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I was watching NYCFC’s first home game vs. New England today. NY plays in Yankee Stadium on a tiny pitch only 70 yards wide. Obviously on smaller pitches, the game is faster, more physical and possession is a struggle for both teams. I usually just bitch about small fields…But today I’m asking those who stick to the 3Four3 system – What are some specific adjustments or player instructions you would recommend when faced with a narrow or small field that makes it easier for teams to defend you?
Due to snow and rain, we had to play on a football field converted turf field this weekend, quite small for 8v8 game, and speed much faster than we are used to. It was much harder to control as opponents will pressure you quicker in smaller space. Obviously our level was not good enough to play possession successfully for that field condition.
In these tight spaces is when the rare ability take on dribblers one-one and force dangerous free kicks and PKs comes in handy. We love teaching the collective play in this country, but by the time American kid turn 17 any world-class individual abilities with the ball have all been cleansed out of their system for the good of the team…
Yankee stadium is a horrible place for Futbol. the grass is very high, the pitch is soft and the wind held up the ball as well.
This is an issue for us at the high school I coach at. Our field is surrounded by a track which limits how big we can make the field when measuring and painting the lines. The most we’ve been able to squeeze out is only 60-65 yards wide and about 130 yards long. So a very narrow pitch compared to what we would prefer. Honestly there isn’t a lot we can do about it and so the possession inevitably gets tougher. All we really do is use the narrowness of the field as a way of teaching our girls to get the most out of the space and work to be better in tighter areas, that way when we play on a field wider than our own, they tend to have more success.
Eric, with all due respect I’d suggest 130 yards is too long. Why do you have it setup like that? Many teams make do with 50-55 width so 60-65 isn’t too bad, though I agree that an extra ten yards aids true possession teams.
Re Yankee pitch, I haven’t seen it so maybe in reality it’s less, but if it is indeed 70 yards width that is not by any stretch of the imagination a “tiny pitch”. This goes for any level of the game as, if I remember correctly, Old Trafford, the Allianz Arena and the Camp Nou are all right around or less than 115×75 yards.
Nick,
Because I don’t set up the field… And as I said, it’s probably closer to 120 yds long. Besides, I have no real control over the size of the field since I’m not the one who sets it up, the AD gets people to do it and I have to live with whatever they set up.
44 (width of box) plus 22 (11X2, distance from corner to line outside field) is 66 yards. Looked like about 1-2 yards between line off of field and edge of 18, so it seemed to be around 68-70 yards.
With that being said. If you truly play on a small field. I think the teams spacing can still be the same, but transitions become more crucial. You need to be able close space is field is huge or may have more time to close space if field is tiny. On the flip side, a smaller field may be easy to counter if the opponents are playing a high line.
For me, 70 yards isn’t that bad, but the NYCFC field did seem to be a poor environment all around.
I’m sure my girls team would have loved the size of the Yankee Stadium pitch….it just looked very narrow for a professional men’s game and Twellman couldn’t stop talking about it. The size reminded me of some poor fields that we’ve played on that affected our game. My team has struggled on a smaller field with weaker teams that we have dominated on a good wide pitch before. Basically, our possession needs to continuously improve to deal with the added pressure in tight spaces. I was just hoping someone who is trying to stick to the 3four3 methodology could offer a tactical adjustment they use….for now, we’ll just keep working it!
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