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Everyone is sorta dancing around the actual cause here.
It's not result of engine braking which reduces fuel consumption.
It's the fact that the TPS senses that the throttle is closed which matters. At a closed TPS position, the DME only injects fuel sufficiently to keep the engine from stalling. Another downside to engine braking is that you can over time have a greater buildup of carbon in the valve train because of the lack of fuel being injected (this fuel partly aids in cooling the valves).
Practice lifting off the throttle and coasting to bleed off energy before applying the Brakes so you are dissipating the kinetic energy through rolling resistance instead of through the clutch and frictional forces in the drivetrain.
Agreed, you can engine brake efficiently and minimize excessive wear to the drivetrain. But, this requires doing it right each and every time. Most people, even after extensive practice, cannot do this consistently, partly because no two stops are ever exactly the same.
But, with coasting, you're usually off the throttle much sooner than with engine braking and so will probably save more fuel using this technique than engine braking over the long run.
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