Slippery pitch or wrong boots?

[lordswoodsaints]

Far too many players slipping tonight some at crucial moments

Is it down to the pitch or down to a poor choice of boots by the players?

[Jimmy_D]

It was players on both sides it was happening to.

 

Maybe players tend to wear shorter studs these days for fear of getting their foot planted and picking up a serious injury?

[The Kraken]

Taters said that the pitch was noticeably softer than usual, so perhaps the heavy rain had an effect.

[RobM]

Not the best advert for Nike football boots tonight!

 

I miss black football boots.

[mcjwills]

Stop using the blades and get back to using studs

[Avenue Saint]

Frustrating to find the amount of times players went over today.

[DrZuess1979 the 2nd]

Stop using the blades and get back to using studs

 

Blades ?

They were banned years back , get with it grandad

[lordswoodsaints]

Frustrating to find the amount of times players went over today.

 

Yes lambert slipped at a crucial time today when he had a decent opportunity to shoot

[Saint137]

New boots for Christmas?

[Essruu]

Not the best advert for Nike football boots tonight!

 

I miss black football boots.

 

I agree. I commented during the Sunderland game how only Kelvin and the officials were wearing black boots. Every other player on the pitch was wearing stupid namby-pamby coloured boots. I would join your 'Bring Back Black Boots' campaign in a heartbeat.

[Turkish]

Bring back Puma Kings. Proper football boots!

[Colbury]

Bring back Puma Kings. Proper football boots!

 

Those or Adidas world cups.

[lordswoodsaints]

Bring back Puma Kings. Proper football boots!

 

Ha ha that brings back memories,I also had the adidas beckenbauer I think they had orange studs.......as cool/gay as it got

[markr27]

Morgan, Punch and Davis seemed to have gone shopping together, as they all had the same ones. All three slipped up subsequently.

Shows team unitity I suppose.

[Chin Strain]

Bring back Puma Kings. Proper football boots!

I've got the astro Puma Kings. Best boots I've ever had.

[Turkish]

Ha ha that brings back memories,I also had the adidas beckenbauer I think they had orange studs.......as cool/gay as it got

 

Do you remember Quaser boots? My mate at work was an apprentice and first team player for Saints in the early ninties. MLT used to wear them and all FA players that were sponsored by Nike, Addidas and so on would get boxes of their decent t-shirts, shorts, track suits efc and MLT would get all this naff Quaser gear.

[lordswoodsaints]

Do you remember Quaser boots? My mate at work was an apprentice and first team player for Saints in the early ninties. MLT used to wear them and all FA players that were sponsored by Nike, Addidas and so on would get boxes of their decent t-shirts, shorts, track suits efc and MLT would get all this naff Quaser gear.

Yes remember them,big Q on the side......didn't lineker endorse them at some point?

[Viking Saint]

Yes remember them,big Q on the side......didn't lineker endorse them at some point?

 

yep he did, I went through a few pairs of them in my teens

[RobM]

Likewise, mainly because of the Lineker endorsement. My main memory of them were the fact they were rock-hard!

[DrZuess1979 the 2nd]

Omg Quaser boots!!!

 

I remember seeing posters of the Rodney brothers holding them lol

 

For what its worth i was always a Adidas man myself

[Gemmel]

Do you remember Quaser boots? My mate at work was an apprentice and first team player for Saints in the early ninties. MLT used to wear them and all FA players that were sponsored by Nike, Addidas and so on would get boxes of their decent t-shirts, shorts, track suits efc and MLT would get all this naff Quaser gear.

 

One of Matt's biggest paydays from football

[itchen_dan]

To be honest, they soaked the pitch pre game with the sprinklers. Thought it was a bit odd when they were doing it.

[Turkish]

Omg Quaser boots!!!

 

I remember seeing posters of the Rodney brothers holding them lol

 

For what its worth i was always a Adidas man myself

 

There were loads of crap boot brands around in the early 90s. The kit manufacturers like Patrick, Hummel, Pony did some. Then there were some really crap ones like Quaser, Brooks, line 7, Arrow, new Balance, hi Tec. I rememeber entering a completion in Shoot magazine to win a pair of New Balance boots because Bryan Robson wore them and I thought they'd be cool to have, they weren't.

