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Darren Cross gives you his final four tips to improve your defending. Missed Part One?

Hopefully you’ve seen some improvements in your defensive play if you’ve had a chance to try out the tips from Part One, which covered defending balls into the box with the shoot button, jockeying, avoiding mistakes and not taking risks at the back.

This week I have four new tips for you, which – when combined with the ideas from last week – should really give you the edge on your opponents.

So, let’s get started…

5 DROP DEEPER!
At the end of last week’s column we looked at how a large number of real-life football principles also apply when playing FIFA, and that is especially true when it comes to defending against pace.

Speed is one of the hardest attributes to defend against in a real game of football. If someone is faster than you and has the space to open up then they’re going to get past you unless you rugby tackle them, so it’s at least realistic that the fastest players are also the hardest to stop in FIFA 09. I’ve honestly lost count of the amount of times I’ve been done by a high ball over the top of my back four for an ultra-fast player like Ronaldo or Torres to run on to and finish. It used to happen to me all the time.

As difficult as defending against pace can be, it is not impossible and there are a number of tactics real coaches use to reduce the impact of faster players. The most risky of those tactics is to play the offside trap, and that is an option to you in FIFA 09 (and 10, of course). Double tap up on your control pad just before the ball carrier plays his pass to the striker and your defence will surge forward with their arms in the air before you can say George Graham, but it’s not a tactic I recommend. You could time your trap perfectly for 89 minutes, then mess it all up with seconds to go and be punished. It is just too risky.

A much safer bet, favoured by managers who have particularly slow defenders, is to have one player drop a little deeper than the rest of the back line. This will take you seconds to set up, but could save you from conceding countless goals. All you have to do is open up Custom Tactics, then edit a defender’s base position so that he sits further behind the rest of the defence. How far back you move the defender depends on your style of play and ability, so the next bit is a bit trial and error. If you find that moving the defender back only slightly doesn’t make much difference, then go back into Custom Tactics and shift him a bit closer to your own goal. The target is to have him sitting deep enough to intercept balls over the top, but not so far away that he gives the striker time to pick the ball up in acres of space – you don’t want a striker running with the ball at your last man!

Once you get the position of your deepest defender just right, your next job is to use your other defender to give the striker as little space as possible. That’s exactly what a real manager would do, which brings me on to the next tip…

6 USE SECONDARY PRESS!
Pressing is a common tactic used by FIFA players. In fact, it’s probably overused. I’ve seen tons of games where the opposing team defends by pressing all over the pitch, which is fine against weaker opposition but will bring you nothing but trouble against the top players, who’ll simply pass the ball around your constantly knackered players and play in the huge spaces you’re creating for them by running out of position.

Secondary Press is far less common yet can be so much more effective when used properly, especially if you use it in conjunction with the defensive tactics we’re looking at here. Initiating a Secondary Press (hold the shoot button while the other team has the ball) will get one of your AI-controlled team-mates to press the ball while leaving you in control of a separate defender, ideally the deepest one. This allows you to put pressure on the ball carrier with one player and take up a solid defensive position with the player you’re controlling so that, should the striker get past the AI defender, the player you’re in control of will be ready to mop up.

7 MANUALLY SELECT DEFENDERS!
Another tactic that should make an instantly noticeable difference to your defending is to manually select your defenders, instead of having the AI auto switch them for you.

Some players like having the cursor automatically change to the nearest defender and it can be useful, particularly when you’re defending high balls. But, once you get used to it, you should find manual select much more effective, in attack as well as defence.

Once you’ve changed your cursor settings to manual, just press LB or L1 to select the defender you want to control. I find it most effective to combine this tactic with Secondary Press and have one AI player – either a striker, midfielder or defender, depending on the area of the pitch I’m in – press the ball while I move a nearby player into the position where I think the play is heading.

8 THINK LIKE A STRIKER!
My final tip is a simple one; ask yourself what you would do if you had the ball in the position your opponent is occupying. Nine times out of ten you’ll be able to second-guess the play and do something about it. If it doesn’t work for you because the other team have done something unpredictable or special, then it’s time to hold your hands up, take your medicine and go straight back in for another game. At least you’ll have learned another move to look out for in future!

See you next week,

Darren