Quote:
Originally Posted by Nuje
As far as the tactics, is it Rafa? Is it the players? I'm not sure that it could be the players, as you'd assume that Rafa would tell them to stop that crap, but if it's Rafa, why is he continuing to try something that clearly isn't working
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He's too stubborn. He's a very good tactician, but he's very very picky about how something is done. We've used zonal marking last year, and Chelsea in years before, and nothing was said. It's just this year a fuss has been made.
I'd say it's a mix of both Rafa and the players. If we're honest only Krygiackos is dominant in the air. Skrtel is very poor in the air for his size, Carra has been outmuscled, and Johnson outsmarted. Gerrard and Torres are decent in the air, but are poor when it comes to clearing out headers. That lies in some of the problem.
Honestly switching to man marking wouldn't make it better. There would be mismatches in the box, and most of the problems with zonal marking would be exploited in man marking.