man marking on DC's in my brand new game with newcastle has not got off to a good start at all as Onyewu is gifting chances to the opposition and getting turned way too easily. I think I will try the Nike Defensive System or Swoosh with Onyewu as the stopper and Taylor as the Sweeper. </BLOCKQUOTE>

buxton, do you mind sharing the nike settings?

at the moment i have :

FB's ment 10, CD 10
CD ment 6, CD 6
CD ment 8, CD 8