How does weather affect a soccer outcome?

**RedDevil11** · 02-02-10, 03:04 PM

well, if you're talking about cappiing in the EPL, hahaha, cold and rain won't make much of a difference for most of the clubs, especially in the North West, where ít's part of everyday life (live in Manc so I know firsthand). If it's really slick on the pitch, I guess it might cause more problems for a team like Arsenal because of their style of play is so much on the ground, but they're still professionals and they should be good enough to handle such conditions. I don't think you can find an answer to this because there simply is no definitive correlation (I could be wrong). For example, you could try looking at lineups and maybe if there are for example strikers who are new to the league not used to playing in England-like conditions, then you might think their chances of scoring are lower (hence taking the Under), but even that is a stretch and managers have subs to choose from anyways. You could hypothesize that wet weather should make it harder to score if it's harder to string a pass, but you could also say that teams should be able to score more goals because there will be more mistakes made at the back. Match outcomes will still be largely dictated by the skill of the players, strength of club, home/away form and overall form, irrespective of weather.
I think weather could play a bigger part when capping Champions League though where weather can be at an extreme between the two clubs from different leagues...ie. no team would fancy playing in Russia in February.

sorry if that doesn't help you, but good luck with the capping.

**pitman** · 02-02-10, 03:34 PM

thanks for your response. This helps me quite a bit. I just dont like handicapping a game for an hour, then seeing weather is cold and rainy, i guess you can say it keeps me second guessing myself.
Like for instance it must be cold in Holland, and I have been seeing more unders lately.

**rfr3sh** · 02-02-10, 03:41 PM

I dont think weather has much of an effect...after playing soccer for about 14+ years i can tell you first hand that playing in the rain sometimes is easier then playing in the heat..so in theory that rain = under and good weather = over def not true

**Busterflywheel** · 02-02-10, 03:45 PM

They can play in just about anything other than lighting..

**diecast** · 02-02-10, 03:47 PM

i've played in the snow and still sucked just as bad on a perfect summer day. but some weather conditions do matter in regards to how the team plays. if they keep it on the ground and pass a lot a really rough pitch or wet one could make all the difference. there was a match just the other week where a back pass to the keeper stopped half way from the water and the ball just sat in a puddle. before the keeper could get to it the striker from the opposite team was on the ball and scored.

**pitman** · 02-02-10, 03:47 PM

i guess it would help if i had played soccer myself. thanks for your word of wisdom. i just play lazy soccer, love the art of kicking a ball and putting curl on it, not the running part of it.

**turnip** · 02-03-10, 02:55 AM

It has been very cold and snowy in holland. A lot of the second division games with less-prepared grounds have been postponed. I can confirm that it's been very wintery there, and that 19 of the 25 games have gone under 2.5 goals. (Before winter break, ~54% of the games were over 2.5 goals). It could be a coincidence; I haven't noticed a similar situation before.

**montan** · 02-03-10, 06:39 AM

weather is important . It affects both teams , but it affects more the team with a low morale. if you ask me the morale is just as important as the weather. Also in a game there are other factors involved, like : the coach is having a bad day, fans are few on a stadium ,some players are bribed or the hole team, one player personal problem can affect the hole team. They are still humans, we just have to guess and bet based on out own intuition.

**citlec** · 02-03-10, 09:56 AM

I think rain and a wet pitch affects a game. Pitch is slippery players sliding all over the place, leading to players being sent off. The ball traveling faster and it makes goalkeepers lives more difficult.
If the pitch is soaked and the ball gets tied up in the puddles it can have the opposite affect.

**ZXCVBNM** · 02-03-10, 10:14 AM

Originally posted by turnip

It has been very cold and snowy in holland. A lot of the second division games with less-prepared grounds have been postponed. I can confirm that it's been very wintery there, and that 19 of the 25 games have gone under 2.5 goals. (Before winter break, ~54% of the games were over 2.5 goals). It could be a coincidence; I haven't noticed a similar situation before.

yep I've seen that too, especially noticeable in the Juliper League where there are crazy amount of goals. Germany is also more under than past months, but not by much.

**TWEETS** · 02-03-10, 10:22 AM

I would think rain would make it harder for the defense and allow more goals, its hard enough to keep up with a good offensive player when you can cut, but if you are constantly slipping, the offensive player should have the advantage.

**TurkzZ** · 02-03-10, 11:07 AM

lots of rain which can alter the playing surface, effects teams that like to play football across the ground, can help in unders as its easier to defend