one central defender...

[adifairus]

i would love to know how so many people can win so much using only one central defender... in real life that´s not suitable, unless u use 3 central defenders on the good old Italian 3-5-2 ... am i missing something?...

either 3W or 3N or 4 or 5 defender, all those have its own advantage and disadvantage or suitability in different situation

by the way, keep in mind that you don't really need many defender when against weaker team

if you want to talk about real life, it's still suitable as below :

i) the lesser the defender is the easier to do offside trap

ii) if you want to play high pressing (full pitch pressing) you need to give extra man at opponent half area to make your high press effective, so you still need to reduce the number of your defender in this situation. in this situation, if you are using man to man marking, it will be very effective especially against weaker opponent, but you have to make sure you have enough number of player at specific zone all the the pitch to mark all opponent player. you may need to use 3W defender (DL DC DR) if opponent use wide attacking and you may need to use 3N defender ( DC DC DC ) if opponent use narrow attacking.

iii) if you want to play low pressing (half pitch pressing), the more the defender you use is the more effective for low pressing tactic as many player will stay at your own half and usually suitable when against stronger opponent. and at the same time, with zonal marking style will make your team behave as park the bus. many players at every zone on your own half. but you don't really need to park the bus when against weaker team right?

like i said, there is no specific single right way for effective defending.