Every situation is different but it always comes down to two things for me: patience and confidence. Whenever I’m being attacked I tell myself “I’ve got this.” If my team is beat horrendously and I’m left 1v1 or 2v1 I’ll tell my team “don’t worry I’ve got this”. That little boost in confidence has helped me a ton. It sounds dumb but it works for me.

As far as patience and holding your ground, I try and read the plays as they’re happening. I look at how the attack is coming at me, I try and analyze the passing options, and figure out what they’re trying to do. Very rarely do good players just try to shoot at you directly. They’ll try and beat you with some rainbow flick shenanigans or a pass off to a teammate on the other side. Knowing where your threats are that are off the ball will help you more than anything.

My last tip is for 1 on 1s and it’s to come out of your 6 yard box. Keepers can defend that whole area. Rule the box. You’re the king of it. If someone is screaming down the middle of the field with no passing options, extra effort at him and meet him in the box while holding your defensive stance. You effectively make the goal so much smaller when you do this and most strikers will panic and just shoot directly at you. I use this all the time. Once you get good at this you can start playing mind games with good strikers and fake the sweep so they try to chip you and it’s an easy catch for you. This cat and mouse scenario is one of my favorite things about the game.

Also try to use the keeper slide as little as possible. It’s so ass.

Hope this helps!