Zonal or Man Marking?

[RedBones]

Which do you prefer and why?

I'm playing as Liverpool, so in theory I have defenders with relatively high stats. As a result I've chosen the zonal system, but at times I feel like I've made a mistake as, full backs especially, seem to be asleep to the dangers of the opp, and caught badly out of position.

It could be the match engine / 3D display, or my closing down instructions of course, but I'm close to trying the man marking system to see if things improve.

Any tips welcome, Thanks.

[gyxi]

Well, normally I favor zonal marking, because your defence will be pretty much disorganized if your opponent's strikers and/or wingers tend to swap positions when you're man marking.

Both has pros and cons, but usually I use zonal marking, often in combination with tight marking in order to decrease the opponent's space and possibilities.

[SPJ]

For me i tend to look at the off the ball movement of the striker or winger my defender is directly facing, to much off the ball skill for the opposition will drag my man marking defender all over the place so against good attacks for me zonal is the way to go to try to keep the shape of my back four .

[zebanumut]

Zonal all day long...

[H Y P Z]

Zonal is best, man marking is more a strategy for catching an opponent temporarily off-guard for me. For example if a team is monopolizing posession, I'd put my team on man marking for 10-20 minutes. Usually the other team quickly adapts and starts taking advantage of your man marking, so I don't ever use it for whole matches.