What do you think about the "marking" tactics in PES 21/football life?

[Zorkanne]

I've always struggled with soccer games, but recently I’ve discovered a simple strategy that’s completely changed how I play. To mimic the AI’s aggressiveness, I started assigning markings: defenders stick to the nearest attackers, with one or two left free to cover the center. I also set my DMF to mark the AMF and CMFs to the opponent's CMFs when they’re close enough.

Since making this change, I’ve noticed a massive improvement. I can now hold my own on Top Player difficulty and dominate Professional matches, something I could never do before. Previously, my teammates felt way too passive. it was like playing 1-2 vs. 10! Now, I'm passively pressuring passing lanes (I'm just content by holding X on my controlled player, like old times lol), my defense feels much more solid. The downside that I can clearly see though is that my defensive formation goes haywire at times and barely looks like anything.

Interestingly, when I researched this marking technique, I found it’s not as widely embraced as I expected. In some Reddit threads, people even criticize it, though without much explanation. What do you guys think about this mechanic? Do you use it in your gameplay? If so, how do you implement it effectively?

 

[akidaram]

Yes. It’s useful to mark dangerous forwards. For example Haaland is a must to mark for me. When you give him the slightest chance, he’ll score some impossible goals. But when you mark him, you can counter him that way. It’s best to mark using players with countering attributes imo. For example with Haaland, you want to mark him using a strong and quick player like him in order to be able to hold him the most.