Question regarding Pressing and Defensive Line

[Adelrahn]

I was wondering about what each setting does?

For example if i play a high line with pressing in own half - what happens? Do my strikers just let the defenders past them without doing anything? And if i choose sit-back with high line - does this mean my players just watch the ball without actually tackling?

If i want to close the middle and lure my opponents to either flank and press then - how can i achieve this? Also how can i close the middle if i play on wide width?

I red the description in the online manual but it doesn't really explain much on how the player respond. 

Thanks for help

[Blancos]

On 22/02/2024 at 22:00, Adelrahn said:

I was wondering about what each setting does?

For example if i play a high line with pressing in own half - what happens? Do my strikers just let the defenders past them without doing anything? And if i choose sit-back with high line - does this mean my players just watch the ball without actually tackling?

I simplify the understanding by imagining that every player has circle around him, and that circle is his zone of responsibilities. The lower the press setting, the smaller the circle would be.

With that picture in our mind, no... your players won't always just watch the ball. They will still do something to harass the opponents (pressing/tackling/contesting/etc) AS LONG AS the opponents are INSIDE their zones.

Edited March 5 by Blancos

[Marc Vaughan]

Pressing is about how 'close' to the opposition your players attempt to get and how much they harass them. For instance if you defend with a high line and high pressing then you'll attempt to close down and retrieve the ball straight away.

If you play a high line and low pressing then its more about closing down the passing routes than staying close to the men.

With this in mind it IS entirely possible to play a high line and only own half pressing. This is the approach that a lot of teams have used against Brighton successfully in real-life, they defend high up the pitch but instead of committing hugely to a press and allowing Brighton to play through it they concentrate on cutting off the passing options and wait for Brighton to try and bring the ball up the pitch .. then because Brighton are prone to taking risks and pushing players upfield when they have the ball they will sometimes make an interception and end up with a high quality attack.

Teams who defend high and press are more likely to end up highly committed up the pitch and thus should their press be broken they are more likely to concede a high quality chance ... although obviously it can be argued that by not being passive they might cause more turnovers than the other approach, which say suits your team is your choice as manager ..

(hope that makes sense?)

PS - As always no if a player attempts to get past an opposition player then he'll track or challenge as appropriate depending on the circumstances regardless of what his pressing setting is, there is also some 'variance' in pressing according to a players abilities and personality (ie. some lazy players (esp. strikers and wingers) won't press overly effectively even if you ask them to, I'm sure most people can think of a few irl who are liabilities when their team presses because of this).

[Adelrahn]

Thank you both for your answers 🙂

[RSeven]

On 05/03/2024 at 23:45, Marc Vaughan said:

Pressing is about how 'close' to the opposition your players attempt to get and how much they harass them. For instance if you defend with a high line and high pressing then you'll attempt to close down and retrieve the ball straight away.

If you play a high line and low pressing then its more about closing down the passing routes than staying close to the men.

With this in mind it IS entirely possible to play a high line and only own half pressing. This is the approach that a lot of teams have used against Brighton successfully in real-life, they defend high up the pitch but instead of committing hugely to a press and allowing Brighton to play through it they concentrate on cutting off the passing options and wait for Brighton to try and bring the ball up the pitch .. then because Brighton are prone to taking risks and pushing players upfield when they have the ball they will sometimes make an interception and end up with a high quality attack.

Teams who defend high and press are more likely to end up highly committed up the pitch and thus should their press be broken they are more likely to concede a high quality chance ... although obviously it can be argued that by not being passive they might cause more turnovers than the other approach, which say suits your team is your choice as manager ..

(hope that makes sense?)

PS - As always no if a player attempts to get past an opposition player then he'll track or challenge as appropriate depending on the circumstances regardless of what his pressing setting is, there is also some 'variance' in pressing according to a players abilities and personality (ie. some lazy players (esp. strikers and wingers) won't press overly effectively even if you ask them to, I'm sure most people can think of a few irl who are liabilities when their team presses because of this).

Very usefule explaination. Thanks.

But in my practice in FMM2024, my prefer defense set-up is "Defensive line -  Deep" + "Closing Down - All Over", which is very to the contrary.

