Liverpool FC Forum

[tel]

Heskey had the tendency to fall flat on his rearend in front of goal.

LMAO

Heskey was schit but Crouch not much better for mine

Hurry up Robbie

[66-1137139704]

All along i've thought ball holding was the work of midfielders 

If we value our strikers by their ball holding abilities,who will do the scoring?
So far we have relied on goals from our midfielders and the occational strikers goal to get to this point(3rd in the prem).

We need a striker who can score.One who get past defenders and create chances for imself out of nothing.

[Effes]

Heskey was there to feed Owen, and judging by Michael's great goal scoring record for us, did his job.

Sorry, but I reckon Heskey made about 10% of Owen's goals
at the most.
Owen didn't "rely" on Heskey whatsoever.

[darwisigila]

[quote]MudFace
LFC Advanced Member


We need a striker who can score.One who get past defenders and create chances for imself out of nothing.

Yes....and we don't have anyone ( striker ) who can do that except robbie in his prime..

[2520years]

From Alan Hansen (and someone else)...

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.  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. HHe 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. 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. Liverpool earned eight consecutive Premiership clean sheets under Benitez. "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 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."

[onizukaeikichi]

we concede these days due to set pieces are just a recent slump in the defence, i am sure it will bounce back, we are not impenetrable every week

[bigmick]

The Howard Wilkinson/Alan hansen article is one of the most interesting articles I've read on here for a while. Thanks very much for that.

[stmichael]

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. Every system has its flaws but i tend to favour the zonal more. We cannot ignore the fact that the system gave us the winning run and our defensive record.

I truly think that in Both systems, when goals are conceded, the individuals are at fault.

[66-1137139704]

Any1 missing traore yet?

[Scottbot]

I read the BBC article earlier today and was just about to post it on but someone beat me to it.

I was particularly interested to see Hansen had said "We always used zonal marking when I won championships with Liverpool. "

That pretty qualifies zonal marking for me.

We had a spate of similar threads when we conceded a couple from set-plays in a short space of time early in the season. The tabloids got all obsessed about zonal marking and unfortunatley that led to several idiots (devoid of their opinion) coming on and regurgitating what they read in the Mirror, scum, Star etc.

[zarababe]

OMG we go 11 games without conceding, and remain unbeaten for 13 and ppl now start attacking 'zonal marking' how fickle.. or is this a wind-up.. must be