1. When the opposing goalie has the ball.
Ideally you will have a basic zone set up with your forward. The most famous most used and simple zone is Goalie takes the corners and doesn't jump out of the way (otherwise why take the corners) and fwd takes middle and long. Goalie covers the corner on the side nearest where the goalie has the ball set up (either push or pull side). If the goalie doesn't really shoot anything and just blasts the ball as hard as he can with his two bar or goalie then you probably want to keep your men in a "Standard Defense" about a balls width apart and just float from the middle to the sides/corners as the ball is hit. Using the "D" you were told about. [I assume you don't know what “Standard” is so look for a link at the bottom of the thread for some basic help]
Interesting, but not too practical on wide goal tables, like the Tornado. Having a goalkeeper guard the corner and the forward take care of the middles, longs, lane and brushdown passes, as well as banks off the near wall, from a position near either wall, is a bad bad bad distribution of labor, IMO. We teach a very very easy D down here.
It's almost impossible to hit that corner from a quickset, and most good goalkeeper shooters will take speed off the shot to hit that hole. The easiest and most natural shot is through the 53-52 on a pull and through the 54-53 on a push. In fact over 75% of goalkeeper shots will go through the center two openings of the opposing forward's 5bar. And quicksets? Probably 99% if they aren't mish*t.
Best way to shut down slop AND stop passes from the opposing goalie is to block the lane and those brush or slap hits (away from goal), never letting it clear the 5bar if possible. But a forward guarding the middle and the long has to give up guarding these lanes! And the goalkeeper at the corner can't do anything about it! Only the forward can concentrate on blocking all lane and brushdown passes (obviously not on goal and not pointed at the corner), not to mention near-wall bank shots. So the old 70's 80's "goalkeeper has the short, forward has the long" zone is no longer practical. Ok for the TS and Dynamo's narrow goals, but currently obsolete.
I tell the newbies to use the standard "claw" position (goalkeeper pointed away from the goal, near 2bar pointed inwards) and when the opposing goalkeeper has the ball at either side, for a push or pull shot, I just tell them to absolutely shut down the inside of the 53-52 or the inside of the 54-53 lane. Against a tic tac'ing opposing goalkeeper, I also tell them to jump, NOT SLIDE, in covering the 53-52 and 54-53 lanes alternately. Just about any pass down the lane or in a brushdown is at most 1/5 to 1/10th the speed of a shot, so yes, it is better for the forward to shut off anything up to the angle to the near corner, and also shut off anything that goes past the middle (past his 53player).
Once our newbies learn to shut down the middle, and not allowing any rebounds to the opposing forward, they realize that the majority of both quickset and set shots from the other goalkeeper are turned into punts, total loss of possession. The opposing goalkeeper then soon realizes he/she has to pass or pick a hole to the extreme near corner or the extreme far corner - much harder. The goalkeeper also loses the option of shooting a slight spray pull or push to the near corner and an natural wide spray to the far corner. NO IDIOT shots (simple brush or cut shots) to an open goal are allowed. Once a team learns this modern Central Zone D, they laugh at most goalkeeper shots, and they know they have a much better than Absolute Zero chance of blocking even a good passing goalkeeper - which is exactly what the old tired, short-long D has- no fr*gg*ng chance against. This is why it is so obsolete it isn't even funny.
This is exactly the same as defending a direct or indirect free kick in soccer: the middle is ABSOLUTELY shut down. Grown men holding hands. This only allows overhead and sidewinder shots at the goal, which any team will live with, because the curved shots are much harder to execute, and usually much slower. And yes they have players marked, for when the kicker tries a pass to either side of the "wall". And if the goalkeeper in soccer sees any opening in the wall, he/she will scream to get it closed.
I've seen so many short-long D's where the opposing goalkeeper, sadly, only had a natural wide spray and never shot any semisquare or square shots. So he had no choice except to annihilate the other team by hitting the split-3/4-0r-long spray every time. He felt real bad. Short-long probably can still work against goalkeepers with no spray shots, but it is almost idiotic against sprays, especially quickset sprays, and if the opposing forward is a good shooter, then adding the lane and brushdown passes will just annihilate any short-long D. Any double pump or tic tac against a forward blocking the middle and long will open up the side lanes for passing.
Short-long requires the defending forward to concentrate on middles and longs, and still try to shut down lanes and brushdowns or brushups. So whats the use of separating defensive responsibilities? On the other hand, Central Zone D shuts down almost all quicksets and accepts the middle hit to regain possession, while releasing the forward to get to these near side passes at slower speeds. And the forward definitely has time to jump over the other side, since he/she is then sure any middle shot will be covered.
Try it out... leave the goalkeeper and 2bar player down with the 3bar and 5bar up, as in goalie wars. Then position the defenders near the middle. with the one player in front of the big dot, and the other player covering between the big dot and the near corner. Now quickshoot a hundred shots, preferably straight sprays to either corner and see how useful that is. Now lower the 5bar and straddle the rear defenders with the 53-52 or the 54-53. Shoot another hundred shots, set or quickset. The option is not an option. Haven't even added lowering the opposing 3bar!
You know what's funny? All the oldtime players from Dynamo and Deutsch Meister and TS that used to sit on the corner find that the same rod position actually makes them sit in a Center Zone D! And any self-respecting forward (we smack the wannabe heroes who jump for middle looking shots) can shut down any spray or square aimed at the near edge of the goal. The trick is to develop the discipline to shut down everything on either side of the center lane, but NOT TO PLAY HERO and try to stuff middle shots.
That's how we catch the newbies before they develop bad bad bad habits. Very simple to tell them to look at the nearest lane, and shut it off. Jumping about an inch to either side is a lot easier, PLUS: no more backdoor shots that slop in off the wall or post and bounce in off the goalkeeper player at the corner. Also much easier to kick the goalkeeper or 2bar players from the center to either side to shut off a slop or a bank. Not to mention that the majority of bankshots also go through the center point of the goal, right behind the big dot. Very few goalkeepers can pinpoint banks to the near or far corners, so it's a waste of time covering that.
BTW, the last three or 4 beginner titlists from Kentucky States, IFP, include Danny Schnell, Mark Winker, Josh Manning, & Ronnie Kemp took second last Atlanta US Open, all with good central zones ... Duhhhhhhhhhh! Guess where these beginners are from
?? Hmmmm? And look at Rico playing singles with his left hand moving the goalkeeper and 2bar together, to cover either central lane whenever defending goalkeeper shots? Or Tommy, or Billy. What's with that? NO CORNERS Please!!!
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