Zonal or man to man defending the answer for TFC?
The same week that USMNT regular and 2010 World Cup team captain Carlos Bocanegra announced that he is retiring, Toronto FC suffered their sixth home loss courtesy of the Philadelphia Union, showing a worrisome weakness at centre back, where both Bradley Orr and Doneil Henry produced poor performances. Off the top, some might be wondering if keeping that spot in allocation would have been better than another first round draft pick, one that some are speculating could be used in trading for a centre back.
Things might have been different with veteran Steven Caldwell fit enough to take Orr’s place in the middle of the back line. But the 34-year old is still out and, however long that may be, he’s a short-term answer at this position.
TFC need to start looking ahead for a couple of effective centre backs in the next transfer window. Although it is not totally impossible to excel lining up young blood as your two centre backs, a strong defence usually needs of a veteran to anchor the flat four.
Right now, Toronto FC needs a veteran player who has succeeded in MLS. DC United bounced back this season after a poor 2013 campaign and they rely on veteran Bobby Boswell. Sporting Kansas City have Matt Besler and Real Salt Lake have Nat Borchers. With Steve Caldwell getting older and with only Nick Hagglund as other viable option, TFC is desperately in need of reinforcements.
Whatever solution general manager Tim Bezbatchenko will opt for, the problem is not only about the men. Instead, from a tactical viewpoint, as Armen Bedakian pointed out
, TFC manager Greg Vanney preached a “back to basics” concerning the coverage in the penalty box.
In fact, Vanney encouraged a change from a zonal coverage to a man-marking into the box. “For me, it’s anything that’s in and around the box we need to be more personal, locked in on guys. I know, in the past, these guys have worked on taking zones, but I’m not a fan of zones,”
Vanney told reporters after the game.
However, this is not the most basic approach to require your footballers to switch the system from a wide ranging zonal coverage to a pure man-to-man marking just inside the penalty box. Should Vanney adopt a man-marking philosophy when defending inside the penalty area, it will require time to be assimilated.
Barring this change from a zonal coverage to a man-to-man marking and the resulting difficulties, the key point is that Toronto’s defenders have to stay focused inside the penalty area. Save for two of the goals scored by New England, an alarming amount of TFC’s recent goals conceded have come from an inability to deal with crosses or set piece delivery into the 18-yard box.
As Vanney correctly stressed, it is “always dangerous” when defenders don’t fully clear the ball, and no one can lose his concentration until the box is cleared. Defending against set-pieces or crosses isn’t easy, as defenders must attack the ball and keep the eyes both on the ball
and the forwards.
In this case, you can’t argue that concentration is more important than strategy.
Michele Tossani is a football tactician with a Ph.D. in History. Michele resides in Florence, Italy and is a tactical analyst for Futbol-Tactico.com
|