retired_hotrocnrol

Right i have some problems. i am sunderland i am top of the championship with 44 points after 19 games. i have scored 42 goals but i have let in 21 goals :mad. i need to stop opposition cutting behind my deffence on the counter attack but my deffence arnt fast enough. Any ideas what i can do to help. btw i play 4 at the back. thanks

retired_lalaliloudu75003

Try to play your defensive line deeper if pacey strikers run around you. Also if you deepen your defensive line try mirroring the closing down on your defenders/full backs with it. It will help you a lot.

I learnt this from super saint in the tactical theorems thread and it's a charm.

retired_hotrocnrol

Thanks mate but wont that allow them to get on top of the game more easily?

retired_lalaliloudu75003

Depends on the tactic you play I guess. But essentially if you set your defenders all to the same mentality (at least the middle two) then they shouldn't be running out of position much.

An example with the defensive line will be, say, setting your DL to about 6 or 8. Then set your closing down with your defenders to about 14 or 12. If your defensive line is 12 or 14, then set your closing down on your defenders to about 6 or 8 respectively.

The mirroring/RoT is explained alot in the tactical theorems thread. Reading that has helped me a lot in this game so I really recommend it.

I also suggest however, setting your CD for your midfielders and onwards higher than your defenders too. So if the CD for your defenders is say, 8, I would then go 12 for your midfield, and 16 for your attack, respective of their positions, for example.

retired_lalaliloudu75003

One more thing of note is to keep their creative freedom low as that can also affect them being out of position. I tend to keep mine at about 2 - 4 for my backline.

retired_hotrocnrol

cheers mate. big help

retired_mushy02

Agree with most you said Lobo, but not with this part. I strongly feel it's much better to have your DC's play a little bit apart from each other so that one can attack strikers and one can sweep up all through balls. If you don't do that, the opposition can play balls over your defence quite easily...
Don't make the difference too big, because like you said: they shouldn't be running out of position much. Without wanting to speak on his behalf, Cleon also reccomends this. I believe he has one DC on mentality 5, the other on 6 and the one with 5 has closing down 6 and the other one has closing down 10 (with the defensive line on 6).

Anyway, whichever settings you use, it makes perfect sense to have them a little different. Because the little difference won't make them play out of position, but it will give your opposition a harder time getting past you.

retired_amy66new

What I do with the defence is: don't bother.

As old Keegan said "if they score 3, we'll score 4" or something like that. Seen as though I only had one good defender, I thought right stuff it and am playing a 3-5-2 that basically is a full out attack fest. It's great!!

The commentator nearly always says "what a game" and we nearly always win - last game we won 6-5, the last goal being scored in the 92nd minute.

But anyway, in addition to what Lobo and triclores have said, I know this would mean a total uphaul but I find (when I'm at clubs with decent defenders) 3 at the back with LArrows and RArrows on your LCB and RCB works quite well - you need a beast of a centre back though because he can quite often be on his own.

retired_mushy02

ALL my tactics have a back 4. Nothing fancy. It's the only way I don't ship goals by the bucket load.

But if you get 3 at the back to work, great!! However, by the looks of it.... I mean, 6-5... I would go crazy behind my pc, hehe.

Sounds like your games are interesting to watch though, no goalless draws. And it's fun to see an FM-manager who is indeed a bit like Keegan (or Pearce maybe) and ignores the tactics largely.