Zonal marking

[Prando]

Back in the day when I played CH at my lowly amateur leagues man marking was paramount. Every defender exactly who they were marking and ensured they did not get a free header.
It seems to me that this modern zonal marking system failed yesterday with Swansea having freedom in the box.
Sadly whilst delighted with 3 points, we were in fact fortunate not to lose…never mind draw.

[Omegstrat6]

Tend to agree with you. You see a lot of zonal marking these days and so often you can see the opportunities this creates for the attacking side. I know the concept is supposed to allow for greater tactical flexibility and ground coverage but it also demands far better game reading from defensive players. Given the quality of our defensive play I think I'd prefer old fashioned man marking too!

[DaveP67 is back!]

Defending set pieces should be straightforward, the big fellas pick up the big fellas, we failed to do that yesterday, thankfully when Bartley came on we at least had someone who attacked the ball.

[Bombers right foot]

Zonal marking ridiculous, never seen fresh air score a goal yet, even worse defending than ours was Southampton, Norwich and Stoke

[saltnshake]

Back in the day when I played CH at my lowly amateur leagues man marking was paramount. Every defender exactly who they were marking and ensured they did not get a free header.
It seems to me that this modern zonal marking system failed yesterday with Swansea having freedom in the box.
Sadly whilst delighted with 3 points, we were in fact fortunate not to lose…never mind draw.

Totally agree your best headers should be attacking the ball rather than trying to jump from a standing start also having lots of defender's in the way makes it difficult for the goalkeeper to come and punch the ball.

[Leicesterbaggie]

I have to agree with all the above posts, man for man marking for me.

[mickd1961]

Willie Johnston was scathing about zonal stuff when Don Howe tried to introduce it, he told Howe it was absolute b o l l o x.

In Sunday football we always man marked but we’d use somebody as a wildcard to make a run at the area the cross was aimed into so they could arrive with momentum.

I always preferred to be just a little more than touch tight on the player I was marking.

I’m my younger days when I played up front I didn’t like to be man marked at set pieces so I always made a long run across the face of goal and attacked the near post.

I don’t get what coaches see in zonal marking.

[DaveP67 is back!]

Willie Johnston was scathing about zonal stuff when Don Howe tried to introduce it, he told Howe it was absolute b o l l o x.

In Sunday football we always man marked but we’d use somebody as a wildcard to make a run at the area the cross was aimed into so they could arrive with momentum.

I always preferred to be just a little more than touch tight on the player I was marking.

I’m my younger days when I played up front I didn’t like to be man marked at set pieces so I always made a long run across the face of goal and attacked the near post.

I don’t get what coaches see in zonal marking.

That’s how we should play man for man with the best header of the ball free to attack it.

[mickd1961]

That’s how we should play man for man with the best header of the ball free to attack it.

I couldn’t agree more Dave.

[wbaliquidator]

I’ve always thought that Zonal marking is used an easy excuse for lazy uncommitted players to shirk any responsibilities when defending. Easy to blame the system, or each other.