December 7, 2009

The first episode of the FM-Britain Football Tactics Video has finally arrived!

Episode one covers defence in the midfield, and looks at the problems caused when the wings and the centre of the midfield are exposed. Learn how to spot the problem and also how to solve it with analysis of viewer’s matches.

Defending needs to be done all over the pitch - it is not simply a case of picking the right four players at the back. Defending the midfield is vital in reducing the amount of chances the opposition can create.

As the examples in this video demonstrate, allowing the opposition too much space on the wings can cause major problems. But it is also important to make sure the team doesn’t leave massive holes in the centre of the field.

The solutions, as discussed, can include the following:

• Using Opposition Instructions on the opposition’s wing players - full backs and wingers.
• Using Opposition Instructions on the opposition’s central midfielders - MCs, DMCs and/or AMCs.
• Playing more players in the centre of the park - such as playing three central midfielders
• Using touchline instructions to tell the team to play narrower so that the centre of the field isn’t left empty.

If you have any follow up questions, or would like the Think Tank team to look over any of your match files, send your PKMs to [email protected].

FM-Britain will also be on the next Official Football Manager Podcast

On Thursday, Miles will be recording the latest episode of The Football Manager Podcast, and FM-Britain will be sending someone down to London to record it with him.

For regular listeners, you may know that one of the sections is called “Ask Miles”, where the community get to submit questions to the head honcho as SI Towers, Miles Jacobsen.

If you have a question for Miles, get them to us on the FM-Britain Forums, via Twitter @FMBritain, on our Facebook page, or e-mail us directly on [email protected].