[david in sweden]

Far too many players slipping tonight some at crucial moments

Is it down to the pitch or down to a poor choice of boots by the players?

 

...a bit of both perhaps, but not the first time it's happened this season, They should look at this Q. more seriously from game to game.

[Wade Garrett]

There were loads of crap boot brands around in the early 90s. The kit manufacturers like Patrick, Hummel, Pony did some. Then there were some really crap ones like Quaser, Brooks, line 7, Arrow, new Balance, hi Tec. I rememeber entering a completion in Shoot magazine to win a pair of New Balance boots because Bryan Robson wore them and I thought they'd be cool to have, they weren't.

 

I had a pair of New Balance boots, and apart from a pair of Puma Dalglish Gold, they were probably the best boots I ever had.

 

Gloves had to be Uhlsport as well.

[Essruu]

There were loads of crap boot brands around in the early 90s. The kit manufacturers like Patrick, Hummel, Pony did some. Then there were some really crap ones like Quaser, Brooks, line 7, Arrow, new Balance, hi Tec. I rememeber entering a completion in Shoot magazine to win a pair of New Balance boots because Bryan Robson wore them and I thought they'd be cool to have, they weren't.

 

Patrick Super Keegans in kangaroo skin were the absolute nuts. The softest, most comfortable boots around in the early 80s.

[Mowgli]

Morgan, Punch and Davis seemed to have gone shopping together, as they all had the same ones. All three slipped up subsequently.

Shows team unitity I suppose.

 

I think you will find all those players that were contracted to wear umbro boots have been sent replacement Nike boots this week (they now own umbro and are phasing the brand out). Owen tweeted something to that effect.

[Window Cleaner]

I think you will find all those players that were contracted to wear umbro boots have been sent replacement Nike boots this week (they now own umbro and are phasing the brand out). Owen tweeted something to that effect.

 

Morgan and Punch at least have worn Nike boots for at least 2 seasons now athough Morgan did have a brief flirt with Adidas for a couple of games last season.Some players just like new boots all of the time.

[Window Cleaner]

Taters said that the pitch was noticeably softer than usual, so perhaps the heavy rain had an effect.

 

said we watered it anyway as well

[lordswoodsaints]

said we watered it anyway as well

 

Yes never really understood the watering thing unless the pitch is dry and hard,I didn't see the sprinklers yesterday but I didn't get in the ground until 5 minutes before KO.

Also the pitch didn't seem to cut up that much so I'm guessing its wasn't that wet......perhaps it is down to wrong choice of boots?

[The9]

Far too many players slipping tonight some at crucial moments

Is it down to the pitch or down to a poor choice of boots by the players?

 

All of the players who slipped over yesterday (Puncheon and Ox-Cham mostly) were wearing these

 

 

though you can't see from the Northam whether they had the same sole-plates or stud configs, and others in the same boots didn't fall over, so could be a red herring.

[The9]

Blades ?

They were banned years back , get with it grandad

 

Except they weren't.

[The9]

I think you will find all those players that were contracted to wear umbro boots have been sent replacement Nike boots this week (they now own umbro and are phasing the brand out). Owen tweeted something to that effect.

 

Maybe they have been, but Schneiderlin, Puncheon and Davis (and Lambert, who was still wearing the previous white/green/yellow colour) all wear Nike Maestris and have done all season. Fox wears them too. None of the Saints players were wearing Umbro to begin with so none of them have changed.

 

The only thing that happened bootwise yesterday was a new colourway, which has already happened a few times this season - they started in yellow with black, there was a very brief use of red with black by a couple of players, then they moved onto white with green, and are now on orange with black.

 

If I can be arsed I'll trawl the gallery for pics. Just had a look, can't nick the URLs, but the Udinese gallery shows Lambert, Puncheon and Schneiderlin in the yellow version of the orange boots above and that was August. Long and short, nothing has changed except the colour and the weather.

 

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/article/saints-udinese-in-pictures-307521.aspx

Edited 2 January, 2013 by The9

[ant]

though you can't see from the Northam whether they had the same sole-plates or stud configs, and others in the same boots didn't fall over, so could be a red herring.

 

I thought Schneiderlin, Davis and Lambert all slid over at least one apiece but may have been mistaken. Definitely noticed a pattern with those specific boots - in fact the moulds in the picture above look more suitable for firm ground so if they weren't using the studs that may have played a part.

