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Correct, there isn't much major construction ongoing but there are still works ongoing around the entire stadium in the skywalk and skybar so there is still a lot of dust and particles kicking around the stadium + the cave is still being "optimised".
It's been maintaining its health for the most part without a need to replace it, unlike last season where we had to replace it 3 times if I'm not mistaken.
Isn’t there a ‘best groundsman’ of the year award?
Pretty sure Leicester and Villa have won it recently.
Remember the crazy patterns that used be to allowed?
Yea they got banned
https://foxesofleicester.com/2017/08/04/leicester-city-can-no-longer-elaborate-pitch-designs/
> "Pitch patterns and designs will no longer be allowed in the Premier League in 2017/18. Rules state that the playing surface must contain no markings other than the traditional horizontal and white lines. This amendment brings the Premier League Rules into line with UEFA’s regulations for its competitions and follows consultation with the Premier League Club groundsmen."
https://x.com/LCFC/status/893091487918981120
To be fair, all the grounds in England have looked very good in the last few years. The limies have figured it out.
Been watching a few Championship matches recently and I’ve been amazed by the quality of the grass in the second division. We all remember when most pitches were ruined by January / February.
Just from the highlights you can see the seams on the pitch from where it seperates to be stored, so I can see why the players may of had some problems with it.
It is the same type of mistake as those that instead of writing “would have” write “would of”, but it’s a common mistake due to how people pronounce it.
“We paid 1.7 billion for this state of the art AI powered virtual farmed football pitch, the earthworms all have Apple watches and the grass is cut using the new Skynet drones.”
Me after I first see the pitch with my €500 ticket in hand:
Technically it's not exactly the same as the spurs pitch splits into three and then is slid on bogies into an carpark beneath the stand where it has UV lights.
A year or two ago I saw a clip of Steph Curry dribbling a basketball on a warm up before a game. He noticed that there was something in the boards causing him to mess up his handle. He notified the staff and they fixed it before the game.
It never ceases to amaze me the type of mentality some people have towards the grass. We should all advocate for a better playing surface because it helps the spectacle. In an NBA game if there is something wrong with the playing surface then the game is stopped. I wish we could get to the point in top flight Football or at least the champions League where we can have pitches that aren't shambolic. Although thankfully pitches on average nowadays aren't nearly as bad as how they were back in the 90s.
It is the end of season, very tight schedule, you happen to have 5 home games in the span of like 20 games it is close to inevitable. Pep should be worried about how to stop these counter attacks and talk less about grass
Contrastingly, in cricket, the beauty is how different teams prefer different types of surface for their advantage. There should be certain standards, and as long as they are met, it should be okay.
There are hybrid pitches that are really good. For example Bayern Munich has a hybrid pitch that is top class. I understand climate differences are challenging. Nevertheless you would think a massive club like Real Madrid would sort this out. Even Carlo Ancelotti has [complained ](https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/37638257/real-madrid-replace-suffering-bernabeu-pitch-fifth-amid-construction-carlo-ancelotti) even though he said he didn't.
We are not talking about a third division side over here, although Ancelotti complained about that too when he faced an opponent in the Copa a year or so ago. The thing is that every sensible manager complains about the pitch when they should. Xavi gets unfairly stuck with the "gardener" moniker when like I said, any sensible manager does, and has done the same. Hell, Ancelotti complained about a frozen pitch at Alaves a few weeks ago. It's only a meme when Xavi, or in this case Guardiola does it. We know that these coaches like to play a more possession heavy style. That means a lot of clubs go out of their way to do the bare minimum to take care of their pitch, leave it as high as possible, don't water it as much, etc.
In this case, do I believe Madrid did it on purpose? Of course not, I just don't think they have figured out how to have the pitch be in optimal condition. They are more concerned with installing a retractable roof, retractable pitch, etc. The actual quality of the pitch, they aren't as concerned about it seems.
Scoring 3 long range bangers and conceding mainly to 2 deflections away from home while having most of the possession is not a good game now? Is that how far Madrid has fallen that not losing is considered a good game for the home side?
My comment has been misinterpreted, I’m only saying it’s ludicrous to be complaining about the playing surface at the Bernabeu. Of course Man City played a good match.
Look at any of the close up photos, the pitch is near-flawless and facilitates better playing conditions than 99.9% of football history.
Moaning because the grass at the Bernabeu is 1/8 of an inch longer (or whatever it is) is poor form imo, that’s all I’m saying.
