Apart from the ground breaking impact engine, this was one of the boldest changes to the FIFA series in a long time.
It’s been welcomed and scorned in pretty much equal measure and it’s the most talked about feature on FIFA.
Everyone’s got an opinion about Contain Defending!
The decision to overhaul FIFA’s defensive controls last year was a huge and incredibly contentious decision by EA. People don’t respond well to change.
But it was a decision that had to be made for a couple of important reasons.
Firstly, to create a balance between attacking and defending. Pre FIFA 12, gameplay was all about attacking.
When you had the ball the game involved strategy, skill and tactics. Defending was just that pain in the arse thing that you had to do between attacking.
Secondly, EA needed to create space and time on the pitch in order to introduce some of the other improvements they had in store.
So how will FIFA 13 contain defending help achieve this? First let’s take a look at how it works now.
What Was Meant To Happen?
Contain was meant to bring skill back to defending. Rather than be a necessary chore, defending should now be a challenging and rewarding part of the game.
The space opened up by the lack of charging defenders would allow more time and freedom to create more strategic, well thought out and rewarding attacks.
Attacking and defending would work in antagonistic harmony and the balance of the footballing universe would be restored.
What Actually Happens?
Your opponent gets 10 men back behind the ball and then holds A (or X) until the AI sweat you into submission and you give him the ball back.
(then invariably he lob through balls down the line to Agbonlahor but that’s a different story…)
Cue a barrage of comments like,
“If I’d wanted to play against the AI I’d have played offline”
and
“AAAaaaaaaaarrrrrggggghhhh, NNNNnnnnnngggggg, s$%t c^&t”
What is being done in FIFA 13?
Complete Dribbling
Complete Dribbling in FIFA 13 looks like it could be one step towards combating contain abusers.
Anyone that’s familiar with Skilled Dribbling (LT and RT dribbling) will already know that this is the most effective way to take on opponents that continuously hold contain.
The footage we saw of Complete Dribbling looks (in it’s very simplest form) to have made skilled dribbling contextual.
What this means is that your attacker will automatically face up to defenders and animations based on your proximity to the defender and movement should make it possible to skip past them with quick changes of direction and bursts of speed.
Lateral Movement
In FIFA 13 you have control of lateral movement as well as the ability to close or widen the gap between you and the ball.
This will enable move your defender from side to side letting you cut out passing channels and force your opponent to play one way or another away from danger.
What!?! They’re making contain defending even more sweaty!?!! :shockface:
Well………… Yes and no…….
How many people have you seen that effectively use proximity in contain defending?
My guess is not many…
Call me crazy but I’m going to throw it out there and say that not many people are going to come to grips with lateral movement in contain defending either.
Contain defending is effective and overused right now because there’s nothing that can really go wrong doing it.
Throw lateral movement into the mix and you’re adding room for error. People will make mistakes and leave space to exploit.
What Can Be Improved For FIFA 13 Contain Defending?
If I move left the defender moves left, If I move right the defender moves right – it’s immediate, it’s precise and it’s predictable!
Whilst my opponent holds A (or X) I effectively control his defender.
There’s no momentum, no inertia and zero reaction times. No error. Even when sprinting!
A containing defender is impervious to skill moves. He doesn’t even flinch when subjected to step overs or a roulette.
In FIFA 13 contain defending needs attribution based reaction times. In real football a defender doesn’t mimic my every move. He’s constantly reacting and adjusting.
Some do it better than others but in all cases it takes time to react.
Momentum and inertia need to play a bigger part too. If I jink one way and then another the defender’s momentum should affect his ability to turn and track my movement.
Players with lower balance and agility attributes could be caught off balance allowing opportunities for attackers.
Fatigue and concentration play a big part in a real defender’s ability to jockey. As does the speed of which the players are moving. All these factors would contribute to the realism that EA has achieved so successfully in other areas of the game.
There needs to be clearer decisions to make as to when containing’s effective and when it’s not.
Contain Defending Summary
This is by no means a Contain Defending witch hunt. Contain defending is a large and necessary step forward in FIFA evolution.
But like all giant leaps in innovation after the dust settles it needs revisiting and refining.
