I see many people saying that teams are “focusing more on man-marking.” While that might have been true in the late 2010s, are we oversimplifying things now by repeating that phrase?

I don’t think there can be any more emphasis on this than there is already. If we are going to claim there is ‘more focus,’ there has to be another tier to reach. What does that next tier look like?

I can’t imagine it becoming any more extreme unless teams start bringing the goalkeeper out to act as an extra man in the press.

I think the next evolution will be teams going in the opposite direction. The passive approach to allow the other team to shoot rather than trying to chase. Save energy for time on the ball.