How do you stop midfielders from drifting over when defending?

[daveyfunk]

This is SO frustrating? When defending the midfielders drift over and leave players completely free? I appreciate players shift but it's really extreme and they leave so much space!!!

[steve silent]

What instructions do your midfielders have, role and Duty?

[Garuda One]

Are they following marks/playing man to man? I do find my DM in particular will follow aggressively often but I don’t really see this with my CM’s much.

[daveyfunk]

Originally posted by steve silent:

What instructions do your midfielders have, role and Duty?

I have 2 DM's - DM (d) + Seg Vol (s), but this has happened whether I use CM or DM. I watch games in full and the players just drag across the pitch.

I've tried now marking tight and closing down less but they still drift across and leave the player wide open

[daveyfunk]

Originally posted by Garuda One:

Are they following marks/playing man to man? I do find my DM in particular will follow aggressively often but I don’t really see this with my CM’s much.

Doesn't seem to matter whether DM or CM. I didn't have tight marking on or tried it with both tight marking and not and they just seem to drift across and leave the opposition free

I use two DM's - DM (d) + Seg Vol (s). Both drift across respectively depending on where the ball is

Do you have any tips?

[steve silent]

do you have STAY WIDER selected?

[daveyfunk]

Originally posted by steve silent:

do you have STAY WIDER selected?

On the DM (d) I do. Now changed him to Anchor as I wanted him sitting deeper. However, both drift over when the balls on the opposite side and leave so much space when they do. They seem to stick really close to each other all the time.

On previous games there was an instruction where you could say stay narrow/normal/wider when defending but that seems to have gone now. I've tried both make force opposition wide and narrow but they still drift across.

Also tried with each of them to mark tighter the opposite AMC position but they still act the same

Chances I concede are through this or throw ins

[steve silent]

Do they have poor Off the ball or as a general poor mental attributes that would cause them to not concentrate etc.

[Garuda One]

Originally posted by daveyfunk:

Originally posted by Garuda One:

Are they following marks/playing man to man? I do find my DM in particular will follow aggressively often but I don’t really see this with my CM’s much.

Doesn't seem to matter whether DM or CM. I didn't have tight marking on or tried it with both tight marking and not and they just seem to drift across and leave the opposition free

I use two DM's - DM (d) + Seg Vol (s). Both drift across respectively depending on where the ball is

Do you have any tips?

Well, the one thing I think of is where your fullbacks/wingbacks are? The only time I see my CM’s drifting that far wide is defending counter attacks when my FB’s/WB’s are out of position or caught up the field.

I don’t use Seg Vol’s personally but it’s my understanding they like to naturally roam from position anyway so that role may be inclined to.

I have a BBM and a AP/DLP/Mez-A and my BBM will occasionally run down players out wide in man to man but my DLP-S/AP-S and Mez-A almost never do that. But I also typically keep my FB’s on support or WB’s on defend just cause my wingers are both attacking

[daveyfunk]

Originally posted by steve silent:

Do they have poor Off the ball or as a general poor mental attributes that would cause them to not concentrate etc.

I always play as Spurs and currently have Bissouma, Zaire-Emery, Bentancur, Hojbjerg and Sarr. My two first starters are Bissouma and Zaire-Emery and neither have bad mental attributes, but Emery has insane mental attributes for 18!!! That said, the drifting thing seems to happen no matter who I'm using.

I watch matches in full and it seems to be an ME thing. Just wondering if there's a way to limit how extreme it is as they drift over SO far that the other side of the pitch is empty and the opposition player holds their position and so is left completely free

[daveyfunk]

Originally posted by Garuda One:

Originally posted by daveyfunk:

Doesn't seem to matter whether DM or CM. I didn't have tight marking on or tried it with both tight marking and not and they just seem to drift across and leave the opposition free

I use two DM's - DM (d) + Seg Vol (s). Both drift across respectively depending on where the ball is

Do you have any tips?

Well, the one thing I think of is where your fullbacks/wingbacks are? The only time I see my CM’s drifting that far wide is defending counter attacks when my FB’s/WB’s are out of position or caught up the field.

I don’t use Seg Vol’s personally but it’s my understanding they like to naturally roam from position anyway so that role may be inclined to.

I have a BBM and a AP/DLP/Mez-A and my BBM will occasionally run down players out wide in man to man but my DLP-S/AP-S and Mez-A almost never do that. But I also typically keep my FB’s on support or WB’s on defend just cause my wingers are both attacking

Thanks for the reply. It more happens when I'm defending and I play with both FB's as FB (s) with the right one sit narrower to look to protect the space when the Seg gets forward. I don't like the IFB as he sits too far back and there's a hole in the midfield when attacking and the IWB comes too far inside that I lose the width

I have the Seg on press less often but this doesn't seem to affect much as he still chases down players haha It's more so the positioning though and how far they drift across when defending. i want them to hold that position in defence so they're not giving all that space. The attacking players hold their position and don't drift so they have all the space in the world.

[Garuda One]

Yeah that’s peculiar to me. The only thing I can visualize in my head is that your FB’s sitting narrower results in them pressing the central forward players inside and so your Midfielders compensate by pursuing/being in a position to press and not let their wingers/playmakers get open space out wide.

But that’s all I can assume without actually seeing what’s going on. Hopefully you get it sorted out.