Do you struggle to defend against wingers turning back and forth, cutting inside, fake crosses and the like?  I’ll share with you this simple yet very effective FIFA tip to defend against lively wingers.

When attacking especially down the wings I cut inside a lot.  Sometimes using a fake cross, sometimes I’ll chop it between my legs and other times I’ll take my finger off the run button and just twist and turn leaving defenders going round in circles.

The cut back or cut inside is extremely effective because 90% of defenders will either carry on in the same direction expecting the cross or turn back sharply to try to combat your cut inside.  Either way, they are still on the run and their momentum takes over making them easy to skip past.  Especially if they’re still holding the sprint button – they’ll still be going in the wrong direction as I’m on my way towards goal!

Even if they guess right and turn the same way as me each time their defender’s probably got the turning circle of an oil tanker and will struggle against the agility of my attacker.

Sound familiar?  Do you find it difficult to turn quick enough when you come across attackers that turn back and forth and does momentum get the better of you?  If that’s the case, then try this tip:

Stand Still!

That’s right, take your finger off the left analogue stick and stand still.  Simple!  Well, there’s a bit more to it than that but in essence that’s it.  It’s all about momentum!  If you keep moving the analogue stick and you pick the wrong direction your momentum will get the better of you and you’ll get left for dead.  If you stand still you take momentum out of the equation leaving you with 3 scenarios that I’ll talk about in a minute.

Obviously I’m simplifying it a bit but if you can master this simple technique no-one will ever cut inside you again.

You’ve got to anticipate when the attacker will try to cut inside and if he’s running make sure you time it for when the attacker meets the ball as this is the only moment at which he can turn.

A good tip is to look for his power bar going up twice in very quick succession. This is a sure-fire giveaway that he’s attempting a fake cross.

You only need to stop dead for a split second because that’s just enough time to take your momentum out of the equation and let you work out which way the attacker is going.

The 3 Outcomes

1. The attacker will cut inside – because you’ve stopped you have composed yourself and your defender will put a foot in whether you press the A/X button or not.  You should come out with the ball.
2. The attacker will cut back – because you’ve stopped you’ve taken momentum out of the equation. In that split second after he’s turned you can assess whether he’s turning back again (if you’d turned back with him the 1st time your momentum would be taking you the wrong way and there’s no way you’d get back at him).  You can then press the attacker in which ever direction he goes.  Again the attacker hasn’t managed to get past you and you’re putting pressure on him to make a mistake.
3. The defender carries on going down the line – This is the only scenario where the attacker might get away from you slightly.  If you anticipate the cut-back and it doesn’t happen then you’re going to lose a bit of ground on the attacker but I’d rather send someone down the wing where I can cut out the angle and get back at him rather than let him cut inside where he can do some serious damage.

Honestly, I can’t stress enough how important this is in becoming a great defender.  I NEVER get taken on by wingers!  Get out there and practice this tip because if your opponent can’t score, you won’t lose.

So remember, if the attacker’s twisting and turning, don’t try to twist and turn with him.  Get goal side and Stand Still!