Zonal or man marking
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bedford_marv
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Man Marking if you have a defensive, counter-attacking mentality.
Zonal if attacking.
Tight marking is a personal choice, i prefer using it with lower league sides.
they both are effective but they both still have the weaknesses..
man marking - is the easiest and simplest to employ, Each player in your team has to mark one specific player at all times. But it can really backfire on your team if your players have low 'work rate' where he doesnt track back to mark the player..or it can lure all your players out of position and when your players get the ball your team wouldnt be able to do a effective attack since your players are all over the place...
Zonal Marking - Zonal is each player in your team is in charge of a specific area of the pitch depending of what position he plays in so he is responsible for dealing things if the opposite player moves into the area..but zonal is the harder option because your defensive players will need top ratings for stats such as - anticipation, decisions, concentration and many other stats.
But over all most people(FM-ers) use zonal because it is most effective at defending becasue you players wont be drawn out of position.
man marking - is the easiest and simplest to employ, Each player in your team has to mark one specific player at all times. But it can really backfire on your team if your players have low 'work rate' where he doesnt track back to mark the player..or it can lure all your players out of position and when your players get the ball your team wouldnt be able to do a effective attack since your players are all over the place...
Zonal Marking - Zonal is each player in your team is in charge of a specific area of the pitch depending of what position he plays in so he is responsible for dealing things if the opposite player moves into the area..but zonal is the harder option because your defensive players will need top ratings for stats such as - anticipation, decisions, concentration and many other stats.
But over all most people(FM-ers) use zonal because it is most effective at defending becasue you players wont be drawn out of position.
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If i've got the team doing zonal marking and tight marking do they contradict each other
also if ive got them zonal marking and then got them closing down an opponent or tight marking an opponent, does that make it not as effective
also if ive got them zonal marking and then got them closing down an opponent or tight marking an opponent, does that make it not as effective
personal i always zonal mark against weaker teams..but when i play the big guns i use man mark..
it really depends hard to explain its really up to you.
FM man-marking is only really man-marking as it is commonly understood when the OI instruction is chosen.
Man marking as a team or individual instruction to a player is actually more of a zonal man-marking. Whereas zonal is true zonal marking. This is because no-one really plays true man-marking tactics across an entire team any more. It just doesn't work in real life
Essentially the difference is that with zonal marking, your players will maintain the spacing and distance of your formation and mentality, whereas man-marking (in FM terms) will result in them covering and moving into covering positions more.
Rule of thumb is to put attackers on zonal and defenders on man-marking, with support players on zonal in attacking variants of your tactics and man marking in defensive variants.
Tight marking means that your player will get closer to whichever opposition is playing opposite to him or in his 'zone' of play. This means he can clear the ball before the opponent gets it or get in an early challenge but it also means that a ball over the top will leave him in a foot race if there is no cover and that a skillful and quick opposition player could potentially leave him for dead with a bit of skill or by knocking it past your player. As a general rule, it's good for pacey defenders who can recover from mistakes, or players who are dominant in the air or the tackle, not good at all for those players who need to be in space or who are liabilities in defence for whatever reason.
Closing down is a dangerous OI. It tells the nearest player/s to immediately try to get to the opposition player when he gets the ball. This works great when it's set for the opposition DMC - you don't want your attacking players man-marking him, because that just makes the DMC's job easier but you don't want the DMC to have time to set up attacks against you. But against an AMC this could mean that your central defence come charging out allowing him to play a simple through ball for a striker to score.
However, if you have the OI man-marking set up, then your nearest player will tend to be the one doing the man marking, and so closing down will usually only apply to him.
Hope that makes some confused kind of sense. Personally, I use a mix of both but would play full zonal with very, very top teams when attacking.
Man marking as a team or individual instruction to a player is actually more of a zonal man-marking. Whereas zonal is true zonal marking. This is because no-one really plays true man-marking tactics across an entire team any more. It just doesn't work in real life
Essentially the difference is that with zonal marking, your players will maintain the spacing and distance of your formation and mentality, whereas man-marking (in FM terms) will result in them covering and moving into covering positions more.
