FA blame concert season after Chelsea's Jose Mourinho brands Wembley pitch 'a disaster'

 

The Evening Standard's journalism is supported by our readers. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Unimpressed: Mourinho branded the Wembley pitch 'a disaster'
Getty
Tom Dutton3 August 2015

The Football Association has accepted Jose Mourinho's criticism of the Wembley pitch during Chelsea's Community Shield loss to Arsenal as a "disaster".

The Blues boss was unhappy with the playing surface at the national stadium during Arsenal's 1-0 win on Sunday.

Mourinho said: "The pitch was a disaster. The pitch was so bad and so slow.

"The weather didn't help too. It was the same for both teams. Don't take it as an excuse."

The FA responded by saying the pitch was not as "mature" as would be ideal for the season curtain-raiser.

An FA spokesperson said: "We appreciate the feedback on playability and will continue to improve the quality of the pitch, which we have every confidence in as it matures.

Arsenal vs Chelsea: Player ratings

1/25

"In this instance it is simply that the pitch is less mature than we would ordinarily wish for football, given the summer concert season and the early start to the football calendar."

Relive all the best moments from Chelsea 2014-15 title winning season with this sensational eBook, available on Amazon and iBooks from May 29th.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in