Fonseca opts for zonal marking: Pros and cons, requirements and Sacchi’s precedent | OneFootball

One of the most interesting tactical aspects of Paulo Fonseca’s first three games in charge of AC Milan has been the switch in marking system compared to Stefano Pioli’s tenure.

Fonseca’s methods were always going to take time to implement because his self-proclaimed vision of high pressing and possession-based domination is not achieved overnight. What fans care more about, though, is that Milan are without a win in their first three games.

What they therefore need to see are steps forward in terms of the results and the style of play, something the players have said they are confident will happen. In the meantime, though, we can analyse an obvious change that has been made in the marking system.

What is zonal marking?

To simplify zonal marking, it is a tactical principle that focuses on defending space as opposed to going man for man all over the pitch. It attempts to control the opposition’s movement by controlling the access to space on the pitch.

This is done by creating a vertical and horizontal compactness on the field and to achieve this there should be very small spaces between each player, something that Arrigo Sacchi constantly preaches about.

This means that the team will play as a block and that whoever enters the block will be pressed aggressively while they will be little pressure outside the block. The block has to keep moving depending on the movements of the ball.

If the opposition have a specific player that needs individual attention the player will be marked individually but not as tight as man-oriented pressing system. It is usually to lead them into a pressing trap.

Advantages and risks

One of the key positives of a zonal system is that it allows the team to control the key areas of the pitch. It does allow the opposition to create overloads easily and there the team can lead the opposition to areas away from the dangerous zones.

One of the key risks of man-marking is that, when following your man, you can get pulled out of position and this can lead to space being created for other players to run into. This gets eliminated with zonal marking and it’s compactness.

A disadvantage of zonal marking is that if the opposition play on one flank of the pitch the block tends to shift to that particular side. With quick short passes or switches of play, the opposition can catch the opposition off guard and compromise the zonal marking set up.

Most importantly zonal marking requires players to keep a certain distance which requires discipline and communication between all players, including forwards, at all times.

During corners, zonal systems can render defenders static while the opposing players moves around. When that happens, the defender is left confused whether to follow the striker or whether to hope that a team-mate will take care of it.

Individual requirements and famous examples

What qualities do individual players need for playing in zonal marking? Most obviously they need to have a high level of awareness, intelligence and anticipation to read danger pro-actively.

Even more importantly though,  players need to develop good communication between each other for this to work properly. Chemistry and cohesion is absolutely key, otherwise things can quickly fall apart.

Milan’s very own Arrigo Sacchi redefined zonal marking. His vision was to keep the distance between the first line of press (usually the striker) and the last line of press (the defenders) at no more than 15 metres.

Other famous proponents of the zone-based approach are Rinus Michels and Jose Mourinho, the latter becoming famous for being an extension of ‘Catenaccio‘, a highly organised and effective backline defence focused on nullifying opponents’ attacks and preventing goal-scoring opportunities.

As mentioned in the thread, if Fonseca intends to execute zonal marking Milan need to have discipline to stay compact as a block and there needs to be good communication between players.

It is something that players have to develop themselves for which the adage ‘practice makes perfect’ is needed, plus a whole lot of patience. This will need unconditional support from the management which will be a real test, especially with Liverpool and Inter to come.