Beaten by the pitch

[buffalowolf]

Well said Rigsby,!

 

[Ayrshire Blue]

Played on plenty of decent pitches away from home yet still couldn’t buy a win and the Roots Hall surface didn’t seem to stop Bradford, Shrewsbury and Fleetwood

 

[united we stand]

The pitch has been a major set back for us and will do for who ever gets the mangers job. In fact It has already put certain people off from what I here.

A while back there was a football household name at RH for a game. His job is to assess any clubs that his PL club may be looking to loan players to......He only came the once and didn't bother with any away games.

With players like Kightly, Wordsworth, McL etc then a bad pitch does them no favours. Even Wright has been slagged on here but is a very neat and fast passer of the ball which is lost on our pitch. Yes our away from has been shocking but none of our 'ball players' has the advantage of gaining confidence at home. History proves this has always been one of the unwritten laws of football.

The other zone myth that has emerged is "hoofball". Recent games when we lost to Bradford, Shrews and Fleetwood, they "hoofed" it far more than us. We as the home team tried to play a bit of football and it cost us goals. Other teams refused to pass it in their own half and were happy to almost miss out their mid-field.

First half v Fleetwood John White did exactly as he should on that pitch and cleared without fuss. Our fans jeered him. So a minute later down by the East Blacks he should have done a Bolger and put it in row Z but hesitated, under pressure not to hoof and then lost the ball. To the groans of some of our fans of course.

No manager and no set of players are going to play their way up the league on that pitch. That's not to say we can't win but you football purists who want to be "entertained", might just have to hold your noses. You might even find winning a match is far more entertaining than losing.

i actually agree with a lot of this. Knowing the pitch means our players are less likely to take chances as they are afraid of loosing their footing or the ball moving strangely. It means a lack of confidence and that carries into away matches. That makes sense to me. It a component in the mix that has gone wrong, but it’s not the only reason by a long way.

 

[rigsby]

i actually agree with a lot of this. Knowing the pitch means our players are led likely to take chances as they are afraid of loosing their footing or the ball moving strangely. It means a lack of confidence and that Carries into away matches. That makes sense to me. It a component in the hat has gone wrong, but it’s not the only reason by a long way.

No its certainly not the only reason. It does take the pace out of games and I have not seen any team yet to play a good passing game at RH.

Even at recent away games. We did have plenty of the ball in good areas at places like Scunny and Northampton but there is no sharpness in the passing. Demy went down the right, first half last Saturday and you could see he had his eye to fixed on the bobbling ball. he ended up ballooning it almost on the roof of the North Bank.

Even when the ball hasn't bobbled or their foot slipped it has still affected their confidence. That combined with other factors has lead to a low in confidence full stop.

 

[AndyT]

Whilst I hear the argument that the pitch is the same for both sides, we brought in players, over recent times, to suit our game. As 'Rigsby' mentions, the likes of Kightly and Wright.

If we believed the way ahead was to take the pitch out of the equation and hit it long, we'd have signed a couple of Calvin Andrew's and just loaded the box with crosses.

When we have had a decent surface, like at MK Dons away, we have passed and moved and played some good football. We just don't take our chances in front of goal, or even attempt to try, at times. That's been as much of an issue as anything else.

 

[turkishm]

The pitch has been a major set back for us and will do for who ever gets the mangers job. In fact It has already put certain people off from what I here.

A while back there was a football household name at RH for a game. His job is to assess any clubs that his PL club may be looking to loan players to......He only came the once and didn't bother with any away games.

With players like Kightly, Wordsworth, McL etc then a bad pitch does them no favours. Even Wright has been slagged on here but is a very neat and fast passer of the ball which is lost on our pitch. Yes our away from has been shocking but none of our 'ball players' has the advantage of gaining confidence at home. History proves this has always been one of the unwritten laws of football.

The other zone myth that has emerged is "hoofball". Recent games when we lost to Bradford, Shrews and Fleetwood, they "hoofed" it far more than us. We as the home team tried to play a bit of football and it cost us goals. Other teams refused to pass it in their own half and were happy to almost miss out their mid-field.

First half v Fleetwood John White did exactly as he should on that pitch and cleared without fuss. Our fans jeered him. So a minute later down by the East Blacks he should have done a Bolger and put it in row Z but hesitated, under pressure not to hoof and then lost the ball. To the groans of some of our fans of course.

