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Narrow Pitch


dunsteral

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From my seat in the lower lansdown stand on saturday when i saw the ball go over

the touchline and out of play on the dolman side of the ground, i thought that the

pitch looked like it had been made narrower. I also thought that on a couple of

occasions the players where surprised when the ball ran over the line.

Having just watched on youtube the interview given by 2 wolves journalists which

was held on that touchline, you can see a very large gap between the line and the end

of the grass which confirmed my suspicions.

Does anybody know if this is a definite ploy to make the pitch narrower and would that

be an advantage to us or the opposition?

 

 

 

 

 

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I thought we've always had one of the widest pitches in the league, at one stage it was wider or longer than Wembley's I think I read once.

Anyway it looks superb, very proud of our beautiful pitch. Please pass on my praise to the clubs groundstaff @Mkelly

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2 hours ago, RedM said:

I thought we've always had one of the widest pitches in the league, at one stage it was wider or longer than Wembley's I think I read once.

Anyway it looks superb, very proud of our beautiful pitch. Please pass on my praise to the clubs groundstaff @Mkelly

The pitch still looks in great condition but that's not what's in question here.

We've always been known for having an unusually large pitch (at the outer limit of the official specifications) which encouraged expansive football and particularly wing play.

Remember Pulis was known for deliberately narrowing the pitch to facilitate more negative football and reduce, as he saw it, the advantage to more attack minded opponents of more space.

A narrower pitch leads to a more congested style of football and is liable to lead to less entertaining games.

It would therefore be a great shame if the AG pitch has been narrowed.

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44 minutes ago, JamesBCFC said:

Its unlikely to have been adjusted mid season, I believe there's a maximum limit and minimum and it can be changed pre season, but thought that once the season starts that is it, otherwise teams would change it every other week.

That's what I thought too, it couldn't be altered during the season.

And @Nogbad the BadI do realise the condition of the match isn't in question, that why I started a new paragraph and thought I'd add a 'by the way' type comment whilst we were vaguely on the subject.

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There are minimum and maximum sizes that pitches can be. Ours has always been one of the bigger pitches. 

Pulis narrowed our pitch and did the same at Stoke while he was there, it's a clear tactic when home teams like to play 'narrow' football. Wales narrowed the millennium stadium pitch when they played Brazil a few years ago, this was to try and nullify Brazil's wide men. Cambridge did it when John Beck ( and Gary Johnson ) was there, this helped there hoofball and long throw tactics.

So, it would not surprise me at all if our pitch has been narrowed, this because LJ has spent the majority of the season playing narrow football with little or no width. 

Regarding the rules, I can't see anything that states you can't reduce the size of the pitch during the season, as long as you are within the minimum and maximum sizes in the Football league law book I would imagine it's okay to do it.

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59 minutes ago, RedM said:

That's what I thought too, it couldn't be altered during the season.

And @Nogbad the BadI do realise the condition of the match isn't in question, that why I started a new paragraph and thought I'd add a 'by the way' type comment whilst we were vaguely on the subject.

Thanks for making that clear RedM, I'll pay closer attention to your paragraphs in future. 

When I said the pitch is 'great' above it doesn't really convey my view on modern pitches which is they are if anything overly pristine, with very little in common with what many of us have experienced playing the amateur game, or even, in many cases the more variable conditions experienced by players and fans below Championship level.

Whether this near perfect surface, whatever the weather, makes the football we watch more interesting and enjoyable is certainly open for debate.

On the subject of praising our groundsman in a btw sort of fashion, much deserved I'm sure. Though of course it follows that if the pitch size has been significantly reduced there would be that much less work for the groundsman to do, so no surprise if what's left to concentrate on may be more immaculately manicured than ever.

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14 hours ago, dunsteral said:

From my seat in the lower lansdown stand on saturday when i saw the ball go over

the touchline and out of play on the dolman side of the ground, i thought that the

pitch looked like it had been made narrower. I also thought that on a couple of

occasions the players where surprised when the ball ran over the line.

Having just watched on youtube the interview given by 2 wolves journalists which

was held on that touchline, you can see a very large gap between the line and the end

of the grass which confirmed my suspicions.

Does anybody know if this is a definite ploy to make the pitch narrower and would that

be an advantage to us or the opposition?

 

 

 

 

 

@dunsteral I thought the same and I actually sit in the Dolman stand. Having said that though I don't think it has been narrowed as I then looked at where the linesman runs and the worn grass seemed to be in same position as you would expect it to be, i.e not further away from the line. I agree with @Portland Bill though it wouldn't have surprised had we narrowed the pitch particularly with Jamie Paterson playing as whilst he plays out wide he tends to turn inside rather than head for the wings. personally I like teams that play with width and feel that has been part of our problem this season, having said that I cant criticise Jamie Paterson he had a great game on Saturday and I would be happy to see him playing on Friday.

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Pitch sizes of most stadiums in link below, ours doesn't appear to be particularly wide in relation to other clubs, but I do recall years ago, we had one of the biggest pitches in the league, so I guess over the years it's shrunk a little.

 

http://www.football-stadiums.co.uk/articles/are-all-football-pitches-the-same-size/

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8 hours ago, East End Old Boy said:

I don't know if it was just me, but I thought only half the pitch was used versus Wolves.

It seemed both teams only wanted to play in the shade for most of the game? :blink:

It`s like what they warn you about when you go to Malta and hire a car - ignore what side of the road you`re supposed to be on as everyone just drives in the shade.

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