Modern Football’s Evolution: A Re-Emergence of Zonal Defensive Organisation | OneFootball

Over the last few years, we have seen an ever-growing trend of teams going man-to-man without the ball.

The purpose of man-oriented pressure is to place teams who have the ball under pressure in order to force a quick turnover.

But over the last few months, a few teams have started to shift away from man-to-man defensive structures to a more zonal structure.

So why is this the case? What are the pros and cons, and could zonal defensive organisations continue to re-emerge in the coming months and years? Let’s dive in!

Man-oriented pressure

Man-oriented pressure is when teams look to man-mark their individual direct opponent. For example in a 4-3-3 pressing shape against a 3-3-4 build-up shape you’d see:

• Three forwards mark three defenders

• The two full backs take care of the wingers

• The centre backs take care of the striker + attacking midfielder

• The three midfielders deal with the opponent’s midfield

The benefits to this style of pressing are that when you block off obvious passing options whilst directly applying pressure on the ball, you force a turnover which could lead to a big chance to score.

Image credit: Chelseafc.com

The three key components that make the style work are:

• Physically athletic profiles that can cover lots of ground

• Tight spacing between-the-lines

• Immaculate timings with the jump where everyone is in sync

Without one of these components, trying to play man-to-man pressing could leave you in deep trouble.

If you fail to have the necessary physical profiles to directly press high, your whole unit becomes disjointed. The reason the unit becomes disjointed is because the timing of the jump is mistimed. You could get away with being played through if spacing between-the-lines are tight but the likelihood of that is slim if jumps are miscalculated. These are just the basics.

Using Press manipulations to beat Man-oriented pressure

What is press manipulation?

Press manipulation is where the team in control of possession uses interchanging of roles to drag their direct opponent into uncomfortable areas. This creates space in dangerous areas of the pitch.

How do teams use press manipulations to exploit man-oriented pressure?

Whilst the benefits of playing man-to-man are potentially high, the risks are equally as great. Particularly in recent top level matches in the Champions League, we have seen two of the best teams in Europe (Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern München) totally expose the weaknesses of man-oriented pressure.

The way technically skilled teams like PSG and Bayern use press manipulations is through varying speeds of rotations. For example, during Bayern München’s 6-1 victory over Atalanta in the first leg of their Round Of 16 Champions League tie, we saw how all of Bayern’s players moved around into different areas of the pitch to drag their direct opponent into uncomfortable territory.

Sulemana would man-mark Laimer and Hien would man-mark Serge Gnabry and one example of the varying rotations you’d see was how Laimer would move into the 2nd striker role next to Nicolas Jackson whilst Gnabry would be in the defensive midfielder role.

Another example within that, Kimmich or Pavlović would move into full back whilst the two full backs would operate in half-spaces further up the pitch like no.8s and during all that time, Atalanta were directly man-to-man everywhere across the pitch.

The reason Bayern had so much joy in manipulating the Atalanta press was that their defender would drag the opponent’s attacker into defensive scenarios, whilst a Bayern attacker would drag an Atalanta defender into the Bayern half. If you have defenders doing attacking and attackers doing defending, it leads to one outcome and that’s lots of chances and goals.

Zonal orientation

Zonal orientation is when teams apply pressure to the opponent in a mental capacity. Rather than directly apply pressure through physicality, zonal-oriented teams sit in an organised block with the aim of restricting space between the lines.

The key components that make up a good zonal-orientated block:

• Spaces between-the-lines are closed

• The block behaves as one unit

• Progressive passes are restricted

The way zonal-orientation works is the polar opposite to man-orientation. Rather than a player directly following their opponent, players within a zonal structure are tasked with protected their zone. This means that if players look to drag or interchange, the player should not directly follow.

If done correctly, it should result in one organised compact unit with spaces largely restricted where zones are protected.

the benefits of a zonal structure

The main benefit of a zonal structure is defensive stability. As a team, since you’re tasked with protecting set zones rather than directly interfering with the opponent through physical action, opponents will find it tricky to play through or around due to the restricted space.

Another benefit to a zonal structure is that you can separate defensive phases into blocks. Those are:

• Low-block

• Mid-block

• High-block

When you play with a low-block, pressure has been invited into the final third. But the zones which opposition could penetrate are all locked off due to the number of bodies within a small proximity, meaning you are well protected to absorb pressure.

A mid-block is the most commonly used in a defensive phase. The way a mid-block operates, you squeeze the pitch from the backline to the midfield and the front line sits just ahead of the midfield which means that the space between-the-lines are non-existent. The benefits of this are that if you’re able to keep all space closed off, the opposition can only go backwards meaning you gain territory higher up the pitch.

A high-block isn’t used too often, but some teams like Liverpool have adopted the approach. Out of possession, Liverpool under Arne Slot set up in a 4-2-4. You may think the two in the middle are heavily exposed, but the reason for that is because the four forwards in front are blocking off the access into the second phase. Two wide players would be angled to block the passing angle whilst the two central forwards would block off the central passing lanes.

What are the negatives to a zonal structure?

Just like with man-oriented pressure, technically skilled teams would still find a way to manipulate zonal structures. The difference being that in a zonal marking scenario, the opponent would use positional manipulations rather than press manipulations.

What is positional manipulation?

Positional manipulation is when a team looks to overload a specific phase of play with a +1. This could be a striker dropping into the 2nd phase, a midfielder dropping into the first phase or a goalkeeper joining in with the first phase.

How does positional manipulation work?

If a team blocks in a 4-2-4 against a back four, a midfielder could drop into the backline to create a 5v4 scenario to overload the first line. The overload would mean ball progression forces the high-block into a mid-block, a forced compromise due to numerical inferiority.

How does positional manipulation lead to chances and goals?

With the defensive team sat in a block designed to protect zones, should the opponent continously overload the zones, it would break the defensive structure due to inferiority.

For example, Paris Saint-Germain were able to use positional manipulation against Chelsea in the first leg of their Round Of 16 Champions League tie via Ousmane Dembele and Vitinha. In the first phase of play, the latter would drop into the backline to overload Chelsea’s first line which would’ve been 3v2.

To try restrict access into the 2nd phase, a Chelsea midfielder would’ve been forced to step up to make it a 3v3. But as a consequence, it meant Dembele could drop into midfield to form a 3v2 second phase overload as Chelsea two holders were vacated by the no10 who had to step up.

The PSG full back, Nuno Mendes, could then jump from the 2nd line to the last line of attack and by holding width, it meant the two PSG central midfielders as well as Dembele and the two wingers, could move more centrally to form a 5v4 third phase overload.

Why are teams beginning to shift to zonal structurEs and will the trend re-emerge?

The main reason why teams are beginning to shift to more zonal structures is because the likelihood of being ripped apart through manipulation is far less likely than through a man-oriented structure.

If a side can block well, protect zones, restrict spaces between the lines, and operate as a cohesive unit, it is more difficult for the opposition to break down and beat because the sort of space required to attack is far less.

For a side sitting in the defensive block, whilst the mental demand is far greater than man-to-man pressing, the physical ask is less. This increases the likelihood for them to score later on in matches through counter attacks against the tired legs of the more expansive opponent.

There is an increasing possibility that the zonal marking trend will re-emerge due to how easy many opponents find it to manipulate man-oriented pressure the way Bayern München did to Atalanta.

The worst nightmare a coach has is seeing their team ripped apart purely because the rotations of the opponent at varying speeds have manipulated the press, resulting in big chances and goals conceded.

The tactical landscape in football is always fascinating, and whoever gets ahead of the curve in regards to defensive organisation could have huge rewards ahead.