Contain defending is not unplayable. It makes you adapt your play and takes real patience to break down. It can however become monotonous and mundane – less of a battle of wits and more of a battle of patience and discipline.
Containing makes defenders lazy, it’s too easy to rely on the AI to do your dirty work for you.
Let’s make defenders work for that ball back, let’s give them some decisions to make and put some real skill into defending.
What’s your view on Contain Defending? Have you got any suggestions of your own? Let us know in the comments below!
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First of all , The Tactical defending made an extra balance to the game , which made the bad fifa players as strong as the good fifa players.
Second : too many fails inside the penalty box when u tackle , 80 percent of them are penalties , so i dont tackle i just use the directions and rush towards the attacker manualy.
Third : opponent can leave the sprint button , and use the directions to screw your defence in every attack , i sometimes do that too ! why not if my opponent does that !
fourth : defence in general in crossing and rebounds is so bad !
In response to the first post (Wessamo Ronaldo), the tactical defending DOESNT increase the balance to the game. A game is balanced when all aspects of the game are not OP (overpowered) so that no one move or tactic is overused. The game now decreases the skill cap whereby poor players can use AI assistance over and over again and compete with ‘better’ more competent players. Fifa is far from balanced and for some reason EA want to increase the number of AI assisted features throughout the years. Fifa should be much more manual especially for defending or at least make it so that stamina actually does make a difference. Holding x and a should kill a players stamina and they should eventually not be able to jockey with the attacker.
are you crazy ? weak players might push the hell out of the x button during the legacy defending only, it’s easy to exploit players who do that… i’m not showing off or anything, i won two local tournaments with money prizes, i know what im talking about… i use legacy and can use tactical..
You’re saying that legacy stops you from building up play, but when i also press ” x ” in tactical , i can follow you forever , and i dare you , no , i double dare you if you can make my player move in one way and your’s in another, even if you have CR7 or Messi.. problem with tactical is that you can defend so well but from far ( 1 meters far ) , so when i want to charge , i’d have to do it manually , which makes it very very hard..
When i play legacy , trust me , i do 90% of the defending manually, i just tap the x once im close just to have a good aimed charged …
People nagging about who always press x and let the AI’s do the work, and who are trying to put a stop to legacy , then im afraid , you suck at attacking , and it’s not your opponent who’s good at defending …
Either keep Legacy Defending , or improve the Charge for the ball in the Tactical defending..
Thank You For Your Time
Sorry Wess i just want my comment to be higher
To all the people who try to make exuse for TACT DEFENDING, SHUT THE F??? UP, I’ll tell u what, to all those jerk offs that love tact defending, lets do it like this, FIFA please give people the option to use legacy online against other players that want to use legacy too, just give us the option to choose that and if they want let the others use tactical if their so confident in their ability, i guarantee you that your going to be choosing legacy 99.9% of the time.
what kind of bullshit defending is that, chase after them and stop 2metres before u get their and then u have too make a lunging tackle, which will cost you at most times and probably fall over and look like an complete idiot that cant even see, ay just speaking my mind and truth and i know most people will agree with me.
Its a dam shame, Fifa was my favorite and they ruined it like this.
(IF ITS NOT BROKEN, DONT FIX IT)
Its frustrating cause u see these real dick faces take advantage of the Tact Defending.
Fifa just give us a option seriously, if people want to play tactical then let them, but if people want to play legacy, then let us play legacy.
It funny how people think that legacy is just button smashing, no if it was just that the really good fifa players will get onto u like that, 1 – 2s galore and high balls, at times you have to be composed and let go of the button and read the play and the runs of the opposition aswell, and take things into your own hands, to the people who think its just button smashing obviously didn’t get ranked high enough to vs the really good fifa players, because they would punk you hard if you just button smashed
Well said my friend, they just need to give us a choice of choosing a play style that we want. I love LEGACY defending and dont know why I will be forced to use something else. If this happens in FIFA 13 then i will probably start playing Pro evolution soccer.
