One of the key points from Manchester United's 2-0 win over Chelsea on Sunday was the man marking job that Ander Herrera did on Eden Hazard.
The United midfielder was tasked with nullifying the Chelsea winger and it worked as United overcame the Premier League leaders at Old Trafford.
Ireland legend John Giles was often marked tightly by opposition sides during his time at Leeds United in the '60s and '70s and he shared a few tricks and insights into getting away from opposition players.
"I nearly had it every week when I was playing but that's the way it was," he told Off The Ball.
"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.
"For example when I was playing as a midfield player, say [former Leeds team-mate] Billy Bremner had the ball, I would be level or a little bit behind Billy Bremner. What I used to do is run around the back of Billy Bremner. Now if someone is man marking you, if they're running around the back of you, you'll come out in front of them so they can't do that. So they've got to give you three to four to five yards by the time you come round the other side. They can't do anything about it. [The marker] has to stay goal side of Billy Bremner and he has to give me 3-5 yards which is plenty. The further you go forward, the more you're marking him. That's the mistake that Hazard made. He moved forward."
He gave an example of the difficulties of marking, citing Germany and Bayern Munich legend Franz Beckenbauer.
"I played against him a few times and he was a sweeper. 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," said John.
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