The pitch at BDTBL

[cooperblade]

It's no excuse for our workrate not being where it should be but I think the pitch is causing us big problems. On the occasions when we do get our passing right, it often hits a bobble and ends up knee high when it gets to its intended recipient. It's definitely a leveller when we play sides who have less technical ability than ourselves.

We hardly got the ball out to Blackman at all yesterday and that massively reduces our attacking threat. The more he gets the ball, the more chances we create and the more shots we have. We have to get him more involved if we're to improve.

Is there a case for playing much more direct at home given the state of the pitch? We're lacking an easily identifiable style of play this term which wasn't the case last season (passing, overlapping full backs). Think that's largely down to the players we've lost (and some of those we've signed) but don't think the surface at the Lane helps. Maybe we should stick Kitson and Ironside up top, hit them early and get Blackman and Murphy trying to join in from wide areas and win the bits and pieces?

Hopefully the pitches at Notts County and Bury are in decent nick.

 

[yorkshirecoast]

Agree the pitch is really poor - but Yeovil seemed to pass it around ok. We are just too slow - too slow to control the ball and too slow to pick a pass. Yeovil played a lot of one touch stuff and were generally first to every loose ball.

I don't think we can blame the pitch at all for the lat two home games. We have simply been outfought by one very poor team and one very average team.

 

[Small Mendonca]

Send the Sheffield Eagles elsewhere - they are contributing to the pitch's bad condition.

 

[oaklandrdblade]

Send the Sheffield Eagles elsewhere - they are contributing to the pitch's bad condition.

They haven't played on this pitch, it was dug up and sorted after they last played on it. Not sure on the date but it wasn't long after the last football match.

 

[BladeFisher]

It's no excuse for our workrate not being where it should be but I think the pitch is causing us big problems. On the occasions when we do get our passing right, it often hits a bobble and ends up knee high when it gets to its intended recipient. It's definitely a leveller when we play sides who have less technical ability than ourselves.

We hardly got the ball out to Blackman at all yesterday and that massively reduces our attacking threat. The more he gets the ball, the more chances we create and the more shots we have. We have to get him more involved if we're to improve.

Is there a case for playing much more direct at home given the state of the pitch? We're lacking an easily identifiable style of play this term which wasn't the case last season (passing, overlapping full backs). Think that's largely down to the players we've lost (and some of those we've signed) but don't think the surface at the Lane helps. Maybe we should stick Kitson and Ironside up top, hit them early and get Blackman and Murphy trying to join in from wide areas and win the bits and pieces?

Hopefully the pitches at Notts County and Bury are in decent nick.

Well the interesting things are DW is blaming the pitch and two teams, one of them currently rock bottom of the league, have hansomely beat us on it.

Now as this is our pitch and we play on it more than anyone, doesn't it strike you as a tad strange that the manager has one way of playing and the groundsman has another way of producing a product that is er at odds with the manager's expectations?

But BL isn't a neutral venue (cue excuse for defeat the pitch was blah blah, response but its the same for both teams), it is our ruddy pitch!

I notice in his interview DW said we can't expect the Emerates or words to that effect but if the pitch is that far out of kilter with the style of play we've got a few options as well as a major problem.

1. Communicate with the groundsman and vice-verca
2. If groundsman can't deliver, can any groundsman deliver?
3. If 2 = no, relay pitch or if that is not possible change how you play accordingly.

Blaming the pitch at the moment is a bit like Bassett cursing he was trying to play like Brazil but that his players were letting him down when with all due respect they didn't have that skill level.

Or we could ground share with Arsenal.

 

[SwissBlade]

It's not an excuse, it's the same for both sides

 

[BladeFisher]

It's not an excuse, it's the same for both sides

Exactly, so why over the last two games have our team found it so much harder according to DW to play on it?

 

[Sirius]

Agree the pitch is really poor - but Yeovil seemed to pass it around ok. We are just too slow - too slow to control the ball and too slow to pick a pass. Yeovil played a lot of one touch stuff and were generally first to every loose ball.

