Welcome to the FIFA Defensive Player Bible Part 2 of 5! The focus of part 2 is Scoring, Accomplishments,  Man of the Match, and General Defensive Tips.

Read and study this bible, ask me some questions and you WILL become a better defensive CB or CDM.  This guide is mainly for those that play Club and Pro Ranked Match where you control just 1 CB or CDM player(basically pickup Soccer-Futbol).  Defense is very challenging, and while I wrote this bible I have bad games too.

GENERAL DEFENSIVE PLAYER TIPS

• Join an active Club team and use the team’s txt chat  rooms.  Club play is the pinnacle of FIFA, that is where the best players are.  Consider it MLB vs the Minors.  If you think you’re hot shiz because you won the single-player season mode then great.  But single player is nothing like Club Play.  Build skills and VP as a single player but if you want some REAL FIFA, then play Club ! Zero debate here.
• EDIT your player for the position you are playing.  Nothing I hate worse than seeing a striker profile playing CB.  They MUST be changed before you play.
• Relax hands on the controller..  Sometimes I feel myself about to crush my controller into a diamond.  Just relax, you will play better and make softer passes.  Don’t play tense.  When you learn to play defense and identify scoring threats the game will come easier to you, and your back won’t hurt from tension after games.
• While learning, just use the basics of the bible and Don’t HURT the team.. less guys will hate you.
• When in doubt, kick the friggin ball out of bounds or back to the Keeper.  It’s not always sexy, but NOT giving up goals is your focus, remember ?
• Practice, Practice and then Practice more on Pro Ranked Match!   Club vs PRM Big Difference Most of the time, but PRM is wonderful practice FOR DEFENDERS!   A good club will make you a snob because PRM is ball-hog-central.  You can do your own thing as a defender in PRM, I guarantee you will have opportunities to build your defensive skills every game.  This is how I learned how to defend humans before I became serious with club play.  When you play a ton of PRM, you will also start to recognize other players, this is helpful during club play when you start to recognize dangerous opponents because you’ve played against(or with) them so much in Pro Ranked Matches.
• Set the tone for your team.  Follow the Defensive Players Bible, play your position and execute immediately.  This will boost your team’s faith in you so they will play their position too.
• NEVER QUIT.  If you’re down 3-0 early don’t stop trying, stop the offense!  Don’t give up and start playing offense in the middle of the game.  Giving up ruins the game for everybody, I hate that, so don’t do it.
• Respect, but ignore the offsides trap if your captain calls it.  It is difficult for humans to follow, but it does work for a 100% computer controlled defense.  I am NOT a fan of  the offsides trap.
• Setup your Virtual Pro’s height, weight and traits per the bible part 1.

DEFENSIVE VP SKILL RATING & ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Very very early (like right now) you MUST spend some time and build your damn VP!  This is a labor of time, but also can greatly improve your skills during the process as you learn controls and FIFA intricacies.  There is a very big difference between a 70 and a 94 rated VP!  It’s not just for bragging rights, the skills you develop will help you during both Club play and Pro Ranked Matches.  Blame Your Any website has the BEST FIFA Accomplishments guide(here), it’s very detailed and is the very guide that I used while building my own VP.  The downside of building your VP is that it takes time, but you only have to do it once.  I’ve unlocked every defensive accomplishment, except 1,500 tackles which I probably will never unlock so I”m probably maxed out as a 94 CB which is still badass.

MAN OF THE MATCH

In my experience, I do believe it is (arguably) easier to get MOTM as an offensive player, but it is still very achievable as a defensive player.  I think it’s extra special when a defender is MOTM and it will often occur when a Clean-Sheet / shutout happens.  With a high VP(85+) and being MOTM as a CB/CDM during a Pro Ranked Match, that’s also a great way to get invited to a Club.  That’s how I started Club Play, and I learned a ton from my first club.  Typically when I get MOTM as a defender, I made 10-15 successful passes(ground and headers), gave up zero goals, and played my position correctly. It can be as simple as that when all goes well.