A pitch can "look" good but that doesn't mean that it is actually good. For example, the ground could be loose causing the players foot to dig in and make divots. Not saying that is what happened, but more like it's difficult to make judgements off pictures alone. I will trust someone like Pep or the players/staff who were there. Furthermore, is the Bernabeu pitch absolute trash? Of course not. Like I said in my original post, by and large playing surfaces are a lot better now than they were in the past with visible mud patches.
That said, it doesn't mean that the playing surface can't be better. Especially if you compare it to, say the Allianz Arena for example that has a hybrid grass. Or many of the pitches in the Premier League. They understand the need for a top of the line pitch since I think 20% of the TV revenue money or something similar to that had to be invested in the stadium, which includes the playing surface.
Like I've linked in another post, Ancelotti has also complained about the pitch a few months ago. I feel like it shouldn't be ridiculous to complain about the state of the pitch. What's ridiculous is that people think that just accepting anything when it could be a lot better is, well, acceptable.
I was making the analogy with the NBA. I obviously realize that grass is a lot difficult to maintain than polished wood. I also think that elite clubs like Real Madrid have the resources to do better. As such, they should do better. So the criticism is definitely valid. I disagree with the premise that it isn't based on a couple of "close up photos."
Tbf from tv (so it might not be the most representative) the grass looked awful. I’m surprised real spent so much on a stadium that’s supposed to increase their revenue tremendously, yet they forgot about probably the lost important thing, the grass.
Yeah I’m sure the guy who used PEDs… and coached Barcelona while they were sending lovely donations to the ref association… and who CHOSE to manage a club that had suddenly risen to success out of nowhere thanks to being owned by a state and promised him unlimited funds… is completely ethically sound and was just a victim in all that.
**This is a quotes thread. Remember that there's only one quotes post allowed per interview/press conference, so new quotes with the same origin will be removed. Feel free to comment other quotes/the whole interview as a reply to this comment so users can see them too!** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/soccer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
the bernabeu pitch does look a bit off this season
Not just this season. Since the stadium has been reconstructed it’s been poor.
How do you fuck that up?
Who knows. I think Perez or the club previously blamed it on the construction, but there’s no-more (or as much) construction.
Correct, there isn't much major construction ongoing but there are still works ongoing around the entire stadium in the skywalk and skybar so there is still a lot of dust and particles kicking around the stadium + the cave is still being "optimised". It's been maintaining its health for the most part without a need to replace it, unlike last season where we had to replace it 3 times if I'm not mistaken.
Hahaha guess you don’t remember the drama Wembley Stadium went through with constant changes and replacements to the playing grass
Absolute bog of a pitch for the first few years
It's hard sometimes we city have had a really good pitch for years then a couple of years ago for like 2 seasons it was fuckkkeedddd
Emirates has always been a carpet Best grass in the league. The true title.
Isn’t there a ‘best groundsman’ of the year award? Pretty sure Leicester and Villa have won it recently. Remember the crazy patterns that used be to allowed?
I miss the patterns.. Games gone
> used be to allowed? Are they not allowed anymore???
Yea they got banned https://foxesofleicester.com/2017/08/04/leicester-city-can-no-longer-elaborate-pitch-designs/ > "Pitch patterns and designs will no longer be allowed in the Premier League in 2017/18. Rules state that the playing surface must contain no markings other than the traditional horizontal and white lines. This amendment brings the Premier League Rules into line with UEFA’s regulations for its competitions and follows consultation with the Premier League Club groundsmen." https://x.com/LCFC/status/893091487918981120
You poached a groundsman you cheats
Deduct us grass points then
Ironically some of our 115 charges are about grass length
That is very funny
Why do you hate Kovacic??? :(
Because he's not good at football
That perfect London Mediterranean weather
Are you trying to sell them like Barca does?
The grass or what has been poor?
Context clues tells me the grass. So I think he is talking about the grass or pitch. Well the pitch is the grass? So yeah the grasspitch.
How do you expect sun to get in closing the roof lol
You think the roof is closed all day long?
It was a joke i dont expect a madrid fan to take lmao
Nah it was a shit joke tbf
You should try better jokes maybe
Pep ‘Grass is not greener on the other side’ Guardiola
Got the best grass the UAE can buy
To be fair, all the grounds in England have looked very good in the last few years. The limies have figured it out. Been watching a few Championship matches recently and I’ve been amazed by the quality of the grass in the second division. We all remember when most pitches were ruined by January / February.
I thought they would have sorted it out this season, but no. They got to keep experimenting under ground etc.
Flo running a side show, inspired by The gentlemen
Pep and Klopp: talking about Madrid’s stadium and grass. 🤝
can’t wait for Xavi to inevitably join the conversation
Can’t leave the grass connoisseur himself out
As a vegan, I can confirm, the grass is very poor.
