Re: FIFA 08 (Next Gen Chat)
At snoop regarding definsive positioning,
I use a method whereby i "connect" my defenders to players even when they dont have the ball. Say you have a winger (comp) and you are running along with him, he then passes it infield to a nearby AM. Instead of keeping you current player and going over to the AM you let the defender stay with the winger by selecting someone else (even if they are slightly further away) and then pressure the AM with the ball. And continue in that way untill you can get a strong player to "tackle" the ball away. In this way even if they keep possesion your AI will continue to mark the last player you were with (the winger in this example) meaning that, depending how good you get, they end up not having many options anymore and you can usually smother them, the ball, away with numbers and good positioning. In the beginning i had a lot of the ball and a couple of shots but they could always manage to get a free player in attack and usually punish me for it. However once i started "zonal marking" or whatever you want to call it in ingame (not a tactic in the options) you notice your AI defenders running and marking the winger, AM, etc. Lightens your work as you dont have to constantly be running after the player in possesion and it means you can get decent tackle angles, when changing player, to take the ball off of them.
Give it a try, if you havent already, you will notice your last selected player mark the last marked player and keep with his runs and movement. Its really intellegent. In PES you could mark the passing lanes and control them that way, but in fifa they also stick with the players which is another step up.