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I come from a non-football backround. So common sense of issues such as 'closing down' doesn't compute. Who? and when should i close down? I figured out that closing down on people with good long shots is good. That makes sense. But who else? and when should i 'never' close down. What sort of players should i close down basically? and whats the disadvantage?
Well closing down is used when defending. If you are from a non football background you can translate it to "putting pressure on the player with the ball". Its hard to say exactly who and when you should close down, it depends on the tactic you have. For example i play with a 4-3-3 tactic and i want my offensive player to close down hard to get the ball back and not let the opposition to get time to play the ball around and be creative. My wingers should close down the fullbacks hard so they dont get time to play the short simple bass to the midfield to start the attack, instead i want to stress them so the only option they has is to kick the ball long upfield, this way it more likely that i will win it back. I also want to close down hard on players outside the area so they dont get time to pick out a short pass into the box to the striker in the box. In my formation it is the defensive midfielder that is responsible for this. I also want my fullbacks to close down to win the ball before the winger get into position to deliver a cross into the box. On the other hand i dont want my central defenders to close down hard because then they will get caught out of position and is easy exposed to fast strikers.
So there isnt any golden rule about when to close down and how hard you should close down, its about what tactic you use and how you want your defence to act.
Well hoped that helped some, if you have more questions just ask them.
Originally posted by Cleon:
If you have players on attacking mentality, then I find having them on a high closing down works best and makes more sense
Sure is, and on other hand you can "afford" having them on a higher closing down also since it wouldnt be as devestating if a striker get caught out of position as it would be if a defender was. Only thing that i can think of that is negative is that they would tire more since they to a lot of running chasing the ball. But i havent had a problem with that and im using high closing down on my offensive players.
First of all, the current consensus, to which I concur, is that the slider does not determine when (i.e., how often) but rather where players close down. I know the slider reads 'rarely' or 'often' on its edges, but this is somewhat misleading. A player will close down all the time, not just at some times, but only within a radius whose extent is determined by the closing down slider and whose point of origin on the pitch in part by the defensive line slider and in part by the mentality slider.
Where and with which players you close down is an integral part of your overall defensive strategy, which of course involves defensive line and mentality sliders. What you first should determine is these other settings, and once you get a rough idea of the shape of your defense, you can tinker with closing down settings from there.
Generally, you want to apply as much pressure as you can on opposition without overexposing your defense by committing players to positions where they have no business being. What seperates 'just right' from 'overexposed' varies depending on the quality of the opposition in relation to yours. Skilled teams will be able to cope with pressure better and find ways to exploit the space you just opened by closing down.
On the other hand, you might deliberately close down less aggresively to draw the opposition in and hit them on the break.
In any case, be aware that closing down will tire your players quicker.
Enquire in the stickied tactics bible thread for more information on other sliders and tactical tips.
If your going to get your midfielders/attackers pressing dont forget to check out their Team Work, Work Rate and Stamina attributes. Its not worth expecting the likes of Nicolas Anelka, El-Hadji Doiouf or David Dunn to hunt the ball down for your team but players like Alan Smith, Dirk Kuyt and of course Robbie Savage will do it for you all day long.
To close down or not. 
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