Style of play vs Craven Cottage

[gezkc]

Since SJ took over, our away form has consistently  been among the best in the Championship, and it's actually been our home form that's been letting us down.

It's been mentioned a few times on here (after Burton Albion for example) that we seem to struggle on small pitches, and as someone mentioned recently (I think it was Nogood Boyo, but apologies if I'm wrong!), the intricate passing game SJ has got us playing definitely seems to suit more expansive pitches.

With Craven Cottage being one of the smallest pitches in the division, are we effectively handicapping ourselves by working with a style that doesn't suit half the games we play in the season?

This is probably a daft thing to suggest, but if the Stadium development ever goes ahead, might it not be worthwhile to look at possibly expanding the pitch size at the same time? Surely if we had a pitch that suited our playing style, we would be making life much easier for ourselves?!

[fcfulham55]

Depends. SJ could walk or leave and our game style changes again.

[gezkc]

That is very true. It just seems that we're not currently able to really make the most of our playing style on the pitch we play half our games on.

[Lighthouse]

It is hard to look at the Burton result and try not to make excuses for it. But I am not convinced that it is down to the size of the ground. If that is the case than I would imagine we would have found a way round it by now at home. I tend to think our results at home are more down to the fact that we play like an away side all the time. We don't have the forwards to bombard the opposition as QPR did against us last night late on. We have to play on the break with speed. We really are not very good against sides who play deep.

That is down to lack of physical forwards.

[bill taylors apprentice]

Our home pitch is far from the smallest in the Championship.

[filham]

It is not the pitch it is the fact that away from the Cottage teams are more prepared to come at us leaving openings behind them for us to exploit.

[Maldon white]

As the training ground pitches are exactly the same size as craven cottage , and our away form is better than our home, pitch size has nothing to do with it.....otherwise we would be altering training ground pitch sizes to suit who we are playing....more relevant is that at home we are the ones who have to break other teams down.. and they sit behind the ball and hit us on the break.....away from home not do much pressure yo attack or break teams down so can let the football do the talking

[Twig]

It is hard to look at the Burton result and try not to make excuses for it. But I am not convinced that it is down to the size of the ground. If that is the case than I would imagine we would have found a way round it by now at home. I tend to think our results at home are more down to the fact that we play like an away side all the time. We don't have the forwards to bombard the opposition as QPR did against us last night late on. We have to play on the break with speed. We really are not very good against sides who play deep.

That is down to lack of physical forwards.

AK may be the answer to that.

[peaty]

Agree with all the posters here who say that away team playing style is a really important factor. Totally right. But I do think the small size of the pitch at CC has *something* to do with it. (Quite how much, I don't know...)

Not sure we should alter it, either. We'll be back in the Prem one day. It's easier to defend against Man City on a small pitch. I think this was typically part of Uncle Roy's game plan at Fortress Fulham...