A good offense might be a good defense but when it comes to football, you can’t really leave your defensive positions open and vulnerable just to push and score a goal. To make sure there are no gaps in your defense, we have made this FIFA 20 guide to give you some great defending tips that come handy in a pinch.
FIFA 20 Defending
Of course, before you actually defend, you need to be familiar with the game’s control scheme so have a look at this table for all the important controls.
| Operation | PlayStation | Xbox or PC |
| Change Player | L1 | LB |
| Change Player (Manual) | RS + direction | RS + direction |
| Clearance | ◯ | B |
| Contain | X (Press and Hold) | A (Press and Hold) |
| Display Defensive Tactics | Down on D-pad | Down on D-pad |
| Engage Shielding Opponent | L2 + L Towards Dribbler | LT + LS Towards Dribbler |
| Goalkeeper Cross Intercept | △ + △ (Press and Hold) | Y + Y (Press and Hold) |
| Hard Tackle | ◯ (hold) | B (hold) |
| Jockey/Grab & Hold | L2 (Pull and Hold) | LT (Pull and Hold) |
| Offside Trap | Down on D-pad then press down on d-pad again | Down on D-pad then press down on d-pad again |
| Overload Ball Side | Down on D-pad then press Left on d-pad | Down on D-pad then press Left on d-pad |
| Pull and Hold | ◯ (hold) | B (hold) |
| Pull and Hold (when chasing) | ◯ (Press and Hold) | B (Press and Hold) |
| Push or Pull (when chasing) | ◯ | B |
| Quick Get Up After Slide Tackle | ▢ | X |
| Running Jockey | L2 + R2 (Pull and Hold) | LT + RT (Pull and Hold) |
| Rush Goalkeeper Out | △ (Press and Hold) | Y (Press and Hold) |
| Sliding Tackle | ▢ | X |
| Striker Drop Back | Down on D-pad then press up on d-pad | Down on D-pad then press up on d-pad |
| Tackle | ◯ | B |
| Team Press | Down on D-pad then press Right on d-pad | Down on D-pad then press Right on d-pad |
| Teammate Contain | R1 (Pull and Hold) | RB (Pull and Hold) |
Formations
Besides knowing all of these controls, you can also improve your players’ formation so that you’re well aware of their on-ground placements.
This will allow you to push the other team a lot more effectively. 4-3-1-2, 4-1-3-2 and 5-3-2 are good defensive formations that you may want to opt for. They will allow you to switch between offensive and defensive modes dynamically.
I suggest that you use the formation that you’re comfortable with since at the end of the day, you’re going to be the one playing, thus it is imperative that you choose a formation that you are best at.
Choose your Best Defenders
Your defenders’ OVR ratings matter greatly. Defending, pace, tackling, heading and physical are also important for a defender.
I advise you to pick 4 or 5 defenders with the best stats for your defending line, while you will choose defenders with finer tackling and heading. Pick defenders with better tackling and pacing for LB/RB.
You will also need to strengthen your midfielders that will ultimately aid your defenders. Choosing midfielders with higher defensive stats will improve your defending line.
Strengthen your PVP Brawls
Mastering all of the on-ground battles that you may expect yourself to face, is something that I would advise you to do.
Avoid stressing yourself even if there are more opposing attackers than friendly defenders, try narrowing down the opponent’s choices by effectively utilizing your defense.
Get yourself time by disrupting the enemy’s attacks. Keep to short tackles in order to focus on player-on-player battles during the match.
You may not want to micro-manage by trying to control all of the players in all parts of the match. Consider letting the computer manage some of the defense plays, which may even turn out to be better than yours.
Winning those One-vs-One Plays
Do not panic if you’re to face an attacker running with the ball towards your goal, with just the goalie present.
This is when you will have to try and confuse your opponent so that you can achieve the required time for your defenders to reach back to the goalposts.
In a similar situation, you can even make your goalkeeper come forward, although you will want to be careful with this one since the attacker may easily score a goal with an easy cheap shot.
To win such one-on-one plays, you will have to confuse the opponent to make them unsure about their next move.
You can consider bringing your goalkeeper half-way towards the attacker, which may cause the attacker to shoot towards the goal.
If you haven’t brought your goalie further way from the posts, you will still be able to easily stop the cheap or strong shot from entering the goal.
Learn your Squad
Once you’ve built your squad the way you desire, try and perfect its utilization by practicing and figuring out where your weaknesses lie. For this, you can go offline, or play online matches which aren’t ranked.
