{{Short description|Defensive tactic in association football}} {{Redirect|Mark (association football)|a fair catch in early association football|Fair catch#Other games}} {{more citations needed|date=December 2017}} [[File:Melbourne victory - tickling is allowed.jpg|thumb|right|[[Adrian Leijer]] marking [[Rocky Visconte]]]] In [[association football]], '''marking''' is an organized defensive tactic which aims to prevent a member of the opposing team (usually a striker) from taking control of the ball. Several marking strategies exist in football, and they mostly differ from each other according to the duties assigned to [[Defender (association football)|defenders]], positioning and off-the-ball style.
==Man-to-man marking== '''Man-to-man marking''', or '''man marking''', is a defensive strategy where defenders are assigned a specific opposition player to mark, as opposed to zonal marking, where a certain player marks an area of the pitch. Teams such as [[Inter Milan]] and [[A.C. Milan]] used it in their so-called [[catenaccio]] system. Their formation consisted of a defensive line made up of four man markers with a [[Sweeper (association football)|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 (attacking) spectacle of the game itself, because "defenders preoccupied with their defensive markings may be reluctant contributors to the team's offense".<ref>Catlin 1990, p. 143.</ref>
Famous examples of man marking performances are [[Berti Vogts]] against [[Johann Cruyff]] in 1974, [[Claudio Gentile]] against [[Diego Maradona]] and Zico in 1982, or [[Guido Buchwald]] against Maradona in 1990.
The strategy is one that has been supposedly dying out in football over the past decade or so despite [[Greece national football team|Greece's]] success with it in the [[UEFA Euro 2004|2004 European Championships]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2023}} It is however often used by lower-tier teams, as well as teams defending themselves from much stronger opponents. Examples include [[Dynamo Kyiv]]'s [[Aleksandr Khatskevich]] man-marking [[Real Madrid]]'s [[Predrag Mijatović]] in the 1999 Champions League quarter-finals,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/@Zuishek/from-the-vault-lobanovskyis-first-step-towards-the-1999-semi-final-38ced0c180b5|title = From the Vault: Lobanovskyi's first step towards the 1999 semi-final|date = 28 April 2020}}</ref> [[PSV Eindhoven]]'s [[Park Ji-sung]] man-marking [[AC Milan|Milan]]'s [[Andrea Pirlo]] in the 2005 Champions League semi-finals,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/@Zuishek/from-the-vault-psvs-jigsaw-to-control-ac-milan-a17a23be46d8|title=From the Vault: PSV's jigsaw to control AC Milan|date=14 April 2020}}</ref> [[Chelsea FC|Chelsea]]'s [[Michael Essien]] man-marking [[Liverpool FC|Liverpool]]'s [[Steven Gerrard]] in the 2009 Champions League quarter-finals,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/chelsea/5133141/Chelseas-Michael-Essien-leave-his-mark-on-Liverpools-Steven-Gerrard.html|title = Chelsea's Michael Essien leave his mark on Liverpool's Steven Gerrard| date=9 April 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.chelseadaft.org/2009/04/match-report-liverpool-1-3-chelsea.html|title = Match Report: Liverpool 1-3 Chelsea - A Great Performance}}</ref> Chelsea's [[José Bosingwa]] man-marking [[FC Barcelona|Barcelona]]'s [[Lionel Messi]] in the same season's Champions League semi-finals<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/97015/Bosingwa-has-Messi-job|title=Bosingwa has Messi job|date=25 April 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/bosingwa-in-line-to-mark-messi-1.753076|title=Bosingwa in line to mark Messi|newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] }}</ref> and [[Manchester United]]'s [[Danny Welbeck]] man-marking Real Madrid's [[Xabi Alonso]] in the 2013 Champions League round of 16.