The case for zonal marking

[Cunny]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/r...ent/4685580.stm

 

Liverpool have one of the meanest rearguards in the Premiership, but their defending has again come under scrutiny following the 2-0 defeat by Chelsea on Sunday.

 

The reason is that for set-pieces, Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez favours defending zones rather than marking players.

 

That is despite Chelsea's William Gallas and Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand both taking advantage of the system and scoring against the Reds.

 

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 rather than 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.

 

"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.

 

Want to be a football coach?

 

"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. In the game on Sunday, Riise made the fatal mistake of following the ball."

 

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.

 

"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

 

More on football formations

 

"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 now 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 this season 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."

[yellow jumper]

didn't really understand what happened on the first goal. hyppia, gerrard and carragher all seemed to be going for the same ball. why? riise obviously made a mistake on the knock down too.

[Rory Fitzgerald]

I really dont think our defence was punished for zonal marking.

 

In Rio's case it just seems that he anticipated the ball better and got a yard on Kromkamp - not that he entered Kromkamps area and then had the run on him like Silvestre's 2nd goal last year.

 

As for Gallas, I thought it was a classic case of 'Not using the zonal system'. Had Riise and the players on the 6 yard line and let the other set of 4 concentrate on the ball looped out to the pen spot then Gallas would not have been free.

 

In fact the goal against Chelsea saw 4 Liverpool players run about 6-8 yards and had the run on Carvalho (the main criticism of the system when reversed i.e. attack has run on defence) but Carvalho got a header in just a second before they reached him.

 

I really cant fault the zonal system in those two goals.

[fyds]

didn't really understand what happened on the first goal. hyppia, gerrard and carragher all seemed to be going for the same ball. why? riise obviously made a mistake on the knock down too.

Nutshell George - a mistake was made - it happens to everyone sooner or later. Fact is we have more clean sheets than anyone else, so the system has far more right about it than wrong.

[Rory Fitzgerald]

didn't really understand what happened on the first goal. hyppia, gerrard and carragher all seemed to be going for the same ball. why? riise obviously made a mistake on the knock down too.

 

Which is a classic case of not marking zones, therefore you could argue that if we obeyed the zonal marking instructions then we could have prevented the goal

[fyds]

Which is a classic case of not marking zones, therefore you could argue that if we obeyed the zonal marking instructions then we could have prevented the goal

My view too.

[Coyler]

Which is a classic case of not marking zones, therefore you could argue that if we obeyed the zonal marking instructions then we could have prevented the goal

Bingo.

 

Zonal marking does not recommend four players running from the six yard box towards the penalty spot to join three others in jumping for the same ball. If they had stayed in their zone they would have been facing the knock-down and have booted it clear.

 

Press muppets.

[yellow jumper]

think there's a big of mental tiredness creeping in. also think we're going into these chelsea games a bit too hyped. and probably also with a bit of fear after the anfield experience. at times on sunday the judgement was definitely clouded, and not in keeping with the control and structure benitez preaches and this side has displayed in rcent months.

[fyds]

think there's a big of mental tiredness creeping in. also think we're going into these chelsea games a bit too hyped. and probably also with a bit of fear after the anfield experience. at times on sunday the judgement was definitely clouded, and not in keeping with the control and structure benitez preaches and this side has displayed in rcent months.

Fair comment that.

[Guest Aussie_Red]

The zonal marking system is not to blame, it was just a few mistakes due to lapses in concentration from a few players. We're going to concede a goal from a corner every now and then, but for the press muppets to think it relates to the system and not just errors that would occur anyway is silly.

[Guz]

Every system is only as good as the players that utilise it. It's pointless to man mark everyone if we have poor headers of the ball, likewise if we make mistakes like on sunday and do something rash - the zonal marking could fall apart. The problem with the way we defend though is that it's different and less teams do it. As a result, when something goes wrong people blame the system. If Carra had scored at the other end 10 minutes ago people would be either talking about a great headed goal and/or criticising his marker - not even a whisper would be said about the flaws of man-man marking (which many teams utilise and do it worse than we do zonal)

 

As far as I'm concerned it need no justification from anybody. Rafa used it with great success at Valencia it seems and for the last 8 months or so it's proven to be a success for us and helped us win the European cup as well. It'll be sorted out soon.

[Figaro]

Anything Howard Wilkinson states is not worth reading - the guy put English football back into the Stone Age...

 

"The Way Forward" my ar*e

[Maldini]

How many goals have we conceded from set pieces this season? 4? 5?

[Earl Hafler]

Anything Howard Wilkinson states is not worth reading - the guy put English football back into the Stone Age...

 

"The Way Forward" my ar*e

4-3-3 Hit And Run

[Cooldude]

First goal was a Chelsea set play, training ground move

 

You can see the corner was gonna be delivered somewhere 12 yards out in front of goal, and if a Chelsea player gets the knock down, it'd go in front of the 6 yard box

 

If you watch the replay of the movement of players prior to the goal, you could see Chelsea players making dummy runs to that 12 yard area while 3 other Chelsea plays sneaked to the 6 yard box

 

If our players didn't get sucked in and followed the zonal instructions, then there should be two men in front of the 6 yard box clearing that knock down

 

Instead, the only two Liverpool players anywhere near the front of the 6 yard box were the two men guarding the two posts

 

Chelsea had 3 players waiting for that knock down, so they were always gonna score.

 

This is the type of goal that should never happen under a zonal marking system, it's not the system's fault, the players just didn't get it right

Edited February 8, 2006 by Cooldude

[mooks]

My main recollection of the first goal is Sami rushing out and getting absolutely nowhere near the ball.

 

Surely that was just an error of judgement on his part?

Edited February 8, 2006 by mooks