man oriented zonal marking

While football started with unthinkable attacking formats, gradually the defensive side of the game started gaining importance too. Football needed a solution and it was provided by the great Arrigo Sacchi – “Our players had four reference points: the ball, space, the opponent and his teammates. A zonal defense can be implemented with any attacking formation. In some senses, this is logical because the pressing aspect is not unique to the man-marking system but common to all high possession approaches, as we discussed earlier. Simply put, both zonal and man marking have their pros and cons and both are still used whenever needed. In terms of advancing ideas about why Bielsa might prefer a man-marking system to marry up to his positional play system, there isn’t really any scope for an evidential approach at this point. Again, it’s impossible to offer anything by way of concrete evidence here. Questions should be raised about the use of the labels “positive” and “negative” of what are more often than not, aesthetic judgements. If so, what is that benefit? In this match, they went with a position-oriented zonal marking system, the only difference this and the ball-oriented zonal marking seen at times in the match is due to the independent pressing system of the front two. Could it be the case that because man-marking systems aren’t aiming for an ideal structure — a 4–4–2 or 4–5–1 setup, for instance — that they actually become more efficient in transition? It’s about making sure the players and the ball arrive at the right place at the right time. Chelsea won the Europa League thanks to a 20-minute spell at the start of the second half where they dominated down their left. As I was careful to stress, I have not attempted to give a definitive answer to the question because, unfortunately, it is almost impossible to apply any sort of empirical evidence to the inquiry. Zonal defending is more practical and efficient than strict man-to-man marking, although individual marking assignments often complement zonal organizations. “When you talk about man-to-man (marking), it’s very easy for the manager to say it’s your responsibility, and that’s it,” explains Benitez. As this graphic from SkillCorner shows, Leeds United are comfortably the most dynamic team in the Premier League at the moment (not to mention Europe): Although Manchester City come a close second behind them when it comes to team sprint distances, it seems unlikely that Leeds man-marking system reduces the ground they have to cover in order to get back into a defensive shape. And no doubt more statistically-inclined individuals might be able to take these ideas and fashion them into hypotheses that can then be furnished with data and made to look more or less plausible. A good example is when a centre-back man-marks a forward moving behind to receive the ball. This would indicate that there isn’t a structural benefit to man-marking. What are the benefits of Man vs Zonal … Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The Argentine is committed to two broad aspects when it comes to a tactical system: on the ball, he approaches the game through a “positional” logic; and off the ball, he approaches the game using a man-marking system. As I’ve already set out in “The Principles of Leeds United’s Defensive System under Marcelo Bielsa: A Primer”, Marcelo Bielsa looks to set his team up man-for-man in out of ball phases. Stindl joined Plea in the first line of press and protected the passing lanes to Kroos and Casemiro. He is supposed to cover any opponent who is left over after any defensive reshuffles. However, I hope this article helps to move the conversation along that Kees van Hemmen prompted. This is a very important aspect of counter-pressing where the defending team aggressively presses the opponent players to force errors or close down passing options and reclaim the ball. What would also be interesting would be how offenses try and break down differetn types of defense. You can’t keep your front three advanced because if the opposition full backs are advanced, then your wingers need to drop deeper. It created individual battles on the pitch which are fascinating when it’s a clash of equals but for sides having a great disparity in quality, the game became somewhat predictable, leaving no difference between a good team and a team filled with good players. You’ll be marking your player. He applies a +1 Rule in defence and a -1 Rule in attack. But in the case of Marcelo Bielsa, despite his outspokenness on football being primarily entertainment, he is just as pragmatic as that arch-pragmatist himself: Jose Mourinho. It is more like sitting back and absorbing pressure, challenging the opponent attackers to come and penetrate but not pressing them close enough to make them commit errors. This requires great stamina, top match fitness and picking a player to mark right from the very start of the game. There is a famous saying – the perfect game of football would end 0-0. It’s as much about getting back into a functional structure as quickly as possible. Each player had to decide which of these reference points should determine his movements.”. Bielsa junior, however, justifies the decision to play in this way because of a desire to win. The man-marking system, Nico proposes, is probably the more simple system to coach compared to a more zonal approach and will therefore leave more time to focus on the possession phase of the game. Giving the striker the responsibility for pressing two strikers means that he can have a “spare man” — what he calls a “libero” — in defence to help out wherever there is trouble. As a result, I want to present a series of queries — thought experiments — to offer some suggestions as to why Bielsa might prefer man-marking as a defensive system. This is probably the strongest line of attack in attempting to come to an answer to the question at hand for this reason: an aggressive press works against a transition towards a zonal structure but doesn’t necessarily have to work against a man marking system. That overlaps with the tenets of a man-oriented system rather than a zone-oriented one. If you have any interest in contributing to this blog, get in touch with us @AllStatsArentWe. For Leeds, the most basic attacking shape they look to get into is this: Given the flexibility of the positional system, the positions given aren’t hard and fast: the winger can underlap, for example, or the central midfielder. Italian teams in the 60s and 70s perfected this tact… Brought together — the idealism and the arbitrariness — and contextualised by the quote from his father, Bielsa’s ideas about football are united by a holism. In attacking transition, Leeds always seem to be able to find space despite starting off close to their men in the defensive phase. I had heard of zonal marking lots of time - for me it was a bit like someone talking about an aspect of physics - I had heard of it, nodded my head in agreement, but didnt quite understand the ins and outs of it. Positional play is all about fashioning these overloads all over the field in a bid to create dangerous attacking moments. Here, we will talk about the most practised two in short. There is a truth to this — there are few managers who are so logical that you can pre-empt them with the sort of success that you can with Bielsa. Also, in man-marking, since the defending team is chasing the game, they were not able to set up their attacks according to their plans. However, an issue that the zonal marking limited was the runs by the midfielders into the box. Man-oriented back threes are similar to zonal-man set-ups, such as José Mourinho’s gameplan during the 2017 UEFA Europa League Final, but there are still some considerable differences between the two strategies. IPL opening ceremony cancelled – Is this a welcoming decision from the board? Pace down the wings, a good striker partnership, and a squad well-versed in zonal marking. It could be the case that he likes the fact that playing against Leeds is relatively unusual within elite football. One of the aspects that has been left largely ignored here is the pressing element of Bielsa’s approach. On the one hand, the aggressive press is necessary for a team playing high possession football with players in advanced positions because it buys time for the team to fall into a defensive structure. Within this general man-marking system, Bielsa implements what he calls a “partial libero” principle. Leeway-oriented counter pressing: ... Hi great article I.ve really enjoyed your articles on both pressing and zonal and man marking. Their spatial relation to their opponent is constantly changing and so is constantly at the forefront of their mind. positional oriented zonal marking The goal of position oriented marking sees teams aim to keep horizontal and vertical compactness as they sit in 3 clearly defined banks of midfield defense and attack moving as a collective unit, from one side of the pitch to the other in an attempt to close down space, especially on the wings. Maurizio Sarri was able to call upon N’Golo Kante, who was declared fit to start. 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