[Saint86]

People saying this happened to both teams have blinkers on every week imho. Every single home game our players stack it. Clyne is the worst offender for this particular incident. The opposition hardly fall over at all, but ours seem to love sliding around on the backside, typically 5-7 times a match as a rough average guess. It ****es me off every game I go to. Biggest one I can think of is Clyne vs Van Persie but there are far to many to count.

 

And the thing is, we do do it more than the opposition, but we should be used to the pitch, they shouldn't. Therefore, someone fix the fecking boots!

[Chez]

There were loads of crap boot brands around in the early 90s. The kit manufacturers like Patrick, Hummel, Pony did some. Then there were some really crap ones like Quaser, Brooks, line 7, Arrow, new Balance, hi Tec. I rememeber entering a completion in Shoot magazine to win a pair of New Balance boots because Bryan Robson wore them and I thought they'd be cool to have, they weren't.

 

I had a pair of those Quaser boots. A fella at SFC sold loads of them dirt cheap. Some of the better models were excellent. They were unusual because they had about 9 studs rather than the bog standard 6. Old hat these days. Hummel and Brooks (I forgot all about them) also make my list.

Edited 2 January, 2013 by Chez

[Sour Mash]

I had a pair of those Quaser boots. A fella at SFC sold loads of them dirt cheap. Some of the better models were excellent. They were unusual because they had about 9 studs rather than the bog standard 6. Old hat these days.

Think Le Tiss wore Quaser for a a bit early 90s!

[Chez]

[The9]

I thought Schneiderlin, Davis and Lambert all slid over at least one apiece but may have been mistaken. Definitely noticed a pattern with those specific boots - in fact the moulds in the picture above look more suitable for firm ground so if they weren't using the studs that may have played a part.

 

The boots are "for illustrative purposes only" to show the style of boot rather than the stud style or configuration, the players will have had a choice of a number of different sole plates, lightweight soles, hybrid blade/mould/studs and all of the various combinations in between.

 

I think half of the problem is that some players don't think anything of playing in a pair of boots someone else has broken in for them and possibly with little consideration of the conditions underfoot other than what someone else has told them about it and their warm up (for which they may not even wear the same boots), I'm always amazed at the rapidly changing boots of top players and wonder if it's having an impact.

 

It also hasn't escaped my attention that Robin Van Persie is still wearing a make of adidas Predator that he wore at Arsenal, was launched in 2011, and has been superseded by about 10 further colourways and a complete Predator rebranding for the Euros in 2012. I'm assuming that's because of either superstition, contract reasons or simply because he likes that colour and that particular build much better than the lighter boots released since.

 

[The9]

I had a pair of those Quaser boots. A fella at SFC sold loads of them dirt cheap. Some of the better models were excellent. They were unusual because they had about 9 studs rather than the bog standard 6. Old hat these days. Hummel and Brooks (I forgot all about them) also make my list.

 

I had a pair of Brooks boots, still got the box from 1991 as I used it to keep toys in at my gran's. They had loads of studs.

 

Anyone remember that back in the 80s Patrick boots had different sized screw threads to all other boots (shorter and wider) and also had their own stud key ? This was back when everyone else's studs were standard.

 

You didn't get daft stuff, like replaceable blade-studs with utterly weird removable iron-shaped studs which didn't even fit each hole, back then... (Predator 2002 I'm looking at you).

[The9]

People saying this happened to both teams have blinkers on every week imho. Every single home game our players stack it. Clyne is the worst offender for this particular incident. The opposition hardly fall over at all, but ours seem to love sliding around on the backside, typically 5-7 times a match as a rough average guess. It ****es me off every game I go to. Biggest one I can think of is Clyne vs Van Persie but there are far to many to count.

 

And the thing is, we do do it more than the opposition, but we should be used to the pitch, they shouldn't. Therefore, someone fix the fecking boots!

 

Clyne's worn two different brands of boot this season alone, so you can only attribute it to either his soleplate/stud choice, or the simple fact that he's one of our quickest players and is asked to change direction completely at higher speeds than others more often.

 

I've seen plenty of opposition players fall over, there were a few yesterday too, including that one comedy bit on the half way line late on when basically everyone was slipping and Puncheon ended up coming away with the ball.

