Zonal or Man marking?

  • Zonal

    Votes: 51 44.7%
  • Mixed(zonal and man)

    Votes: 37 32.5%
  • Man

    Votes: 26 22.8%

  • Total voters
    114

Goooner

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Something that's been on my mind for a while which one's better? Or does it come down to your tactics or style of play, Arsenal & Blackburn?

I currently use zonal cause it made the most sense in marking a players that comes into your 'zone' as its put rather than following a player around the pitch to man mark them. I'm trying to experiment with man a bit so see if they'll be any improvements or not. Man marking may work well for the better teams with better markers but im guessing teams with less switched on players will be lets with huge holes in their defence?

Any ways leave a comment on whichever you think is better and why...

Or vote(you've probably got chunky fingers and press a couple of keys a time, so ill let you off ;) )
 
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My style of play is attacking, but I like my players to come back, so I put man.
 
In FM i think zonal is the best, man marking on FM players get dragged everywhere. IRL though definitely man marking
 
Mixed...depending on the tactics and the attributes of the players.
 
Very good topic, i was thinking this just yesterday...

Im not sure if i prefer one or the other tbh, in real life its all about man to man, but FM Im still to be convinced one way or the other.

I don't know whether it was the difference, but i have beat Liverpool, Chelsea and Man United away from home with my first season Birmingham side, without many changes to my squad, but i have my tactic for games like that with man marking, and basically just stopping the opposition and it works VERY well!

And with my standard tactic for playing teams similar to myself i use a mixed approach, which is quite inconsistent, i am enlightened to revert to man marking all the way :)

Although with players like Hleb who just refuse to mark anything, i let them off with the man marking responsibilities
 
Ive allways been a fan of Man Marking set pieces but during open play i think Zonal marking for the midfield is a good option with the Center Backs man marking.
 
at the moment my defenders are man and the rest is zonal getting some good results
 
Never liked zonal until i gave it ago only use man marking to mark individual threats e.g. man mark Messi
 
I think that in man marking defender follows the attacker everywhere...I always used zonal.
 
Nice to see peoples thoughts, im tryna experiment with man now and its not looking that good.

I've kinda noticed that it affects your teams attacking as well somehow?
 
I use mixed marking though I'd always use zonal marking in real life. However from the TT&F 10 and own observations it got clear to me that man marking in FM is not the same as man marking IRL. When you want to simulate IRL man marking in FM you have to allocate 'specific man marking'. Man marking in FM is just a more aggressive variant of zonal marking (it's still about defending your specific zone, not following one single opponent). The difference is, that your player steps out of his position earlier, so you can get caught out of position. Since I like my team to press, I generally put my midfielders on man marking and the defenders on zonal (don't want them to get drawn out of position)
 
Zonal cos your just not marking the player your marking a area so wahay
 
I mix and match, standard is Man Marking CB's and Zonal Fullbacks, and Man Marking Def Mid.
 
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I have man on Fullback,s and the Defensive Midfielder and on my strikers rest of the team follows Zonal marking. Ive gone 30+ matches unbeaten with this formula but I don't think it always comes down to the marking instructions, often it depends on closing down instructions and player mentalities..
 
I've hammered this match engine in fml and its still zonal all over except man for your centre backs. Closing down somewhere near -4 from the middle tho if there fast maybies in the centre
 
Isn't it better to use zonal if your players have good positioning and man marking if your players have good marking?
 
You should mix and match.

Theres advantages and dis advantages.

Dis advantages of man marking ;
-Sometimes they dont get forward only marking only marking.
-They can get through balls in ,while in zonal I guess its much better.

Advantages of man marking ;
-Good slide tackles,
-You can stop exactly who u want :D

And zonal obviously covers the whole place so ;)
 
Zonal marking is probably better for rigid formations and vice versa.
Don't know for sure though.
But I usually have my CBs on man marking,regardless of formation
 
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