I don't think we can blame the pitch at all for the lat two home games. We have simply been outfought by one very poor team and one very average team.

Long ago Yeovil's pitch had a steepish slope down one side May be it's still there? so the players become used to an unusual playing area. Don't blame our pitch for lack of skill or application. The old mudlarks of yesteryear managed and Mr Hagan managed particulafly well.

 

[ghandi]

Long ago Yeovil's pitch had a steepish slope down one side May be it's still there? so the players become used to an unusual playing area. Don't blame our pitch for lack of skill or application. The old mudlarks of yesteryear managed and Mr Hagan managed particulafly well.

Yeovil moved to a new ground a few years ago.

 

[SwissBlade]

Exactly, so why over the last two games have our team found it so much harder according to DW to play on it?

Because we have a team that are a bunch of ponces, some of which choose to play football in gloves

 

[JohnDenver]

Agree the pitch is really poor - but Yeovil seemed to pass it around ok. We are just too slow - too slow to control the ball and too slow to pick a pass. Yeovil played a lot of one touch stuff and were generally first to every loose ball.

I don't think we can blame the pitch at all for the lat two home games. We have simply been outfought by one very poor team and one very average team.

Yup. Yeovil's touch and passing was faster and crisper. I don't recall too many occasions on which the pitch ruined their move.

Of course, the missing element in the equation is we never closed them down with any pace or conviction. That makes a huge difference especially against average opposition. No offence to Yeovil who played very well, but they're not going to tear the league apart any time soon....

 

[KenMcnaughtsNuts]

i may be wrong but i cant recall the pitch ever being as bad as it is now. has mccabe took over as head groundsman?

 

[Sirius]

Agree the pitch is really poor - but Yeovil seemed to pass it around ok. We are just too slow - too slow to control the ball and too slow to pick a pass. Yeovil played a lot of one touch stuff and were generally first to every loose ball.

I don't think we can blame the pitch at all for the lat two home games. We have simply been outfought by one very poor team and one very average team.

Reading Deano's post and others too, I wonder if the fitness levels have dropped. I can forgive a lack of skill, provided that the player gives 100% effort for the cause. There should be no excuse for a Blades player neshing it or being second to a loose ball. Perhaps it's time some of them put themselves about a bit more: or do we need a team of giants,who are fit athletes to get out of this league? Is it a question of brawn over brain?

 

[canj1889]

To me it seem's we're too slow out the block's. The tempo is slow and we're strolling through games. A good high tempo start combined with a 20,000 crowd, teams should be shitting themselve's coming to the lane, but we're allowing them to build confidence. A poor pitch is a bad excuse as both teams have to play on it. Is it down to DW not preparing the team correctly, who knows but we were starting games in this manner before the 2 home defeats and before the poor pitch!!!!!!

 

[Patrick Suffaux]

It's about work rate and desire. If you work hard enough you can move the ball about on any surface. A bad pitch just means you've got to adapt and come out of your comfort zone a bit.

 

[Grecian2000]

A poor pitch is a bad excuse as both teams have to play on it.

That statement is true enough, but one of the ingredients that you look for when predicting a cup upset is the state of the pitch. Although both sides have to cope with it, it often brings the teams closer together and reduces the advantage of the "footballing" team.

 

[sitwell]

A bobbly pitch does not suit the style of players like Macdonald ,why is that so hard to understand ?

 

[broomhillblade]

i may be wrong but i cant recall the pitch ever being as bad as it is now. has mccabe took over as head groundsman?

You must be a youngster - or have Alzheimer's.

In my young days I remember the pitch as being a sea of mud in the winter - with just small patches of grass near the corner flag.

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

That statement is true enough, but one of the ingredients that you look for when predicting a cup upset is the state of the pitch. Although both sides have to cope with it, it often brings the teams closer together and reduces the advantage of the "footballing" team.

