Livingston boss David Martindale has hit out at Ange Postecoglou’s claims that injury to Celtic defender Cameron-Carter Vickers was caused by the surface.
The Tony Macaroni Arena is infamously known for its 4G surface, with Livingston being one of two teams in the Scottish Premiership to have it installed at their home ground.
On Sunday, Ange Postecoglou’s side travelled to East Lothian and managed to come away with all three points in a comfortable 3-0 victory.
However, the Bhoys also came away with some injury concerns as vice-captain Cameron Carter-Vickers was ruled out of the trip to Madrid last night after featuring last weekend.
Thankfully, the American is expected to be fit in time for Saturday’s Scottish Premiership return vs Dundee United after the Celtic boss confirmed that his centre-back had just come away sore from the Livi match due to the astroturf surface.
However, Livingston boss David Martindale didn’t take too kindly to those claims as he responded by shutting down the idea that the surface led to Carter-Vickers’ injury.
He said [Sun Sport]: “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.”
Postecoglou’s concerns aren’t personal to Martindale/Livi; it’s an issue the club have been discussing for a long time.
With Cameron Carter-Vickers just returning from a knock, it didn’t come as too much of a surprise for supporters to hear that he was ‘sore’ after featuring on the Livi pitch.
Although Martindale might think this is an issue Postecoglou has with Livi, it simply isn’t. And even if Carter-Vickers hadn’t gotten injured, it wouldn’t have changed the 57-year-old’s opinion on the surface.
Earlier in the season, the likes of Postecoglou and Matt O’Riley were discussing the problems with the Kilmarnock pitch. So it is an opinion he held long before travelling to Almondvale.
Yes, there are reasons behind Livi having the astroturf surface, and they are understandable from a financial point of view.
But for top-flight clubs in this country, they simply aren’t good enough, and it affects the quality of the game.
So Martindale may disagree with Ange Postecoglou’s statement. But I very highly doubt it is going to change his mind on the matter.
In other news, Celtic announce class sponsor switch for Dundee United clash.
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