No manager and no set of players are going to play their way up the league on that pitch. That's not to say we can't win but you football purists who want to be "entertained", might just have to hold your noses. You might even find winning a match is far more entertaining than losing.

Agree, 100 percent. you put a post on like this, which is informative and well written, and yet you let yourself down by dissing other people posts as if they are off no relevance.

 

[westie]

The pitch has been a major set back for us and will do for who ever gets the mangers job. In fact It has already put certain people off from what I here.

A while back there was a football household name at RH for a game. His job is to assess any clubs that his PL club may be looking to loan players to......He only came the once and didn't bother with any away games.

With players like Kightly, Wordsworth, McL etc then a bad pitch does them no favours. Even Wright has been slagged on here but is a very neat and fast passer of the ball which is lost on our pitch. Yes our away from has been shocking but none of our 'ball players' has the advantage of gaining confidence at home. History proves this has always been one of the unwritten laws of football.

The other zone myth that has emerged is "hoofball". Recent games when we lost to Bradford, Shrews and Fleetwood, they "hoofed" it far more than us. We as the home team tried to play a bit of football and it cost us goals. Other teams refused to pass it in their own half and were happy to almost miss out their mid-field.

First half v Fleetwood John White did exactly as he should on that pitch and cleared without fuss. Our fans jeered him. So a minute later down by the East Blacks he should have done a Bolger and put it in row Z but hesitated, under pressure not to hoof and then lost the ball. To the groans of some of our fans of course.

No manager and no set of players are going to play their way up the league on that pitch. That's not to say we can't win but you football purists who want to be "entertained", might just have to hold your noses. You might even find winning a match is far more entertaining than losing.

All very well, but it is our pitch and we are responsible for it. We only have ourselves to blame for its condition.
Phil Brown said the pitch had "done for him". I simply don't accept that as the reason he lost his job.

 

[Blues 'n twos]

The pitch at boots and laces is good, and they train on that more than they play at RH , so the excuse for the away form being "not used to a good surface" don't wash with me.
Just admit the truth abut the dressing room being lost!

 

[AndyT]

PB hasn't said the pitch is the only reason why it hasn't worked out, but it is a large contributory factor that has affected a lot of what he was trying to do with the players he brought in.

There were plenty of other reasons, this season. A percentage of which were down to PB, for sure.

 

[Blue Yonder]

I'm on the side that thinks on this he is talking drivel... which he does rather a lot. Good bloke that he is.

 

[westie]

Phil Brown said:

"... the pitch had "done for him". It had stopped the players playing football and achieving the style and results he had wanted".

From that, I understand that in his opinion it was a major contributing factor to his sacking.
IMO, it definitely wasn't.

 

[rigsby]

All very well, but it is our pitch and we are responsible for it. We only have ourselves to blame for its condition.
Phil Brown said the pitch had "done for him". I simply don't accept that as the reason he lost his job.

The players certainly don't and neither do the fans. PB wasn't to blame and as AndyT says he recruited this summer on the basis of increasing the quality of football as he certainly wasn't expecting the worst pitch most people can remember. Some of the exiles visiting this Christmas were horrified.

The point is, its not going better until the summer. So who every comes in, we need to cut them and the players some slack.
If they have to hoof then so be it. Teams have scored from Demy slipping instead of putting it straight back in the box or Anton miss hitting a bouncing, no need to pass it back that way in the first place throw.....Nobody has every scored from row Z.

If we don't accept the bad pitch rules of engagement then we might find ourselves googling branch line train times to Morecambe or interesting things to do and see in Accrington f***ing Stanley.

 

[AndyT]

Exactly.

If you take the two goals Shrewsbury scored, one came from a slip by Demi and then a resultant bizarre own goal, following a cross on the run and into the danger area and the second the bloke struck perfectly from 25 yards out. Hardly passing us off the park.

Bottom line is that it's easier to stop teams playing on bad pitches, than it is to try and make things happen.

Shrewsbury, Bradford and Fleetwood kept things simple and got their rewards.

Sides who have tried to pass it around, have struggled as well, like Oxford, Peterborough and Charlton.