Indeed, reminds of a European Cup game (when it was a proper tournament) in the early 70s that was being played at the old Baseball Ground. It was as game in October, think he opposition were Benfica. When the officials from Benfica arrived and looked around the ground it was a firm pitch (no rain for weeks) with a little grass in wide areas (was always one of the worst pitches). After they'd left and gone back to the hotel, Cloughie organised for the local fire brigade to arrive and turn their hoses onto the pitch. Benfica turned up for the match to be told a very local downpour had occured and the pitch looked a little like the Somme! Derby won quite easily

 

[Bergen Blade]

Yup. Yeovil's touch and passing was faster and crisper. I don't recall too many occasions on which the pitch ruined their move.

They looked dangerous when they had players running onto passes. There's a slightly less need for accuracy when players run onto passes, as the direction of the run can be adjusted. Our players were usually standing still and facing their own goal as they received passes. Carving through teams with little movement is very difficult, certainly on the current pitch, and I'm not even sure we have the players to play like that - unlike last season.

 

[KenMcnaughtsNuts]

You must be a youngster - or have Alzheimer's.

In my young days I remember the pitch as being a sea of mud in the winter - with just small patches of grass near the corner flag.

when was that? my first game was 1980, im struggling to think of a pitch as bad the current one. though obviously these days you expect a decent pitch, whereas back then you didnt. so maybe its hard to judge.

 

[Kentblade]

You must be a youngster - or have Alzheimer's.

In my young days I remember the pitch as being a sea of mud in the winter - with just small patches of grass near the corner flag.

I recall the small patches of grass were the cricket pitch!
UTB

 

[KenMcnaughtsNuts]

That statement is true enough, but one of the ingredients that you look for when predicting a cup upset is the state of the pitch. Although both sides have to cope with it, it often brings the teams closer together and reduces the advantage of the "footballing" team.

yeah precisely. if an average player played ronnie mcsulliban at the old snooky, theyd stand a much better chance of winning on a tatty old club table than the ones at the world championships. the worse the conditions, the more luck gets involved, the more it evens out a game. in any sport. in footy the difference is massive, if you cant play a decent pass the whole thing becomes a lottery.

 

[Grecian2000]

Throughout the Sixties and Seventies by February there was more chance of spotting the Queen in a bikini than seeing a blade of grass on the pitch.

There is a MOTD clip from the season Derby won the league where they came and clobbered us (3-0 I think) on a pitch that you wouldn't see today.

 

[stannyblade]

It must be Williams who is to blame for the state of the pitch
Everything else is his fault

 

[Eskimo]

I think that's right . But what is the answer? The pitch has looked really bad - can it improve or is it a change of tactics that's needed?

 

[broomhillblade]

when was that? my first game was 1980, im struggling to think of a pitch as bad the current one. though obviously these days you expect a decent pitch, whereas back then you didnt. so maybe its hard to judge.

I started going to the Lane in 1948.

You youngsters know nowt!

Maybe the fact that the pitch is now fully enclosed is a contributor its present bad state - although that hardly applied in 1948!

 

[broomhillblade]

Here's a little anecdote from 'The Jimmy Hagan Story':
...the Bramall Lane pitch was in a poor state, not helped by the wartime bomb damage. By November most of the grass would have worn off, apart from a little near the corner flags, and very often the ground would be a mudbath. There was one particular spot at the Bramall Lane end where a bomb crater had been filled in, and this could get particularly sticky. Hagan and Collindridge sometimes worked a routine to take advantage of this and wrong-foot defenders who were not familiar with the terrain. As an attack built up Collindridge would station himself in an area which would force the covering full-back to stand in the ‘bomb hole’. Hagan would then slip the ball inside the full-back for Collindridge to run on to, leaving the full-back literally bogged-down!

 

[raul]

I started going to the Lane in 1948.

You youngsters know nowt!

Maybe the fact that the pitch is now fully enclosed is a contributor its present bad state - although that hardly applied in 1948!

Global warming.

 

[FleaPitBlade]

Long ago Yeovil's pitch had a steepish slope down one side May be it's still there?

Geek time. The Bramall Lane pitch is 1.3m (4.2ft in old money) higher on the south stand touchline than it is on the John Street touchline. There's also a fall of 0.43m towards the Kop from the Bramall Lane end.