MCd help, not sure what to make of this

[Airenn1]

Basically i play a 442 formation, with a MCa and MCd, the closing down for my 2 wingers are 13 or 14, and my MCd is at 15 while my MCa is at 12.

The settings of my MCd is normal mentality, low creativity, and no foward runs.

I watch full matches and notice that the MCd is really deep like in the picture below.

The opposition midfielder in front of my MCd has a huge amount of space and freedom to play and has high amount of passes. Also sometimes my winger will try and close down the space my MCd has left resulting in that one flank very open for the opposition to creating something from.

I have tried to make foward runs of my MCd to normal so he doesnt stay so deep but it has got me feeling vulnerable as there is noone covering the DCs.

I also have tried making the MCd mark his opposing midfielder and i too feel vulnerable.

Anyone has any solutions, i though of making my MCa close down more, or maybe having my striker pull back and defend in midfield via man marking.

[ironiman]

Both my MCs in 442 have same mentality and fwrs. The only difference is the MCd has higher closing down and different individual settings. The MCa will rwb and ttb often and so on.

Tried other combinations of mentality and fwrs, one of the MCs will always perform poorly for some reason.

[Asim]

yeh always 1 of the other will perform better unless playing seriously weaker opposition. i also have both on same mentality but if i have them on same fwd runs i find that they push on together at the same time leaving my defence open. so the mcd has rare fwd runs. other settings run with ball mixed, long shots mixed, through balls often and crossing mixed for both.

the only difference is i have my mcd on lower closing down than my mca. i find my mca will press 1st and if the ball gets past him then the mcd is there to close down after. if mcd has higher closing down he ends up infront of my mca trying to close down the ball.

so far conceeded 11 goals half way through season with spurs.

[Airenn1]

Hm i will try that, having em both with the same mentality , thx ironiman.

Question asim, does your MCd act the same way as in my picture, staying deep when u have him fwd runs rare? I think i have tried that before but got the same result i have to check again. Whats the closing down for your MCa and MCd btw.

[Asim]

well i use global mentality of 13, all players have global closing down of 16 except cb, mcd. mca has 16 closing down, mcd has 13. fwd runs comes into play when you have possession of the ball, in your case either mcd mentality is low, or it may be down to the player attibutes.

also, looking at the picture, although the opposition midfielder has a lot of space in front of him and your mcd, he is still quite deep, so unless he is really good he wont do too much harm from there as long as your mc closes him down when he gets into your half.

iv recently tried a new tactic, its not mine i got it from here cant remember the name but its the west ham 442 its really simple all settings are global for all players and it works really well at the moment, maybe try that and tweak it for your needs.

[diabolicpanda]

I have exactly the same problem. I've found the following seems to help a bit (althogh it might just be wishfull thinking, as I still see my MCd playing waaaaaaaay to deep at times):

1. Lowering closing down on MCs to 10. (Makes sense if you think about it. Don't think you'll see a lot of tackles made by Mascherano on the opposition half.) I have no idea as to why this should make him not drop deep, but it seems to work.

2. Playing the two MCs on similar mentality.

3. Play a natural MC as MCd, or train him to be.

4. Never set the opposition striker playing on the same side as your MCd to 'tight marking always' in oppositon instructions. Seems your MCd will think it's his job for some reason.

5. If everything else fails, play your MCd on the same side as your opponents MCa and man mark.

Hope this helps. As I said: I think I've seen improvements with these settings, but as I don't watch matches on full it might just be wishfull thinking..

[Nevrin]

You may increase your MCd closing down to the last notch of own half and your MCa to the 1st or 2nd notch of whole pitch. I have my MCa mentality two notches higher than the MCd one.

[Airenn1]

I changed it so that my MCd was on the same mentality as my MCa and it was horrendous i started a 3 match losing streak.

I did use the higher closing down for MCa and it seems to be working well for me

[CentralTen]

Increase mentality, lower closing down. Make him keep his position more so he won't run around and open up spaces behind him.

[Bluebeard]

I agree, you want to match mentality and closing down as a general rule, so the MCa should be 'whole pitch' and the MCd 'own half'.

The MCa would then pressure both opposition MCs and the MCd would take care of an AMC or a breaking enemy MC.

Also consider mental stats like positioning, work rate, aggression, team work - you want all of these to be high for the MCd and if they aren't then his play will obviously slip.