ISL 2017, Match 21: Jamshedpur FC vs FC Pune City, 5 Talking points

#2 How did the pitch fare?

The pitch had deep craters once again. (Photo: ISL)

The last time a game was played here at the JRD Tata Sports complex, the pitch, more than the football was what dominated headlines.

Jamshedpur hosted ATK that night and both managers, Coppell and Teddy Sheringham respectively, were left admonishing the state of the pitch after the game. It was a terrible surface indeed that impacted the quality of the football. Simple passes went astray, the ball was bouncing off the pitch to about knee height and there were entire squares coming off.

Home team coach Coppell raised it once again ahead of this game. While the surface still left much to be desired, it certainly looked like the ground staff had done some work to merit some slight improvement. It took about 65 minutes today for the pitch to start breaking up.

This will continue to be a topic of debate as the season goes on and one wonders what solution Jamshedpur find for it.