Ok, this has been driving me mad all day. Interestingly enough, this thread started because Picoman asked a question about the size of pitches and camera angles were mentioned. I would have staked everything I had that Tottenham had a big pitch because A) I've been there half-a-dozen times and B) Because of the view on the television, it's a very high camera position and it looks down onto the pitch, thus giving a FALSE impression of size, so the first thing I've learned from this thread is NEVER assume a pitch is big or small from television pictures.
Secondly, I'm really starting to wonder if there is any correlation between pitch size and goals scored, it seems so aribitory I'm not sure how you could even track such a stat, there seem to be so many intangibles. For example, Man Utd scored the most home goals ( 47 ) on the second biggest pitch, but it actually means nothing when you see the opposition scored the lowest amount of goals ( 7 ) on the same pitch. In essence, Man Utd scored the most goals and conceded the fewest because they are the best team, pitch size is irrelevent, they would win if they were playing on a postage stamp. Conversely, there is a crappy team that I do follow and have monitered closely and know for a fact that last season they deliberately narrowed the pitch so the football would be played 'down the middle.' That team is my hometown club, AFC Bournemouth who were relagated from league one last year. They narrowed their pitch after three games because they wanted to negate the use of 'wide men' but when I look at their goal stats they conceded the most home goals of anyone in the division, albeit with a poor side, but I do know it was a narrow pitch, so where does that leave us?
I started out by saying i was sure pitch size could affect the outcome of a game but now I've researched it in a very tiny way, if there is an advantage I'm not sure how you would find it, so consequently I retract my previous statement. I don't beileve pitch size makes an awful lot of difference and if it does it would take you so long to research it there wouldn't be enough hours in a day.
Secondly, I'm really starting to wonder if there is any correlation between pitch size and goals scored, it seems so aribitory I'm not sure how you could even track such a stat, there seem to be so many intangibles. For example, Man Utd scored the most home goals ( 47 ) on the second biggest pitch, but it actually means nothing when you see the opposition scored the lowest amount of goals ( 7 ) on the same pitch. In essence, Man Utd scored the most goals and conceded the fewest because they are the best team, pitch size is irrelevent, they would win if they were playing on a postage stamp. Conversely, there is a crappy team that I do follow and have monitered closely and know for a fact that last season they deliberately narrowed the pitch so the football would be played 'down the middle.' That team is my hometown club, AFC Bournemouth who were relagated from league one last year. They narrowed their pitch after three games because they wanted to negate the use of 'wide men' but when I look at their goal stats they conceded the most home goals of anyone in the division, albeit with a poor side, but I do know it was a narrow pitch, so where does that leave us?
I started out by saying i was sure pitch size could affect the outcome of a game but now I've researched it in a very tiny way, if there is an advantage I'm not sure how you would find it, so consequently I retract my previous statement. I don't beileve pitch size makes an awful lot of difference and if it does it would take you so long to research it there wouldn't be enough hours in a day.