Manchester City coxswain Josep Guardiola said that his team was preparing for the away match against Tottenham by training on a field with high and dry grass.
When City visited Fulham last season, Guardiola complained that the grass at Craven Cottage was “so long and so dry.”
Therefore, this time Guardiola decided to prepare his team in advance for the fact that the pitch would be heavy.
“Yesterday we spent part of the training session on a dry field with tall grass to adapt, to feel it.”
“Then we went back to normal grass, and it was a huge difference. It’s huge. It’s completely different.”
“It’s like playing at Wimbledon (where there are grass courts) and then at Roland Garros (where there are clay courts). We have to adapt. The passes should be stronger,” Guardiola was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.
Let’s add that the rules of the Premier League state that the grass in stadiums on match days cannot be higher than 30 mm. Guardiola prefers the grass at the Etihad to be 20 mm high.