will the new pitch help us or hurt us?

[evanpemsocr]

Will it? I know that the small dimensions at Highbury have helped us because of our style, but we are now not the same team and we dont have the physical presence we have had in the past. will a new larger pitch help us vs teams like blackburn and bolton who play physical and close us down, giving us more space. or will it hurt us because it will be the same size as other pitches and wont give us as much of an advantage?

[footykid]

Highberry(:rolleyes: good I hate sportsnet) isn't even really that much smaller than normal. Its like 8 yards shorter and 6 yards thinner. I'm not exactly sure how small it is but its not that much of a big deal.

[PsychedelicCeltic]

Highberry( good I hate sportsnet) isn't even really that much smaller than normal. Its like 8 yards shorter and 6 yards thinner. I'm not exactly sure how small it is but its not that much of a big deal.

That is quite a bit, dude. 2 metres is a lot of difference. Look at hockey, and how everybody goes crazy about how wide open the international game is.

The small pitch has hurt Arsenal. Arsenal like to play with wingers, which requires width. This year is an exception, but for the last several years Arsenal have played better away from home. It's much easier to force Arsenal to push up the middle with the postage-stamp sized pitch we have currently.

And our pitch will not be the same size as other pitches. It'll be larger, significantly so. We are going from 101 x 67, which is what we have now, to 113 x 76, the largest pitch in the Premiership by acres.

[Arsenal_pwns_all]

Wenger purposely wanted to make a large pitch, cause a large pitch will give us more space and help us strech teams more. The small pitch of Highbury is caused not by the desires of Wenger but by the fact that the stadium has no space to be bigger.

Just to let you know how big Ashburton is:

Nou Camp.....105 m × 72 m

Bernabeu.......106 m x 70m

Ashburton.......113 m x 76m

[evanpemsocr]

damn thats big. I always thought that a larger pitch would help us, but I often hear how the small pitch at highbury played to our advantage. maybe its just because we are use to it and other teams have to change their game when they come to thof.

[PsychedelicCeltic]

Man City has the Premiership's biggest pitch: 106.5 m x 71.3 m. So it's obvious we are going for just a gigantic pitch.

[PsychedelicCeltic]

Man City has the Premiership's biggest pitch: 106.5 m x 71.3 m. So it's obvious we are going for just a gigantic pitch.

[Midorit]

Just to let you know how big Ashburton is:

Nou Camp.....105 m × 72 m

Bernabeu.......106 m x 70m

Ashburton.......113 m x 76m

Finally Adebayor will be able to stretch his legs:)

[ibby]

In the Bernabeu we used our pace to our advantage and found loads of space so i think it will be an advantage.

[GoonerMan]

apparently our new pitch will be the 6th largest in europe

[total_football]

This discussion surrounding this question begs a further question, then: given that FIFA seems to micro-regulate the tiniest of details, why have they NOT mandated standardized pitch sizes, at least at the Division One level??

Not taking a position, just curious...

[Danathon]

This discussion surrounding this question begs a further question, then: given that FIFA seems to micro-regulate the tiniest of details, why have they NOT mandated standardized pitch sizes, at least at the Division One level??

Not taking a position, just curious...

They have to a degree. There is a limit to the maximum and minimum sizes. However it would be impossible for them to set exact pitch sizes. Imagine if an exact pitch size was specified that was larger than highbury's pitch. How could they expand? They wouldn't be able to because there is no room. The only way you could enforce exact sizes is if you did it from the start of the sports regulation i.e a long time ago. Plus its all part of the home advantage so why not.

[footykid]

That is quite a bit, dude. 2 metres is a lot of difference. Look at hockey, and how everybody goes crazy about how wide open the international game is.

The small pitch has hurt Arsenal. Arsenal like to play with wingers, which requires width. This year is an exception, but for the last several years Arsenal have played better away from home. It's much easier to force Arsenal to push up the middle with the postage-stamp sized pitch we have currently.

And our pitch will not be the same size as other pitches. It'll be larger, significantly so. We are going from 101 x 67, which is what we have now, to 113 x 76, the largest pitch in the Premiership by acres.

A hockey player including stick is almost 2 meters in length by him self. I can see where your coming from though. Speed would make a larger difference on a bigger field, but its a double edge sword. Most Arsenal players are fast acceleraters rather than fast out and out (Freddie for example) a larger pitch will hurt his game. While Reyes, who has both quick accel and out and out pace will play much better with the extra room to play in. Hleb as well will benifit as he likes to go out-> in. But, the larger length might prove problamatic to our full backs, whom are told to get right up the pitch. I sappose it comes down to fitness, we were by far the fittest team last season and the season before, the players will have to aclimitize.

[impalemeplz]

A hockey player including stick is almost 2 meters in length by him self. I can see where your coming from though. Speed would make a larger difference on a bigger field, but its a double edge sword. Most Arsenal players are fast acceleraters rather than fast out and out (Freddie for example) a larger pitch will hurt his game. While Reyes, who has both quick accel and out and out pace will play much better with the extra room to play in. Hleb as well will benifit as he likes to go out-> in. But, the larger length might prove problamatic to our full backs, whom are told to get right up the pitch. I sappose it comes down to fitness, we were by far the fittest team last season and the season before, the players will have to aclimitize.

our style of play definately calls for conditioning above all else. on a bigger pitch i think it requires you have to play more tight as a team so even tho reyes will have more space i think he will not hug the sideline at all times.

[marakana10]

6th largest in Europe??? Who has a bigger pitch then 113x76m? It's not Barcelona or Real so who... Is it Juventus? I mean Real's is big and so is Barca's so are you sure its 113 by 76m? That's too, too gigantic! Because if it is, our stadium will be like Wembley...

[GoonerMan]

''Highbury is the smallest pitch in the league but this will be the sixth biggest pitch in Europe, the same size as the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. All 12 pitches at Colney will be re-drawn to that size.''

from arsenalnewsreview.co.uk

theres a good read up on it aswell
http://www.arsenalnewsreview.co.uk/index.php?module=News&id=cntnt01&cntnt01action=detail&cntnt01articleid=120&cntnt01origid=30&cntnt01returnid=42

[PsychedelicCeltic]

Milleenium Stadium is a rugby stadium, so it figures it'd have a large pitch. I bet the largest pitches are in stadiums shared with rugby - modern rugby demands a 120 x 70 pitch and accordingly the football pitches are large so the ends are not miles from the goal.

[maverick1018]

I think the bigger pitch will be a great advantage due to our style of play. A lot of passing utilizes a large pitch and makes ball movement easier.

I don't think conditioning will be an issue with our team. The reason is because our team is not a team of dribblers. Teams with players who dominate the ball must be in tremendous shape to cover all the ground on a pitch. If you pass the ball, you don't run into that problem. It goes to the same principles you were taught as a kid when playing, you move the ball faster by passing.

Because of this, the whole argument between quickness and all out speed is worthless because our style of play. It would make a huge difference if all we did was dribble.

The other great thing about having a large pitch is... if we're ever in a situation where we have a big bruising lineup, we can make the field smaller. The larger pitch gives Arsene a lot of options on how he wants to play. You can change dimensions depending on your opponent or your own lineup.

[martymarts]

This is what AW's Arsenal have been waiting for. No club in Europe will want to play at AG, because they'll know they'll be run ragged for 100 minutes! The question begs though, with a pitch that big how will the older players, Pires, Campbell and Ljunbgerg, cope with the physical demands?

[Kaizen666]

They probably won't. They will move on eventually, and others whill be brought in who have fresh legs.