Our pitch

[ladysaint]

Why do they keep watering it, did it really need watering yesterday. We used to win praise and awards for our pitch but didn’t think it looked good yesterday. A few of our players were not coping well with it, not that that is an excuse.

[Kingsland Red]

I agree, the victims of the sprinklers were JWP and Tadic, everyone else managed though.

Then they put the sprinklers on again at HT.

[the saint in winchester]

This has come up before, and the conclusion was that it helped our passing game, kept the ball whipping across the surface. Yeah right.

Long may have scored yesterday if his standing foot hadn't slipped.

I wish they would stop the watering. Leave that to the rain.

[Whitey Grandad]

I agree, the victims of the sprinklers were JWP and Tadic, everyone else managed though.

Then they put the sprinklers on again at HT.

 

And Long. He slipped at least four times.

 

Mind you, the opposition never seem to have any problems.

[simo]

Hojburg was slipping a lot too

[Badger]

I remarked to my sons about the condition of the pitch before the game, remembering how in the old days at The Dell the centre of the pitch would be threadbare goalmouth to goalmouth, and either a bed of sand or mud.

 

We seem to have had problems all season staying on our feet, I have commented before how Hoedt is often seen sprawling on his arse although he wasn't the culprit yesterday, JWP and Long were better at the Bambi on ice routine.

[adrian lord]

the pitch has been in remarkably poor condition since about November - did Spurs poach the groundsman along with Poch and that super-scout bloke with the black box encryption codes?

[SFC-TID!]

the pitch has been in remarkably poor condition since about November - did Spurs poach the groundsman along with Poch and that super-scout bloke with the black box encryption codes?

 

I can’t let that go.

 

Being in a hugely similar field to the quite excellent ground staff at St Mary’s, they have battled with the worst winter weather since 2003. Record rainfall, 3 rounds of snow and many frosts.

 

They have to produce spectacular surfaces in the worst conditions and are doing a fantastic job. It’s not just home games, the players train there as well.

 

I can’t be sure of the exact rainfall figures for Southampton but my own figures where I am showed 137mm of rain for March compared to that of 42mm in March of last year. April of last year saw 4.5mm of rain and April of this year has given us 67mm in 15 days.

 

Being a groundsman is not an exact science. They can not control the weather. ‘Remarkably poor condition since November’ which coincides with the awful winter, rainfall and drop in temperatures.

 

More understanding of their job would be good before making a slanderous comment like that.

[Jonnyboy]

I can’t let that go.

 

Being in a hugely similar field to the quite excellent ground staff at St Mary’s, they have battled with the worst winter weather since 2003. Record rainfall, 3 rounds of snow and many frosts.

 

They have to produce spectacular surfaces in the worst conditions and are doing a fantastic job. It’s not just home games, the players train there as well.

 

I can’t be sure of the exact rainfall figures for Southampton but my own figures where I am showed 137mm of rain for March compared to that of 42mm in March of last year. April of last year saw 4.5mm of rain and April of this year has given us 67mm in 15 days.

 

Being a groundsman is not an exact science. They can not control the weather. ‘Remarkably poor condition since November’ which coincides with the awful winter, rainfall and drop in temperatures.

 

More understanding of their job would be good before making a slanderous comment like that.

 

Every ground will be struggling but it's safe to say our pitch won't be winning awards like it has in previous seasons.

[Valesaint]

Why the watering?

[Pilchards]

Not one Chelsea player slipped up while I counted at least 6 of ours.

i remember Long looking back thinking what the **** am I slipping up on?

[John Boy Saint]

And Long. He slipped at least four times.

 

Mind you, the opposition never seem to have any problems.

For 70 minutes the oppos weren’t trying as hard as we were.

[Whitey Grandad]

For 70 minutes the oppos weren’t trying as hard as we were.

 

That’s true, but this has been a regular feature for several seasons.

[Noodles34]

the pitch has been in remarkably poor condition since about November - did Spurs poach the groundsman along with Poch and that super-scout bloke with the black box encryption codes?

 

No he went to Liverpool, but we got £2467 for the rest of his contract so the owners will be chuffed.

[Dusic]

Have we still got the pitch disease from 2023? Considering a whole summer off it looked awful tonight.

Used to be one of the best in the PL a few years ago but like most stuff at Saints is a shadow of its former self!

[Disco Stu]

All those stadium improvements but it doesn't appear the pitch has been returfed. Possibly the worst type of pitch for our style of play.

