david_smith
Johnny Giles has offered advice to Chelsea star Eden Hazard on how to deal with man marking, and claims he “nearly had it every week” when he was playing.
The former Irish international had an illustrious playing career, representing Manchester United, Leeds United, West Brom, Philadelphia Fury and Shamrock Rovers.
The 76 year old spoke about how he handled being man marked during an appearance on Off The Ball last night
“I nearly had it every week when I was playing but that’s the way it was,” he claimed.
“But you had to find a way around it to get through it. It’s a technical thing. What happened with Hazard in my opinion last week when he was being marked, he moved further forward.
“In fact he should have been moving further back because you’re marking the opposition when you go that far forward.
“The further you go forward, the more you’re marking him. That’s the mistake that Hazard made. He moved forward.”
Giles – who won two league titles, an FA Cup and a League Cup with Leeds – also spoke about how difficult it was to get near Germany and Bayern Munich star Franz Beckenbauer.
“I played against him a few times and he was a sweeper,” he continued.
“He used to get the ball and he’d be strolling along and people used to say ‘Why are you giving him so much space?’ Because he was lightning quick. If you got too close to him, he’d just go past you. So he was buying that space but if you tried to make a dart towards him, he’s past you.”