 

I've got the match on my HDD, if I get the chance to rewatch I'll do an "on camera slip count".

[The9]

I thought Schneiderlin, Davis and Lambert all slid over...

Puncheon went over at least twice. I don't remember Lambert doing it (he was in the previous colour, not that it has anything to do with the soles...) :

 

[The9]

Just for the record, here's an article on the various FG (Firm Ground) sole plates available for standard (as opposed to "Elite") boots, the £120 ones rather than the £250 :

http://www.soccercleats101.com/2012/09/30/a-different-angle-current-nike-stud-configurations/

 

There are also SG (Soft Ground) options with "proper studs" and pure moulded Astro-style before people start blaming blades - we have no idea which soleplates were being used.

 

An article here about Cristiano Ronaldo customising his sole plates with a hybrid of blade and stud : http://www.soccerbible.com/news/football-boots/archive/2012/03/18/cr7-custom-mercurial-sole-plate.aspx

 

At least he pays attention to that kind of stuff... as you'd expect from a fast bloke who changes direction a lot.

 

Worst boots I ever had were a pair of £10 Umbro blades, no lateral blade on the ball of the foot so every time you tried to push off to run you just got a pure flat plastic area pushing against the ground and slipped straight over. I was dubious about Puma blades for some time due to the lack of lateral blade in the same area when I wore a pair in 2005, (see below) but Lallana hasn't had any problems with his Evospeeds this season and you can see the different stud config now.

 

No significant blade for the ball of the foot or direction change studs at the side on these v1.05 (2005 boots)

 

Lallana's Evospeeds (latest colourways and notably different stud pattern) :

 

Edited 2 January, 2013 by The9

[Window Cleaner]

If I recall correctly Morgan and Punch both slipped pretty early on, getting used to the surface perhaps. The studs on Punch's boots don't look all that short on the OS gallery photos. Maybe a different disposition or something like that.

[The9]

If I recall correctly Morgan and Punch both slipped pretty early on, getting used to the surface perhaps. The studs on Punch's boots don't look all that short on the OS gallery photos. Maybe a different disposition or something like that.

 

Pic 29 shows Schneiderlin making a slide tackle and his soles have gathered a lot of mud considering the condition of the pitch, if there's a lump of mud reducing the depth of "bite" from the studs it's not surprising players were going over.

 

You can also see Wilshere's soles - with additional "proper" studs evident in pic 34. Pic 37 shows Puncheon's sole and he doesn't seem to have extra studs on the front of the boot and probably has the standard FG blade plate (though it's difficult to tell).

 

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/article/gallery-saints-hold-arsenal-572903.aspx

[Window Cleaner]

Pic 29 shows Schneiderlin making a slide tackle and his soles have gathered a lot of mud considering the condition of the pitch, if there's a lump of mud reducing the depth of "bite" from the studs it's not surprising players were going over.

 

You can also see Wilshere's soles - with additional "proper" studs evident in pic 34. Pic 37 shows Puncheon's sole and he doesn't seem to have extra studs on the front of the boot and probably has the standard FG blade plate (though it's difficult to tell).

 

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/article/gallery-saints-hold-arsenal-572903.aspx

 

I was looking at picture 6.

[lordswoodsaints]

I always used to carry at least 2 sometimes 3 pairs of boots with me when playing football and used to know within a minute of the warm up which boots to wear and I only ever played senior football so I'm sure a premiership footballer should know what type of stud/blade is best suited to a pitch??

[Saint Charlie]

Recently on 5live one of the Pundits was talking about players slipping and said their old Manager (can't remember who but was a very good Manager) believed that a slip was a mistake and that it was very often because the player was balanced incorrectly and in the wrong position, forcing unnatural or accelerated movement leading to slips.

 

This was more relevant to defensive slips I guess but an interesting point.

[Window Cleaner]

Had a look at my recording of the game and most of the slipping seemed to occur in a strip of the pitch just past the halfway line

towards the Arsenal (first half) end. Maybe it was different in some way. Davis,Morgan,Puch and Ox (twice) all slipped in that band.

All wearing the same coloured boots.

[Dig Dig]

Why don't all the players just wear these?

 

 

It would probably also stop the players from messing about with the ball, passing back all the time and mightr encourage them to get it forward to Rickee. FFS.

Edited 2 January, 2013 by Dig Dig