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.zonalmarking.net/2013/03/06/manchester-united-1-2-real-madrid-red-card-allows-real-to-take-control/ |title=Manchester United 1-2 Real Madrid: red card allows Real to take control|date=March 6, 2013 |access-date=2020-09-24 |archive-date=2021-01-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109010953/http://www.zonalmarking.net/2013/03/06/manchester-united-1-2-real-madrid-red-card-allows-real-to-take-control/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.arsenal.com/news/features/20140905/danny-welbeck|title=Danny Welbeck|date=24 September 2023 }}</ref> Managers such as [[Guus Hiddink]] and [[Marcelo Bielsa]] have occasionally continued to use man-marking in the 21st century, Bielsa employing it as late as 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.zonalmarking.net/2012/03/08/manchester-united-2-3-athletic-bilbao-pressing/ |title=Manchester United 2-3 Athletic Bilbao: United unable to deal with pressing and high tempo |date=March 8, 2012 |access-date=2020-09-24 |archive-date=2020-11-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111205929/http://www.zonalmarking.net/2012/03/08/manchester-united-2-3-athletic-bilbao-pressing/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.zonalmarking.net/2015/04/08/marseille-2-3-psg-bielsas-pressing-has-positives-and-negatives/ |title=Marseille 2-3 PSG: Bielsa's pressing has positives and negatives|date=April 8, 2015 |access-date=2020-09-24 |archive-date=2020-11-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108091611/http://www.zonalmarking.net/2015/04/08/marseille-2-3-psg-bielsas-pressing-has-positives-and-negatives/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://talksport.com/football/759721/leeds-tactics-liverpool-chelsea-frank-lampard-marcelo-bielsa/|title=How Leeds rocked Liverpool - can Chelsea boss Lampard take inspiration from Bielsa?|date=15 September 2020}}</ref>
==Zonal marking== '''Zonal marking''' is a defensive strategy where defenders cover an area of the pitch rather than marking a specific opponent. If an opponent moves into the area a defender is covering, the defender marks the opponent. If the opponent leaves this area, then marking the opponent becomes the responsibility of another defender.<ref>Catlin 1990, p. 140.</ref>
The biggest advantage of zonal marking is its flexibility. When the team regains possession of the ball, players are still in their positions and can start an attack more quickly. Communication is very important when zonal marking is used, to ensure that no gaps are left is difficult when defending set pieces such as [[Direct free kick|free kick]]s and [[corner kick|corners]], and most teams change to man marking in these situations.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/rules_and_equipment/4685580.stm | work=BBC News | title=Set-piece marking | date=February 7, 2006 | access-date=May 12, 2010}}</ref>
The formation used by a team may dictate whether or not to use zonal marking. Teams playing 4–4–2 usually operate a zonal marking system, but teams playing a sweeper do not. Amongst professional teams zonal marking is the most common system: 15 of the 16 teams that reached the knockout stages of the 2004 [[UEFA Champions League]] used zonal marking.<ref>{{cite web | title=Football: Party like it's 1974|work=Belfast Telegraph article| url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/euro2004/latest_news/story.jsp?story=538029| archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20050410013325/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/euro2004/latest_news/story.jsp?story=538029| url-status=dead| archive-date=April 10, 2005| accessdate=December 4, 2005 }}</ref>
Training methods to develop this technique include coloured cones and a 5-metre rope. The coloured cone method is set up by having certain colours set out in sections of the pitch; each player will be put in the coloured section and will not be allowed to leave it. The 5-metre rope is a piece of equipment where the four defenders are attached by a rope which means they are used to staying and working together.
==Marking today== Today, several modern defensive formations use a mixture of both man-to-man and zonal marking e.g. 3–5–2 formation (which defensively becomes a 5–3–2). This means 5 defenders: 2 [[Defender (association football)#Centre-back|stoppers]] marking man-to-man, 1 sweeper (sweepers always mark by zone), and 2 [[Defender (association football)#Wing-back|wingbacks]] playing almost like end-to-end [[Midfielder#Wide midfielder|side midfielders]]. Also, several other teams rely exclusively on pure zonal marking approaches.
==See also== * [[Man-to-man defense]] * [[Prevent defense]] * [[Zone defense]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Bibliography== {{Cite book|last=Catlin|first=Mark G.|publisher=Soccer Books|location=[[St. Paul, Minnesota]]|title=The Art of Soccer|url=https://archive.org/details/artofsoccerbette0000catl|url-access=registration|year=1990|chapter=Organizing the Defense|isbn=0-9626834-2-6}}
{{Association football tactics and skills}}
[[Category:Association football terminology]] [[Category:Association football tactics]]