Man-Marking?

[kingfunk]

The idea of man-to-man marking was perfected by the Italian teams of the 1960s and 1970s. Teams such as Inter Milan and AC Milan used it in their so-called catenaccio formation. This consisted of four man markers with a sweeper playing behind them. This brought much success to these teams and soon these tactics became popular throughout the world of football. However, this tight marking was often at the expense of the spectacle of the game itself and soon faded away.

Somthing really irked me lastnight about this "man-marking" Every team has the right to play this stlye of football, But is there somthing un-sportsmanship about this? I feel like Hiddenk just pulled a fast one on us?
Surley if every team started this it would destroy the spectacle of watching some of the best players in the world? To me there is just somthing dirty/cheat like to pinning a player down for 90 mins.

Fair play to his tactics, they won, but..... Do we really want to see this back in the game?

.

[DannyMan2006]

The idea of man-to-man marking was perfected by the Italian teams of the 1960s and 1970s. Teams such as Inter Milan and AC Milan used it in their so-called catenaccio formation. This consisted of four man markers with a sweeper playing behind them. This brought much success to these teams and soon these tactics became popular throughout the world of football. However, this tight marking was often at the expense of the spectacle of the game itself and soon faded away.

Somthing really irked me lastnight about this "man-marking" Every team has the right to play this stlye of football, But is there somthing un-sportsmanship about this? I feel like Hiddenk just pulled a fast one on us?
Surley if every team started this it would destroy the spectacle of watching some of the best players in the world? To me there is just somthing dirty/cheat like to pinning a player down for 90 mins.

Fair play to his tactics, they won, but..... Do we really want to see this back in the game?

.

Would you really expect LFC to give free reign to Messi for instance? And how do you think we came back against AC? by Man marking Kaka.

[kingfunk]

Ya its quite a biased view i suppose!! but **** it, I take it as a complement that he had to resort to these tactics.

[kingfunk]

Would you really expect LFC to give free reign to Messi for instance? And how do you think we came back against AC? by Man marking Kaka.

No, but ffs Essien was following stevie around like he was going to nick his wallet. They might aswell have been in a ****ing three-legged race.

[calvoboy]

It faded away, not because if affected the spectacle of the game, but because it meant that you sacrificed a member of your own team to defend against an opposition player. A clever team can exploit this, and pull your player out of position and negate your defensive system and your attacking threat at the same time. It also relies on having a fantastically dedicated and tactically aware player doing the man-marking, because if you lose your concentration for a second you can be punished.

I also hate the suggestion that this is a new tactic against us. Bolton did exactly the same thing at the Reebok this season, and for half an hour they kept Stevie quiet. Once they went a goal down they abandoned it though, and no-one in the press seems to have picked up on it. I'd love to hear Gary Megson's take on Hiddink's 'genius' tactic last night though...

It worked for Chelsea because Essien is one of the best midfielders in the world and had a great game last night, and because we were too slow to react to what they were doing, telling Stevie to drop deep and pull wide to create space in the middle. Also because Lucas (who I thought had a decent enough game last night on the whole), wasn't able to take advantage of the extra space that it should have meant was available for him.

Ultimately though, regardless of the tactics, it came down to the fact that their big players had big games last night while ours didn't. Gerrard was marked out of the game, but could have done more to create space for others. Alonso had a lot of time on the ball, but didn't create a great deal. Torres had a good few touches but didn't manage to create much with them (though he was kicked off the park on and off the ball without any protection from the ref). Our back four was nervy and out of shape at times, and we were very poor down the left side and not much better on the right. The way Chelsea shaped up, pressing our centre backs and compressing the space, we needed our full backs to overlap and create space out wide. Arbeloa did that for the goal, but I can't remember either full-back overlapping too often apart from that.

A bad night at the office all round. Nothing to do with zonal marking, or man-to-man marking. A little bit to do with us being too slow to react to opposition tactics, but a lot to do with individual errors on the night.

[Shaggy]

It faded away, not because if affected the spectacle of the game, but because it meant that you sacrificed a member of your own team to defend against an opposition player. A clever team can exploit this, and pull your player out of position and negate your defensive system and your attacking threat at the same time. It also relies on having a fantastically dedicated and tactically aware player doing the man-marking, because if you lose your concentration for a second you can be punished.

I also hate the suggestion that this is a new tactic against us. Bolton did exactly the same thing at the Reebok this season, and for half an hour they kept Stevie quiet. Once they went a goal down they abandoned it though, and no-one in the press seems to have picked up on it. I'd love to hear Gary Megson's take on Hiddink's 'genius' tactic last night though...

It worked for Chelsea because Essien is one of the best midfielders in the world and had a great game last night, and because we were too slow to react to what they were doing, telling Stevie to drop deep and pull wide to create space in the middle. Also because Lucas (who I thought had a decent enough game last night on the whole), wasn't able to take advantage of the extra space that it should have meant was available for him.