Sorry Wessa i just want my comment to be higher
To all the people who try to make exuse for TACT DEFENDING, SHUT THE F??? UP, I’ll tell u what, to all those jerk offs that love tact defending, lets do it like this, FIFA please give people the option to use legacy online against other players that want to use legacy too, just give us the option to choose that and if they want let the others use tactical if their so confident in their ability, i guarantee you that your going to be choosing legacy 99.9% of the time.
what kind of bullshit defending is that, chase after them and stop 2metres before u get their and then u have too make a lunging tackle, which will cost you at most times and probably fall over and look like an complete idiot that cant even see, ay just speaking my mind and truth and i know most people will agree with me.
Its a dam shame, Fifa was my favorite and they ruined it like this.
(IF ITS NOT BROKEN, DONT FIX IT)
Its frustrating cause u see these real dick faces take advantage of the Tact Defending.
Fifa just give us a option seriously, if people want to play tactical then let them, but if people want to play legacy, then let us play legacy.
I cannot use tactical defending against the AI, it’s ridiculously hard to get the ball back plus you can’t get past them unless you’re great at skilling and get lucky.
Playing against mates with TD is fun because it’s so unpredictable, although I can see how seasoned Fifa players use the contain system to completely shut out the attackers.
It just doesn’t seem ready. Maybe EA should’ve focused on other features until it’s sorted. Hey, at least career mode is getting attention this year..
what happend to a hand ball and ball back to the own goalkeeper…. bring that back please. Hand ball its a foul and it does not have to be all the time that my goalkeeper holds the ball when the opponent attempts to shoot
I think that EA should focus more in fixing the problems that WessamoRonaldo and kabelo are mentioning and all the bad referee decisions regarding off side and fouls, plus a better career mode. Rather than include “new” features.
very very well said.. all we want is the crap bits sorted end of!
They need to improve the help on defence by adding more cover in AI for example if one AI goes and pressures,another should cover his spot he left open or go help contain and please fix the reaction of my 93 CB every time i want to slide tackle it crosses the ball out of bounce WTF.
Bring back legacy defending
just practise more i think its 10x better than fifa 10 when you just rushed into ppl…. ans the ppl who are moaning are just poor at the game if you where good you wouldnt be moaning.
I totally agree with you, tactical defending is much better than mindless rushing. But I would love the same physics that apply to me, to apply to the AI. There reactions and tackles seem superhuman most of the time. and fix those dumb handballs everytime I defend a corner!
Lol thats kind of a silly view to have, surely the players that play the game the most will be more aware of the imbalances in the game therefore more suited to comment on them. If you think that playing a video game more makes the imbalances disappear you dont really know what you are talking about. The only difference between fifa and other games with balance issues is that Fifa seems to not care and seem to be setting a president to include them in their game to suit the majority.
1113 wins 0 draws 215 losses mostly because it freezes i know what im talking about
but i agree about the balance though it seems the game is scripted
1113 wins 0 draws 215 losses
H2H?, UT? no draws :|
UT just play tornaments normal games are for pussies
Im in division 4 so I’m not bad at FIFA
I hate the “to make the game more realistic” argument. There is nothing realistic about Rio Ferdinand and Ledley King outpacing Theo Walcott or Emile Heskey making Messi-like runs.
I think a lot of people miss the point of legacy defending you can see a player closing you down at speed just move the ball back and play it into the space they have left behind anyway you still have to know when to press in with legacy and when not to with tactical you end up just sitting there the option for all players to use legacy on all modes should be there or create ranked matches for legacy players is this such a hardship I doubt it…..
Legacy defending system should put to a stop, as it greatly destroys build up play. It’s not intellectual defending just button smashing.
Please take away the whole shirt grabbing proccess , I hate it you could be making a great attack and you have passed the defender and suddenly they have caught you up like a bullet and start grabbing your shirt to get the ball which in FIFA rules is an instant foul so why put ur in the game it’s unfair , if it’s in FIFA 13 then I will not be buying the game and will find another football game to play because it’s absolutely ridiculous ! FIX IT EA!!!!!!!
I agree they should tone down the shirt grabbing. A little bit usually won’t get called in real life, but there seems to be constant shirt grabbing going on in the game.
are you crazy ? weak players might push the hell out of the x button during the legacy defending only, it’s easy to exploit players who do that… i’m not showing off or anything, i won two local tournaments with money prizes, i know what im talking about… i use legacy and can use tactical..