Rule of thumb is to put attackers on zonal and defenders on man-marking, with support players on zonal in attacking variants of your tactics and man marking in defensive variants.
Tight marking means that your player will get closer to whichever opposition is playing opposite to him or in his 'zone' of play. This means he can clear the ball before the opponent gets it or get in an early challenge but it also means that a ball over the top will leave him in a foot race if there is no cover and that a skillful and quick opposition player could potentially leave him for dead with a bit of skill or by knocking it past your player. As a general rule, it's good for pacey defenders who can recover from mistakes, or players who are dominant in the air or the tackle, not good at all for those players who need to be in space or who are liabilities in defence for whatever reason.
Closing down is a dangerous OI. It tells the nearest player/s to immediately try to get to the opposition player when he gets the ball. This works great when it's set for the opposition DMC - you don't want your attacking players man-marking him, because that just makes the DMC's job easier but you don't want the DMC to have time to set up attacks against you. But against an AMC this could mean that your central defence come charging out allowing him to play a simple through ball for a striker to score.
However, if you have the OI man-marking set up, then your nearest player will tend to be the one doing the man marking, and so closing down will usually only apply to him.
Hope that makes some confused kind of sense. Personally, I use a mix of both but would play full zonal with very, very top teams when attacking.
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Thanks
So say if i have Mascherano, it might make sense to have him man marking the oppoisitions AM and closing him down and generally that would mean he is doing the job and my cb's aren't rushing out ye?
How would you generally have OI's set against decent wingers with regards to closing down?
So say if i have Mascherano, it might make sense to have him man marking the oppoisitions AM and closing him down and generally that would mean he is doing the job and my cb's aren't rushing out ye?
How would you generally have OI's set against decent wingers with regards to closing down?
Yeah, that's pretty much it. Just be careful that Mash is doing his job with closing down OI set and man-marking, or you'll find Hyppia stepping forward to help out leaving a big hole for someone like Totti to exploit
Closing down with wingers follows the same principle. Skillful players need closing down, but you have to be aware that if they beat their immediate marker, other players will move across and leave gaps elsewhere. Your assistant manager will offer advice during the game, so it's worth having a look at it every 10 mins or so to check for things which he spots.
Closing down with wingers follows the same principle. Skillful players need closing down, but you have to be aware that if they beat their immediate marker, other players will move across and leave gaps elsewhere. Your assistant manager will offer advice during the game, so it's worth having a look at it every 10 mins or so to check for things which he spots.
Thanks mate, do you use Tight Marking, what are the benefits of it
footybanter
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I use zonal mostly - sometimes man mark when the scout picks out a striker for me to take care of. Never used tight marking myself - everytime I have my team falls apart.
Any thoughts on how it links to the width of your team? I would think the wider you play the more you should lean to zonal so players don't get pulled to far out of position. And the narrower you are the move cover you have if playing man.
I think pure zonal or pure man has risks....
What i prefer is :
CB's always man tight
FB's and SW(if i have one) always zonal tight (help ensure you don't get out flanked)
rest of team:
playing offensively : Zonal
Playing defensively: Man
I don't stick to either one dogmatically:
if i see a team taking advantage of my marking scheme i will switch, but always keep the CB's and FB's the same
man: opposing side getting mismatches, or defenders running around without get possession, switch to zonal.
zonalpposing side find gaps in zone, opposing holding possession with your side challenging them switch to man.
for the most part i feel this ha work pretty good for me.
What i prefer is :
CB's always man tight
FB's and SW(if i have one) always zonal tight (help ensure you don't get out flanked)
rest of team:
playing offensively : Zonal
Playing defensively: Man
I don't stick to either one dogmatically:
if i see a team taking advantage of my marking scheme i will switch, but always keep the CB's and FB's the same
man: opposing side getting mismatches, or defenders running around without get possession, switch to zonal.
zonal
pposing side find gaps in zone, opposing holding possession with your side challenging them switch to man.for the most part i feel this ha work pretty good for me.