sloped pitches

[Paul1978]

obviously we see a match on a sloped pitch every home game but these are becoming rarer and rarer as teams have moved to new stadiums. yeovil for example. i love them. brings an extra element to the game.  remember when i was a kid played on loads and always tried to win the toss and play down hill 2nd half. playing uphill against the wind you had no chance of a goal kick not looping back into your own box. absolute rigamarole but great times. anyone know any local sloped pitches to go too. i see chards slope is absolutely massive.

[Micawber]

I prefer to see City playing down the slope 2nd half but at the moment if we win the toss we seem to decide to play down the slope in the 1st half. I don't suppose it makes any difference but would be interesting to see whether in fact we were more successful playing down the slope in the 2nd half.

[Paul1978]

yes i think we prefer playing up the slope 2nd half. the atmosphere is always louder kicking up the slope. a bit like liverpool love attacking the kop 2nd half. who knows who wins the toss each game. I assume if the away team win the toss they will always select downhill 2nd half. i wonder if stillman has any statistics of say how many goals have been scored at the bath end and the bristol end. i'd imagine its a win for the bath end. 60% v 40%

[comrade powell]

Good question! Here’s an interesting article on sloping pitches….

https://www.wsc.co.uk/stories/the-steady-disappearance-of-sloped-pitches-is-a-sad-loss-to-the-game/

That side to side slope at Wycombe’s old ground was really something. They clearly used it to their advantage. When taking a corner on the top side the trick was to cross it in a straight line and it would be at head height when reaching the area!

[Paul1978]

I've got the stats of stillman junior. Bath end. Scored 19. Scored for oppsotion 13 . Bristol end scored for us 19. Goals the oppsotion scored 9.
So we've scored 19 at both ends. Opposition 13 bath end. 9 bristol end. So really the slope makes little difference surprisingly.

[comrade powell]

Although it wasn’t great to watch I thought that Farnborough used the slope well. Their tactic on winning the ball appeared to be to launch the ball into space behind our defence. Their strikers rarely kept possession but it prevented us building up any momentum. Kicking up the slope we seemed to lack energy.
In past interviews Jerry Gill has talked of the big advantage of playing towards the Bath end.

[Paul1978]

Wonder what our average points at full time kicking down the 1st half is against our average points kicking up the slope 1st half. I'd assume as we scored 19 each end the average points would be similar not matter what way we kick off 1st half. Might asked stillman but he's always busy doing statistics. His spreadsheets must be huge. Interesting stats he comes out with on the radio. Such in depth knowledge.

[tovid]

Interesting that Jerry said Farnborough played the conditions well. There was hardly any wind and the pitch was firm and dry. So presumably he echoes your sentiment Martin about using the slope to advantage.

[westonpundit]

I'm not a fan of kicking down the slope first half should we win the toss. I've been a supporter for almost 60 years and City have always played better kicking with the slope towards the Bath end over the years and the crowd get more behind the team down there.

Any game takes usually 20 mins or so to settle whilst teams test out the opposition and we lose the advantage with that and the no doubt often the time wasting tactics refs hardly eber pick up on until later in matches. Much prefer us playing up the slope first half and then taking full advantage of the slope 2nd period.

Hope we revert to tried and tested tactics tomorrow evening !!

[Paul1978]

Wonder why no game at any level reveals who wins the toss. They only reveal who won the toss in world cup penalty shoot outs when the captain points towards prefered end. Cup finals after a few replays were decided on the toss of a coin a few years ago.

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