How to exploit a man-marking opponent
Positional play revolves around concepts such as numerical superiority and finding the free man. Against man-marking opponents, teams will not have a free player unless they create a situation to exploit the man-marking. There are of course a lot of different ways to do that, here are some examples that I came to think of.
Use goalkeeper as a false 1
As long as the opponent goalkeeper stays close to their goal and doesn’t mark a player, the team with the ball should be able to play 11v10 by using the goalkeeper. Man-marking opponents usually mark the outfield players and leave the goalkeeper open. In my last article Using the goalkeeper as a ‘false 1' during build-up I wrote about how different teams vacate space for their goalkeepers to use, allowing more players further up the pitch. Feel free to read that if you’re interested.
Against man-marking opponents, a goalkeeper could be used in a false 1-position to try to lure an opponent to press and therefore leave another player free.
In the video below MK Dons do just that. Their GK moves forward with the ball and when an opponent press they pass the ball to the free man. When the free man gets the ball another opponent presses the ball possessor and leaves another player free which now becomes the target for MK Dons to pass the ball to. It’s a kind of chain effect.
Isolate 1v1s close to the opponent's goal
The attacking team can manipulate the defending team’s positions quite easily since they are following them.
In the first leg of the Champions League semi-final in 2015 between Barcelona and Bayern Munich, Pep Guardiola (then Bayern Munich coach) came up with the plan to man-mark Barcelona to try to prevent them from having time on the ball and to be able to win the ball high up the pitch. This strategy was quite risky to say the least, because what surely was the best front 3 in the world at the time; Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez and Neymar were left 3v3 in Barcelona’s attacking half.
Barcelona used this to their advantage in the clip below. The midfielders drop and created more space for the front 3. Ter Stegen’s ability to play long passes with great accuracy meant that Barca could isolate and find MSN in 1v1-situations close to Bayern’s goal and create this goal-scoring opportunity.
Up-back patterns to lose the marker
This concept is quite similar to the previous one. When playing against a man-marking opponent the attacking team can create open passing lanes to the strikers, often by dropping the midfielders.
In the clip below West Ham go man to man against Manchester City when City have a goal-kick. Manchester City use the up-back pattern and a midfielder loses his marker and gets the ball.
Beat your man 1v1
The ability to beat the marking opponent with dribbling is very valuable against this type of opponent. This concept is probably the least complex since it’s mostly an individual action and kids who play football should therefore be encouraged to try it, in my opinion.
Sadio Mané is an expert in this as shown in the clip below.
Not every player could make that action look so easy after receiving the ball with their back to goal and with a hungry opponent chasing.
By finding a player who is half-turned instead, the attacking team can create a more ideal situation for dribbling past an opponent. In the clip below, one of the youth teams in IFK Göteborg (where I’m coaching) demonstrates this concept in a 9v9 game.
The goalkeeper passes the ball to the midfielders with their back to goal. The second time it happens the midfielder can pass it sideways to the winger who’s on the half-turn and can beat his marker with his first touch to create a good attacking situation with numerical superiority.
Rotate positions, drag defenders out of their zone/positions
The previous concepts have mostly been about beating the opponents' high pressing. But some teams use man-marking even while defending lower, like Atalanta for example. In the Champions League match between Atalanta and Real Madrid earlier this spring, Real Madrid used a lot of rotations to try to drag the Atalanta defenders out of their positions and to exploit the gaps that were created.
The situation where Real Madrid left-back Ferland Mendy got through on goal and an Atalanta player was sent off for preventing a goal-scoring opportunity is a great example of how effective that strategy is when it goes as planned.
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City also used rotations to create threatening situations against Atalanta in the Champions League in the 19/20 season.
Manchester City’s winger Mahrez drops and drags a defender with him while attacking midfielder De Bruyne moves into the opened space and creates a goal-scoring opportunity.
Another sequence later in the game where almost the same situation happens and City creates an even better scoring chance which could have put the game to bed.
Lose your marker with a run in behind
Another concept that is similar to what City and Real were doing in the previous clips is to lose your marker with a timed run in behind the defensive line. It could be into a space opened by a dropping team-mate or it could be into a space opened by yourself.
In the clip below, Scott McTominay of Manchester United punished Leeds’ defending by losing his marker with a timed run in behind the defenders to score his second goal of the match. It was probably a planned strategy for this match that the midfielders should contribute with runs behind the defenders and he does it with perfect timing and determination to exploit the gap created by the centre-backs who presses the striker.
Below is an example of how a player can both create a gap in the defending structure — and exploit it with a run in behind to lose the marker.
Raheem Sterling drops to receive the ball and drags the defender with him. While passing back to the midfield, he immediately scans the pitch for open space to run into and finds a big gap to exploit. It also helps when you have a midfielder with De Bruyne’s passing ability who can do these outrageous passes…
Summary
I wrote this article to explore how different teams try to exploit man-marking strategies. My key take-away from this is that there are strategies to find a free man even against man-marking opponents. It’s all about creating situations where a player can lose their marker and finding that player.
A thing to think about as a coach while preparing to play a man-marking opponent is how you want their defending structure to be, and which gaps that you want to create (and of course exploit). Do you want to drag out their defenders and exploit that gap with runs? Or do you want to isolate your strikers close to the opponents’ goal? Maybe you want to use the goalkeeper as a false 1 to attract pressure and create a free man.
And that’s my point, there are so many different strategies to exploit man-marking. It’s probably the easiest defending strategy to manipulate to create the kind of situations that you want to have your players in since the opposition players follow their opponent and the structure changes so much depending on the attacking team’s positions.
