FIFA 12 Learn to play Tactical Defending

Fifa 12 comes with new features like Impact Engine, Tactical Defending and Precision Dribbling.But the most talking point is the difficulty players facing with  the new tactical defending as they couldn't defend well against the improve AI.

But the reality is Fifa 12 is more of a simulation of real football and so you have to play like real players

with some thought process before doing any thing. Having said that, the consequences are game changing on how you do with your defending in Fifa 12. So here are some of the tips and tricks on learning the new tactical defending.

Keeps your formation intact:

First of all, you should know that formation means a lot in the playing style of yours.

So you got to keep your formation intact, in other words, do not Press your player for too long or do unwanted press as your player may get energy drained and hence the cramps.

Try to face your opponent , cut down the angle with proper positioning and make him to move in the direction where you have defenders.

You can do that(Facing you opponent) by 'Jockeying', in combination with 'Running Jockey' +, you can make your opponent do mistakes.

In Fifa 11 if you just do secondary press, your formation will be gone and your players will be all over the place where your opponent can simply dribble in the vacant space to the goal.

But here in Fifa 12, you have to make better use of the secondary Contain feature. This way you can be Jockeying in one direction while you send another player to contain your opponent.

But you got to practice this to be better at it. Its just like playing(controlling)  2 player at the same time. The key is, you don't need to control the direction of your secondary player who is 'Containing' but just anticipate and block any vacant possible way with the player your are in control with Jockeying.

So try to BUILD UP the game. Remember, Fifa 12 is slow compared to Fifa 11, so you got to build up for both attack and defend and do not rush.

Time Your Tackles:

As the old sayings, do the basics right. While tackling you just simply cannot press and hope for the best as in Fifa 11. Here you have  to contain your opponent and press tackle key with proper timing.

There are those who find themselves tackling thin air. But as said before, you have to tackle when you think you have the best chance of getting the ball, which is getting closer. So position yourself and get close enough before tackling.

Having said that, when you do the 'Pressing' , you will feel you cannot get close enough to the opponent to make tackles, as if there is an invisible wall. Well, the trick here is to do manual jockey and you won't be feeling the invisible wall. You can get close enough to do tackle and guess what..when you get real close, sometimes the AI will do the tackle for you.

So use the direction key well while jockeying and use some sprinting to keep up with the player. If all didn't go well, you always have the option of choosing the Legacy defending as in Fifa 11, but not in online head to head though.

Here is a video tutorial from youtube, if you haven't seen it yet.

Enjoy the new realism of Fifa 12.

Update:1
If you haven't decoded the slider settings for better computer AI gameplay, then try a couple of games with this slider settings for Fifa 12. And post a comment after changing the slider settings.

Update:2
So I believe many would be finding it difficult to stay close to your opponent and getting close enough to tackle the ball. And I think this small trick can help you a bit to be in line with your opponent.
Try holding 'Contain'  and 'Jockey'  button to get close to the ball and as and when you hit the invisible wall, release Contain button and manually do the jockeying. You will breach the wall and have the best chance of tackling. Hope this makes tactical defending easy along with secondary Contain.

If you want to configure your controller settings, then you can use x360ce emulator to play most games with vibrator if you have.