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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.

Too many mistakes and lapses of concentration the other way so it's definitely worth a try and 180 minutes with no goals works for me.

King Kev wrote: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.

King Kev wrote: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.

I thought we dealt quite well with set plays today and against Stoke. It will be interesting to see how we deal with it when teams sus us out and have time to prepare for playing against the new system.

zonal marking works if and only if trained properly.

if the managers explains it right and the players know exactly where and when they are defending its a really good system.

mancini used this at inter and has it nailed so he should have no issues getting the players doing it spot on.

personally i'm all for it and 180 minutes of clean sheet goodness prove it works!!

9secondlegend wrote:

King Kev wrote: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.

Liverpool's problem certainly isnt a defensive one, it is that the manager sets out to not concede and plays so fucking negative all over the pitch

I think it likely that it may be that we will play different against decent strikers. However what I did like is that if you fill the 6 yard box, it makes the corner taker hit it out to the penalty spot - more often than not the opposition may win the ball as they did tonight, but being so far out will fuck it up.

Get one or two players with the awareness to stand on the edge of the 6 yd box and go and challenge the ball whichever direction it goes, and at least get in the way, and the zonal system could work.

2 clean sheets says it works. Lets see how long it lasts though.

It is only ever highlighted at Liverpool when it doesn't work and when they concede from a set piece it is always blamed on zonal marking. I think it can work but expect it to be blamed when we do concede from a set piece.

It will be interesting to see whether Mancini plays zonal against every attack but for the first time in years the defence has looked pretty solid in the last two games and very solid against set plays.

johnpb78 wrote:

9secondlegend wrote:

King Kev wrote: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.

Liverpool's problem certainly isnt a defensive one, it is that the manager sets out to not concede and plays so fucking negative all over the pitch

I think it likely that it may be that we will play different against decent strikers. However what I did like is that if you fill the 6 yard box, it makes the corner taker hit it out to the penalty spot - more often than not the opposition may win the ball as they did tonight, but being so far out will fuck it up.

Get one or two players with the awareness to stand on the edge of the 6 yd box and go and challenge the ball whichever direction it goes, and at least get in the way, and the zonal system could work.

2 clean sheets says it works. Lets see how long it lasts though.

With zonal marking as you rightly pointed out with so many defenders in the six yard box it makes the corner taker hit it out to the penalty spot, but then the beauty of it is their players who are on the penalty spot are static jumping where as our players can run and jump towards it and gain a much better height advantage. You also get the two guys on each post. A big improvement!

Strangely enough, I mentioned this after our last game, but no-one answered. I thought I was watching a different game?

It is the easist way to defend, and most logical for us as no one person wants to take responsibility!

edge275 wrote:

johnpb78 wrote:

9secondlegend wrote:

King Kev wrote: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.

Liverpool's problem certainly isnt a defensive one, it is that the manager sets out to not concede and plays so fucking negative all over the pitch

I think it likely that it may be that we will play different against decent strikers. However what I did like is that if you fill the 6 yard box, it makes the corner taker hit it out to the penalty spot - more often than not the opposition may win the ball as they did tonight, but being so far out will fuck it up.

Get one or two players with the awareness to stand on the edge of the 6 yd box and go and challenge the ball whichever direction it goes, and at least get in the way, and the zonal system could work.

2 clean sheets says it works. Lets see how long it lasts though.

With zonal marking as you rightly pointed out with so many defenders in the six yard box it makes the corner taker hit it out to the penalty spot, but then the beauty of it is their players who are on the penalty spot are static jumping where as our players can run and jump towards it and gain a much better height advantage. You also get the two guys on each post. A big improvement!

Therein lies the beauty of how I think Mancini has taught it to the players. I may be wrong but I'm sure our defenders marking the penalty spot zone started on the edge of the 6 yard box and attacked the spot negating any difference between standing and running jumps. As you say Edge, if taught and executed properly it is a highly effective method of defending set pieces.

Beefymcfc wrote:Strangely enough, I mentioned this after our last game, but no-one answered. I thought I was watching a different game?

It is the easist way to defend, and most logical for us as no one person wants to take responsibility!

Haha not necessarily!

"Who was marking that area!?"

"Not me" x10

edge275 wrote:

johnpb78 wrote:

9secondlegend wrote:

King Kev wrote: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.

