Zonal Marking

[Scottybee]

Interested on people's thoughts on how to best implement zonal marking for an average/lower half team, in a more aggressive tactic? I usually associate zonal marking with deep defending counter attacking formations, with players standing off and waiting to make an interception before moving the ball up the pitch. Usually in a more aggressive tactic I will have tight man marking and high pressing to constantly harass the opposition but tend to find against better opponents this can be exploited very easily and average players made to look a bit silly.

So how is zonal marking best implemented in a quick, attacking formation on fm 2012?

[vince89]

One tip I will give is to use 'Defensive Positioning' as your match preparation, I use this even on games I am expected to dominate.

This season I switched to Zonal + Defensive preparation and have been really pleased with the shape my team has kept. Goals conceded has gone down and 'mistakes leading to goals' has gone waay down.

Also make sure your back 4 all have good mentals (positioning, anticipation, concentration, composure) for this style of defending.

[furiousuk]

Yeah, as mentioned its the attributes of the players that is most important. Zonal or man can be used very effectively with either aggressive defending or passive - going zonal, tight, hard tackling is fine. In part this is because the differences between zonal and man marking in FM are not too obvious - it's a subtle change in defensive situation so as long as you think about the attributes of the players then it'll work out fine.

[JOSEPH!]

The intelligence on the pitch of the players is key - you need to trust them to take up good defensive positions. Man Marking is as effective as zonal in the right system. I feel however it is all about the physical shape of your team (having that all important defensive triangle of two CBs and one DM -- SFraser talks about this in many of his threads) that makes a fundamentally good defending side. Be careful applying too much pressure though as not only does your team fall out of position it means that the better players you play against will find this space and exploit it. An aggressive, high and man marking defensive line will be torn apart by quick, smart and creative players. Sure it may work against a poor team but then it is up to the reactive manager to make that call.

[qqq]

I use zonal - tight marking - close down in own area for the FB's and DC's. This will make them stay in a line a bit more than the aggressive closing down will, it means the oppositions will have to get through me rather than me presenting a space for them to exploit. Works well for me most of the time but as expressed above, the players attributes have the final say.