Teaching you how to defend with the new defending style introduced to FIFA 12

Follow these simple steps and tips to become the best defender on FIFA 12!

Contain your Opponent

The most important thing to remember is that tackling isn't your main focus until your opponent reaches your penalty box. It is very hard to correctly time tackles, so you need to be patient and just contain your opponent. Make sure you're jockeying so that you're actually closing down players. Quickly switch players and close down passing lanes, forcing them to make a mistake. More often than not, you'll eventually intercept a pass without your opponent even nearing your penalty box. The alternative, quickly trying to just tackle your opponent off the dribble, doesn't provide quite the same success rate.

Tackling

When your opponent does reach the penalty box, you need to be able to tackle correctly. Tackling is all about timing. You need to anticipate when the ball will be within your reach and be sure not to tackle too early, as this will result in your player mindlessly flinging his foot forward, allowing the opponent to dribble past. Timing will come in time, but if you contain your opponent well (previous paragraph), you shouldn't actually have to tackle all that much.



Anticipate Passes

Like stated before in the tutorial, anticipating passes is paramount. I wanted to emphasize this because in previous versions of FIFA 12, it's all been about tackling and winning the ball quickly. This is replaced with anticipating tackles in FIFA 12: you now need to be patient and think "Where would I pass in his posiion?" and close down that passing lane accordingly. It seems like a lot to think about, but you'll get the hang of it as long as you practice and are patient.

Other Random But Useful Tips


  • Use the right stick to change players quicker.
  • Be patient!
  • Stay goal-side of your opponent.
  • Time your tackles well.
  • Anticipate through balls and bring a player back for cover.
  • Be wary of skill moves, just focus on jockeying a player like this.
  • Use the slide tackle sparingly, and in only dire situations.
  • If you are to win the ball, make good use of your counter attack!


If you found the content of this guide a little confusing, then I urge you to watch the video below, it was extremely helpful when I came to write this tutorial and I am sure it will be helpful to you!

Thanks for reading, enjoy!

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