The With Ball/Without ball screen: Does it make a difference?

In simple terms the answer is ‘yes’. The with/without ball screen is possibly one of the most effective ways of making a formation work. If you load up the 442 formation out of the basic database, you will see just by clicking the various sections of the pitch, that there are ways of instantly making the tactic work much better, such as dropping your wingers into more central roles to defend, or dropping them back into the left and right-back roles allowing your Left and Right-back to tuck in next to your Back-line.

Alternatively, if you opt to use a wingback formation, you will often find your wingbacks are either not far enough back to defend properly, nor far enough forward to attack. Just try dragging the circles up the pitch a bit for each box, and vice versa on the without ball screen and the difference it can make is untold.

Similarly, is it any use for your AMC to be doing nothing when you’re defending? Make him move around the pitch, equally to each side otherwise you end up with unusual run lines on the formation screen which really bug me, covering gaps between your MC's and your Forwards. You will often find he will intercept the ball much more, creating valuable chances.

Why not drop your Strikers right back when defending, and what's the use of having your strikers so far apart when you want to attack? Bunch them together and give your wingers space. Intelligent players will run to any gaps they see anyway. Also pay attention to your match report for tell tale signs of your formation being found out; how many times is the ball 'knocked past' your full-back; how many times is your forward caught offside? Just simple movements on the With/Without-ball screen can make a massive difference.

Here are the subtle differences between 'my' 4-4-2 and the 'original' basic version provided with the game.

Now although the differences appear minor, if you multiply these changes by 12 (once for each With ball screen) and then also think about the differences on the 'Without-ball' screen, it is apparent that there is a bigger picture to be looked at. (My alterations are at the top; the basic formation is the bottom image).

Firstly my Fullbacks - if you're attacking, they don't need to be in defence, you want them pushing forwards giving your GK and defenders passing options and also your midfielders to bounce the ball off. Similarly the wingers are tucked in slightly, as are the strikers. You don't want your star ú20m goal-scoring machine out on the wing do you?

Similarly the midfielders are dropped back a touch so that if the defenders pass forwards to them, they are still within the same 'section' of the pitch. This means your midfielders are made to pass the ball forwards down the wings or into the centre for the strikers; which is what you want them to do. If they were in the next square up, you would find them passing back to your defenders wasting time and costing mistakes. This way, the ball is going forwards away from your goal.

The wingers are tucked in to buy them time against the full backs and midfield of the opposition so that they can make the decision of running with the ball, passing it to the centre, switching wings or laying it off to the full-back or midfield as the team move into the square above. The Fullback meanwhile is able to thread a ball down the wing or to run outside the winger (massive benefit if you have players like Kieron Dyer).

So immediately, just for this one square there are hundreds of slight changes you could make all affecting the game engine in various ways; and like I say, if you do this for every square the small changes add up; after all, not every team plays the same 4-4-2 across the world, nor does every team have the same make up of players or priorities.