Zonal Marking

[whendayearendsin1]

Poyet hinted at changes after Villa and today they happened, for all the corners we went zonal.

I am not a big fan of this system, beacuse the opp player always has a running jump, however Liverpool use it quite a lot and it seems to work for them.

Hopefully it works for us.

 

[tottenham4life]

what zone did robbo have

 

[antti19]

what zone did robbo have

:rofl:

 

[tottenham4life]

just heard what zone robbo had and it was the parking zone outside white hart lane train station

 

[hodspurs]

dont like it.what happens if theres 2 men in your zone? or if there is no one in your zone, do you go in to another zone?.
but i'm happy for them to try anything at the moment...
letting a goal in from a corner could soon be known as the hotspur!!! 'man united have just consided a goal from a hotspur!!!!'

 

[tottenham4life]

What struck me the other day was is no one is diving in our penalty area as it is easier to play for a corner or free kick cos it is a better scoring opportunity

 

[alamo]

We played a zonal marking system under BMJ. And then you end up conceding goals like when Adebeyor was up against Bale from a free kick swung into the box. However, seeing as our defenders and midfield can't seem to track a man for the life of them it's a bit of a no win situation!

 

[ckafetz]

Noticed they had no one on the posts for corners as well today. I guess that was because they wanted more men marking?

 

[phil]

Noticed they had no one on the posts for corners as well today. I guess that was because they wanted more men marking?

Yes, I noticed that as well. Under BMJ (zonal system) we use to cover one post. When Ramos arrived, we began having both posts covered, then one and now none. Actually, we defended corners o.k. yesterday.

 

[Flatters]

just heard what zone robbo had and it was the parking zone outside white hart lane train station

You should become a stand-up comic. Seriously. Fucking hilarious.

 

[wirE]

Seen this been suggested on several spurs forums for the last couple of weeks.
Imo this could be a good thing.

 

[chrissivad]

dont like it.what happens if theres 2 men in your zone? or if there is no one in your zone, do you go in to another zone?.
but i'm happy for them to try anything at the moment...
letting a goal in from a corner could soon be known as the hotspur!!! 'man united have just consided a goal from a hotspur!!!!'

It doesn't matter how many are in your zone, you just need to win the ball.

 

[gavspur]

when we had Carrick, Jol always put him facing the corner taker near post, not marking but for clearing anything that came near him...I always thought 'thatsbloody good thinking'..A, because Carrick was reasonably tall, and a pretty decent headerer of the ball...and B, he was the most natural quick thinking player we had, therefore whatever height it came to him or speed, he pretty much always got clear of it..And I noticed as soon as Carrick went that Jol didn't have anyone doing that job for him, more recently they've had Berbs doing that role, but, he's not as discplined as Carrick in doing those sort of jobs for the team...I'd have thought Hudd would be better there and Berbs in the middle trying to stop defenders scoring against us!!

 

[PYiddy]

dont like it.what happens if theres 2 men in your zone? or if there is no one in your zone, do you go in to another zone?.
but i'm happy for them to try anything at the moment...
letting a goal in from a corner could soon be known as the hotspur!!! 'man united have just consided a goal from a hotspur!!!!'

You stay in your zone and deal with the ball if it comes in your area. it doesnt matter if no one is in your zone. If you moved position because there was no one in your zone, that would be man marking.

i thought it worked quite well. Not my favourite way of defending a set piece, but if our problem is our defenders loosing their man, why not incorperate a system where u dont have to stay on someone?

 

[nicdic]

The upside of zonal marking over man marking, is now our players should be concentrating on attacking the ball, rather than following their attacker. We never got anywhere near corners before, because our defenders were only concentrating on their man, rather than going for the ball themselves. Any attacker with half decent movement would always get to the ball before one of our defenders.

 

[thejames]

Just found this. Interesting reading.

When defending set-pieces would you mark a player or operate a zonal system?
The Liverpool rearguard is one of the meanest around, but their defending regularly comes under scrutiny with boss Rafael Benitez favouring defending zones rather than marking players.
It doesn't always come off though with some players confused over their duties.
Former FA technical director Howard Wilkinson and ex-Liverpool defender Alan Hansen explain why they agree with Benitez's methods.

