Mourinho: 'Potato field' pitch is not a ploy
Jose Mourinho has hit back at claims that Chelsea are playing dirty tricks with their pitch.
Barcelona players think the Blues would prefer a messy playing surface to give them the edge in Wednesday’s Champions League showdown at Stamford Bridge.
The Chelsea boss admits the pitch is like a “potato field” but said: “Only stupid people can think a team like Chelsea, with our quality of players, can be happy to have this pitch.
“Barcelona can think what they want. Do we have no technical players? No skilful players? Just players who kick the ball and run.
“Arjen Robben, Damien Duff, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Frank Lampard. We have no technical players so we need a potato field, so we play in a potato field!
“Maybe you should ask Barcelona why they have so many injuries. They have a lot of knee problems. Maybe their pitch is too good.”
Chelsea face Colchester in the FA Cup fifth round on Sunday and Mourinho was careful not to be drawn into details about the first leg of the Barcelona tie.
But he was happy to defend Chelsea against the allegations of gamesmanship from Spain.
Plenty of bad blood remains from the stormy clash between the two teams at the same stage of the competition last season, when Chelsea won.
Mourinho said: “The criticism is fair. Our pitch is not good. We know it’s not good. You don’t need to tell us the pitch is not good.
“London does not have Mediterranean weather. Stamford Bridge is not an open pitch. It doesn’t see the sun often.
“But it’s not possible to improve. The only thing we can do is take care of is the best we can.
“This season we have not had one single training session at Stamford Bridge apart from one for photos and an open day for supporters.
“We used to train on the pitch before Champions League games but now we don’t do it. On Tuesday we will train here at the training ground because we want the pitch the best we can.
“We were afraid to change the pitch because last season when we did it we had some problems, especially the Scott Parker problem, where there was a very clear relationship between the injury and the pitch.
“We have guarantees that the pitch can improve when the winter goes and the best weather arrives.”
The Chelsea boss joked about relaying the pitch after Sunday’s FA Cup tie.
He said: “On Sunday we change the pitch. We finish the game at 6 o’clock and then the machinery goes in to change the pitch. It will leave a perfect pitch for Barcelona.”
Mourinho paused for effect, laughed and added: “You think that’s true?”
He is resigned to chasing the treble on a dodgy surface but insists half the teams in the Premiership have worse pitches.
Mourinho said: “We are top of the league in terms of football but in a championship of pitches we are in the first half of the Premiership.
“Sunderland is worse, Middlesbrough is worse, Old Trafford was worse when we played there and everybody talks about Chelsea.”
