Zonal Non-Marking

As my primary aim here is to highlight the glaringly obvious failings of our Manager, I have to start with the hot topic of the last 2 seasons.Our complete inability to defend set pieces or any ball more than 2 feet off the ground. This shambolic sequence of defending brought about by the tactical brilliance of Zonal Marking.

I played football non-stop from the age of 6 to about 17/18 and had a couple of comebacks during my twenties. Admittedly I was not very good, I read the game well, tackled very well, but lacked height & pace and heading was not a strength. I always played at the back or in Goal, so I feel I can comment on defending. Never did I ever come across Zonal Marking. At corners and freekicks you man-marked and if the guy you were marking scored you got a bollocking. If you did have any spare men you generally he would cover the area around the near post. Someone else may have patrolled the edge of the box for those pesky volleys from poor clearances. AND ALWAYS 2 MEN ON THE POSTS!!!!!

According to Opta Stats Zonal is more effective. I think Liverpool Football Club are singlehandedly turning that around under Benitez!. Sky or ESPN put up a stat the other week that 70%-80% of the goals we have conceded this season have come from set-pieces. Astonishing, the nxt highest was somewhere in the 30 percentile range! Last year wasn't as bad but it was an increase in the previous few seasons. So we must ask ourselves what has changed?

Rafa inherited one of, if not the tallest team in the Premier League, our ranking on that stat has consistently fallen and now we are one of the shortest teams in the League. So we are obviously more vulnerable at set-pieces to aerial threats.

Our dependence on Zonal Marking has become more pronounced as the team has shrunk in size. We are no longer able to compete physically man-for-man in the air, so we placed even more weight on this wet cracked wooden crutch.

The players clearly lack belief in this form of defending, especially the defenders! You can see the looks of panic everything we concede a corner, free kick or even throw-in within the 'Delap' range. Zonal Marking does not allow defenders to take responsibility, if the ball doesnt drop on your head then you have nothing to be ashamed of. That is not something defenders are likely to accept or should accept. So why do ours? I have no idea. You will have to ask them. I would expect the likes of Pepe & Carra to voice their concern to the manager.Maybe they have and have been ignored.........

How our Zonal Non-Marking 'works'
1) No men on the posts. A cardinal sin when defending corners. It like going into battle without bullets in you rifle! Suicide.

2) We create a 5 to 6 man 'L' starting 3 to 4 yards in front of the near post. We deploy Torres as the short leg of the 'L'. I would say that this is the only part of the tactic Rafa gets right. A decent header of the ball to cut out any mis-hit or deliberate near post corners.

3) The base of the 'L' is generally occupied by Skrtel or Agger depending on who plays with Carra. The 1st player on long leg of the 'L' is Carra. Can you spot what we have done wrong already???? No, I will carry on, behind Carra is normally Dirk, we are roughly in the middle of the goal now heading towards the far post. There are normally 2 more players behind Dirk which cover up to the far post.

4) There is a second bank of 3/4 players in a straight line parallel to the long leg of the 'L'. These guys are appear to be doing a combo job, marking a zone and tracking any runners, and are made up of whoever is left. Should be good enough, but its not. Can you see whats wrong with this? No?

5) We leave no player up front when defending these situations. WRONG!

Why it doesnt work.

As you can see there are 5 parts to our defence and only 1 makes sense. Torres as the point man at the near post.

The 5 to 6 Man L should work, but I think we have the personnel wrong. Think about it we effectively have our 3 best headers of the ball clustered around the near post. So anything that goes to the middle of the goal is relying on Dirk to win the ball, bearing in mind his is not tall and is taking a standing jump as vervus a running jump. Anything deeper than Dirk is basically a free header against a dwarf!

The 2nd bank of players doesnt work either as this is invariably made our of our Hobbit midfielders Yossi, Lucas, Masha. How are these guys suppose to block or even track the runs of opposing centre half or tall strikers. The answer is they cant!

It is another cardinal sin not to leave yourself an out ball when clearing a corner. Why not leave Masha up front, not like he is going to win any headers!

How to Fix it

1) You need to move Carra and Agger a bit further back in the 'L'.
2) Even betetr would be to have at least 1 of them in the 2nd bank of players that way at elast one of teh opposing players who is good in teh air will have a hard time getting to the ball.
3) Bin it off and man mark! At least then we wil only have 1 player to moan at when the other team score!!!!