Sooooo I’ve decided to upload this episode today (You soccermanagerites took too long to reply mate…….)
Today, we are diving into the defence area within SM 23. Defending within this game is without shadow of a doubt the most difficult and annoying part of the entire game. I personally believe that to be the case simply because this game was created with the intention of entertaining every player, and good defending does not lead to entertainment (which is soooo sad) . This is why you see all these people posting up ridiculous scores like 7-4, 10-1, and even 13-5 on social media…….. I am only responsible to ensure that you have an understanding of each compartment within this tactics page but I don’t think it will make that much of a difference for your team’s defending if I’m being honest.
PRESSING
“To press or not to press” (real OG soccermanagerites know where this comes from)…. The level of press determines the eagerness of your team to win the ball back. The red area within the above image is the indication of where your team is likely going to be stationed when you are defending against your opposition:
TACKLING STYLE
Not much to go over here since we’ve explained the difference styles of tackling in countless episodes in the past. But what you must know is that the more tough the tackle, the better the chance is of winning the ball back as well as receiving a higer level of bookable cautions.
BACK LINE
The back line is an indication of where you want your backline to play trhoughout the match. It is represented by the red line that’s running across the following images and must be 100% compatible with the level of pressing that you choose to implement:
SWEEPER KEEPER
It’s tradition in today’s game to have a GK who is not afraid of coming out of his box to stop a potential counter from the opposition as well as dealing with an attacker who is 1v1 on goal. Although this has its perks, it requires that your keeper have specific attributes which we’ve gone over in season 4 episode 32, so if your keeper dosen’t have a high rating for these attributes then it is always fine to play him in an old fashioned manner by choosing not to have a Sweeper Keeper. Bare in mind that by doing so you will be making it a bit more difficult to actually press high and use a high back line.
TIME WASTING
The final area within the Defence is the decision of wether you want your players to waste time within the game or not. This is one of those options that should be looked on in the middle of playing an actual match rather than making a final decision before a ball has been kicked. A low time wasting means that your players will seek to keep the ball in play for as long as possible without too many interferences; A Normal time wasting is a nice mixture of not looking to waste a lot of time as well as slowing the game time based on the current match situation; a high time wasting is when you are seeking to fustrate the living daylight out of your opposition by doing everything extremeley slow such as goal kicks, freekicks, possession, substitutions and much more.
That’s the end of today’s episode Soccermanagerite. I will be making it 7 out of 7 blogs for the first time ever tomorrow as we look to wrap up the basics of the Tactics page 👍
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