Tottenham face Bodo/Glimt on Thursday evening in what has to be considered one of the biggest games of Spurs’ season.
Indeed, if Tottenham win, they’re one game away from qualifying for the Champions League and winning some silverware, righting many of the wrongs of this season.
However, Bodo/Glimt are no pushovers at home, as the stats show.
| Bodo/Glimt stats at home in Europe since 2020 | |
| Games | 37 |
| Wins | 30 |
| Draws | 1 |
| Losses | 5 |
Bodo/Glimt have serious home advantage, not only will Spurs have to play in arctic temperatures on Thursday, they’ll have to play on an artificial, plastic, pitch.
Tottenham have been advised to play their youngsters on this artificial pitch.
Tom Barclay has been at Bodo/Glimt’s stadium ahead of this game, and, speaking on his YouTube channel, the journalist shared what he’s noticed about this unique pitch after seeing it up close.
Tom Barclay shares insight into Bodo/Glimt’s pitch
Artificial pitches at the professional level are intriguing, and, according to Barclay, this pitch actually looks very similar to the sort of 4G surface you’d find at a Power League centre in the UK.
According to the journalist, Bodo/Glimt’s pitch looks like your bog standard 4G surface, although he did note that the ball moves very quickly on this surface.
“I thought I’d do a quick video right next to this plastic pitch we’ve heard so much about going into this game,” Barclay said from the touchline.
“It’s the pitch where the likes of Lazio, FC Twente, Porto and Olympiacos have all struggled this season.
“It looks pretty much similar to the same average 4G pitches you might play on at home in your local Power League.
“The ball moves very quickly, quicker than a normal pitch, that’s something Spurs will have to deal with.”
What Ange Postecoglou previously said about playing on plastic pitches
Tottenham have played on an artificial pitch once before this season – against Tamworth in the FA Cup.
Interestingly, Tottenham’s players were exhausted after that game, and Ange Postecoglou said before the match that he had to be rather particular with his team selection for that game.
“The artificial surface does play a part in (team selection). We have to be really careful about which players we expose to that. I have a fair bit of experience of that, in terms of playing on artificial pitches. I think guys coming back from injury, it’s probably unwise to expose them to that,” Postecoglou said, via Tottenham’s website.
Having managed all over the world, Postecoglou will have seen these sorts of pitches before, but, for many of his players, this will be a fairly new experience here.
It will certainly be interesting to see how these high-level professionals get on playing on this different surface on Thursday night.
