The writing's on the wall, isnt it?

Kenilworth 100.6 x 65.8 = 6,619.48

Riverside & Wembley 105 x 69 = 7,245

(For the record Stade de ***** 105 x 68 = 7,140)

Wembley is just over 625 sq metre bigger. To put that in perspective it’s almost 2x 18 yard boxes more space

Do your sums again. 625 sq m is far less than ONE 18 yard box area.

The pitch size difference - in reality - is just 2 metres at each end and less than 2 metres on each side.

That would be hardly noticeable.
 
About 500m2 bigger than Luton's, quite a big difference.
"Massive pitch"
"Space all over "
"End to end"
"A pitch like that"

You are talking as though we are playing 7 a side on a full size pitch.

Luton have only lost 4 times away from home, mostly on pitches the same size as Wembley.

We play every week on pitches the same size as Wembley.

It is a standard size pitch.
 
Sunderland have had a great season regardless of what happens now for them. As have we given the start we had.

I would love to beat them in the final it would be a 'moment'. However, i just don't feel Boro/i am that lucky to be on the right side of that outcome.

I suspect the majority of fans would be ok - lets be honest, most of the 'aggressive' ones are only hard behind the segregation nets and a line of police.

The Friday night would be a problem, id expect Trafalgar square to be closed off and after the game would be a problem, depending how the game plays out.

God im nervous now
 
Wouldn't be surprised if its moved to earlier in the day. Like the FA cup final has
If the final does end up being Boro v Sunderland, it would be a disgrace to bring the kick off forward. If it was a noon kick off, people would have to set off at 3am, which frankly is more dangerous than the threat from a few ***ed up knuckle heads.
 
Do your sums again. 625 sq m is far less than ONE 18 yard box area.

The pitch size difference - in reality - is just 2 metres at each end and less than 2 metres on each side.

That would be hardly noticeable.
You are partially right. It’s slightly less than one 18 yard box which is 660 sq m.

However saying less than 2m at each end is a weird way to say it, it’s over 4m longer and over 3 m wider. However you want to present it it’s a fact that there are 625 sq m more pitch to cover, that’s a lot.

It’s roughly 8% bigger, which for a defending team is 8% more running to cover the spaces and passing lines. It’s absolutely significant and absolutely noticeable.
 
"Massive pitch"
"Space all over "
"End to end"
"A pitch like that"

You are talking as though we are playing 7 a side on a full size pitch.

Luton have only lost 4 times away from home, mostly on pitches the same size as Wembley.

We play every week on pitches the same size as Wembley.

It is a standard size pitch.
There is no such thing as a standard size pitch
 
"Massive pitch"
"Space all over "
"End to end"
"A pitch like that"

You are talking as though we are playing 7 a side on a full size pitch.

Luton have only lost 4 times away from home, mostly on pitches the same size as Wembley.

We play every week on pitches the same size as Wembley.

It is a standard size pitch.
We aren't talking about Luton vs everyone else, we're talking about Luton vs Boro. That's what the discussion is about, remind me what happened at the Riverside on a "standard size pitch"?
 
We aren't talking about Luton vs everyone else, we're talking about Luton vs Boro. That's what the discussion is about, remind me what happened at the Riverside on a "standard size pitch"?
We won with a 91st minute winner against 10 men after falling behind.
There certainly wasn't "space all over".

It is relevant that Luton are used to playing on pitches the same size as Wembley and won't be overwhelmed by it.

I do still think we would beat them. If we both get there.
 
We won with a 91st minute winner against 10 men after falling behind.
There certainly wasn't "space all over".

It is relevant that Luton are used to playing on pitches the same size as Wembley and won't be overwhelmed by it.

I do still think we would beat them. If we both get there.
We more than doubled their xG, we were by far the better side.

Screenshot 2023-05-09 105833.png
 
There is no such thing as a standard size pitch
OK. Average size then. The point being it isn't particularly big.
We more than doubled their xG, we were by far the better side.

View attachment 57574
I don't disagree we were the better side. But not because of the pitch size. Carrick said himself we struggled to break them down, which suggests Luton coped well with the acres of space we had.
 
I believe our statisticians have come to the conclusion, due to the size of Wembley's pitch, that our most favourable opponent would be Luton in the final due to the way they play and how we play.

The Wembley pitch is huge compared to Luton's.
 
Is the Wembley pitch that much bigger than Lutons? I know the old Wembley pitch was traditionally bigger than most clubs pitches.

It's irrelevant in any case I think, because the team that plays better on the day will win, don't think the size of the pitch will have any real bearing on that.
 
We won with a 91st minute winner against 10 men after falling behind.
There certainly wasn't "space all over".

It is relevant that Luton are used to playing on pitches the same size as Wembley and won't be overwhelmed by it.

I do still think we would beat them. If we both get there.
nobody is saying they will be overwhelmed or are going to be a pushover, only that a bigger pitch will suit a possession based side. That is evidently true and has long been talked about in football circles as a truism. The pitch length at Wembley would suit Archer to run in behind, he caused them problems with that at Kenilworth Rd a bigger pitch would simply make it a bigger problem for their CBs.

Luton if they reach the final play very wide and high wing backs, they like to switch to those players. They would try to exploit that extra 3m+ of width.
 
OK. Average size then. The point being it isn't particularly big.

I don't disagree we were the better side. But not because of the pitch size. Carrick said himself we struggled to break them down, which suggests Luton coped well with the acres of space we had.
It is actually bigger than average. Wigan, Reading, Millwall, Luton, Sheff U, QPR, Cardiff and Preston all have significantly smaller pitches than wembley. Luton are unbeaten at these grounds this season, although they've done well away in general.

Several others are either shorter or wider. Blackburn and Huddersfield are slightly bigger than wembley!
 
You'd be shocked to find the size of the pitch does in deed have a bearing on games.

It's why Arsenal and Man City choose to have a big pitch. Barcelona have for a long time now.

Whereas, Luton choose to have a smaller pitch because it works in their advantage.
Barcelona and Man City pitches aren't particularly big either.

Arsenal's is 1 yard shorter and 1 yard wider than Luton's.
 
It is actually bigger than average. Wigan, Reading, Millwall, Luton, Sheff U, QPR, Cardiff and Preston all have significantly smaller pitches than wembley. Luton are unbeaten at these grounds this season, although they've done well away in general.

Several others are either shorter or wider. Blackburn and Huddersfield are slightly bigger than wembley!
OK.
I don't think the size of the Wembley pitch is significant enough to give us a big advantage over Luton. Others think it is.
I think our advantage over Luton will be because we have better players and a more potent strike force.

I also don't think it is as big as some people maybe thought. Old Wembley used to be a couple of yards wider than the current pitch. But that was too wide to be a FIFA category 4 stadium pitch.
That was when commentators would mention the 'energy sapping' size of the pitch.
 
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