The Wembley Pitch – Not Fit for Football
Manchester City tend to play on football pitches like this when they are drawn away to a lower league team in the early rounds of a cup competition. Even then its a while since I have watched a game of football on a pitch covered in markings for another sport. It may well have been a schools game about 20 years ago. The surprise is I am watching a game on a similar pitch and its taking place at Wembley Stadium – the spiritual home of English football.
Manchester City have not been at their most fluid best. The ball is not moving along the ground but becoming stuck in a treacle like pitch up the middle. The flanks are threadbare of grass, being just mud painted green. The extent to which the pitch is the cause of Manchester City being below their normal level of pace is hard to establish for certain.
It’s clear that Benjamin Mendy in particular is labouring along the wing – its like he has his legs planted in the ground, so every break of sprint takes seconds longer. Sometimes his legs appear stuck behind him as he is beaten for pace by much slower players. I spent 10 minutes wondering if Mendy just had his boots on the wrong feet.
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City took the lead early in the game thanks to some good play by Raheem Sterling. A long ball eluded Kieran Trippier at right back and Sterling skipped past him, squaring the ball across the area. Mahrez ran onto the pass, evading several defenders – powered by a desire and hunger to get the goal. After scoring he pointed at the heavens and gestured, presumably in a memorial to the Thai owner of Leicester who died at the weekend.
The rest of the first half saw City make a series of mistakes which seemed to give Spurs an increasing confidence. Spurs were much more physical in their style of play, and seemed more capable at times of carrying the ball through the quagmire in the centre circle than a more nimble City side.
The second half saw City maintaining their composure, and playing some certain and strong defensive play, but there were also plenty of times City carelessly gave away the ball, inviting Spurs to come onto them. As the game went on, City missed a succession of chances and if anything belief seemed to slip away from them. By this stage it began to look as though Tottenham would nick a goal.
Kevin De Bruyne was introduced and uncharacteristically he seemed to join in with the careless passing, and at times he looked out of sorts. A golden chance fell to Lamela who scuffed his shot high over the bar, and City were able to see the game out. A wonderful irony given Tottenham’s role in making us play on this dreadful pitch.
This was not City at their best, but if anything the win today gave me more belief in our ability to retain the title. Last year we were carried through the autumn months by a series of lucky late goals, this year we are trudging and clawing our victories and results. This is beginning to feel like a side which has more dimension than before.
Right now we have played 3 of the top 6 away from home and have 7 points to show for that. That is title winning form. We now prepare to embark on a series of games at home, on a better pitch, which we are capable of winning. The only worrying aspect today is how we failed to take our chances. In any normal game this could have cost us the result and we need to have our shooting boots on from this point onwards.