Is zonal marking making teams weak from set plays

For several years there have been many debates on what is the best system to use when defending set plays. Here at Football Agents we have also had this debate and here is our conclusion.

Zonal marking and man marking both have positives in their own right however we believe that man marking is the better of the two options. When zonal marking you may be exposed in the air as you may not be able to compete in the air with other players who can attack the ball and players of a higher stature. Another issue with zonal marking is that you may be exposed if the ball is played into a different area to where the zonal marking is taking place, however there are also issues when man marking. When man marking it is vital that you mark your player to the best of your ability, if you fail to mark your player or he gets a run on you, you may gift the player a free header. There has also been a debate on whether a player should be on the post protecting that area of the goal. Although many teams use this philosophy there are several teams who has adopted a different approach. Some teams have been leaving there players off the post when defending corners to give them a greater counter attacking option. Over the years we have seen several successful managers use the zonal marking system. Managers such as Rafa Benitez and Pep Guardiola. Even though both have these managers have been successful with their respective clubs, both managers struggled when defending from set plays.