WHAT IS ZONAL DEFENDING?
"In zonal defending, you don't mark a man, you mark an area," said Hansen, winner of seven league championships.
As you can see in the diagram above, Liverpool set up their defence for a corner with four players across the six yard box and a further four ahead of them.
Between them, they are given an area to cover and should the ball reach them, it is up to the defender to clear the danger.
Hansen added: "The three most important areas are your man on the near post, a man in the middle of the six-yard box and a man between those two."

WHY DEFEND IN ZONES AND NOT MAN-TO-MAN?
Although it tends to be more popular in European football than in Britain, Hansen is a fan of the system but admits it is down to the players involved.
He said: "We always used zonal marking when I won championships with Liverpool.
"It was all about winning the first ball and if not, you've got to clean up the second ball.

Gallas slips between the Liverpool defence to score for Chelsea


"The other thing of course was having a goalkeeper (Bruce Grobbelaar) who we knew was going to come for crosses."
Wilkinson has used the zonal system for more than 30 years in football and implemented it in many of the England teams when he was technical director at the FA.
He said: "Zonal defending is based on the principle that when free-kicks are taken in the attacking third in wide positions or from corners, there is a dangerous space which can be identified.
"Within this area roughly three out of 100 goals are scored from the first touch.

"The system attempts to concentrate the best headers of the ball in that space. Your other players are in positions to defend the second ball.
"With man-to-man marking, attackers can drag defenders all over the place by taking them away from the danger area.
"It is a collective responsibility whereas man-for-man marking is based on personal responsibility."

THE CASE STUDY
"The problem with zonal marking is that because of the movement of the opposition, you're going to have men that are unmarked," said Hansen.
"When you start off you need to decide who picks up whom and who then lets the other men go."
Sometimes players follow the ball and attackers are able to find space.
Wilkinson adds: "It's a common fault with players defending balls delivered from wide. They get attracted to a ball that they can do nothing about.
"If you can't get there, get yourself between the posts and defend the goal in case there's a second ball to deal with."

ARGUMENTS AGAINST
The most common opposition to the system is that zones don't score, players do, so mark the player.
But Wilkinson explains there is a further layer to the argument.
He said: "Players score from dangerous zones. What do goalkeepers do on corners anyhow?
"They zone mark because until the ball is kicked they don't know where the ball will go.

Liverpool conceded seven goals at home in the 2006/07 season


"They don't concern themselves with players, they concern themselves with the ball because it's the ball that scores."
And he dismisses the notion that defenders have to compete with attackers who have a run on them.
"Attackers get a run on you whether you are zone defending or man-for-man marking," Wilkinson said.

"They always calls the shots. You start from a standing position but once the ball is in flight, you've got the distance the ball travels to get yourself moving.
"Lots of teams in the Premiership mark zones on the wide free-kick, because if you try and mark runners you end up running into each other and you can't jump anyway.
"You've got to remember that the higher up you go, the greater the quality of the delivery.
"That's one thing you can't do anything about, you have to assume that the people who are taking it can hit the button."

TEACHING THE SYSTEM
Liverpool's defending as a team has been widely praised with the team matching a club record for consecutive clean sheets in the league.
Wilkinson says: "Benitez's record, before he came to Liverpool and since he arrived, says that undoubtedly in achieving some things he's a master.
"I'd be careful about arguing with him on defending because his record isn't bad, particularly in Europe.
"It is a difficult thing to coach. It's more complex than man-to-man but it is more effective.
"But it's only more effective if it's covered comprehensively and players understand not only their roles but the roles of others."

 

[YidGraham]

Think anything other then what we were doing is worth a shot.

Remember reading that liverpool link where it showed they had the best record defending corners using a zonal marking system despite the criticism Andy Gray used to chuck at them.

I like the idea because I think it will eventually be easier for the players. Instead of having to mark a player who could run all over the place, run short for a corner and have been subbed off all you have to do is defend your space. If the ball comes into that space its your responsibility.

 

[michaelden]

Zonal is the way forward

 

[whendayearendsin1]

"The other thing of course was having a goalkeeper (Bruce Grobbelaar) who we knew was going to come for crosses."

I think that is our problem....

 

[Juande_Ramos]

Curiously Liverpool are now conceading a lot of goals from set pieces, not from the first ball but from the second ball.