Hi , i'm new to FM12 , and i'm currently managing Derby . I want to know if its my defenders problem or goalkeeper to allowing to much goals .
Tackle won % in everymatch : 70+%
Is this how i see if defenders are performing? O.O
Squad : 4-5-1 DM
----------------S.ByWater---------------
F.Simek--S.Barker--J.Shackell--G.Roberts
---------J.Bailey--E.Frimpong-----------
---------------B.Davies-----------------
M.Riga----------------------------S.Watt
--------------J.Beattie-----------------
It could be neither. Tactics can contribute towards leaking many goals. Personally I try to avoid defensive tactics and mentalities since they allow the opposition to come onto you and be constantly attacking you and because of that you will concede goals no matter how strong your defense.
First I recommend considering a change in tactics and mentality to one where you outscore you opponents rather than trying to concede as few goals as possible, you can only win a game of football if you outscore your opponents. I find it funny how if your using a more attacking tactic you'll often concede less goals because your attacking and giving your opponent less chance to attack and keeping them on the backfoot. Despite this its still important to remain tight at the back and find the right balance. I use this tactic
http://www.fmscout.com/i-1389-4-1-3-2-Control.html you might like to give it a try.
I suggest finding a pacey striker in place of James Beattie, good striker though he might be, I find pace to be the key up front especially if your playing one up and he doesn't have it. He could do well in a support role alongside an attacking pacey striker.
Also make sure you have the right players for the right roles eg. a defender with high jumping/strength/tackling/positioning rather than attacking skills. In the tactics screen you can see what attributes are relevant to each role.
2
But how do i check if my defenders are tight?
I'm not sure i can really answer that, I judge them by their average ratings, their attributes and the number of goals I concede rather than the tackle %
1
maybe concentration,composure or decision grades of your defenders are low?
Evo,you find it funny how if your using a more attacking tactic you'll often concede less goals.That is how it is in real football,not every time but in 70% of games that is the situation.
Pretty much, unless you have a pathetic goalkeeper, it's the rest of the side that's at mostly fault if you concede a lot. I've found that at least over short stretches, you can get by with quite an average goalkeeper if everything else is solid: mostly where the weaker keepers fail is in not rescuing situations where bad defending has let someone get clear, on the "ordinary" chances there's not much difference between an average keeper and "best in the world". Well, and poor keepers will put you under more pressure with poor distribution. I agree with a lot of the other commenters here: picking a very defensive tactic just doesn't seem to work. In Real Life it does sometimes, you see cases where teams that know they're in trouble just pitch tents in the penalty box and nothing gets through. In FM, all it does is invite the other side to attack you constantly which will eventually work, and you won't ever score. And yes, attacking sometimes does cause the attention of your opponent to be occupied by what you're trying, and they end up not getting forward to score, so offense makes a good defense. It's not unreasonable: if you keep the ball away from a good attacking side, they will have that much less time to put together an attack to score. But going on attack is not a solution for everything: I've done some experiments by saving a game and fiddling with a "fork" - whatever's played here doesn't count. I've found situations where trying to attack a good opponent actually causes a worse result than staying balanced, for some reason if you're inferior, you get less of the ball if you push to attack when you're not good enough. Balance is not a bad thing.
In solving your problem, you need to know what kinds of plays are causing you to concede. If it's set plays, which is not unusual, you must get at least one central defender who is superior at heading. And if not (and even if, to be honest) you need to consider positioning, anticipation and several of the other key defending attributes. The "default" setup is to play two central defenders in similar roles, but if you can find one defender with lockdown defensive attributes and his partner isn't, then you can play them in an asymmetrical way, where you place one as a "limited" type defender who just works on making sure nobody gets open in the box. Playing with a holding midfielder who provides defensive support may also help in some situations - here you're trying to create a situation where there's no space to make a cutting pass into the box, where a quality attacker could beat your poor defender. If you're getting beaten by crosses, look for a defensive scheme that doesn't let that happen - mainly this means you need two on each side in wide positions - a fullback and a wide midfielder; if you use attacking wide players (AML/AMR instead of ML/MR), or worse you use a narrow formation where there are no wide midfielders, your fullbacks better be very good defenders, or at the very least be instructed to close down the players they're opposing so there's no space to put in the crosses.
Many more options, so as usual, "it depends".
Have a look at your opposition's shots on target vs how many goals are scored. If practically every one goes in, your keeper's no good. If he seems to be saving a lot, you should get your defence to stop the opposition having so many chances.
Looking at how you concede your goals can help pinpoint problems. A few examples: lots of crosses could mean you have bad full backs (positioning and pace are important), lots of corners or free kicks could mean you need some better headers (and to tell players to foul less). Lots of through balls to one on ones could mean many things -- slow defenders, midfielders giving too much space to their midfield, keeper poor at one on ones.
Try looking at Opposition Instructions.
