Bunching Up?

If you ask any junior football coach what is the most common question asked and frustrations felt in coaching young players there is a very good chance it will be: “Why are they all bunched up and chase the ball?” This article exlores reasons as to why players “bunch up” and provides some explanation to improve the issue for all ages in football.

Why do Players Bunch?

Bunching of players is more common at younger age groups and can be difficult for coaches to stop this from occurring during games.

There are many reasons to why players bunch up and we will investigate why players “bunch up” and provide some advice to what a coach can do including practical session examples so players will begin to learn to get “wide” and “long” essentially providing “width” and “depth” when in possession of the ball.

The sessions for this are included in the session section.

At younger age’s players are more introvert and see the game as “my ball” I want it, each player wants a part of the action and often players are reluctant to pass to a team mate.

Therefore is it impossible to ask players to be in a area of space 15 yards away from the ball?

Young players find it difficult to understand the tactical reasons as why a team should position themselves with players high and wide thus creating more space to play in. The first thing FCC suggests is that bunching up of players has its advantages technically that will benefit them later in their playing career.
Having opportunities to win a tackle and gain position and dribble through tight congested areas is fantastic for players to develop the ability to retain possession under intense pressure.

Often the complaints of players bunching up comes from coaches and parents watching as it can seem like chaos from the touchline, rarely do you see players complaining and games mimic those played at school in the play ground without any organisation from adults.

How Can a Coach Use this Problem to their advantage when coaching?

When a team is out of possession essentially it is a good thing for players to be close together and protect the central areas of the pitch, therefore the concept for young players of bunching can help defensively, the problem comes when a coach wants to get a team to pass the ball and be comfortable in keeping possession. As noted asking a player to go away from the ball and stand in a area of space for young players will be confusing, but by explaining to them that by being in space they will have more time to pass or shoot and be able to dribble better will hopefully start to work in your favour as they get themselves in these pockets of space on the field.

To show players the advantages of space you can stop a game in training at any point and move the players in possession equally around the pitch so they can see the picture of what space looks like and hopefully will see how much easier it is to pass, dribble and shoot.

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