"Defensive line -  Deep" will make my defenders (back 4) sit back more to avoid counterattacking. 

"Closing Down - All Over" will make my front attackers to press opponent defenders. 

[Blancos]

On 26/03/2024 at 09:09, RSeven said:

Very usefule explaination. Thanks.

But in my practice in FMM2024, my prefer defense set-up is "Defensive line -  Deep" + "Closing Down - All Over", which is very to the contrary.

"Defensive line -  Deep" will make my defenders (back 4) sit back more to avoid counterattacking. 

"Closing Down - All Over" will make my front attackers to press opponent defenders. 

Depends on the attackers, I think. I can try to tell Vini or Rodrygo or Joselu to press all I want, and they will ignore it most of the time 😄.

[Marc Vaughan]

13 hours ago, Blancos said:

Depends on the attackers, I think. I can try to tell Vini or Rodrygo or Joselu to press all I want, and they will ignore it most of the time 😄.

That is (as in real-life) something that can happen ... players with low work-rate will tend to drop off from pressing if they feel tired ... or if they are unprofessional, just might not 'feel like its their job' if they're attackers etc. ... 

Ideally pressing players need high work-rate, stamina and good positioning ... which means that quite a few strikers won't be the most effective at it for obvious reasons (although pace can help).

[Adelrahn]

@Marc Vaughan I have another question regarding defensive lines. Do the strikers/offensive midfielders also drop back more if i set back the position of the defensive line?

I also got a question regarding "Tackling". Does this affect players leaving their position if i set it to hard? Does it work similar to creativ freedom that - the harder tackling i choose, the more players leave their position to win the ball? 

I also noticed that if you play in a 4-2-3-1 DM the two DM's (the player roles don't matter, it's always this way) leave a huge gap for the opponents No 10. They always move sideways to the flanks instead of closing the middle. Any idea on how i can avoid this? 

Edited July 9 by Adelrahn

[Marc Vaughan]

1 hour ago, Adelrahn said:

@Marc Vaughan I have another question regarding defensive lines. Do the strikers/offensive midfielders also drop back more if i set back the position of the defensive line?

Yes they will somewhat as the team will behave as a 'unit' and if you tell the team to drop deeper then that is all players, how much this occurrs will depend slightly on the roles you give people obviously - ie. a deep lying forward will tend to position himself deeper than a poacher etc.

1 hour ago, Adelrahn said:

I also got a question regarding "Tackling". Does this affect players leaving their position if i set it to hard? Does it work similar to creativ freedom that - the harder tackling i choose, the more players leave their position to win the ball? 

If you set tackling to 'hard' then players will tend to go into challenges more often (and more fully) - this CAN leave them out of position more often - for example they'll engage with players and if they slide in on someone but fail to get the ball then it might take them a second or so to recover.

On the other hand, they'll also engage more and arguably cause more turn-overs in dangerous positions.

1 hour ago, Adelrahn said:

I also noticed that if you play in a 4-2-3-1 DM the two DM's (the player roles don't matter, it's always this way) leave a huge gap for the opponents No 10. They always move sideways to the flanks instead of closing the middle. Any idea on how i can avoid this? 

Can you possibly post some screenshots showing this issue and exactly what is going on (and preferably the exact tactical setup so I can see what is going on pls) ... it should be fairly rare that someone in the center of the pitch goes out really wide so I'd like to investigate this if possible.

[Adelrahn]

22 minutes ago, Marc Vaughan said:

Can you possibly post some screenshots showing this issue and exactly what is going on (and preferably the exact tactical setup so I can see what is going on pls) ... it should be fairly rare that someone in the center of the pitch goes out really wide so I'd like to investigate this if possible

I can do that but i still play FMM 2023. Should i send you screenshots anyway?

Also, thanks for your answers.

[Marc Vaughan]

57 minutes ago, Adelrahn said:

I can do that but i still play FMM 2023. Should i send you screenshots anyway?

Also, thanks for your answers.

Yes please - the match is tuned and improved every year, but the more information I have the more reassured I'll be that this doesn't happen in the latest version. - or if it does then I can ensure its improved for next years game

[Adelrahn]

On 09/07/2024 at 23:14, Marc Vaughan said:

Yes please - the match is tuned and improved every year, but the more information I have the more reassured I'll be that this doesn't happen in the latest version. - or if it does then I can ensure its improved for next years game

So here are some examples.

