How To Defend | Football Manager 2023 |

I had to use my whole FM knowledge to make this tactic work.

The goalkeeper, the defence and the midfield should have high rating for Positioning. As it helps the players be in the best possible place when taking defensive positions.

Of course, this attribute is crucial for the tactic to work. As you will ask your whole team to play defensively.

Other attributes like Marking and Tackling are needed, plus role related ones. But Positioning makes the difference in defence.

In attack, though, Off the ball and Flair are the ones you should search for. To be effective in attack, but with a defensive mindset, the players need to take on the best possible positions without the ball. And find the best channels to move into.

And, of course, Concentration should not be neglected. Since playing without the ball is tiresome, the players must focus for longer periods of time.

As player traits, Brings ball out of defence, Mark opponents tightly for the defence. Dictates tempo, Tries killer balls often for the midfield. And Move into channels for the strikers.

As tactic, I went with an unconventional shape. Since Helenio Herrera is considered to be the father of the catenaccio (the defensive style of play used through the 60s to the 80s) I had to recreate it.

However, his grande Inter was made of world class players like Armando Picchi, Giacinto Facchetti, Luis Suarez, Jair and many others.

For Brighton (the team I managed), even though I have great players, their caliber is nowhere near the grande Inter.

And this is important, because defending for a whole game is insane. It can be fun, but insane, nonetheless.

This tactic should work for most teams who prefer to sit deep and wait for the counter opportunity. But trust me when I say that it takes patience and dedication to stick with it, especially when the opposition is all over your box.

So let’s see what makes it tick.

As a shape, we have a sort of 3-4-3 formation.

Sweeper keeper on defend duty. As he doesn’t need to sweep any loose balls often.

Three at the back who must be extremely flexible, mobile in possession and very disciplined.

Wide center back on defend duty on the right side. This will help to escape opposition pressure, by offering a wide passing option. Take fewer risks for him.

A Libero on support in the middle. This is the free player in defence. He is the one screening the defence and the last man standing in front of goal. Dribble less and hold position.

Central defender on defend duty on the left side. No instructions for him.

Helenio Herrera asked his defenders to mark the opposing attackers. And this is what we are going to do on a game-by-game basis.

The Libero has no marking instructions. He has to remain the screen behind the defence.

In front of them we have a Defensive midfielder on defend duty. He is the screen in front of the defence. No instructions for him.

On the left side we have a Complete wing back on attack duty. He will march on the left side, defending attacks and creating chances for his team. No instructions for him.

On the right side, we have the same scenario of the player marching the whole flank. Here, Denzel Dumfries or Achraf Hakimi would be the best players to use.

Defensive winger on support is used as variety. The player will take on the opposing player early and will go up into attack when his team is in possession.

A Roaming playmaker on support links the defence to the attack. This player is the engine of the team. If he fails to perform, the whole tactic crumbles. No instructions for him and no pressure either.

A Shadow striker and a Trequartista are behind the striker. The Trequartista is used as it is more of a free spirited role. This player will go wider, cut inside, go into the opposition’s box. All depends on the scenario he is faced with.

Stay wider for the Trequartista.

And the striker is an Advanced forward on attack duty. The player used here must be a goal scorer. As your team will have few scoring opportunities using this tactic, he must score most of them.

As mentality, we have Defensive. Of course.

In possession, fairly narrow, play out of the defence, slightly more direct, higher tempo and frequently waste time. Play for set pieces and be more disciplined.

Helenio Herrera had a principle for his attack. No more than 3 passes until his team reached the opposition’s goal.

This is what we try to recreate. A high paced, direct and lethal attack. You could go with more direct passing, however, I have tried it and the players seem to send too many balls over the top to the attack. As you can imagine, this means losing possession a lot.

Slightly more direct seems to be more balanced.

In transition regroup, play on counter, slow pace down and distribute to the defence.

Out of possession mid block and much higher defensive line. I can see your amazed expression. Yes, much higher defensive line as we want to make a compact midfield shape, hard to break through.

You could go lower, however, this will give the opponent more space to work with in their build up. By playing with a mid block and a high defensive line, we force them to go over our defense most of the times.

This is why I said that positioning is very important. If the players take on the best defensive positions, the tactic will not suffer.

Trigger press less often and get stuck in.

To play a defensive tactic does not mean having as many players as you can in your own half, playing a low block with much lower defensive line. Or even playing on very defensive or defensive mentality.

As Helenio Herrera said, everyone understood his catenaccio tactic wrong. He emphasized a lot the attacking part of his tactic. To make a defensive tactic work, you must be sure that when you have the ball, you are dangerous and score most of your chances.

The tactic worked very well for me.

But I would like to know how it worked for you. Do let me know in the comments below.