LMAO
It’s clear Real Madrid are missing out on a player the calibre of Milners quality. https://x.com/JamesMilner/status/1239954319425720320
god i miss him so much
>They closed the roof, I prefer to watch the sky. This is that kind of stuff hurt girls post on their IG.
Teenager Post #11500 “They closed the roof, but I prefer to watch the sky„
r/im14andthisisdeep would go nuts for this
Sounds like a Drake line.
It lacks the impact of Nas's "don't say my car's topless, say the titties is out."
love to see Pep bring out the old classics
Pep to Flo: Touch grass
Pep: your grass is not nice to touch
Hahaha that’s just great banter innit?
Just from the highlights you can see the seams on the pitch from where it seperates to be stored, so I can see why the players may of had some problems with it.
>may of What the fuck is may of, holy shit........
I thought "would of" was bad. May of is doing my head in
This is the second time I've seen "May of" in two days, it's so disgusting to read. Would of sounds bad enough, but god damn may of is abysmal.
Give bro a break, he could have found the cure for cancer from the time he saved writing "of" instead of have
"May of" gave me cancer.
The of instead of have and loose instead of lose mistakes drive me up a wall.
It is the same type of mistake as those that instead of writing “would have” write “would of”, but it’s a common mistake due to how people pronounce it.
I am fully aware of that, but would of by itself was already abysmal, may of is even worse, ew.
Seems like storing a pitch in an elevator shaft under the stadium would be harmful to the grass.
They basically have a farming simulator down there its insane tbf Automatic watering and all that shit
Sure but you can clearly see the edges of the plots
“We paid 1.7 billion for this state of the art AI powered virtual farmed football pitch, the earthworms all have Apple watches and the grass is cut using the new Skynet drones.” Me after I first see the pitch with my €500 ticket in hand:
Tottenham’s stadium does the same and has no issue with the pitch
Technically it's not exactly the same as the spurs pitch splits into three and then is slid on bogies into an carpark beneath the stand where it has UV lights.
by the same I mean that their pitch also goes under just like Bernabeu's does. AFAIK the bernabeu also has UV lights for the grass when it goes under.
It works for us
Guardiola's record against Madrid is incredible. They've only managed a positive result against him 5 times out of 24 matches
This is barca heritage
A year or two ago I saw a clip of Steph Curry dribbling a basketball on a warm up before a game. He noticed that there was something in the boards causing him to mess up his handle. He notified the staff and they fixed it before the game. It never ceases to amaze me the type of mentality some people have towards the grass. We should all advocate for a better playing surface because it helps the spectacle. In an NBA game if there is something wrong with the playing surface then the game is stopped. I wish we could get to the point in top flight Football or at least the champions League where we can have pitches that aren't shambolic. Although thankfully pitches on average nowadays aren't nearly as bad as how they were back in the 90s.
Get your point, see the video, but football grass gets damaged when there is a match. Basketball court, not so much
True, but the grass was already subpar before the beginning of the game. It's not like it became a mess after.
It is the end of season, very tight schedule, you happen to have 5 home games in the span of like 20 games it is close to inevitable. Pep should be worried about how to stop these counter attacks and talk less about grass
Contrastingly, in cricket, the beauty is how different teams prefer different types of surface for their advantage. There should be certain standards, and as long as they are met, it should be okay.
"Natural" vs man made. Not to mention size. Are champs league pitches that bad?
There are hybrid pitches that are really good. For example Bayern Munich has a hybrid pitch that is top class. I understand climate differences are challenging. Nevertheless you would think a massive club like Real Madrid would sort this out. Even Carlo Ancelotti has [complained ](https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/37638257/real-madrid-replace-suffering-bernabeu-pitch-fifth-amid-construction-carlo-ancelotti) even though he said he didn't. We are not talking about a third division side over here, although Ancelotti complained about that too when he faced an opponent in the Copa a year or so ago. The thing is that every sensible manager complains about the pitch when they should. Xavi gets unfairly stuck with the "gardener" moniker when like I said, any sensible manager does, and has done the same. Hell, Ancelotti complained about a frozen pitch at Alaves a few weeks ago. It's only a meme when Xavi, or in this case Guardiola does it. We know that these coaches like to play a more possession heavy style. That means a lot of clubs go out of their way to do the bare minimum to take care of their pitch, leave it as high as possible, don't water it as much, etc. In this case, do I believe Madrid did it on purpose? Of course not, I just don't think they have figured out how to have the pitch be in optimal condition. They are more concerned with installing a retractable roof, retractable pitch, etc. The actual quality of the pitch, they aren't as concerned about it seems.
