I only posted this as I had just read a couple of articles more or less the same story about us and Real Madrid. Considering we have been playing on it for 7 years now we all know its pretty much flimflam. But I was just interested to know if anyone on here knows what the make up of a modern football pitch is made of. Are they a grass/hybrid combination layed on a mesh to stop them tearing up and keep them nice and even. Any ground keepers around?
There is a youtube video going around on this theory, the real big difference between Spurs/Madrid pitch and standard pitches is depth (standard pitch is significantly deeper/more soil under grass). And yes, depth matters almost more than material in terms of absorption of shock, it's why new sneakers have these ridiculous padded soles, no amount of science compensates for the depth/thickness.
That said, it's been 7 years, and while it most likely is a contributing factor, my personal view
- The pitch probably doesn't help but unlikely to be main cause
- Injuries create their own vicious cycle (where I think Madrid and Spurs are), at a certain point too many injuries put pressure on the remaining players (and with European football and a squad unbalanced due to HG issues), which creates more injuries, more pressure and on we go.
- Multiple changes of manager, each with different training styles, each coming in with emphasis on fitness, each time players trying to impress probably puts strain on players
- Medical/Sports science team not working well with manager, for "run into the ground injuries" what happened to red zone data? did we not pick it up, did the manager ignore, also why the perceived large amount of re-injuries in recovery.
As with most things, not one thing is smoking gun, it's likely a combination of, if not all of, the above.