You’re saying that legacy stops you from building up play, but when i also press ” x ” in tactical , i can follow you forever , and i dare you , no , i double dare you if you can make my player move in one way and your’s in another, even if you have CR7 or Messi.. problem with tactical is that you can defend so well but from far ( 1 meters far ) , so when i want to charge , i’d have to do it manually , which makes it very very hard..
When i play legacy , trust me , i do 90% of the defending manually, i just tap the x once im close just to have a good aimed charged …
People nagging about who always press x and let the AI’s do the work, and who are trying to put a stop to legacy , then im afraid , you suck at attacking , and it’s not your opponent who’s good at defending ;) …
Either keep Legacy Defending , or improve the Charge for the ball in the Tactical defending..
Thank You For Your Time
To all the people who try to make exuse for TACT DEFENDING, SHUT THE F??? UP, I’ll tell u what, to all those jerk offs that love tact defending, lets do it like this, FIFA please give people the option to use legacy online against other players that want to use legacy too, just give us the option to choose that and if they want let the others use tactical if their so confident in their ability, i guarantee you that your going to be choosing legacy 99.9% of the time.
what kind of bullshit defending is that, chase after them and stop 2metres before u get their and then u have too make a lunging tackle, which will cost you at most times and probaly fall over and look like an complete idiot that cant even see, ay just speaking my mind and truth and i know most people will agree with me.
Its a dam shame, Fifa was my favorite and they ruined it like this.
(IF ITS NOT BROKEN, DONT FIX IT)
Its frustrating cause u see these real dick faces take advantage of the Tact Defending.
Fifa just give us a option seriously, if people want to play tactical then let them, but if people want to play legacy, then let us play legacy.
It funny how people think that legacy is just button smashing, no if it was just that the really good fifa players will get onto u like that, 1 – 2s galore and high balls, at times you have to be composed and let go of the button and read the play and the runs of the opposition aswell, and take things into your own hands, to the people who think its just button smashing obviously didn’t get ranked high enough to vs the really good fifa players, because they would punk you hard if you just button smashed
The holding down the x button way of defending is ridiculous. How can you have a defensive system where the AI does the work. When I run at a defender, I want it to be against him, my wits and reactions pitted against his, not me against him AND a computer that can more than match me. Where’s the skill in that?
Let’s just say that if Legacy defending is removed from FIFA 13 i will be buying PES this year, i don’t care about all the arguments stating that tactical defense is better, i just want to enjoy the game and tactical defense is ruining it for me.
I adored the Fifa games up until the 2011 version. When I encountered this shitty defending it bugged me so much I just stopped playin… THANKS A LOT EA… I love Anon’s proposal. It’s the only way I would buy the game again, otherwise I’m goin back to PES.
Bring back Legacy defending for online ranked matches or have both legacy and tactical defending choices available.
Stop forcing people to use tactical defending, i have never heard of a football game that forces u to do something.
Plus tactical defending aint realistic at all.
Every player is different, some players make good challenges and some don’t and make a bad challenge, that is real football.
Plus there is no excuse for the half ass 3inch sliding tackle where again u are being forced to do what they want.
Stop this nonsense, i have not bought fifa 12 because of these gay circumstances and it looks like i wont be buying Fifa 13 either, still playing fifa 11.
Time for Pro Evolution soccer 2013 which is looking good at the moment in demo 2, much more realistic game play, better graphics, more realistic shots.
Legacy defending takes absolutely zero skill. Tactical defending forces you to actually decide to stick your foot in for a tackle, just like a defender in real life would decide to tackle. Mindlessly holding down a button and magically following every single move of the forward is arcadish. It’s like having the AI decide when and how to shoot, so why allow it in defence?
With tactical defending you basically just tell the AI to control your entire defense for you and back off of the attacker until he is right by the penalty box. This is a ludicrous approach. The game has become so wrong and over thought.
Great points, Mayne. There needs to be more balance in defending. Legacy defending is totally mindless.
There are now so many variables thrown into every last element of attacking and defending that you really don’t know what you are gonna get when you press a button now. 50% of the gameplay is made up of random mistakes and poor touches. The other 50% is holding a single button down while the AI controls your defending.
