Zonal marking

[Dickov22]

Why are we doing this from corners? In most premiership games I see you never ever see unchallenged headers from set pieces yet we seem to gift the opposition players chances regularly due to our zonal marking.

I'd much rather see the likes of Wes grappling, holding, MARKING a man from a corner than allowing him a free run at the ball. It's one of our main problems in my opinion. In addition we have a goalkeeper who seems content to stay on his line at all costs. Kasper doesn't dominate his area enough at all.

I don't understand it

[lgfualol]

I wish every team did it - that way we might actually score from one.

[Fox92]

I dunno but it's annoying. I notice a number of times that due to this zonal marking, smaller players like James end up marking the opposition's taller players.

 

Given how solid Nigel Pearson was as a centre half himself, I don't understand how our defending from set pieces is so bad.

[Babylon]

We're not doing zonal marking... or so I was lectured pre season.

[Fox Ulike]

Why are we doing this from corners? In most premiership games I see you never ever see unchallenged headers from set pieces yet we seem to gift the opposition players chances regularly due to our zonal marking.

I'd much rather see the likes of Wes grappling, holding, MARKING a man from a corner than allowing him a free run at the ball. It's one of our main problems in my opinion. In addition we have a goalkeeper who seems content to stay on his line at all costs. Kasper doesn't dominate his area enough at all.

I don't understand it

 

I think you're right.

 

I did notice for QPR's third goal on Saturday our defence seemed to be all over the place with absolutely no-one picking up Austin - who you would of thunk would be their main goal threat from corners.

 

Another black mark against Pearson there I reckon

 

Don't think you can blame Kasper for the third goal though...

[Dickov22]

We're not doing zonal marking... or so I was lectured pre season.

Ha. We certainly were on Saturday

[SMX11]

We have no aerial ability in midfield and up front bar Ullou. Not really suprised that we are poor and set pieces.

[Dickov22]

I think you're right.

I did notice for QPR's third goal on Saturday our defence seemed to be all over the place with absolutely no-one picking up Austin - who you would of thunk would be their main goal threat from corners.

Another black mark against Pearson there I reckon

Don't think you can blame Kasper for the third goal though...

I don't blame him for the third; it was a calamitous effort from every Leicester player in the box.

[yorkie1999]

I think you're right.

I did notice for QPR's third goal on Saturday our defence seemed to be all over the place with absolutely no-one picking up Austin - who you would of thunk would be their main goal threat from corners.

Another black mark against Pearson there I reckon

Don't think you can blame Kasper for the third goal though...[/quote

I don't blame him for the third; it was a calamitous effort from every Leicester player in the box.

2 of their goals came from players getting in each others way and ending up in a crumpled heap on the floor leaving it for the striker to tap it into the net. 

[Dickov22]

2 of their goals came from players getting in each others way and ending up in a crumpled heap on the floor leaving it for the striker to tap it into the net.

So you think zonal marking is going well for us then? They had loads of chances from set pieces on Saturday. Dread the thought of giving someone like Lambert or Skrtel a free run at a ball tomorrow night.

[Guest ttfn]

I think our defending from set pieces is better than it was last season when we had a more man-to-man approach.

[hackneyfox]

I think our defending from set pieces is better than it was last season when we had a more man-to-man approach.

If it is any better it is surely down to having Ulloa back there helping out.

[Dickov22]

I think our defending from set pieces is better than it was last season when we had a more man-to-man approach.

I disagree. Zonal marking just allows players an opportunity to get a real run at a ball. Much as I hate to see a Shawcross type holding and wrestling at a corner, I'd much rather see our lads do this rather than marking a space

[Guest ttfn]

I disagree. Zonal marking just allows players an opportunity to get a real run at a ball. Much as I hate to see a Shawcross type holding and wrestling at a corner, I'd much rather see our lads do this rather than marking a space

Right but that's personal preference. We conceded an absolute tonne of goals from corners and indirectly from free kicks last season (I think it was almost 50%: 1 every 2-3 games)

This year from first phase corners and free kicks we've only conceded 2 against palace and 1 against QPR from a far, far higher number of set pieces per game.

We are definitely bad at defending set pieces but we have improved this season. As somebody else has said Ulloa has made a huge difference but his station on the front post is facilitated by adopting a zonal system.

[Dickov22]

Right but that's personal preference. We conceded an absolute tonne of goals from corners and indirectly from free kicks last season (I think it was almost 50%: 1 every 2-3 games)

This year from first phase corners and free kicks we've only conceded 2 against palace and 1 against QPR from a far, far higher number of set pieces per game.

We are definitely bad at defending set pieces but we have improved this season. As somebody else has said Ulloa has made a huge difference but his station on the front post is facilitated by adopting a zonal system.

You could say personal preference, but I'd say the only reason we've conceded less this season is down to Ulloa, and luck. We still look so vulnerable from them, and I can't think of any other sides bar Arsenal who adopt this system.

[Aarongu]

We were shit at defending corners last year on a man to man approach and we are shit this season with a zonal/man to man approach. 

 

Boils down to coaching. 

 

Don't even get me started on how we attack corners. 

[Torten]

We're poor at set-pieces because no-one in our team is good at heading the ball bar Ulloa. I'm sure we'll improve when Upson comes in as he actually has aerial ability. If that doesn't work, we need a quality CB in Jan. 

[chrishlcfc]

I was going to make a thread on this, we were embarrassing defending set pieces on Saturday, every single set piece they seemed to put into the box they looked like scoring. It was annoying because the corner before there winner Fer had a free header and you could see they were going to score basically. 

[fleckneymike]

We dont employ a full zonal defence.

[marbelladave]

Irrespective of what you call it, there were times on saturday when we had 4-5 players around Schmeichel in the 6 yard box for set pieces. The nearest attackers were around the penalty spot.

 

They attacked the ball at pace, our defenders were jumping flat footed, hopeless, go man to man and tell Schmeichel to come and get the ball if it is 6-7 yards out.

 

That is just one of our problems defensively, another is that we play so narrow that we gift the opposition the space to get in their crosses, if you are relying on Mahrez (in particular) to play as an auxiliary full full back you are fcuked.

 

We have no one covering in front of the center backs, I though Cambiaso would do that, just sit and hold, but for whatever reason he tries to play box to box. The only player to have done this with any success this season is Hammond, but he is pretty limited in other facets of his game. 

 

Our defensive setup needs serious revision, it is getting worse as the games go by, not better. I am beginning to think we need a huge change to really make a difference, 3-5-2 possibly.

 

If we are going to try and continue with 4-4-2 we need a holding midfielder to cover the centre backs. He needs to be able to drop into the back 4 should a centre back have to go wide to cover a fullback, the fullbacks need to be pushed onto the opposition wide players, not tucked in to protect the central areas as they do now.

[Dickov22]

We dont employ a full zonal defence.

We did on Saturday. 100%

[srbfox]

I have never seen a zone score!

[srbfox]

I have never seen a zone score!

[Dickov22]

Once again this cost us today. I was shouting that Hangerland was unmarked before the corner kick was taken, we gave him a completely unblocked, unchallenged run at the ball. WHY? He's the bloody biggest player on the field. Surprise surprise he wins the header and sets the goal up. Pathetic

[dbtcity]

It looked from were I was that nugent was picking up hangeland which is even crazier, total miss match