Liverpool FC Forum

Posted: **Tue Oct 05, 2004 12:39 pm**

supersub wrote:Zonal marking is ok in open play,but I think it best to man mark at set pieces/corners so every player knows their particular job.I know Rafa likes the zonal marking and I reckon he will persist until we get it right and thats fine by me.

agree with that completly. All new managers bring new ideas with them and it's only natural that it will take time for the players to adjust to them, hopefully the defence will get the jist of it soon.

I reckon we wont be that good as a team until christmas, but we will start to gel properly as a unit in the new year :glare:

well hopefully anyways

Posted: **Tue Oct 05, 2004 2:13 pm**

Agreed.

It'll probably be the case that we'll be shaky until Christmas, but realistically we'd need to see some sort of improvement thereafter.

Posted: **Tue Oct 05, 2004 3:16 pm**

yeah i mean by then we will need to start getting our acts together or we could be in danger of missing out on champions league qualification

Posted: **Tue Oct 05, 2004 11:25 pm**

It will take time before we adapt to the zonal marking system, Rafa will use it until it works imo.

Posted: **Wed Oct 06, 2004 2:31 am**

what did you write A.B?

Posted: **Wed Oct 06, 2004 7:45 am**

I agree with Supersub and i have been saying the same thing in other posts. Why do we employ zonal marking for set pieces? I suppose it takes a lot more anticipation abilities and quick and alert response to make zonal marking at set pieces work the way it is intended to work.

Perhaps at Valencia and in the Spanish league, there was not much problems of physical challenges to the defenders or there were not many direct high balls pumped into the box from set-pieces but this deos not make sense as an excuse as Liverpool has the same defenders who are used to the EPL, just that they don't know who to pick up as there is now no specific players for each to mark at set peices.

Posted: **Wed Oct 06, 2004 4:50 pm**

zonal marking or man marking, whats the best formula?

Posted: **Wed Oct 06, 2004 11:05 pm**

anfieldadorer wrote:what did you write A.B?

I was testing out another colour.

Posted: **Thu Oct 07, 2004 5:12 am**

judge wrote:zonal marking or man marking, whats the best formula?

the mix: anal marking

sorry, can't help it, please continue

Posted: **Fri Oct 08, 2004 4:09 am**

Good one, Anfieldadorer...you're funny!

Judge, I will try to address your question. It is OK for zonal marking in open play but we should stick to man marking at set peices as our defenders are not adept at defending based on the potential threats during set pieces and are unsure "who should mark where" hence causing the utter confusion at set pieces leading to giving away goals cheaply. While Hyppia and Carra can't be faulted for their efforts and defensive abilities (this case is for Hyppia) but ther are not the Franco Baresi or the Alan Hansen in being superb at anticipating or "reading" the potential threats. I think we don't have these kind of defenders to employ zonal marking religiously at set pieces.

Some defenders are good in the air and at tackling, while some are not good at tackling but compensate by their ability to read the threats early and snuff them out early. Alan Hansen once said that for a defender, he was "hopeless at tackling" and that because of his pace together with his partners, Lawrenson and Gillespie, they were able to play the offside trap further from the penalty box and also relied on anticipating and dealing with potentially dangerous balls earlier. right now, we don't have this kind of defenders.

Posted: **Tue Nov 02, 2004 1:04 pm**

the problem we have with the zoneal marking is that at set pieces we are allways flat footed they need to attack the ball. that is how all the succesful teams who use zoneal marking work. we look good with it in open play but when we are defending a corner then they just stand there and wait. the only way to defend corners is by attacking the ball no matter the system the zonal bit is just down to who you pick up not for if the ball is coming into your area it's your responsability. they need to keep going with it as it will pay off eventually.

Posted: **Sat Nov 27, 2004 8:14 pm**

At set pieces, zonal marking allows the attacker to really attack the ball and get the drop on defenders. You will also find that midfield players will score more goals against a side employing zonal marking as it is that much harder to cover any runs from deep.

Posted: **Mon Nov 29, 2004 5:19 am**

Zonal marking would work really well if we had a defender who is superb at anticipation and marshalling his colleagues like Franco Baresi but his likes are very rare especially in the EPL and I think only Rio Ferdinand has a bit of this ability, but I think Rafa has improved Carra considerably.

We can continue to play zonal marking especially if we have more pace at the back but set pieces defending really needs man-marking.

Posted: **Mon Dec 13, 2004 7:04 am**

Arsenal employed zonal marking at set pieces againts Chlesea and it was a absolute horror, Terry and the likes had ridiculosus amounts of space - Arsenal really need to work on this if they are going to challenge in Europe.

Posted: **Tue Dec 14, 2004 3:09 am**

Arsene Wenger must be desperate

Liverpool FC Forum

Zonal marking - Persevere or back to basics?