If you're looking to improve your defense and be more composed, it's not easy to defend in FIFA 23. But let's look at the defense strategies you need to reduce on the number of goals you concede.

Press

This is the process of applying pressure to the opponent's ball holder, moving your Defender towards the opponent's player and challenge the ball.

Jockey

First of all to do this in the right way, you have to jockey. Hope everyone knows how to jockey in FIFA unless it's your first day to play FIFA.

Tackle

Then you have to tackle some players tend to just jockey and don't attempt to tackle the ball. You have to tackle and challenge the ball. But you need to be near the opponent's ball holder. But pressing is not the same around the pitch.

High Up The Pitch

The way we press high up the pitch is not the way we press in and around the box high up the pitch. We tend to be more aggressive and target the ball holder mostly even though we fail to take the ball or displace any player from his position.

In And Around The Box

The opponent has more distance to reach our goal. But in and around the box here, we have to be more safe. Covering space is the main issue. I'm not saying that you cannot approach the ball holder. And don't fall into that mistake of being so passive. You have to approach the ball holder and apply pressure.

Safe First

So, let's first look at the subtopic. In defense, what we are looking for is to stop the opponent from scoring. So, we need to be generally aware of dangerous passes and spaces before attempting to approach the ball holder. In this way, we can cover the most dangerous option first and after we challenge the ball.

So, first take a look at these examples. Here, the opponent breaks through the wing. As you see, my full back is displaced from his position, leaving a big space for the opponent to exploit. As the ball moves to the opponent's Winger, I switch to my Center back. So, in this position, I need to cover the most dangerous option first and that's the space I need to first close up the opponent's way towards my goal. The opponent's player is a little bit in front of my Defender and he's very fast, so I run direct towards my goal and am able to catch up.

As you see, I was able to defend this dangerous counter-attack by first playing it safe. So, even here, I'm playing two players. It's one versus two. One player runs. The player in behind, I realize he's outpacing my Center back in this situation. My full back is in a good position but the opponent also has this Winger, which my full back has to close up. But I decide to use this full back and close up this through pass. So, I sacrifice the wing for his Winger. I took the safe option first and win the ball.

Defend Passes

Closing up passes has a well-composed defense. You have to be able to spot the open passes of the opponent and try to close them. You can't just easily allow your opponent to pass freely. You have to give him hard time. That's why you need to cut the passing lanes.

Direct Pass

We have two different types of passes. We need to close one the direct pass. This is the pass direct to the exact position of the opponent's player. He receives the ball direct at his current position and we call them short passes. So, such kind of passes to close them, you need to position your Defender in between the ball holder and the ball receiver. So, if the opponent attempts to pass, your player will definitely take the ball.

Knowing the distance between your Defender and the passing lane is also crucial sometimes. You need to sprint to close up the pass and sometimes you need to just jockey and position your Defender in between the two opponents.

Through Pass

Players two is the through pass. This is the pass direct to the space in front of the player. The player receives it by running towards the targeted space. So, we have two ways of cutting. This pass hit can be an aerial pass or a ground pass. And always, there's a player running in behind to receive the pass, either. The opponent sends him manually to run in behind or automatically makes that run.

Track The Runner

So, the first wait is to track that runner. You have to switch to your Defender near the runner. Run behind fast and create a little gap between your Defender and the running player since the pass is directed to the space and the running player is very fast than your Defender. But you need to position your defender in the running path of the runner here, you can easily intercept the pass.

Press The Passer

The second way is to stop the pass immediately. The opponent gets the throughpass opportunity. Your Defender is near the ball holder. So, instead of running back immediately, approach the holder and surprised the opponent, he will have less time to react. Though this trick is somehow risky if you're just learning the game, this is how best player defend on the game. So, now you know how to cut the pass lane. But some opponents are too smart after cutting the passing lane. Your opponent will realize it and don't take the pass. That's the point we include the pressing mechanic

Press After Cutting The Press

When cutting short passes, you close the passing lane and then you approach the ball holder. It's a little bit difficult technique but what after mastering it, you will be good at maintaining your composure while defending then the Through Pass since the Defender is running back towards your goal and the ball holder is too far to be approached by the same Defender.

Here, we implement the Second Man Press on the player one, we trigger the second player with the green icon here. We can close up the Through Pass and at the same time applying pressure to the ball holder.

Second Man Press is a crucial key in cutting passing lanes, you can do multiple tasks at the same time.

Quick Switch

Quick switching FIFA is a game of reaction at high level of playing FIFA. You can face the opponent with the same skill level as you. But the one, who is quick in his reaction has a big advantage. So, before that, let's simply look at ways of switching players in just details.

L1 Switch

We have the L1. This selects the player near the ball and that player is selected by the game for you. The game will select only players near the ball but sometimes it switches to the wrong options and if you want to defend scenarios away from the ball like cutting distant passes, you cannot select those players by just using the L1 and that's when the right stick analog switch comes in.

Right Stick Switch

This is the manual switching tool you can switch to any player of your desire by just flicking the right analog towards that player.

And we normally use the player relative, which means the player with the cursor is the center of the switch. Flick to any player you want from that player with the cursor if you want to take your game to the next level. Master the right stick switch, your improvement will begin from this point.

Switch As Quick As Possible

So, why do we need to switch quickly even if you know how to use the right stick switch and the L1 switch perfectly? But you are slow, you can't defend opponents who attack aggressively.

So, let's look at this example. How I delayed my switch? Here, I mistakenly drag my Defender out of position, which happens to everyone. The opponent's player begin to exploit the space. My mind was active and I spotted this player here. I should have switched to him quick enough and close up the incoming through pass. But I delayed. By the moment I switched to him, it was too late to catch the runner. But luckily my Goalkeeper saved the Chip Shot, so switching quickly here. If you also want to have a strong Goalkeeper like me, preparing lots of FUT 23 Coins will help you a lot.

The opponent has this through pass. I close it with my. But I realize the opponent has a running Winger and my Center back is running away. I don't understand why he did that, so I immediately switched to him, using the right stick switch. If I use the L1, the game would select one of these two players, so I switched to him and run to close up the space, which I was successful with. But since I was over committing to that side, I anticipated my opponent cutting inside. My Defender cannot turn quickly because he was over committing to one direction. That's why I quickly switched to my full back, who was a good position at least to react jockey and challenged the opponent, which he didn't expect and I win the ball.

Mentality Skill

Mentality is the best key to defend. Well, no one wants to lose the ball and defend. We all enjoy attacking but defending is also a part of the game. So, let's look at a skill mindset. This will help you a lot.

Quick React

We all make mistakes while defending and sometimes we don't. But we are just unlucky in some situations. It doesn't mean the end. The ability to react quick enough after making some mistake is a big mindset skilled applied to the gameplay skill FIFA game. Playing this game, you have to be aware that you will make mistakes but you need to react fast after making it.

For example, here my opponent passes to his Winger. I approach with my full back. I realize this pass to a Striker, so I tried to mark it with my Center back. But I didn't use the Second Man Press to keep my full back pressing the opponent's ball holder. And the opponent's Striker was running in behind. I committed and dragged my Defender out of position. But before the opponent completing his pass, I immediately switched to my other Center back and be ready even though the opponent had another pass open. But I was able to defend his attack. It all came from reacting quick enough even though you sometimes mistakenly drag players out of position, you can recover by making that quick player switch and position your player in the space.