Zonal Marking

[Wonderwall]

It will be interesting to see how we organise when the opposition take a short corner, or spray the ball to the edge of the box on the deck.

[john@staustell]

This is why we are not football managers, no one mentioned this before mancini got here. All the defenders are shit we was saying? maybe this small detail was hughes downfall? maybe the defenders we bought are more suited to zonal marking rather than man 2 man?

Because the defence looks so calm and controlled, The reason i think zonal works "if" you have defenders that are very good in the air is that the defenders also get a running jump at the ball rather than man 2 man where you get your shirt tugged or peter crouch is leaning all over you.

Have to say it needs more practice but i can see lescott finding zonal a piece of cake with his heading abillity?

I still recon Toure, Ned, Zabba & Bridge are shit in the air. This just possibly gives us more chance of getting away with it.

That's right - depends on who's in the zones!!

Leeds won the league with zonal marking because they did it well.

Liverpool are shite at it!

[13021J]

As somebody has said before our man-to-man marking wasn't an astonishing success so why not try something else? Mancini has his own ideas and strategy which is great, lets not get too angry though when we concede from a set piece which WILL inevitably happen at some point.

[Ted Hughes]

As somebody has said before our man-to-man marking wasn't an astonishing success so why not try something else? Mancini has his own ideas and strategy which is great, lets not get too angry though when we concede from a set piece which WILL inevitably happen at some point.

We've got Sam Allardyce & the Everton humpalumpers soon, not to mention David Wheater at Boro so this period will test it against some real lump, elbow & hoof specialists. If it stands up then I recon we can say we no longer have a problem. If they take the piss, then it's back to the drawing board.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

This is why we are not football managers, no one mentioned this before mancini got here. All the defenders are shit we was saying? maybe this small detail was hughes downfall? maybe the defenders we bought are more suited to zonal marking rather than man 2 man?

Because the defence looks so calm and controlled, The reason i think zonal works "if" you have defenders that are very good in the air is that the defenders also get a running jump at the ball rather than man 2 man where you get your shirt tugged or peter crouch is leaning all over you.

Have to say it needs more practice but i can see lescott finding zonal a piece of cake with his heading abillity?

no one said eh? I lost breath trying to repeat that there's fuck all wrong with the players we have got. Sure there are better defender's in the world but we should be more than able to challenge top four with our defenders.

Our defenders are suited to either system. Problem was, I believe, that we weren't training set piece routines enough. We always looked like players themselves more or less decided who and how they are marking, in classic pub league style. Leading constantly into situations where there were players unmarked in our box.

[Ted Hughes]

This is why we are not football managers, no one mentioned this before mancini got here. All the defenders are shit we was saying? maybe this small detail was hughes downfall? maybe the defenders we bought are more suited to zonal marking rather than man 2 man?

Because the defence looks so calm and controlled, The reason i think zonal works "if" you have defenders that are very good in the air is that the defenders also get a running jump at the ball rather than man 2 man where you get your shirt tugged or peter crouch is leaning all over you.

Have to say it needs more practice but i can see lescott finding zonal a piece of cake with his heading abillity?

no one said eh? I lost breath trying to repeat that there's fuck all wrong with the players we have got. Sure there are better defender's in the world but we should be more than able to challenge top four with our defenders.

Our defenders are suited to either system. Problem was, I believe, that we weren't training set piece routines enough. We always looked like players themselves more or less decided who and how they are marking, in classic pub league style. Leading constantly into situations where there were players unmarked in our box.

I think we've lost a lot of headers to people who were marked, just because they're better & stronger. This method of players attacking the ball may help that. Fletcher for instance may not have scored if Barry was charging at him & jumping rather than standing next to him & getting held off/ beaten.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

It will be interesting to see how we organise when the opposition take a short corner, or spray the ball to the edge of the box on the deck.

that's why you tend to have one of your short and quick players as 'runner' or free player if you will in that system. He stands about ten yards from penalty spot towards corner and his duty is to run towards ball if corners are taken short. If it's passed towards edge of the box again he will run to cover the shot. If it's high ball into six yard box, he'll try to help however is marking that area.

