Celtic manager Neil Lennon has admitted that he isn’t a fan of plastic pitches, but said that it can’t keep being used as an excuse for failure.
The Bhoys take the tricky-looking trip to Rugby Park tonight in a huge match for our title ambitions. If Celtic are to overcome the Ayrshire side, they’ll have to combat the sticky nature of the plastic pitch.
Ever since Kilmarnock put down their artificial pitch in 2014, Celtic have generally struggled to perform there. Indeed, we’ve only managed to win one of our last three visits as an example. Celtic also struggled to put in a display at Hamilton or Livingston this season on plastic.
But Lenny isn’t ready to start blaming it for any mishaps tonight. Speaking in the Scotsman about the surface type, the Celtic boss gave an extremely honest verdict.
“Artificial pitches are not conducive at times to the way we want to play. But we won at Hamilton, although we obviously lost at Livingston. You can’t use it as an excuse. We know we’ve got a challenge on Wednesday, we know how difficult Rugby Park can be.
“I’m not a fan of artificial pitches, I never have been. But that’s just crappy old me. I think the game should be played on grass.
“At the moment, we have three teams in the top flight who play on plastic. We can’t keep using it as an excuse if we don’t play well or drop points. But it does help, Ideally, you want to play on grass because we train on grass and play on grass most of the time.”
A chance for Celtic to test out Killie’s new surface
This should be an interesting one tonight. Kilmarnock actually put down a new pitch in the summer, and apparently installed the best artificial turf that’s out there (Daily Record).
Tonight will be the Hoops’ first match on the new pitch. It will be interesting to see if leads to any player injuries and whether the reaction to it post-match is a positive one.
Regardless, Lenny is spot on when he says that it can’t be used as an excuse. We have to remember that it’s the same for both teams tonight. Not many of the Kilmarnock players will exactly prefer playing on astro either, but it’s a case of getting on with it.
Celtic haven’t once looked impressive on plastic this season. We need to be adapting better to the conditions if we’re to avoid any valuable points being dropped tonight. But positive Celtic displays on plastic are rare to come by.
It likely won’t be a rout tonight. The best we can hope for is that we control the game with minimal fuss. As Lennon says, the pitches aren’t conducive to good football. Just making sure we’re up for the battle and getting three points this evening is the main thing.
There’s no sign as of yet of artificial pitches leaving Scottish football for good. Therefore, until that happens, we have to start being more efficient on the surface.
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