proper use of the fence to manage the situation.
These are not things that can be learnt in one easy lesson, they need to be drilled repeatedly over time so they become second nature.
Many people are using too much distance in the verbal phase - the attacker will not give you distance from which you enter - he will enter using verbal and you will aleady be in hand range. Get the fence up and line up your PE.
We get round this by practicing the lead hand contact to the attacker and launching from there. This is something we need to drill regularly otherwise you PEs won't be fully functional.