1. No.14 and No.6 are my two defensive pivots. Their player roles are set ro DM. Pressing is "Own Half", Defensive line "Middle". Team Mentality is "Offensive", all other settings are "Normal" (the middle option).

As you can see, their No.10 (McKennie) just received the ball from the midfield and my defensive midfielders open up the middle. He dribbled with the ball without my defensive midfielders trying to get the ball. My defender No.4 leaves his position to tackle him and opens up the space. He ends up making a through ball to the striker who then scores.

2. My two defensive midfielders are No.4 and No.6. Same settings as mentioned above but team mentality is on counter.

My DM No.6 sits on the wing even though the ball came from the opponents No.5. So my DM moved to the flank for no reason. No.4 is occupied so it makes sense for him to kind of opening up the middle. The result in this situation is the same - Keita dribbles, one of my defenders opens up space to tackle him, through ball and goal.

3. The most shocking case in my opinion. Same game as in photo 2.

My DM No.6 is WIDER than my wing-back. No.4 again leaving his position to close down a player that already is beeing pressured by my No.23. 

My DM's have decision making of 13 and 15, positioning 15 both so it's not that the players are bad. But this happens almost every game and even more often if the opponent has a No.10. 

I would understand a defensive midfielder if set to Ball Winning Mid that he leaves his position but not like my No.6 in the last photo. The ball is on the opposite side and he covers the flank, not even the half-space. For me im absolutly clueless on why he does this. But i have encountered this problem in all of my saves since FFM 23 came out, not just now. And it kind of makes 4-2-3-1 DM unplayable.

Edit: Another example as a sequence.

Before the throw in, my No.6 (DM) covers the space he is supposed to. But after the throw in, he moves to the opposite side and opens up the whole middle of the pitch. 

Edited July 11 by Adelrahn

[Adelrahn]

@Marc Vaughan

Slightly off-topic but another question i have is what happens if i put "Man-Marking" to a player that is not positioned exactly on top of an opponent. For example if both teams play 4-2-3-1. Both central attacking midfielders are between the two defensive midfielders. But the defensive midfielders have 2 opponents on each side - the central attacking midfielder and a attacking midfielder on the wing. If i put "Man-Marking" on a DM - what happens?

Btw thank you for your answers. It helps me to understand the game better 😀

[Marc Vaughan]

11 minutes ago, Adelrahn said:

@Marc Vaughan

Slightly off-topic but another question i have is what happens if i put "Man-Marking" to a player that is not positioned exactly on top of an opponent. For example if both teams play 4-2-3-1. Both central attacking midfielders are between the two defensive midfielders. But the defensive midfielders have 2 opponents on each side - the central attacking midfielder and a attacking midfielder on the wing. If i put "Man-Marking" on a DM - what happens?

Btw thank you for your answers. It helps me to understand the game better 😀

Man-marking will mark the closest opposition place - if that is turned on then its 'possible' that this might be causing some of the issues ... I'd have to see your formation and the oppositions to know for sure.

(and thanks a lot for the images, really helps me understand what you're seeing - there are a LOT of options in the game and obviously each interacts with players, teams, opposition to make all this side of things an interesting challenge from a developer perspective* )

*I've been helping to make this game for 30 years and reckon I have at least 30 more to go before I actually feel its getting 'close' to what I'd want it to be

[Adelrahn]

12 minutes ago, Marc Vaughan said:

Man-marking will mark the closest opposition place - if that is turned on then its 'possible' that this might be causing some of the issues ... I'd have to see your formation and the oppositions to know for sure.

(and thanks a lot for the images, really helps me understand what you're seeing - there are a LOT of options in the game and obviously each interacts with players, teams, opposition to make all this side of things an interesting challenge from a developer perspective* )

*I've been helping to make this game for 30 years and reckon I have at least 30 more to go before I actually feel its getting 'close' to what I'd want it to be

Regarding Man-Marking. I have not assigned Man-Marking to the players in the pictures above. I was just wondering in general. 

Edited July 11 by Adelrahn