Liverpool's problem certainly isnt a defensive one, it is that the manager sets out to not concede and plays so fucking negative all over the pitch

I think it likely that it may be that we will play different against decent strikers. However what I did like is that if you fill the 6 yard box, it makes the corner taker hit it out to the penalty spot - more often than not the opposition may win the ball as they did tonight, but being so far out will fuck it up.

Get one or two players with the awareness to stand on the edge of the 6 yd box and go and challenge the ball whichever direction it goes, and at least get in the way, and the zonal system could work.

2 clean sheets says it works. Lets see how long it lasts though.

With zonal marking as you rightly pointed out with so many defenders in the six yard box it makes the corner taker hit it out to the penalty spot, but then the beauty of it is their players who are on the penalty spot are static jumping where as our players can run and jump towards it and gain a much better height advantage. You also get the two guys on each post. A big improvement!

Aside from that, if the ball does come back in, we have the bodies already in place who have been stood in roughly the same spot they started in and seen what is going on around them. What I mean by this is that if you are chasing a player around the box man-marking them, you have little appreciation of what is going on around you so when the ball drops you are reacting - not anticipating. Thus when the 2nd ball is there to be won, if you are reasonably static you have a much better spacial awareness and thus should be able to anticipate rather than react and this has to give you an edge on the striker.

There will always be the striker like Torres who will anticipate better than you, but hey-ho that will always be the case - look how easily he scored against us playing the other way at corners/set pieces

Like I said, no system is perfect but I can see the benefits at the moment.

9secondlegend wrote: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.

they've been shite at it this season no one can doubt, but they've done it ever since he's been managing them, and they had traditionally been a nightmare to break through in years gone by. typical media spiel, when teams do it successfully no one says a thing but as soon as it goes wrong its all down to zonal marking.

edge275 wrote:

Beefymcfc wrote:Strangely enough, I mentioned this after our last game, but no-one answered. I thought I was watching a different game?

It is the easist way to defend, and most logical for us as no one person wants to take responsibility!

Haha not necessarily!

"Who was marking that area!?"

"Not me" x10

Ha ha, 'Wasn't me neither'.

As most willl understand, it's for either players wo haven't got a clue or for a team who can't take responsibility; it's a building block which |i'm glad to say Mancio is utilising. Still, I wouldn't want to see them sort of tactics against a decent team!

colonel_muck wrote:

9secondlegend wrote: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.

they've been shite at it this season no one can doubt, but they've done it ever since he's been managing them, and they had traditionally been a nightmare to break through in years gone by. typical media spiel, when teams do it successfully no one says a thing but as soon as it goes wrong its all down to zonal marking.

DIDNT THE BINDIPPERS HAVE THE BEST DEFENSE LAST SEASON?

carl_feedthegoat wrote:

colonel_muck wrote:

9secondlegend wrote: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.

they've been shite at it this season no one can doubt, but they've done it ever since he's been managing them, and they had traditionally been a nightmare to break through in years gone by. typical media spiel, when teams do it successfully no one says a thing but as soon as it goes wrong its all down to zonal marking.

DIDNT THE BINDIPPERS HAVE THE BEST DEFENSE LAST SEASON?

Yes. At set pieces anyway.

edge275 wrote:

carl_feedthegoat wrote:

colonel_muck wrote:

9secondlegend wrote: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.

they've been shite at it this season no one can doubt, but they've done it ever since he's been managing them, and they had traditionally been a nightmare to break through in years gone by. typical media spiel, when teams do it successfully no one says a thing but as soon as it goes wrong its all down to zonal marking.

DIDNT THE BINDIPPERS HAVE THE BEST DEFENSE LAST SEASON?

Yes. At set pieces anyway.

They came in 3rd for goals against I think, but scored more than any other. Their problem was to many draws (double figures I seem to remember, similar to Arsenal). However, if you looked at their system of play post Xmas, they played Gerard in a more forward role and a more attacking outfit that seemed to stop teams from putting pressure on the back 4.

Problem with Zonal Marking is if you come up against a forward who makes the right run at the right time they have a clear run at goal without the interference of a defender tugging and pushing if they were man marking. But seen as though our defenders lose their man so often its worth a go at zonal