Last night it seemed Bellamy was used in this role most of the time. In future SWP will be made for that role.

[Nick]

Thats a point, what the fuck is with stevie ireland?!?!?!

[the_georgian_genius]

Zonal Marking is the easiest way of defending set pieces. If the opposistion scores from a set piece, it isn't the systems fault, it is the players not doing their job, just like they wouldn't be doing their job if they were man marking.

[stockportblue]

Whatever system you use maybe the most important thing is to have at least one centre half who takes responsibility and attacks the ball?

[Blue Since 76]

I think mancini is clever enough to find a system which works both for the players available and the opponents. If an Italian can't sort ourdefence, we need to sell all the players and start again.

Against stoke, we flooded the area with bodies, stopping them getting a run at the ball. Last night was a slight adaptation and I'd expect something more sophisticated by the end of Jan, starting with a centre half who attacks the ball.

You do have to wonder what the tafia were up to, as he's sorted it in 4 days. Maybe hughes' biggest fault was loyalty to coaches who weren't up to it.

[Original Dub]

We haven't learned to zonal mark in one week.

We may have entered into the principals of it, but that's about it. New manager syndrome and a bit of luck have helped us at set pieces IMO. Maybe it will be clear as day as we learn and practice it, whther it is a good or bad thing, but there's no way can begin to comment on it now.

[mcfc1632]

To be honest I'm not entirely convinced that it's the way forward but so far so good and it's better than not defending at all.

my scouse mate hates it and reckons that why liverpool are so poor at the back.
benitez sticks by it religously.
im not sure though either , it will be differnet against decent strikers.

Yeah - but perhaps we just need to be a bit flexible - Zonal marking is our way but against certain teams at set plays - e.g. Villa / Carew - we have special plans in place to deal with that

[Kladze]

Zonal marking, when understood and carried out properly, is a perfectly acceptable way to defend a set piece - providing common sense is also applied.

As in:

1) A zone never scored a goal.
2) Each defender must mark the players within his zone and those close to it.
3) Each defender must follow the flight of the ball and attack both the ball and opposition players.
4) The central 'box' of four defenders (once well drilled) must act as a unit.
5) Once the ball has cleared the penalty area all players must make a more determined effort than usual to follow it out.

[carl_feedthegoat]

SHORT, LONG TERM , WHO FUCKING CARES, THE FACT IS WE WERE DIRE IN DEFENSE AND THIS SYSTEM HAS WORKED FOR US.
I PERSONALY THINK IT WORKED A TREAT, THERE AGAIN ANY SYSTEM WAS BETTER THAN RELYING JUST ON THE BACK 4 AND I THINK WE WILL CONTINUE WITH THIS UNTIL IT ALL GOES PEAR SHAPED!

[9secondlegend]

To be honest I'm not entirely convinced that it's the way forward but so far so good and it's better than not defending at all.

my scouse mate hates it and reckons that why liverpool are so poor at the back.
benitez sticks by it religously.
im not sure though either , it will be differnet against decent strikers.

Yeah - but perhaps we just need to be a bit flexible - Zonal marking is our way but against certain teams at set plays - e.g. Villa / Carew - we have special plans in place to deal with that

yep definitley.
if we can learn to do both zonal and man mark in certain situations in theory we should be unbeatable!! haha
the thing about liverpool , i think , is that benitez wont change it and the players he has got now across the back cant use that system.

[Longball]

its like any system- u rely on the intelligence of yr players (cough)-its a system is all- ill wait for at least ten games n then see

[Longball]

its like any system- u rely on the intelligence of yr players (cough)-its a system is all- ill wait for at least ten games n then see

[Ted Hughes]

We haven't learned to zonal mark in one week.

We may have entered into the principals of it, but that's about it. New manager syndrome and a bit of luck have helped us at set pieces IMO. Maybe it will be clear as day as we learn and practice it, whther it is a good or bad thing, but there's no way can begin to comment on it now.

The zonal thing is just part of it. We were attacking the ball more rather than just standing still & we were getting more bodies into the box thus winning more 2nd balls. Negative but probably neccessary. As I posted before, we've got Everton, Blackburn etc on the horizon though so those will be the true test of whether it really works.