Once the zone is beaten you have two options, Kerry says: go hard to the ball and break the play down, or, more often, give space and sag back while eliminated teammates work hard to recover goal side. He points to Minke Booij in the Dutch defence under Marc Lammers, who never rushed the big tackle but condensed space so any shot came under pressure or from wide. Watch the full masterclass: Closing and tackling in a zone defence.
