LOI week 2

[White Horse]

Not sure what has happened this close season, possibly the particular winter we've faced, but it's obviously ended up in a terrible state.

How much use does the pitch get over the close season?

[SwanVsDalton]

How much use does the pitch get over the close season?

I'm not totally sure, but I think occasionally by the local D+D leagues for event matches such as finals etc. Don't think it's week-to-week anyway, and that's been the same in every close season.

[Charlie Darwin]

Bit of both I think.

Certainly we were much better than when losing 4-0 and 5-0 in the space of a week in Richmond last season, and better than last week's game against Bohs too.

Huge hole in the Pat's defence for our equaliser, which was a bit uncharacteristic I think. Their wall ducked for our second. But overall, we did play quite well.
Has Callaghan changed the style of play much? Callaghan played some decent stuff with Bohs but I wonder if his experience there will have cowed him a bit. From the brief highlights on RTE, it looked like UCD were a bit more comfortable playing direct.

[pineapple stu]

Completely biased post alert, but I thought we played some nice stuff. Certainly didn't seem particularly different to last season; just more effective. We were a bit more solid in defence in general, and Chris Mulhall gave us another option up front that we didn't really have last year (certainly after McMillan left)

[gormacha]

Whilst it doesn't excuse the current state of the Brandywell, I think there is some merit to the argument that pitches are probably at their worst around now.

The pitch I'm most familiar with is the RSC, which regularly wins awards for its quality. But even the RSC can be a bit sandy and a little rough during March as it recovers from the winter, but is usually top notch by mid-April.

As an aside, there was an interview conducted from Stamford Bridge on TV3 this morning. I think it was live, but I'm open to correction on that. On the pitch were these enormous purpose-built scaffolds on wheels, which stretched the entire width of the pitch. On the scaffolds were giant lights - almost like a sunbed for the grass. The scaffolds moved up and down the pitch giving artificial sunlight to the grass. I guess that's what it takes to produce year round stunning playing surfaces.

Here's a pic of what I'm on about:

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x141/xm657/Wembley/Pict0040.jpg

[Nesta99]

Just think of the savings and potential revenue of a plastic pitch - ffp