Don’t Tackle Unless You’re Sure You’ll Get the Ball
It can be tempting to just send one of your defenders flying in with a sliding or standing tackle as soon as the opposition gets remotely close to your box. Don’t do this, you could give away a foul in a dangerous position which could cause even more problems for you.
Instead, only use either of the tackling options when you’re absolutely sure you’re going to win the ball.
Not only can it give away free kicks in dangerous positions, but the tackling animations also take a little while to complete. Though only a second or so, if you miss your tackle, a fast striker can use the time it takes for your player to finish (and fail) the tackling animation to get away from your defender and close the distance between them and the goal unchallenged.
‘Stay Back While Attacking’ Custom Tactics
Custom Tactics are, in our opinion, the key to competing with the best players in FIFA 22. When it comes to defending in FIFA 22, one of the key custom tactics you can use is amending the player instructions of your defenders.
Specifically, you want to ensure that your left back and right back’s attacking instructions are set to ‘Stay Back While Attacking’ as opposed to ‘Join the Attack’ or the default setting.
While having your full-backs joining the attack can provide additional width to your offensive moves, it also leaves you massively exposed for a counter-attack.
By setting your full-backs to stay back while attacking by default, you protect against this. Given wing play and crossing into the box is particularly effective while attacking, having players ready to prevent this on the counter-attack is key to conceding fewer goals in FIFA 22.
Plus, if you ever want your full-backs to join in on the attack, simply use the ‘Attacking Full-Backs’ option in-game via the d-pad.
There you have our tips for defending in FIFA 22. For more tips, tricks, and guides, be sure to check out our guide wiki, search for Twinfinite, or check out more of our coverage below.
