LOI week 2

[patrickccfc]

Absolutely terrible game to watch yesterday.. that pitch needs to be sorted out. Delighted with the 3 points don't care how we got it. Was surprised with how easily we saw the game out in the end.

[avvenalaf]

That pitch was a disgrace to league football. What excuse have Derry got for producing a surface like that?

[adamd164]

Have to say it was downright dangerous, almost to the point that the ref could legitimately have called off the game.

Stark contrast to the Turners Cross surface which was excellent for our first game v pat's and I don't think any pat's fan there would dispute it.

[SwanVsDalton]

That pitch was a disgrace to league football. What excuse have Derry got for producing a surface like that?

Technically we didn't produce it, since the ground is council owned. Fair to say the club should've been asking questions about it (if they haven't been) beforehand. It hardly suits us either.

[Pablo Escobar]

Technically we didn't produce it, since the ground is council owned. Fair to say the club should've been asking questions about it (if they haven't been) beforehand. It hardly suits us either.

It definitely doesn't suit you, and if it doesn't improve it could cause you serious problems. Teams going to the Brandywell will generally love to have the game go the way it did. Derry need to be able to get to ball on the ground I feel.

[gormacha]

Technically we didn't produce it, since the ground is council owned. Fair to say the club should've been asking questions about it (if they haven't been) beforehand. It hardly suits us either.

I would have thought that the issue is so important that the club should be jumping up and down to get it addressed, and for all we know they may have been, and probably were.

The fact that the council are in charge shouldn't of necessity mean that a pitch turns out like that. There are many third party owned and maintained pitches in LOI, and if anything, they tend to be better than club owned ones.

As has been said, it doesn't even help Derry. They look to have some decent players, but they'll be fack-all use if the ball spends as much time in the air as it did against Cork.

[Dodge]

The fact that the council are in charge shouldn't of necessity mean that a pitch turns out like that. There are many third party owned and maintained pitches in LOI, and if anything, they tend to be better than club owned ones.

Tallaght is a prime example of this. Wasn't great when Rovers initally moved there but consistently one of the best around now.

Generally I think pitches are better this year than last. Haven't seen every pitch so far but the only one that has stood out as being poor has been Brandywell

[White Horse]

Generally I think pitches are better this year than last. Haven't seen every pitch so far but the only one that has stood out as being poor has been Brandywell

I was impressed with the condition of United Park this season. This time last year it was terrible.

[Jofspring]

Thomond Park not great at the moment but will improve over the next month or so like last season.

[SwanVsDalton]

The fact that the council are in charge shouldn't of necessity mean that a pitch turns out like that. There are many third party owned and maintained pitches in LOI, and if anything, they tend to be better than club owned ones.

Aside from the infamous slope, and a few other bumps, our pitch generally isn't too bad. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen it that bad. Generally it's in an OK-to-good state at the start of the season.

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.

[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:

[Nesta99]

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