 

[McNasty]

rigsby, I am intrigued to know, if you are at liberty to say, who manager-wise who has been put off coming here by the state of the pitch ?

 

[onceknownasrab]

The state of the pitch is very likely a contributing factor to some of the results we have had at home. Some of the wins, the draws and the losses. I do not buy into the theory that it is a major contributor to our away form. The side is error prone, seems to switch off at key moments and it is profligate in the final third. Yes at home some of our players have slipped but the opposition capitalised on it. Did we do the same when they struggled with the surface? No.

I would be amazed if a lot of the problems were not down to certain individuals we have in the side. I do not see a good team spirit these days and, as much as PB brought them in, he could not foresee the destabilising effect some would have. The pitch did not help PB, to a degree, but the gross unprofessionalism of individuals, in my opinion, was a bigger nail in his coffin than even his tactics. I hope those responsible are shown the door too.

 

[rigsby]

rigsby, I am intrigued to know, if you are at liberty to say, who manager-wise who has been put off coming here by the state of the pitch ?

I don't know of any potential manger who has been put off by our pitch. What I said was certain influential football people have not been impressed. Don't think the atmosphere helped either.

In the summer everyone has time to become part of the club and play in friendlies etc. For anyone stepping in now it is our toughest time for 8 years. If you were a coach, agent or friend/family of any young lad who may be considering a move this January would you advice him to come here.

 

[amsemp]

I don't know of any potential manger who has been put off by our pitch. What I said was certain influential football people have not been impressed. Don't think the atmosphere helped either.

In the summer everyone has time to become part of the club and play in friendlies etc. For anyone stepping in now it is our toughest time for 8 years. If you were a coach, agent or friend/family of any young lad who may be considering a move this January would you advice him to come here.

Out of interest, who is responsible for the sorry state of the pitch? Heard some saying the company we normally use had to start late as they had equipment go wrong etc. but who made the decision to not find another company who could’ve done it, even at a higher price if needs must?

The pitch is our bread and butter. I don’t claim to know anything about this sort of thing, so I’m asking a genuine question. Just find it so hard to believe that a professional football club could have made such a huge error of judgment.

 

[McNasty]

rigsby, I am intrigued to know, if you are at liberty to say, who manager-wise who has been put off coming here by the state of the pitch ?

I don't know of any potential manger who has been put off by our pitch. What I said was certain influential football people have not been impressed. Don't think the atmosphere helped either.

In the summer everyone has time to become part of the club and play in friendlies etc. For anyone stepping in now it is our toughest time for 8 years. If you were a coach, agent or friend/family of any young lad who may be considering a move this January would you advice him to come here.

Sorry I must have mis-understood this quote "The pitch has been a major set back for us and will do for who ever gets the mangers job. In fact It has already put certain people off from what I here."

I thought you might have known who.

 

[bazzashrimper]

I don't know of any potential manger who has been put off by our pitch. What I said was certain influential football people have not been impressed. Don't think the atmosphere helped either.

In the summer everyone has time to become part of the club and play in friendlies etc. For anyone stepping in now it is our toughest time for 8 years. If you were a coach, agent or friend/family of any young lad who may be considering a move this January would you advice him to come here.

The atmosphere may improve a little now though.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I don't know of any potential manger who has been put off by our pitch. What I said was certain influential football people have not been impressed. Don't think the atmosphere helped either.

In the summer everyone has time to become part of the club and play in friendlies etc. For anyone stepping in now it is our toughest time for 8 years. If you were a coach, agent or friend/family of any young lad who may be considering a move this January would you advice him to come here.

Agree it's our toughest time for 8 years - such is Brown's legacy - but we now have light at the end of the tunnel and an opportunity to rebuild.

Such is our plight, it won't be the fault of any incoming players if we are relegated. The previous regime saw us lose 8 in 9. From there things can surely only get better.

I think the atmosphere at Roots Hall will be miles better now a change in manager has been made.

I think the dressing room will be better in the future now a disruptive player has been removed.

I think the crowd are looking for someone to inspire them, someone to get them to their feet, someone's name to sing. We've been in desperate short-supply of those in recent seasons. So here's a real opportunity for a young player to stake a claim not just for a place in the starting XI but in the hearts of supporters who are desperate for someone to latch onto and give them a reason to believe.

So yes I would be advising any young player to come to Southend.