Topic: Defense

[Wells5252]

Now to discuss practically the hardest part of foosbal, defense. I know the bait and switch tactic is basically the norm, can anyone give any other suggestions or insight on playing better defense. My offense is progressing well but on the rare occasion I get beat by my friends, its because my defense isn't up to par. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks

[SumnerH]

Now to discuss practically the hardest part of foosbal, defense. I know the bait and switch tactic is basically the norm, can anyone give any other suggestions or insight on playing better defense. My offense is progressing well but on the rare occasion I get beat by my friends, its because my defense isn't up to par. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.sport.table-soccer/browse_frm/thread/82661435a7db3246/8880e2e9f1851581?q=mongoose&rnum=1#8880e2e9f1851581
has some of my thoughts and people's responses.

I've formulated the cardinal rule of blocking:

If you are getting beat consistently, change what you are doing.

That's the most important thing.  Don't let them keep shooting against something they're comfortable with.

Some ideas for different motion defenses:
1. There are at least 2 different styles: a fast shake defense where you are just trying to move randomly back and forth, and a slower, stinting defense where you'll stop one man or the other for longer periods and move at random times.  Learn to play both styles, and switch it up between them if one isn't working.
2. Think about standard vs. reverse defenses; normally against a good pull shooter, you want to stay with a standard defense.  But crossing quickly to a reverse once in a while isn't the worst idea (especially if you don't actually cross the men over but just bring in the far man on the 2-rod).  Against a snake, if you normally switch back and forth try going with just one or the other--especially just a reverse against many shooters.
3. If they are hitting mostly one side or the other, spend more time camping there.  Ideally, you want to force them to hit all the holes in order to score.
4. Know the holes that people prefer.  Pull shooters tend to prefer straight and long (the long may be a spray or 4-hole) over the split.  Roller shooters normally prefer long push, long pull, and straight over the 2 and 4 holes.  Start from there, watch their shot through the match to learn if, say, they have a spray push but a square pull or whatever, and adjust.

Last, a thought on racing:
If you can race them, you can block a very high percentage--so you're better off starting with a moving defense and only switching to a race once you've seen them enough to know you can block them.  That way, you still have a good chance at blocking them the first couple of possessions, and presumably you'll block very well when you switch to a race.  If you try racing first, you're giving free goals to a much better caliber of shooter who you're probably not going to shut down completely no matter what.

So always start with a sophisticated defense first, and only race after seeing their shot a time or two and figuring out if a race is worthwhile.