How to defend the spin in FC 27: centre-back, sprint jockey and 2v1

The standard advice, defend with your midfielders and leave the back line to the AI, is right most of the time. A midfielder in front of the ball cuts passing lanes and keeps your shape intact. What the advice leaves out is the exception: the moment the midfielder is too late to matter.

That moment looks like this. The striker already has the ball at his feet and your centre-back is the only man between him and the goal, while you're still bringing a midfielder back. Stay on the midfielder and the duel that decides the attack is being played by the AI, which is how the striker finds the space he needs for a shot. This is the 1v1 you take yourself: switch to the centre-back.

Taking control isn't the same as attacking the ball. Your opponent is spinning precisely to bait a tackle, so the centre-back's first task is to stay at a distance and read where the turn goes. The decision has two branches. If the midfielder can still get there, stay with him and drop. If he's out of it and the centre-back is in a 1v1, switch and defend it manually.

Once you've got the centre-back, you need to move him well without overshooting, while tracking the striker's movement from a distance. A common mistake is trying to reach the attacker with R2 alone, never pressing L2. You run straight past him, lose your position completely and by the time you correct it, he's gone round the other side and scored.

For those changes of direction, use the sprint jockey, also known as the crab walk. Hold L2 to jockey and add R2. Now you move sideways and adjust to whatever the attacker does. Guessing where he'll go is hard, so don't guess: move with him and don't stick a foot in. The first aim is just to stay in front of him.

Two things make this easier:

• Analog Sprint turned on. It lets you control your speed by how hard you press R2. Press harder and you run faster; press lightly and you slow down. You rarely need R2 all the way in. A light press matches your speed to his, so you recover ground without drifting away from him.
• The Jockey PlayStyle on your defender. The sprint jockey becomes faster and more precise, and switching from jockey to sprint, from L2 alone to R2 alone, is quicker too. It's what lets you correct after a spin and win the ball with a standing tackle.

Even a well-moved centre-back loses his share of 1v1s against a spinning attacker: one clean turn and he's facing goal. So don't leave it as a 1v1. While your centre-back jockeys, hold R1 and the AI brings the nearest team-mate in to press. Now the attacker has two exits and a defender on each, the one you control and the one R1 sent. That's the sandwich.

The whole thing depends on angles. Two defenders arriving from the same side leave the far side open, and you're back to a 1v1 with worse spacing. You want your centre-back on one exit and the second man on the other, so the spin runs into a body whichever way it goes. From there you can win it with a standing tackle or let him dribble into you. Your part is keeping the manual defender where the AI pressure needs him to be.

The three tools in order:

• The centre-back, when the midfielder is late.
• The crab walk, to follow the spin and stay in front.
• The second man press with R1, to make it a 2v1.

Where exactly to stand against the turn, and how to recognise the moment to tackle instead of diving in, are the two Basic plan chapters, in “When to tackle in FC 27”. The model these three tools sit inside, which areas to protect and why the midfielder goes first, is in “How to defend in FC 27: protect the middle, then win the ball”. And if Analog Sprint or the rest of your controller settings aren't set up yet, start with “FC 27 defensive settings: what each one does and how to choose”.