Man Marking or Zonal defending

A hybrid is by far the best. Zonal for the most part with 1/2 runners that attack key danger areas or mark danger men. I'm not comfortable with us going to man marking, it's obvious we haven't got it right yet but even when we do we'll be letting in more goals from set pieces than we're used to.

Little sidenote, Why on earth did we insist on every man back behind the ball for set pieces against Hull? If they're not on the posts what is the point in having a Silva/Navas/Aguero/Nasri etc back defending when they are of no use in the air whatsoever? Just stick them all on the have way line, it will force 4/5 players back out of our box making it easier to defend or for the keeper to come and claim and we'll have that devastating counter attack threat.
 
ninjamonkey said:
Little sidenote, Why on earth did we insist on every man back behind the ball for set pieces against Hull? If they're not on the posts what is the point in having a Silva/Navas/Aguero/Nasri etc back defending when they are of no use in the air whatsoever? Just stick them all on the have way line, it will force 4/5 players back out of our box making it easier to defend or for the keeper to come and claim and we'll have that devastating counter attack threat.
It's probably worth a thread of its own but it's a question that's often asked.
If we keep three up then they've got to keep four back. If our three are speed merchants (Navas and erm, White and SWP) then they might keep more back. But very few clubs do it, certainly nobody leaves three up, so I assume coaches believe a crowded penalty area works to the advantage of the defending team. Certainly all the pushing and shoving rarely results in a penalty even when a defending player clearly holds an attacker.
 
East Level 2 said:
ninjamonkey said:
Little sidenote, Why on earth did we insist on every man back behind the ball for set pieces against Hull? If they're not on the posts what is the point in having a Silva/Navas/Aguero/Nasri etc back defending when they are of no use in the air whatsoever? Just stick them all on the have way line, it will force 4/5 players back out of our box making it easier to defend or for the keeper to come and claim and we'll have that devastating counter attack threat.
It's probably worth a thread of its own but it's a question that's often asked.
If we keep three up then they've got to keep four back. If our three are speed merchants (Navas and erm, White and SWP) then they might keep more back. But very few clubs do it, certainly nobody leaves three up, so I assume coaches believe a crowded penalty area works to the advantage of the defending team. Certainly all the pushing and shoving rarely results in a penalty even when a defending player clearly holds an attacker.
I think the theory is that a crowded penalty area makes getting a free run at the ball harder for all concerned; that works to the advantage of the defending team because preventing the attacking team from getting a free run at the ball is one of the primary objectives of the defence at set pieces.

And, as you say, it's easy to get away with fouling the attacking side and probably easier the more bodies there are in there (as even a blatant obstruction/shirt pull/etc may well not be spotted clearly).
 
ninjamonkey said:
A hybrid is by far the best. Zonal for the most part with 1/2 runners that attack key danger areas or mark danger men. I'm not comfortable with us going to man marking, it's obvious we haven't got it right yet but even when we do we'll be letting in more goals from set pieces than we're used to.

Little sidenote, Why on earth did we insist on every man back behind the ball for set pieces against Hull? If they're not on the posts what is the point in having a Silva/Navas/Aguero/Nasri etc back defending when they are of no use in the air whatsoever? Just stick them all on the have way line, it will force 4/5 players back out of our box making it easier to defend or for the keeper to come and claim and we'll have that devastating counter attack threat.

Absolutely. Though in my opinion it should be with 2 or 3 man-marking the best opposition headers.
 
Under Bobby we didn't always use zonal. We used it for corners and some free kicks but not for all free kicks and I never quite worked out what the cut off for going man was. Anybody suss it out?
 
With the right men in defence I'd definitely say man marking. Yes, you're always one step behind but with the right men you're two steps ahead with positioning of the man marking. Zonal marking allows a little space for the opposition to attack the ball and although you have an idea you don't know which danger man it would be. The lower teams will get lucky occasionally when you're man marking but with zonal you struggle against the bigger teams more because they will always know which zone to attack.
 
To note, Demichelis and Nasty are the perfect man markers. Kompany is the leader who tells which defender to mark which man. If that man scores, then that defender is at fault. If zonal then its which man into which zone and with the opposition choosing which man to attack based on their zone
 

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top
  AdBlock Detected
Bluemoon relies on advertising to pay our hosting fees. Please support the site by disabling your ad blocking software to help keep the forum sustainable. Thanks.