2015 What is men behind ball?

[Devil 03]

Hi everyone! It's Devil 03 and I'm back with a tactic. Today I will tell all of you what is men behind ball.

 

What is men behind ball?

Hull deploying the Men Behind Ball system against Arsenal.

 

Men behind ball is a tactical option for you to deploy, it means that you'll let your players sit back in their own half and literally stay 'behind the ball' to help your defense when your opponent is attacking. (Observe the picture above)

 

Should I use this system?

If you're managing a defensive team who are the best at protecting a lead then yes, because this system is best suited for teams with that mentality.

 

How do I use this system?

If you have a big and strong striker, play him as a target man upfront as a lone striker. As most of the time you'll be defending, a 4-2-3-1 formation is the best one (other formations with one striker are fine too) with mentality set to 'Defensive', passing set to 'Short', tackling set to 'Commited' and counter-attacking with men behind ball (obvious) turned on.

Tip: Never (Yeah, never) play a passing style of direct as your counter-attack might get broken down easily.

 

The benefits and drawbacks of this system?

Benefits

- Your team will be harder to break down

- You can protect a lead using this

- Hit opponents on a counter-attack

Drawbacks

- This system doesn't pose much attacking threat

- You won't be able to get many men forward

- Players can be dispossesed easily

 

@Devil 03

[rseven]

Good read, Devil 03!

If I want to protect a lead, I will use cautious for tackling style. I do not want to give too much free kick to opponent. 

[Ashez]

Nice work  

[hardikchawla6]

Hey mate ,nice work . Can you tell me why I shan't use long passing instead . Thanks.

[Dec]

Nice work but short passing makes no sense. Why if you are playing on the counter would you choose a slow build up? The aim is to take them risks with direct or long passing as you have most people back and you can catch your opponent off guard and have a better chance of scoring.

[Ashez]

I do agree but whenever I use a defensive formation short passing has always worked best. 

[hardikchawla6]

But that really makes no damn sense and is very unrealistic , in real life direct passing works best with defensive formations.

Edited October 12, 2015 by hardikchawla6

[Ashez]

I agree and disagree, if you have the ball your opponent can't score. I've studied direct vs short and there are two noticeable difference and that's with direct you shoot more often and lose the ball a lot. Giving the ball away cheaply beats the point of being defensive as it will just result in more pressure as the other team can attack more often. 

[hardikchawla6]

But the only reason you're being defensive in the first place is that your team is weaker than the opposition and it can be assumed that most of the time it has trouble keeping the ball and also while using a target man as the striker as mentioned in this tactic long passing works best imo.

[Dec]

I disagree Ash, the aim of this is to draw team's out for plenty of space so you can attack fast. Short passing goes against this and means the opposition can get back. The point of counter attack and men behind ball is that you can risk as you have lots of players back defending.

[Ashez]

I see the point you're making and I agree with it however giving the ball away pointlessly adds pressure. 

We are talking about FMH not real life, in real life directness is needed but FMH isn't as cut and dry as some people like to think. In FMH the opposition are only dangerous when they have the ball and direct passing gives it away a lot. The AI are deadly and from experience going defensive is just asking for trouble, especially if you're going to give the bal away easily. 

As I said I've tested direct vs short a lot and direct shoots way too much from deep and wastes chances. In a defensive set up you need to take your time and make your chances count, this is more likely with short passing. We already know we need a lot of changes to score in game and the last thing you want to do is waste them and leave yourself open. 

[Fish18ish]

Why dont we just put grant Holt (Andy Carroll if you can't afford him  ) up front and go long ball, call your manager Tony pulis and bobs your uncle! Problem solved

.talking of long ball, I've never seen anyone use it on the game, is it completely useless or what??

Edited October 12, 2015 by Fish18ish