I can see it now. Trying to play tika-taka in our penalty box only for it to bobble over someones foot, gifting a goal to the opposition.

Edited 7 August, 2024 by Disco Stu

[Appy]

RM seemed to suggest it’ll be fine for the Forest game. 

[Dark Munster]

Maybe it's our cunning plan to bring the more skillful PL opponents (i.e. most of them) down to our level?

[JRM]

7 hours ago, Dusic said:

Have we still got the pitch disease from 2023? Considering a whole summer off it looked awful tonight.

Used to be one of the best in the PL a few years ago but like most stuff at Saints is a shadow of its former self!

I was sat much lower than I usually do and really noticed how poor the surface was. Cutting up, grass actually looked too long , ball seemed to slow down , seems odd for first game back after summer break 

[Kristian Loekkegaard]

Ffs  

[Saint Billy]

1 hour ago, Kristian Loekkegaard said:

Ffs  

And your problem is?

[saintant]

My understanding is that the pitch is re-seeded every year. If that's the case you'd think any previous disease would not affect it this season. As others have said we always prided ourselves in the quality of our playing surface so not sure what has gone wrong.

[East Kent Saint]

It has been relaid entirely in the past it cost £500 000 I think , uv lamps etc . Someone on here could probably find the pictures!

 

[saintant]

3 hours ago, East Kent Saint said:

It has been relaid entirely in the past it cost £500 000 I think , uv lamps etc . Someone on here could probably find the pictures!

 

I would suggest that's money down the drain because it was always fantastic when just re-seeded.

[Kristian Loekkegaard]

7 hours ago, Saint Billy said:

And your problem is?

Only that we seem to have pitch problems. I didn't know about it. Last time I was at St.Mary's I noticed nothing. 

Edited 8 August, 2024 by Kristian Loekkegaard

[Chez]

18 hours ago, Dark Munster said:

Maybe it's our cunning plan to bring the more skillful PL opponents (i.e. most of them) down to our level?

RM is going to surprise everyone by taking a leaf out of John Beck's book, having long grass in the corners and smashing it up to Onuachu. 

[Saint Billy]

1 hour ago, Kristian Loekkegaard said:

Only that we seem to have pitch problems. I didn't know about it. Last time I was at St.Mary's I noticed nothing. 

Fair enough.

[East Kent Saint]

5 hours ago, saintant said:

I would suggest that's money down the drain because it was always fantastic when just re-seeded.

Unfortunately it ended up with a disease though , replacing the turf involved replacing the top soil etc as well . I don’t remember the whole pitch system of modern times , it’s a bit more than a field with grass on .

[derry]

Possibly wasn't relaid because of concerts after the season.

[SfcPhil]

https://x.com/stevenew12/status/1802273436179251571?t=05UWbF7Db1WR2Ww7Sl3asw&s=19

Definitely looks like they relaid it in the summer

Edited 8 August, 2024 by SfcPhil
Idiot

[Saint Garrett]

Thought it looked awful last night, so much so I took a photo. Looked very autumnal 

Edited 8 August, 2024 by Saint Garrett

[SNOWY]

Its a few weeks behind schedule because of Take That. I will look better in a couple of weeks.

[CSA96]

Two weeks now until the first home game. Imagine the groundstaff are thankful for that. Probably could've done without two games in four days this week

[S-Clarke]

The disease is back. Sounds like this is a forever problem, nothing can be done.

 "Simply put, the GLS disease, which will never leave now we have it, came back again with the weather as a contributor.

"We've just raked out the dead, non-recoverable plants and overseeded - we've learnt a lot from previous years, but have to deal with it again.

"We've raked the worst of the dead grass and removed it. We overseeded pre-friendlies and post-match and hope to see signs of new seedlings.

"We have had experiences where they can die off too. Anyone at the games will notice it still plays very well, just looks terrible."

Silvestri continued: "Our understanding is that as a fungal spore-spreading disease, it's always there, but if the conditions are favourable for it, it can strike.

"The humid and occasionally wet weather has contributed, but unlike Athlete's Foot, there's no cure yet. It's extremely disheartening after all our hard work!

"Over the years we've adjusted our practices to try to cope, but we have been backed by the club and Russell and the coaches have been very patient."

[ant]

With the continued chatter about it, might be worth the club putting out a release?

