Man Marking vs. Zonal Marking vs. Tight Marking - who is right, if anyone?

[veez]

This matter is very taboo. Some say Man Marking is best for CB's, others says its best only for FB's, while the rest say zonal marking for everyone! Confusing isnt it? And i havent even gone into tight marking yet....

What are your opinions on this? Is there actually a right one to use? if there is, when and where?

Personally i quite enjoyed using man marking on full-backs for a while, but stopped after those 5.4 rating games from some full-backs after letting a winger slip away and score, finally got to me and ****** me off so i stopped using it.

In terms of tight marking, im still very undecided. But in my tactic i dont tight mark at the back, i feel it makes more than one payer close down the same player, leaving space for the pass behind them. but i might be wrong!

i've also found that default man marking on full-backs for example doesnt work very well. they will end up marking the striker in the area and leaving the second post open for a cross and certain goal from the opposing winger. So manually marking players every game is definately better, that i know for sure! but when it comes to the rest, im kinda baffled....

can anyone set this right and enlighten the rest of us? PLEASE!

 

[dzunglv]

I think you should find a best marking way for your formation, not for specific position.

In my Man utd firstly I tried Man marking on WG and FB but Zonal on the others. Now zonal marking for all is proven to be more effective.

And one thing mentioned here is that in FM2013 I see AI changes tactic during match games a lot! The more you mark the more chance you are drawn out of your position.

 

[veez]

I think you should find a best marking way for your formation, not for specific position.

In my Man utd firstly I tried Man marking on WG and FB but Zonal on the others. Now zonal marking for all is proven to be more effective.

And one thing mentioned here is that in FM2013 I see AI changes tactic during match games a lot! The more you mark the more chance you are drawn out of your position.

i agree with everything you said. i just mentioned FB's specifically because wingers seem to be the biggest threat to defences in this years game, either by crossing, dribbling past everyone into the area or showing up at the second post for the finish.

THIS NEEDS TO BE STOPPED! lol

 

[gogogo golem]

I'd just like to quickly make a point that 15 out of the 16 teams to make the 2004 CL knockout rounds used zonal marking. Man marking is for marking and targeting specific threats and can be used with fullbacks and attacking players to force them to track back though. This is because teams with man marking get all muddled up and leave gaps and space everywhere.

 

[CDXtreme]

i agree with everything you said. i just mentioned FB's specifically because wingers seem to be the biggest threat to defences in this years game, either by crossing, dribbling past everyone into the area or showing up at the second post for the finish.

THIS NEEDS TO BE STOPPED! lol

My biggest problem by far is the other team almost always has a free man at the back post and all they have to do is loft it back there for a goal... Iv used strictly zonal marking for the last 3 editions of FM but originally before that I always used man marking... Iv found if you tight mark wingers it helps reduce the free man things but it causes all sorts of other problems like it seems the FBs get isolated pretty easy and a massive gap can form between the CBs and FBs...

Im considering staying zonal and ditching tight marking all together and possibly going man marking for CBs what say you guys? (I usually play 4231 or 4411)

 

[apvmoreira]

For defenders and DMC:

I think that zonal is for positioning > than 13 or 14. Keep man marking to below 12, or in another words zonal big team, man smaller teams

Rest of the team:

I think the majority will go zonal because the marking and positioning is not so good and doing man could make the Fb and MCS of the other team to overlap our midfield.

As gogogo said, 15 out of 16 (dunno the one left) use zonal is Champions and even Messi is not man marked as it would drag the left defender out of position and leave space for Alves to run forward (which still happens a lot!!, like Iniesta on the other side)

 

[apvmoreira]

Iv found if you tight mark wingers it helps reduce the free man things but it causes all sorts of other problems like it seems the FBs get isolated pretty easy and a massive gap can form between the CBs and FBs...

And thats why the 1st succefull tactic here where with 5 defenders.

 

[CDXtreme]

And thats why the 1st succefull tactic here where with 5 defenders.

Thats why this years game is frustrating the match engine makes silly mistakes like that for me it seems like theres too much focus on individual things and not how the team acts as a unit...
Last year you could have your team press as a unit but this year my team tries to double team players so iv had to stagger the settings which I dont like... Then theres the possession problems...

 

[@fplcentre]

In my tactic with Wycombe (a 4-5-1) I use zonal & tight marking for all my back 4, the defensive mid & 2 central mids. The 2 wingers & the lone striker are set to man marking & tight marking. They all have different pressing settings though. I also use the 'stand off opposition' shout in every match. Went 5 or 6 games without conceding, but it hasn't been a full season yet.

 

[kazm]

Question, if my dc is manmarking how will that be effected by his closing down setting? If for example his cd is on full pitch that would be kinda contradictory.

 

[vujevic]

zone marking for my team and strict marking for my dmc all the time on opponents attacking midfielder

 

[Micky979]

On my most successful save do far I use quite a complex system of zonal, man and specific man to man using both tight and loose marking depending on the specific threat and the system used by the other team. It's never the same for ant two games and even my formation changes to give me an extra man in key areas. Head wrecking stuff but it's turned my season around after a a poor start I'm 11 games unbeaten and kept 6 clean sheets.

 

[Scotty98TR]

Personally, both in real life and on the game, I'd say the best form of defending is standing off, getting almost everyone back to form 2 lines (Usually 2 sets of 4 but depends on your formation) and just crowding out the final third. This is the way Chelsea, Real Madrid, Arsenal at the start of the season (When they had the best defence in the league!) and most of the time Man United do it.

The only bad thing about it is that you need quick attackers, otherwise you will not be able to get the ball forward before the opposition do a similar thing back

P.S. In my current Arsenal save, I had the best defence in the league using the same ideas, conceding just 9 goals