Oh and as if the ref wasn’t bad enough already in Fifa 11. It took me 12 games in fifa 13 to be awarded a single free kick.
Should also mention that I’m lucky if I can even get a match online. The servers have been pathetic so far and actually crashed my game about 20 times by either freezing up in the arena of quitting at kick off.
So far this is a bit of a joke.
The reason people are upset with TD is that they cant play football, simple as that. You’re upset because against TD, you cant skill your way through an entire defense with just 1 player. Well guess what, that is NOT how football is played. Like someone mentioned above, players who just hold teammate contain all the live long day are bound to have their defenders out of place, thus giving you time and space to work 1-2’s and then go for the defense splitting pass with a through ball.
We are upset because people like me actually MANUALLY defend. It takes no skill whatsoever to hold 2 buttons and let the computer do what you CANT do. As the article points out, the game is completely broken because of this, players sidestepping keep up with players running full speed. This makes no sense at all, try to do this in a real game, you be the one sidestepping and see if you can keep up with someone running full speed. All this thing has done is make players who CANT defend on their own just go behind the ball and wait for the AI to get the ball back for them. Then just run full speed ahead in a straight line. Not to mention the shooting system is all wrong too, all you gotta do is kick it straight and hard and its a goal. Completely idiotic, the ball has no mind of its own either, it must always be attached to a player’s foot and it magically attaches to your foot if you get near it. What I propose is to make EVERYTHING manual. No automatic anything, no auto-shooting, no auto-passing, no auto-anything. Then you’ll see who the real skilled players are.
TD is way more realistic and for people who actually play and understand football, it makes FIFA much more interesting. Its a lot more realistic, and it allows for tricks that actually work IRL (like letting the ball run instead of trapping it, quick turns etc) to be employed in FIFA. With Legacy defending while you’re holding X, there’s no way in hell you’re gonna go one way, and your opponent turns the other. There’s no way in hell you’re gonna misjudge your tackle and look like a complete idiot with you tackle into nothing. And seriously, how often does a TD win a shoulder to shoulder contest against Legacy?
Tactical defending is broken down with 1-2’s and through balls, and unanticipated turns, not by spamming skills. If you’ve ever seen an actual game of football, the chances are you’re going to prefer TD.
If you want to spam skills, go play Fifa Street
TD has ruined Fifa. Players with less skill now play defensively, pile players behind the ball and hold A until there is no way to score apart from heading from a cross. Your forward no matter who he is cannot take it past the defender which makes the game a lot less enjoyable and more repetitive. After trying for a while turning and even using skill moves the defender will win the ball, hoof it upfront to the fast players who will sprint on to it and try to score on the counter attack. Why would FIFA introduce a tactic in which players are rewarded and have a better chance of winning if they just sit there holding a button? Also the new first touch gameplay makes shot spaced 1-2’s and quick finishes harder to do. In my opinion, previous games in which players could dribble past and inbetween defenders were much more enjoyable. People who are saying it makes the game better as it is more realistic are clearly the ones who use the tactics I’v just explained. I’m just hoping that they get rid of it in the next game so that these players who depend on it can again get beat in most games by players like me who manually defend and play properly
I agree Tom. It’s frustrating playing online against guys who hold down A. Sometimes I have >60% possession (mainly in my opponent’s end, not mine) and I can’t manage to get enough shots away. Then when I defend–I play proper defence–one mistake, and it’s a goal.
give us our legacy defending back. I hate playing it with tactical. please fix it
Any new updates for the month of December?
fifa is all about pace and skil moves, no one online is ever intellectual enough to create a build-up game and keep possession. That’s why you play pes
I personally hope this changes for FIFA14. It wouldn’t take too much to reduce pace abuse a little. Although I think there have been some improvements with the improved attacking AI this year (players are making smarter, more realistic runs going forward).
It takes time to react.
Great article Craig.
Sometimes I find it more fun to play vs the computer on World Class, than play online against a “Contain Defender”. It’s a shame because online has the potential to be so much more spontaneous and diverse.
Contain is for noobs, i wish it would be disabled in Seasons. Just manual Jockey option, thats skill. No more auto stealing balls