On an emotional night at Wembley, Mahrez opened the scoring on a dire Wembley pitch after just six minutes and dedicated his goal to his former chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha
THE millions of TV viewers around the world tuning into last night’s clash could have been forgiven for thinking they were watching the 39th game.
With all the action coming live from the good ole U.S of A.
Wembley looked more like Washington as one of the biggest matches of the English season was played on a pitch that was a disgrace and a shame on the Premier League.
Football fans everywhere would have been left horrified as the home of football — never soccer — was reduced to a grubby gridiron after three consecutive weekends of NFL matches.
The centre circle was almost filled with the NFL logo that had been painted on the grass in colour.
While the yardage markings were still visible on a night when our national game became one of four quarters, instead of two halves.
It highlighted the increasing corn-popping, big-screen Americanisation of our sporting heritage.
Where fans have become customers dressed in half-and-half scarves and who demand a dollop of razzmatazz with every half-time super-size bucket of popcorn.
The NFL markings may have been tolerable had the surface been smooth. But it was not.
The pitch was cut up so badly and the ball bobbled around so much it looked more like an oval than a round one.
In fact, the turf was far poorer than it was after Anthony Joshua’s world title fight against Alexander Povetkin had taken place under the Arch.
Nearly all of the pitch appeared affected by the gridiron — turning Manchester City’s 1-0 win into a farce.
Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino said before kick-off he feared players could get injured.
Though, thankfully, all those on show seemed to escape unscathed.
And we should be thankful for small mercies. For had Fulham owner Shahid Khan been successful in his bid to buy the stadium as a London base for his Jacksonville Jaguars, the pitch could have looked like this all the time.
It is not just Wembley and the FA’s fault — Tottenham are to blame as well.
Their stadium shambles has not only resulted in the Wembley pitch looking off-colour, it will also leave a stain on the integrity of this season’s Premier League.
We should not forget, they were supposed to stage this clash at their new ground. But, of course, that was not possible because its opening has been delayed indefinitely.
Spurs announced on Friday they will be forced to play at Wembley for the rest of 2018 before providing a further update.
By the time that is made, they will have played a further five league games there, making it nine overall — almost half of their scheduled calendar.
Spurs still hope to play home matches in their new stadium this term, but how is that fair on opponents who have already been forced to play at Wembley?
With so much uncertainty and speculation still surrounding a potential moving-in date, it is surely time top-flight chiefs took the matter out of Tottenham’s hands.
They should order them to stage the rest of their home matches at Wembley.
This would ensure this season’s title race and relegation issues would at least all be decided on a level playing field — which is more than you can say about this match.
Quite what Glenn Hoddle would have made of it all is anybody’s guess.
The Spurs legend is believed to be recovering well after suffering a heart attack in a TV studio on Saturday.
A social media campaign for fans to hold a minute’s applause in the tenth minute never materialised, probably as the Spurs fans were still stunned after Riyad Mahrez’s sixth-minute goal.
So it was left to Hoddle’s former skipper Steve Perryman to reassure everyone about his team-mate’s condition.
One of the few bright notes on a miserable night for the ‘hosts’.
Amid all the pitch moaning, it was easy to forget Hoddle used to glide across surfaces like this in his heyday.
Oh how Spurs could have done with him in their line-up last night.
