Your best offence is a great defence! Since the only way to win is to prevent more goals from going in your own net than your opponent’s, a great defensive understanding is crucial. Discipline is the key to great defence; don’t panic and use common sense. Knowing your attackers and their tendencies is very helpful in planning your defence.

The defending controls work a lot like the sport in real life, so get to know when to “jockey” and not “stab in” and you will find your keeper getting a lot of “clean sheets.” Once possession is lost, all team members are now defenders, starting with the forwards to do their best to prevent the ball even getting into their own half. The first line of defence are not the stoppers; they are the forwards and midfielders. Listed in this section are nine types of basic defending controls as well as how to best use them.

Jockey

The jockey is a technique of “containment” rather than actually taking the ball back. This works well when the attacker is especially good with his feet. Usually, the jockey is used to allow you to size up your opponent’s skill and allow reinforcements to arrive if need be. This can be done running right next to the attacker, corralling him where you want him to go or running backwards (or back pedaling) with the attacker coming right at you. Like in other aspects of this game, timing is everything. You cannot wait too long to step in or your opponent might get a look at goal or shake you loose; likewise, you cannot go in too early or he will leave you in the dust. A good tip is to watch the ball and see if it gets slightly ahead of your opponent and go in then. You will get a good feel for this the more you play.

Running Jockey

Much like the jockey, only performed at high speeds. Rather than just sizing him up, this technique allows you to stay on the attacker and contain him at a full sprint if need be. This can be very effective to slow down a quick counter attack and give your team time to get back into position.

Switch Players

This is a very basic part of the game but really makes you successful if you learn when to switch to the right player. It is usually helpful to leave the “automatic switching” in the game set up just a couple notches, since it really assists you in taking control of the right player at the right time. It is also useful if you like to play a very quick possession game. It does some of the thinking for you and allows you to focus on other tasks at hand.

Switch Players Manual

Unlike the simple “switch players” function above, this tool allows you to press the right stick in the direction of the player you want to take over.  The best time to use it is when you see a player on a run that is unmarked.  For example, you are covering out on the wing when you see a striker move into the box and look for a cross.  My performing a manual switch, you can take control of a defender in the box and move in better position to defend the cross.