Defending with a slow back 4

[HallamMacca]

I'm currently managing Alfreton in the Skrill Prem. Conceding goals for fun at the minute, the defence seem decent enough but are very slow. I like my teams to press but vary whether I have them pushing up or staying back.

How should I approach my defence? As they are slow, look to sit back and not press and stay on feet? My full backs get poor ratings no matter what I do. Opposition teams seem to be able to get passed them quite easily and not sure how to prevent it.

Any ideas and advice welcome.

[HallamMacca]

Just read a post further down regarding my full back getting beaten regularly. I've got my ML MR as attacking wingers. Is this leaving my full backs too exposed and should I look to have them less attacking?

[llama3]

Got a few things:

• Drop defence deeper
  
• Pick a formation that suits your defending style - lots of deep players for compact systems, lots of AM/forward players etc for pressing systems.

[Marabak]

Look at what your defenders have a strength, and try to get the attackers forced into that area.

For instance, if your defenders are slow, but have good aerial abilities, you should drop deeper into the penalty box and force the opposition down the flanks, your defenders can then play to their strength of heading the ball away.

Or if your strength is tackling and marking, but lack pace or aerial ability, it might be better to use the defenders to close down the attackers before they get into the penalty area, but dropping deeper to always remain goalside and not allow defenders in behind etc.

The key is to play to your strength and hide your weaknesses.

[bababooey]

Check out some of Chelsea's matches from this season (in real life obviously). Mourinho generally isn't a "pressing" manager and his teams benefit in a huge way from dropping deeper and defending the area right at the edge of the box. John Terry isn't exactly a spring chicken yet he's having a great season. We can probably attribute that to Mourinho's tactics.

Oh also, Cahill is pretty slow as well. Here are the average ratings for both Terry and Cahill.. 7.15 and 7.35

Both also have 2 yellow cards each. That tells me that they are not making last ditch tackles / scrambling to get back and cover. They're extremely well positioned and sit relatively deep.

Now.. how do you incorporate that into FM? You'll need to have a d-line that drops deeper. But you don't want to "stand off" because that means the entire team will basically not close down at all and just try to keep the shape as tight as possible. That is an extreme thing that I won't go into here (and I honestly never use it).

The problem with telling your team's d-line to drop deeper is that your players will be making challenges for the ball deeper in their own territory, which is obviously advantageous for the opposition if they can capitalize on mistakes, or get past your players with skill. For instance... If Eden Hazard is dribbling towards your RB, and you've set your team to sit deep, think of what will happen. Hazard will likely have much more space to go into before the RB engages him in a challenge. If he (the RB) gets skinned, then Hazard will be that much closer to goal, and will have a CCC.

However, dropping deeper is an awesome way to maintain shape and compensate for slow defenders, and also take advantage of having excellent headers in your backline. Think of it this way. If your team is really poor in the air, would you want to drop deep and therefore encourage more crosses? No way. That's why smaller sides tend to press higher, because it reduces chances of crosses being played in (and smaller sides with worse heading/jumping are likely to be faster anyway).

Perhaps something you can do to compensate for the late tackling and increased space is to play on a higher mentality like control or attack. Also, having players pulled back to the ML/MR spots can make a huge difference in defensive stability. I would also caution against using "hassle opponents" because it is another extreme setting like stand off, only it is the opposite!

Hope this helps.