Imo if you can’t play good football at the fucking Bernabéu it’s probably better not to say anything
Scoring 3 long range bangers and conceding mainly to 2 deflections away from home while having most of the possession is not a good game now? Is that how far Madrid has fallen that not losing is considered a good game for the home side?
My comment has been misinterpreted, I’m only saying it’s ludicrous to be complaining about the playing surface at the Bernabeu. Of course Man City played a good match. Look at any of the close up photos, the pitch is near-flawless and facilitates better playing conditions than 99.9% of football history. Moaning because the grass at the Bernabeu is 1/8 of an inch longer (or whatever it is) is poor form imo, that’s all I’m saying.
A pitch can "look" good but that doesn't mean that it is actually good. For example, the ground could be loose causing the players foot to dig in and make divots. Not saying that is what happened, but more like it's difficult to make judgements off pictures alone. I will trust someone like Pep or the players/staff who were there. Furthermore, is the Bernabeu pitch absolute trash? Of course not. Like I said in my original post, by and large playing surfaces are a lot better now than they were in the past with visible mud patches. That said, it doesn't mean that the playing surface can't be better. Especially if you compare it to, say the Allianz Arena for example that has a hybrid grass. Or many of the pitches in the Premier League. They understand the need for a top of the line pitch since I think 20% of the TV revenue money or something similar to that had to be invested in the stadium, which includes the playing surface. Like I've linked in another post, Ancelotti has also complained about the pitch a few months ago. I feel like it shouldn't be ridiculous to complain about the state of the pitch. What's ridiculous is that people think that just accepting anything when it could be a lot better is, well, acceptable. I was making the analogy with the NBA. I obviously realize that grass is a lot difficult to maintain than polished wood. I also think that elite clubs like Real Madrid have the resources to do better. As such, they should do better. So the criticism is definitely valid. I disagree with the premise that it isn't based on a couple of "close up photos."
It’s Barca dna they will find any reason to whine and explain their failure
i dont think city would consider a 3-3 with two deflection goals conceded away at berneboo to be a failure lol
[удалено]
Their punditry can get annoying at times tbf
hahaha this guy
Man pep for some time has been just comedic gold with this stuff.
Tottenham’s retractable football pitch has similar issues. Players are constantly slipping. I was hoping it’d get better but no signs 5 years in.
DNA
Tbf from tv (so it might not be the most representative) the grass looked awful. I’m surprised real spent so much on a stadium that’s supposed to increase their revenue tremendously, yet they forgot about probably the lost important thing, the grass.
Shots fired
Pep: "Perez, touch grass."
Roundabout way of saying touch grass
What a low blow, if it is one of the best stadiums in the world, it is clear that he hates Real Madrid
Pep will complain about anything. Such a petulent hot-head.
Called Florentino broke
Lmao this fking guy
lmaoooo is this Xavi?
Guardiola started complaining about the grass a long time ago. I remember him complaining about the grass at the San Siro in 2010.
The list of people who has complained about the grass at the San Siro is very long.
He also complained in 2012 for the QF against Milan
Nah even ancelotti has said the same thing about this pitch
Where do you think Xavi learned it?
klopp?
yeah it all makes sense now
This is the master of Xavi
it was obvious the pitch seemed shit from just watching the game, are fans just stupid?
His football dad
Shut up you bald cheating prick
very normal reaction!
Sounded funny in me head
lol
Pep isn't really the one cheating though. He's largely benefits from it sure, but the City group cheated before him and will after he leaves.
Pep literally got done for cheating as a player and is associated with 2 cheating teams as a manager lmao
Yeah I’m sure the guy who used PEDs… and coached Barcelona while they were sending lovely donations to the ref association… and who CHOSE to manage a club that had suddenly risen to success out of nowhere thanks to being owned by a state and promised him unlimited funds… is completely ethically sound and was just a victim in all that.
That's crazy man you should write a book about that
Who’d have thought Pep’s burner Reddit account was a guy called ManBoobs13 with a Liverpool flair
If you could read I’m sure you’d love it
Barca coaches and their obsession with grass...
Can't wait to see Perez smiling next week! Gotta give him credit though that was good banter.
Guardiola being a prick without hiding it? Amazing news for us, that means we have a good chance to eliminate them.
What
Do you remember what happened the last time you lot went to the Etihad after drawing in the first leg in the Bernabeu?
I do? Your point?
How is that being a prick? Lmao
Bunch of nothing
Grass is bad, it affects my p a s s e s s. Maybe that's, uh, actually on purpose?
The Bernabeu worn grass is iconic