take this with a grain of salt but my eye test says we have abandoned a massive zone-only defence in favour of a hybrid mini-zone + man on man style.
that is, we kind of zone/set a few half lines 20-40m ahead of the ball, but we man up behind the ball, through the center of the ground, and far ahead of the ball so that the opposition has no easy outriders to kick to, and that any attempt to move the ball thru the corridor will be contested, and if they do kick over the mini zone, any opponents way up there will also have to contest.
I guess the mini-zone is to deny the chippy chippy pass style of bringing the ball forward where you suddenly break into space to take a 25m pass. Probably that is hard to defend if everybody is manning up because it allows the opposition to dictate where the space is
And I think whereas our default defensive thought for players was -> which piece of grass should I run to defend, its more now which player should I man up on... meaning if we dont have time to set up a mini zone ahead of the ball, we simply man everybody up ASAP
I also see maybe an emphasis on running with players past the opposition ball carrier - preferring to let them kick unmolested rather than use offensive handball. maybe that is just part of the man on man defence thing though.
"no easy receives" probably sums up our defence this year.
dunno, can anyone who regularly watches live games give their thoughts?
that is, we kind of zone/set a few half lines 20-40m ahead of the ball, but we man up behind the ball, through the center of the ground, and far ahead of the ball so that the opposition has no easy outriders to kick to, and that any attempt to move the ball thru the corridor will be contested, and if they do kick over the mini zone, any opponents way up there will also have to contest.
I guess the mini-zone is to deny the chippy chippy pass style of bringing the ball forward where you suddenly break into space to take a 25m pass. Probably that is hard to defend if everybody is manning up because it allows the opposition to dictate where the space is
And I think whereas our default defensive thought for players was -> which piece of grass should I run to defend, its more now which player should I man up on... meaning if we dont have time to set up a mini zone ahead of the ball, we simply man everybody up ASAP
I also see maybe an emphasis on running with players past the opposition ball carrier - preferring to let them kick unmolested rather than use offensive handball. maybe that is just part of the man on man defence thing though.
"no easy receives" probably sums up our defence this year.
dunno, can anyone who regularly watches live games give their thoughts?