The Keys to being MOTM as a defender

1. Get Opportunities.  Some games your team may dominate so much that you just don’t get a chance to produce.  Just get the win, and play again.  I’ve probably played over 400 Fifa matches as a defender.
2. When you get opportunities, PRODUCE !  Make successful passes, stay in position ( indicated by the markers on your feet ), and give up zero goals.  You also get punished sometimes if your own GK even touches the ball. These rules are the same for the offense.  In a 1-0 game it’s likely a defender or the goal scorer that will be MOTM.
3. Stay in position.  When you have position markers on and you get 3 marks below your feet, you are out of position and your match rating will begin to drop immediately.  However, NEVER sacrifice a team win for your own VP rating.  ( Unless you are working on skills in Pro-Ranked Match, but even then you will anger your teammates )
4. There are no “super tricks” to being defensive MOTM especially in club and PRM,  but 1 thing you can do is give yourself an increase in successful passes by calling for the ball from the CPU and quickly passing it back.  But make sure it’s safe to do so, and it may actually open up angles for your offense as well.
5. Read the entire Fifa Defensive Players Bible parts 1-5 and ask questions.

One of the required defensive accomplishments is to get 15  Man of the Match as a defensive player.  You WILL successfully do this as your skills grow, but it did take me a while.  One of the best things about playing Pro Ranked Match as a defender is that CB is nearly always available.  But as a striker / CAM it’s super hard to get your position.  On PRM, this is YOUR TIME to improve, I guarantee you will get many opportunities to learn how to easily stop aggressive offenses.

CB DEFENSIVE SCORING

As a general rule, DO NOT TRY TO SCORE as a CB Defender. Your focus should always be Clean Sheets, and making good(soft and safe) transition passes to the offense.  There are 2 exceptions to this rule: first is when you are brought up for Corner Kicks. However, depending on the score sometimes it’s best to just run back to midfield for safety and to prevent hard counter-attacks.  The other scenario when it’s OK to move up from defense is when you’re trailing big or late and your team captain calls for “CB TO JOIN ATTACK”.   It is very dangerous to get greedy on Defense, against a good team you will lose and piss off your teammates.  If you want to score goals, then play midfield or striker.  As a CB it’s important that you get an erection over stopping goals, not scoring them.

CDM DEFENSIVE SCORING

CDM is my favorite position because it is OK to get just a taste of offense.  Early on in my VP career I only played CB but as I got better I needed to contribute more in the midfield and occasionally offense.  As a CDM there are more scoring opportunities, however I still consider this position 85% Defensive and 15% Offensive.  What’s cool about CDM is that you can create your own opportunities by intercepting passes just inside your opponent’s midfield dribbling to just outside the 18 and BLASTING a shot..  DO NOT engage the 18 bender or outside foot shots,  as a CDM you score goals from crosses, corners, AND POWER SHOTS from just outside the 18.  A power shot is super-sexy and will demoralize your opponent.  On occasion as a CDM it is perfectly acceptable to join your offense’s attack but the deeper you go the more at risk you make your team of a counter attack.  If your Club team is awesome offensively then only slide up 5% of the time, if they need your help and can’t score then I’m OK with joining attacks up to 20% of the time.   If you see a moronic CB joining the attack then be a team player and slide back to fill his position.  After the game tell him he’s screwing up the team’s vybe by playing out of position.  CDM should always be just in front of CBs.

• Another Easy and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED tip:  Customize FIFA with your OWN music library. I love this, and it’s easy.

THE COMPLETE FIFA DEFENSIVE BIBLE PARTS 1-4

1. FIFA 12 Defensive Player Bible Part 1/5: Traits, Height, and Weight
2. FIFA 12 Defensive Player Bible Part 2: Scoring, Accomplishments,  General Defensive Tips
3. FIFA 12 Defensive Player Bible Part 3: Passing Tips and Strategy
4. FIFA 12 Defensive Player Bible Part 4: Positioning ( The largest and most important bible chapter )

This FIFA Defensive Bible is the sister of one of our most popular all-time articles, the 3 chapter NCAA Football Recruiting Bible !