Ultimately though, regardless of the tactics, it came down to the fact that their big players had big games last night while ours didn't. Gerrard was marked out of the game, but could have done more to create space for others. Alonso had a lot of time on the ball, but didn't create a great deal. Torres had a good few touches but didn't manage to create much with them (though he was kicked off the park on and off the ball without any protection from the ref). Our back four was nervy and out of shape at times, and we were very poor down the left side and not much better on the right. The way Chelsea shaped up, pressing our centre backs and compressing the space, we needed our full backs to overlap and create space out wide. Arbeloa did that for the goal, but I can't remember either full-back overlapping too often apart from that.

A bad night at the office all round. Nothing to do with zonal marking, or man-to-man marking. A little bit to do with us being too slow to react to opposition tactics, but a lot to do with individual errors on the night.

[Joe King]

It faded away, not because if affected the spectacle of the game, but because it meant that you sacrificed a member of your own team to defend against an opposition player. A clever team can exploit this, and pull your player out of position and negate your defensive system and your attacking threat at the same time. It also relies on having a fantastically dedicated and tactically aware player doing the man-marking, because if you lose your concentration for a second you can be punished.

I also hate the suggestion that this is a new tactic against us. Bolton did exactly the same thing at the Reebok this season, and for half an hour they kept Stevie quiet. Once they went a goal down they abandoned it though, and no-one in the press seems to have picked up on it. I'd love to hear Gary Megson's take on Hiddink's 'genius' tactic last night though...

It worked for Chelsea because Essien is one of the best midfielders in the world and had a great game last night, and because we were too slow to react to what they were doing, telling Stevie to drop deep and pull wide to create space in the middle. Also because Lucas (who I thought had a decent enough game last night on the whole), wasn't able to take advantage of the extra space that it should have meant was available for him.

Ultimately though, regardless of the tactics, it came down to the fact that their big players had big games last night while ours didn't. Gerrard was marked out of the game, but could have done more to create space for others. Alonso had a lot of time on the ball, but didn't create a great deal. Torres had a good few touches but didn't manage to create much with them (though he was kicked off the park on and off the ball without any protection from the ref). Our back four was nervy and out of shape at times, and we were very poor down the left side and not much better on the right. The way Chelsea shaped up, pressing our centre backs and compressing the space, we needed our full backs to overlap and create space out wide. Arbeloa did that for the goal, but I can't remember either full-back overlapping too often apart from that.

A bad night at the office all round. Nothing to do with zonal marking, or man-to-man marking. A little bit to do with us being too slow to react to opposition tactics, but a lot to do with individual errors on the night.

More emphasis on the lack of change made by Benitez in the match to salvage anything respectable. Its in these games where the midfield is packed due to two systems which interlock with each other that Peter Crouch seems a better option. Ah well.

[Exiled_red]

It faded away, not because if affected the spectacle of the game, but because it meant that you sacrificed a member of your own team to defend against an opposition player. A clever team can exploit this, and pull your player out of position and negate your defensive system and your attacking threat at the same time. It also relies on having a fantastically dedicated and tactically aware player doing the man-marking, because if you lose your concentration for a second you can be punished.

I also hate the suggestion that this is a new tactic against us. Bolton did exactly the same thing at the Reebok this season, and for half an hour they kept Stevie quiet. Once they went a goal down they abandoned it though, and no-one in the press seems to have picked up on it. I'd love to hear Gary Megson's take on Hiddink's 'genius' tactic last night though...

It worked for Chelsea because Essien is one of the best midfielders in the world and had a great game last night, and because we were too slow to react to what they were doing, telling Stevie to drop deep and pull wide to create space in the middle. Also because Lucas (who I thought had a decent enough game last night on the whole), wasn't able to take advantage of the extra space that it should have meant was available for him.

Ultimately though, regardless of the tactics, it came down to the fact that their big players had big games last night while ours didn't. Gerrard was marked out of the game, but could have done more to create space for others. Alonso had a lot of time on the ball, but didn't create a great deal. Torres had a good few touches but didn't manage to create much with them (though he was kicked off the park on and off the ball without any protection from the ref). Our back four was nervy and out of shape at times, and we were very poor down the left side and not much better on the right. The way Chelsea shaped up, pressing our centre backs and compressing the space, we needed our full backs to overlap and create space out wide. Arbeloa did that for the goal, but I can't remember either full-back overlapping too often apart from that.

A bad night at the office all round. Nothing to do with zonal marking, or man-to-man marking. A little bit to do with us being too slow to react to opposition tactics, but a lot to do with individual errors on the night.

Great post

I think this is something we might see more and more, I remember teams doing it against McManaman in around '97 and there was the idea that if you stop McManaman you stop Liverpool. As a result of this we struggled. I think it's something Rafa and Gerrard need plan for.

You mentioned the point about Lucas not being able to take advantage of the space I think this applies to both our centre midfielders in the system we play, neither are really suited to pushing on in that role and prefer to influence the play from deeper with could again lead to problems when teams use this tactic against us in future