Defensive Width

[tony wright]

What does this team instructions actually do?. If i set it to Narrow am i encouraging more crosses from the flanks by conceding ground to protect the center or if I set it to Wide, will that close down the wide men earlier and reduce the number of crosses into my box?

[zyfon5]

If you put your defensive width to narrow you will encourage more crosses from your opponents with the advantage of covering the middle more. If this is your defensive plan make sure that the formation that you choose have a good team shape and you have players that can defend well and good at winning aerial balls across the back line. If your defensive width is wide, you will find your players defending one on one more often with less defensive cover if they make a mistake. It is a risky defensive plan and I will generally never recommend anyone to defend wide unless the opposition absolutely does not care about attacking middle with some weird tactics. Most of the time the standard defensive width will be enough.

[zyfon5]

Also another point I will like to make is to also consider your transition instructions (counter press or hold shape) and your own attacking width when setting your defensive width. Players are going to use more time to return from an  extremely wide attack to a narrow defensive width.

[jozza800]

14 minutes ago, zyfon5 said:

If you put your defensive width to narrow you will encourage more crosses from your opponents with the advantage of covering the middle more. If this is your defensive plan make sure that the formation that you choose have a good team shape and you have players that can defend well and good at winning aerial balls across the back line. If your defensive width is wide, you will find your players defending one on one more often with less defensive cover if they make a mistake. It is a risky defensive plan and I will generally never recommend anyone to defend wide unless the opposition absolutely does not care about attacking middle with some weird tactics. Most of the time the standard defensive width will be enough.

I'm currently playing 3-5-2 with high wingbacks. I started with Narrow defensive shape and was getting murdered down the flanks.

I changed to Wide - and whilst we coped a lot better out wide we were still leaky at the back.

Since going to Standard we've been miles better at the back.

[zyfon5]

5 minutes ago, jozza800 said:

I'm currently playing 3-5-2 with high wingbacks. I started with Narrow defensive shape and was getting murdered down the flanks.

I changed to Wide - and whilst we coped a lot better out wide we were still leaky at the back.

Since going to Standard we've been miles better at the back.

Depending on your variation of 352, it is generally vulnerable to transitions on the flanks but is very solid defensively when you are in a defensive shape since you have maximum amount of players possible in the middle axis meaning that opposition cannot flood your defense with numbers alone. 3 midfielders will also allow maximum coverage of zone 14 and two half spaces. Although your wingback will get outnumbered at the flanks, the opponents will have very little chances of attacking from wide due to the compact shape.

[FMunderachiever]

This is one of the games most stupid instructions to be honest.

Football teams in real life defend mostly by moving out to stop the cross with the full back on that side, whilst the other full back tucks in to protect the goal.

I cant think of any real team that would defend "wide"....it makes absolutely zero sense. you want to be as compact as possible in the middle to block the goal.

 

[Experienced Defender]

4 hours ago, FMunderachiever said:

Football teams in real life defend mostly by moving out to stop the cross with the full back on that side, whilst the other full back tucks in to protect the goal.

I cant think of any real team that would defend "wide"....it makes absolutely zero sense. you want to be as compact as possible in the middle to block the goal

i agree that the term "wide defensive width" can really confuse people and SI should probably have named it differently. 

But even when defensive width is set to "wide(r)", players will essentially behave in the way you described: "moving out to stop the cross with the full back on that side, whilst the other full back tucks in to protect the goal".

Therefore, wider defensive width does not mean that the fullback (and winger) on the opposite side to where the ball currently is will stay wide (close to the touchline) instead of moving inside to help protect the goal. It just means that your players are encouraged to try and prevent crosses a bit more than they otherwise would, but they will generally still look to be as compact as possible. Wider defensive width does not mean that players will simply concede all the space in the middle and let the opposition pass and move freely in those central areas. Absolutely not.