Off Ball Defense

[kevroman]

I need some tips for playing against people who play off ball defense and pressure you with their computer players while they fill the lanes to intercept passes.

[dlouismartin]

I am far from an expert, but I will weigh in a little bit. I have found that computer defenders are slightly incompetent. I find that I am able to outrun most of the computer defenders by running laterally, and then slowly changing direction towards the opponent's box. If my opponent insists on using computer defenders near the box, then they will likely concede a goal if you can keep the ball moving and keep tight control of possession. The computer defenders also seem susceptible to fake kicks.

This person I played against basically did the same approach every time, and it was working way more than I care to admit. I personally love to manually cover the lanes, and use my computer defenders to contain the ball carrier. This guy just kept approaching at angels, fake kicking, and then changing angels. The computer defenders looked terrible. He was punishing me for not trying to manually defend, and it worked. I found the best way to deal with that was to approach the ball carrier from behind (while CPU pressuring), and jostle with him to get him off his stride.