Help Me with Defense

[instantpop]

I've been playing this game for a solid decade and my approach has largely been the same –*chase the guy with the ball and put in a tackle. That's clearly not working for me this year –*at least on Professional difficulty – where it's clear the game doesn't want you to do that. I feel like there's a bubble around every CPU player when they are in possession. Can't even get close. And when I do, there's no way I'm getting that ball off him.

Semi-pro is far too easy. Professional seems like it's miles beyond that.

So, help me be a better defender.

[aterry]

Re: Help Me with Defense

I've been playing this game for a solid decade and my approach has largely been the same –*chase the guy with the ball and put in a tackle. That's clearly not working for me this year –*at least on Professional difficulty – where it's clear the game doesn't want you to do that. I feel like there's a bubble around every CPU player when they are in possession. Can't even get close. And when I do, there's no way I'm getting that ball off him.

Semi-pro is far too easy. Professional seems like it's miles beyond that.

So, help me be a better defender.

Instant pop, for years I had the same issue until last year were I really forced myself to use the Jockey button and secondary press more. Often I would even say out loud "lay off the speed burst". Just likein real soccer if a defender sprints at a player with the ball , even a player in the lower leagues has the ability to easily side step the challenge. FIFA 18 does a much better job with AI teammate defense so let them do some of the work and try controlling your CDM or CM, cutting down passing lanes in the middle of the park. Force the other team wide then when they are in poor positions use secondary press to bring a team mate over to create a 2 v 1 to challenge the ball and try to win it back or force a turnover.

In short, contain the threat, redirect the threat, wait for team mate support than tackle.

[instantpop]

Re: Help Me with Defense

Instant pop, for years I had the same issue until last year were I really forced myself to use the Jockey button and secondary press more. Often I would even say out loud "lay off the speed burst". Just likein real soccer if a defender sprints at a player with the ball , even a player in the lower leagues has the ability to easily side step the challenge. FIFA 18 does a much better job with AI teammate defense so let them do some of the work and try controlling your CDM or CM, cutting down passing lanes in the middle of the park. Force the other team wide then when they are in poor positions use secondary press to bring a team mate over to create a 2 v 1 to challenge the ball and try to win it back or force a turnover.

In short, contain the threat, redirect the threat, wait for team mate support than tackle.

This is good stuff. I actually spent some time last night not using "turbo" (another site mentioned this as well) on defense and it made a world of difference. I went from 0 tackles to picking off passes on a regular basis. Really opened up the flow of the game for me!