I understand the above comments are just Silvestri replying to fans via his personal Twitter.

If it's playing fine that's the main thing. But they're gonna keep getting scrutiny.

[Dusic]

Disagree that it plays well, pretty much every pass yesterday bobbled about and it makes some lose pace and then get intercepted.

Obviously no fault of any individual but less than ideal for a team who seeks to play short passing, possession football.

And it looks shit.

[Disco Stu]

Anyone know of any other clubs experiencing a GLS (Gray Leaf Spot) outbreak? I've done some reading about it. August 2020 was the first time it was recorded on a stadium pitch in the UK. Seems it has plagued stadiums in Germany since 2017 and they've switched to more GLS resistant grass varieties. Sounds like every Groundmans worst nightmare. It's not necessarily a forever problem but it is a very expensive problem that we won't have time to fix this season.

Apparently, spores can come in from contaminated fertilizer, equipment or even on the bottom of footwear. Groundmen disinfect equipment and some stadiums even use disinfection mats for footwear before going onto the turf which perhaps explains why they lose their shit when randoms wonder onto the pitch. Once the spores are on the grass, GLS can completely destroy a stadium pitch in 2-3 days.

Edited 11 August, 2024 by Disco Stu

[Dusic]

2 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

Anyone know of any other clubs experiencing a GLS (Gray Leaf Spot) outbreak? I've done some reading about it. August 2020 was the first time it was recorded on a stadium pitch in the UK. Seems it has plagued stadiums in Germany since 2017 and they've switched to more GLS resistant grass varieties. Sounds like every Groundmans worst nightmare. It's not necessarily a forever problem but it is a very expensive problem that we won't have time to fix this season.

Apparently, spores can come in from contaminated fertilizer, equipment or even on the bottom of footwear. Groundmen disinfect equipment and some stadiums even use disinfection mats for footwear before going onto the turf which perhaps explains why they lose their shit when randoms wonder onto the pitch. Once the spores are on the grass, GLS can completely destroy a stadium pitch in 2-3 days.

Hopefully they can sort somehow but sounds like it would take drastic action at the end of the season.

If we have a wet and cold winter it could look and play awfully come January.

Edited 11 August, 2024 by Dusic

[sandwichsaint]

2 hours ago, Dusic said:

Hopefully they can sort somehow but sounds like it would take drastic action at the end of the season.

If we have a wet and cold winter it could look and play awfully come January.

Perfect, we've made the away fans a little less cosy, now let's see how visiting teams cope with this, 

[Dusic]

Will be interesting to see whether it has improved since the home friendlies.

You get so uses to seeing absolute carpets at PL level (and even many lower down) that it sticks out hugely if its poor.

Really hope they can sort it as despite what the groundsmen say it absolutely does have a playing impact and our style relies on a good surface.

[Jonnyboy]

On 11/08/2024 at 17:29, Disco Stu said:

Anyone know of any other clubs experiencing a GLS (Gray Leaf Spot) outbreak? I've done some reading about it. August 2020 was the first time it was recorded on a stadium pitch in the UK. Seems it has plagued stadiums in Germany since 2017 and they've switched to more GLS resistant grass varieties. Sounds like every Groundmans worst nightmare. It's not necessarily a forever problem but it is a very expensive problem that we won't have time to fix this season.

Apparently, spores can come in from contaminated fertilizer, equipment or even on the bottom of footwear. Groundmen disinfect equipment and some stadiums even use disinfection mats for footwear before going onto the turf which perhaps explains why they lose their shit when randoms wonder onto the pitch. Once the spores are on the grass, GLS can completely destroy a stadium pitch in 2-3 days.

Can it not be simply spread in the airborne way too?

[Disco Stu]

2 hours ago, Jonnyboy said:

Can it not be simply spread in the airborne way too?

Possibly but I don't know. I was just summarising what I'd read on this article https://thegma.org.uk/news/exclusive-detailed-look-gray-leaf-spot-potentially-devastating-turfgrass-disease

Edited 20 August, 2024 by Disco Stu

[Stripey McStripe Shirt]

Don't worry folks, we've got strict biosecurity measures to prevent spread of any diseases in the grass at the training ground...

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C-7cSlcsTvC/?igsh=MXkxbnhhcTF4ZjA0MA==

[64saint]

Pitch looks decent again now after a few problems last month.   Just the team now that needs sorting. Maybe the groundsman has all the answers.