David Martindale has questioned Ange Postecoglou’s reasoning about the injury to Cameron Carter-Vickers.
Celtic were without their stand-in skipper for last night’s Champions League match against Real Madrid with the pitch at Livingston given as the reason for the absence.
Postecoglou made his comments on Tuesday night which seems to have prompted a reaction from the Livingston boss as The Sun reports:
Postecoglou said: “The artificial pitch wasn’t great for him, so we left him at home.”
But Martindale said: “I can’t speak for the medical staff at Celtic, but what are we basing this on? The park’s too hard? The park’s too soft?
“Where is the assumption coming from? I don’t know.
“Surely you can’t just say that because it’s plastic you pick up more injuries.
“Yes it’s different, but what is the difference?
“It would be good to get a study on that.
“I look at the hybrid pitches and there are a lot of injuries happening on them because they’re very hard and there’s not a lot of give on them.
“If you look at the English Premier League, when someone scores and does a knee slide, there’s never a divot.
“I get Ange’s frustration, because they’re elite level and we’re not.
“If I could have Motherwell’s surface and a training facility, I’d take it all day long over the plastic. But do I think it leads to recurring injuries? I’m not so sure.
“I think sometimes it can be an easy rationale as to why someone is injured.
“Where are all my players’ injuries from playing and training on a plastic pitch?
“And if it’s because of a change of surface, why am I not picking injuries up when we play away on grass parks. It’s up for debate.
“And where do Celtic B play their games? On a plastic park — so it can’t be that bad.
“If you were to do tests on grass, hybrid and an astro with a shock pad, I’d like to see what it comes back with.”
No artificial pitches are allowed in the EPL or EFL, teams in the lowest division of the English Football League must provide a grass pitch yet two of the top 12 clubs in Scotland play on plastic.
Livingston could have used some of the Lyndon Dykes transfer fee to install a pitch like Motherwell but prefer an inferior surface to give them a playing advantage and an income source all year round.
Martindale does have a good point about Celtic’s B team playing on the plastic pitch at Airdrie, if th club are attempting to replicat th same style of play as th first team a grass pitch would be a decent start.
Tha guy has valid points.
Regardless.
The SFA make millions hand over hand, why don’t they use this cash to ensure every team that plays in the premier has a grass pitch?
Problem solved and one less embarrassment for our game
Well they say the money is pumped into “grass-roots” football but obviously there’s none at the Spaghettihad….
How come the Kilmarnock boss did not comment on this statement
Because it only annoyed this Blue nosed bigot
You have a S**t Team
Who play at a S**t Stadium
On a S**t surface
And run by a S**t manager
It is time the SFA got this league up to date
and stated only teams with grass surface
are allowed in the SPL
We don’t see any plastic pitches in any other top league countries.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45903364
Livingstons pitch is horrendous No way should the SPL allow matches to go ahead If they absolutely must have a plastic pitch then at least get it upgraded It’s like an old threadbare carpet And before Martindale the bore gives Ange snash about money Invest your money
Speculate to accumulate
Where are my players injuries when they play on grass…..did he really say that?
Don’t think he was just selling the drugs with a moronic statement like that.
Everybody knows it’s harder to play on a plastic pitch. You dont need a study going to know that. Not everybody has the same strength in their knees, joints, ankles, etc. It also gives the players who play on it week in week out an advantage over players who dont. Put 11 hammer throwers on it and they might have a good game as well.