Has playing a DMC worked for you defensively?

[Sol Survivor]

Interested to know if anyone who was shipping lots of goals, decided to implement a DMC in to their formation, and then saw an improvement in conceding less goals?

I currently play a 3-5-2 as per the screenshot below, but seem to be letting in more goals than I used to. This could be because I used to play the above formation but with a DML and DMR instead of a ML and MR but I made that change as I was struggling to score goals in the first half, then was pushing the DML and DMR up the field anyway in the 2nd half, so I'm wondering whether to drop out one of my centre midfielders for a DMC. Thoughts people? Also be interested if people think i might have a few too many red arrows on my midfield players?

[Siddharth Shanker Singh]

Remove all the RED arrow's then your MC's will participate in the defense also resulting in better defense and less goals conceded......

And while playing this formation even out the stats of your MC's......

[Sol Survivor]

Ok thanks. Any chance though that this will negatively impact on my goals scored?

[Siddharth Shanker Singh]

Ok thanks. Any chance though that this will negatively impact on my goals scored?

I don't think there will be any negative impact on the goal scored...But you might score more......

[RJSlow]

It is possible to push too many players forward and they get in each others way. First do what Sid said and take all those arrows off

[Philip L. Willis]

It is possible to push too many players forward and they get in each others way. First do what Sid said and take all those arrows off

I would let the Red arrows of the left and right MC go, and consider just Red arrowing the center MC to act as an AMC on attack. There is a fatigue/condition/spatial price for arrows.

You have your STs already covering the spot where you put the left/right MCs with reds, so its overkill, it's a bit like chess or checkers. Covering attack areas is somewhat similar to Zonal Defense, but the reverse, being or attacking where they are not. Check this out if you haven't already done it, a simple good piece on Zonal by Accyrover (View Profile: Accyrover - Top Eleven Forum)

http://forum.topeleven.com/tutorials...-part-1-a.html

Arrows have a weight to them, overkill on arrows will start to appear around the 70th to 75th minute. I am sure you would have noticed, the fitter team will usually make the difference at this juncture of time. Arrows are not freebies, the players have to cover more ground and thus will be less efficient and take more time in getting back to their default position.

If you can get the desired GOAL with less arrows then use less arrows!

Of course I cannot see the individual attributes of all of your midfielders, so again my two cents is based on all your Ms being equal.

P.S. By the way blueing your ML/R will stop their GOALs against you if they have attacking AMs/Ms Wingers!

"Defend where they are! Hit 'em where they ain't!" ~ P.L. Willis

[Cat Harrison]

That answer is so much better than mine.

Yep, I like DMc's and sometimes will field 2 or 3 of them.

[Celtic]

In real life no team plays with 2 pure strikers, rather with
-one trequartista like Maradona, also known as the 10, equivalent to an AMC
-one matador like Higuain, also known as the 9 or 11, the Striker

In real life your team would be a defensive nightmare, you have only 3 centre backs, you have no wingbacks and no defensive midfielders. Plus, your wingers seem to be only attacking.

[Sol Survivor]

In real life no team plays with 2 pure strikers, rather with
-one trequartista like Maradona, also known as the 10, equivalent to an AMC
-one matador like Higuain, also known as the 9 or 11, the Striker

In real life your team would be a defensive nightmare, you have only 3 centre backs, you have no wingbacks and no defensive midfielders. Plus, your wingers seem to be only attacking.

In real life lol. We could be here all day if we compared Top 11 to real life mate. If top 11 was close to accurate to real life, you would be able to use blue arrows and red arrows at the same time, as lets face it, wing backs, or wide players also asked to defend, go back and forth down the flanks so they'd have blue arrows and red arrows in place at the same time.
By the way, the formation I laid out is how Van Gaal has had Man Utd lined up in pre season, 3-5-2 with the two wing backs actually positioned to start on the left and right of the midfield in one long line of 5. And then of course before the game he would have drawn an arrow going back and an arrow going forward on the white board

[Davy Gravy]

When I play a 3 x DC, I always have a DMC in front of them.