Celtic coach John Kennedy has defended the use of zonal marking following the club’s departure from the Champions League.
| “It doesn’t make it wrong because of one game” – John Kennedy |
The Hoops conceded three goals from corners over the two games on their way to going out of the competition 4-3 on aggregate to Swedish opponents Malmo.
“With the height and presence we have in the team, zonal marking has worked for us. It doesn’t make it wrong because of one game,” Kennedy explained to the Daily Record. “When you concede from man marking someone points the finger and says ‘it’s his fault’. But no one takes into consideration the team might have two players blocking the man who is trying to mark a player.
“If you go man for man it is easy to get blocks and you can take our biggest defenders out of the areas where the other team are going to put a ball in,” he added. “Whereas with zonal, we know pretty much where the ball is going to go, we can protect the most dangerous area of the box and put our best headers of the ball in there. It failed for us the other night but it doesn’t make it wrong.”
The Scottish champions now drop into the Europa League and await the draw for that competition on Friday.
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