retired_thester

Although mentality would play a apart on who they pass to and how they pass, I doubt very much that mentality is such a big factor. I play with the 2nd notch from left for my DCs and they pass fine (I have them at mixed {right in the middle} passing style as well.

retired_erik86

I believe time wasting and the 3 attributes; decisions, passing and creativity will affect the defenders and make them give away the ball.

If u have Mixed passing the defender will have to decide what pass he should use, and mentality wil affect if it's defensive or attacking pass, at least this is what im inclined to believe. So i never have everybody on mixed passing, unless i know they are good at it. If i know a team is on mixed passing, i'll have allot of tight marking and close them down all over the pitch, or jus pick the bad passers and close them down.

retired_thester

Not sure about Time Wasting. It just seems to not fit if you think about it literally. When you time waste, your opponents can come charging to the player who has the ball or start marking up with the other players leaving no passes. I think tempo would be more important as it governs how urgent your players play. For example, a slow tempo gives them more time to look for a pass. In a way, time wasting and tempo are similar, but time is limited and tempo is not wasting time.

Yes, I think decisions plays a significant part. My two DCs have similar passing and creativity but decisions is significantly different and the one with higher decisions passes more accurately.

However, I still like mixed as I want all my players to have an open mind for all passes. Direct only for GK and Short for forwards.

retired_rebebeccag

I'm Sunderland (3rd season, 3 in Prem after a 5th place finish last season), and my defenders are not too bad at all, mostly unknowns who I've trained up oh and Michael Dawson. Passing is 13-15 for all of them and decision-making is pretty high too. As I say, their passing is fine when they actually do, it's the constant thumps from the edge of my own box, eschewing all shorter, better options that is driving me so mad!

I tried increasing the mentality to 8, I just couldn't see any change. I upped it as far as 12, at which point although I saw no change in the pattern of passing I started shipping goal, so knocked that on the head!

retired_gsorensen723

I've definitely seen an improvement since I lowered my midfielders closing down, they're playing much better as well now. My defenders do have a tendency to pass long (set to direct passing style), but I'd rather they did that than hang onto the ball and lose it, at least for the time being.