Hammers boss David Moyes says a West Ham United duo have travelled to Denmark but may not play due to the plastic pitch.
West Ham have landed in Denmark ahead of their Europa Conference League game against Silkeborg on Thursday night.
West Ham top Group B after beating FCSB 3-1 at the London Stadium in the first group stage match of the new campaign last week.
Meanwhile Silkeborg lost 1-0 to Belgian side Anderlecht. That was their third defeat in a row amid a run of just one win in seven until West Ham’s hosts picked up a welcome victory at the weekend.
Hammers News highlighted that West Ham and Moyes would be faced with a plastic problem at Silkeborg.
Silkeborg play on an artificial pitch at their lovely new little 10,000 capacity JYSK Park stadium.
They play on a plastic pitch known as MX Ultimate which installers GreenFields claim is a durable and environmentally friendly artificial turf with a long lifespan.
“It is an artificial turf system specially developed for top-level football, able to meet all FIFA’s speed and other requirements,” GreenFields states on its website regarding Silkeborg’s pitch.
Ahead of West Ham’s second group game, Moyes has revealed both Craig Dawson and Aaron Cresswell have made the trip following injury lay-offs.
Moyes says the West Ham duo have travelled to Denmark but may not play due to the plastic pitch.
“Craig Dawson and Aaron Cresswell have travelled,” Moyes said in his pre-match press conference (whufc.com).
“Ben Johnson hasn’t travelled.
“We’ll have a look at Craig and Aaron and check out what’s best for them with the surface and everything. They have done a bit of training.
“It (the plastic pitch) has given me some thoughts. We respect that it is an artificial pitch, and we have to come here and play a good game to win…
“(Training on) it will give the players an idea of how they see the ball rolling, the speed of it. It’s something we have to work with and do the best we can.
“There’s a lot of different ways to look at it,” Moyes added (Football.London).
“As a player, I played on a plastic pitch for three years. In modern football, I don’t see the top level players really wanting to play on astroturf pitches and I completely respect it. I’m from Scotland and I know how important astroturf pitches are.”
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