Is defending on FM17 hard, or am I just doing it wrong?
I'm in my second year with Dundela FC, in Northern Ireland, and got them promoted in second place in my first season, and now I'm 6th in the next division in my second season, but I cannot keep a clean sheet!
I think only 2 teams conceded more than me last year, and they finished in the bottom 3, and now I haven't kept a clean sheet in about 11 competitive games in this season.
I've used different formations, 4-2-3-1 wide at home, and a mix of 4-3-3 narrow, 4-4-2, 3-5-2 etc away from home, but nothing seems to be working. My goalkeepers are all decent enough for the division, I have the best LWB and one of the best CB's in the league, along with some other solid ability individual players, but they don't seem to be able to defend as a team. Whether it's last minute tap ins or long range wondergoals, I always seem to find a way to concede.
It seems to me as if defending has been broken on the game this year, which is a real shame.
What has changed since FM15/FM16 that has made it that much harder? What ways are there to improve defensive side of the game using tactics/training?
Best Answer
So, I'm now in my third season, and I've massively fixed the issue, sort of.
The things that I did to resolve it were:
When my captain (CB) retired and my LWB was taken from me (part time contracts, so literally taken), I scouted for first team quality replacements for both of the vacancies. I then noted down the key roles I wanted each one to have, for example, I wanted a physical CB to partner my ball-playing CB, so focused on heading, jumping reach, strength, marking etc before making up my mind, the same for my new LWB.
Neither are currently first choice, but I have focused on training other players to their weaknesses more, things I thought we needed to improve on, whilst also doing heavy fitness training in pre-season to ensure they don't get tired and make errors in games.
Thirdly, I've adjusted the tactics marginally. I'll still play my expansive, attacking 4-2-3-1 at home (Using the highest average rated player in each role, whilst teaching players new roles etc), which has kept the goals conceded down to 2 at most, usually 1 or 0, but then away from home, even against weaker teams, I'll play my highest average rating XI (Whether it makes a 4-4-2 or a 3-1-2-4), but with counter attacking, slightly deeper line, with tight marking, clear ball to flanks and stay on feet all turned on.
This has led to me keeping 3 clean sheets in the opening 11 games in the Northern Irish championship, whilst we sit 3rd in the league when we were expected to be in a relegation fight.
So far, this seems to be working really well.
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How do you beat a defensive team in fm20?
4 \u2013 Another way to break down defensive tactics in Football Manager is by adjusting your lines. Bring your line of engagement back and lower the defensive line to effectively retreat into your own half. Also adjust your emntality to something more negative in an attempt to draw the opposition out.FM17 | How to use Mentality to affect Width while defending | Football Manager 2017
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Answer 2
Depends a bit on the tactic. Try to set pressure on the positions (or players) that will most likely do the most assistances. Also, close marking on the positions (or players) that will most likely score the goals.
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