FIFA 10 Defensive Tips & Strategies Guide

Need help with FIFA 10 defensive tips, strategies, and tactics? Well, you have come to the right place. I received an e-mail asking the following question via a FIFtips subscriber:

Javier Writes:

I truly appreciate your communications but I wanted to ask you if you have any advance tips for building a strong defense. I find myself giving up too many goals. I would appreciate any feedback.

Defense is the #1 most important aspect of FIFA because you only have to score a few goals per game when you have a solid defensive front. We’re going to go over the elements of a strong defense and show you how to earn more clean sheets, defend better, and leave your opponents scratching their heads in frustration when attacking your back 4.

Introduction to FIFA 10 Defensive Strategies

FIFA 10 is very different in the sense that attacking and defending have a much more realistic feel to them. With the introduction of 360 movement, your opponent has the ability to outwit you even more than ever!

Of course, your defensive abilities must rise to the challenge. Luckily, there are tons of resources on the internet to help you improve your FIFA 10 defending skills and strategies.

In this article, we’re going to cover:

• FIFA 10 Defensive Controls for Xbox 360 and PS3
• FIFA 10 Defensive Tutorials
• FIFA 10 Defensive Strategies, Tactics, and Tips

FIFA 10 Defensive Controls for Xbox 360 and PS3

Before we go into any complex tactics or strategies, let’s cover the basic defending controls, shall we?

Jockeying

Jockeying is when you drop back your defender to give your other defensive teammates time to recover. It works extremely well to prevent counter attacks, block crosses or breakaway attempts.

• Jockey Controls for Xbox 360: Hold LT
• Jockey Controls for PS3: Hold L2

Jockey Press

While jockeying, you can also perform a tackle to dispossess your opponent. Use with caution because if you miss, your opponent will have a open lane to goal.

• Jockey Press Controls for Xbox 360: Hold LT + A
• Jockey Press Controls for PS3: Hold L2 + X

Face Up

If you tackle too much without facing up, you decrease the chances of winning the ball. Facing up creates a greater opportunity to win the ball.

• Face up controls for Xbox 360: Press LT
• Face up controls for PS3: Press L2

Call a 2nd Defender

When 1 defender isn’t enough, you can bring a 2nd defender to trap and win the ball.  This works extremely well in the corners and along the sideline. Be careful because if you don’t win the ball, you create large gaps in your formation to can be exploited heavily.

• Call a 2nd Defender Controls for Xbox 360: Hold B
• Call a 2nd Defender Controls for PS3: Hold O

Defensive Header

Clearing the ball out is crucial to protect your goalkeeper for shots and to keep your opponent guessing. When your opponent crosses the ball into your box, your defenders should hit the head out as far as possible to prevent any goal scoring opportunities.

• Defensive header controls for Xbox 360: Hold B while ball is in air
• Defensive header controls for PS3: Hold O while ball is in air

Defensive Clear

When in doubt, kick it out! Sometimes you need to clear the ball as fast as possible to prevent goals.

• Defensive Clear controls for Xbox 360: Press B
• Defensive Clear controls for PS3: Press O

Slide Tackling

One of the most popular tackles in FIFA 10 is the slide tackle. It’s also the most dangerous, and is responsible for the majority of my yellow and red cards

Slide tackling is great for last minute attempts to stop an attacker, blocking passing lines, or preventing breakaways.

• Slide Tackling Controls for Xbox 360: Press X
• Slide Tackling Controls for PS3: Press Square

That’s a quick list of the FIFA 10 defensive control options. Remember that each controls works for a specific situation. This should reduce the goals you allow and earn you more clean sheets.

FIFA 10 Defending Tutorials

Now that you know all the defense controls, watch the official FIFA 10 basic and advanced defending tutorials to see them in action.

FIFA 10 Basic Defending Tutorial

FIFA 10 Advanced Defending Tutorial

FIFA 10 Defensive Strategies, Tips, and Tactics

Darren Cross has written one of the most comprehensive defending guide filled with tactics, tips, strategies, and skills that I have ever seen. The entire article is posted over at FIFA Community and partially at EA Sports Community. I have included just the tips and strategies here.

1 LEAVE THE PASS BUTTON ALONE!

Without a doubt, the single biggest thing that’s made a difference for me is the way I defend in my own box, especially against crosses and long passes. As a player who likes to play attractive football, I’d always defend balls into my box with the pass button and look to head it down to a team-mate, in the hope of starting my own counter. But I soon lost count of the amount of times I headed the ball to an opposition player and gifted the other team a goal.

My thumb naturally hovers over the pass button because this is the one I use the most, so it took a surprising amount of effort at first to consciously move it over to the shoot button when defending balls into the box, and what a difference it made! Instead of attempting to find a team-mate with a risky header in the most dangerous area of all, I now simply head or clear it as far away as possible which, if it doesn’t go to one of my players, at least gives me a few valuable seconds to get some shape back. It might not be pretty but it’s very, very effective.

2 ALWAYS FACE THE PLAY!

I don’t know why, but hardly anyone uses the jockey function in FIFA 09. It’s bizarre, because it’s actually one of your most potent weapons when you’re defending. Jockeying simply means keeping your body positioned toward the attacker, so you’re always facing the play. This prevents turning your back while sprinting and trying to guess which way the attacker is going to go. It also gives you the best chance of making a standing tackle, so not only do you win the ball back, but you also immediately have possession. 

Jockeying is really easy to do, which makes it even more strange that it’s so rarely used! Just hold down the left trigger or L2 and your defender will remain facing the ball until you release the button. If the attacker is running at speed, then hold down the right trigger or R2 as well and your defender will perform a running jockey. Now all you need to do is wait for the right moment to go for the standing tackle. 

3 LOOK AROUND!

Just won a goal kick? Then take a second to chill out and have a look around. So many players fail to do this and start tapping the pass button as soon as they know they’ve won a goal kick, only to knock the ball straight to the opposition’s striker who gratefully accepts the gift and taps the ball home.

This is so easy to avoid, yet so many impatient players still do it. I know this because that used to be me, and because I see it ALL THE TIME online.

The next time that ball goes out for a goal kick, resist the urge to play a quick pass then have a look at the radar to see where your players and, more importantly, the opposition are. If you want to play a short pass then choose the player in the best position. Want to go long quickly? No problem, but aim the kick out wide instead of straight down the middle – most of the time you’ll have a player out there in plenty of space.

4 IF IN DOUBT, KICK IT OUT!

So many principles of real-life football apply just as much as when you have the virtual ball at your feet in FIFA as the real one in a game. 

As I said earlier, I’ll try to play as much Samba soccer as possible, but only in the right areas now. Across your own box and, to an extent, even in your own half are definitely not the right areas. I found that out the hard way. ‘If in doubt, kick it doubt’ is a classic football cliché that you’ll hear at any level, but there’s a very good reason for that… it’s true. 

So when you find yourself facing your own goal and you’re not sure whether to pass it to a team-mate or just clear it, don’t be afraid to send the ball high and up field or, if space is really tight, hit the infamous Row Z. That’s exactly what a professional footballer would do in that situation. 

You might get a bit of stick for playing ugly, but you’ll be the one laughing at the end of the game when you’ve kept a clean sheet and taken the win.

One more tip if you do have enough time to play the ball long ¬- use the left bumper or L1 and charge up the clearance with the long pass button. Using the shoot button to clear can sometimes result in your player lumping the ball straight out, which is fine in your own box or when you have no other option in your own half, but should be avoided if you do have a second or two to get the ball out of your feet and play it up field. Remember, the further you can get the ball away, the more time you’ll have to regroup.

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 precious 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!

More FIFA 10 Defensive Strategies (I recorded this for FIFA 09 but the same strategies still apply!)

Conclusion

Apply these defensive strategies and your performance is guaranteed to improve. If you have any other questions, please leave them in the comments!