Wet ground causes knee, ankle and groin injuries
WATERLOGGED pitches are obviously slippery under foot so can result in groin strains from overstretching, or turned ankles and twisted knees.
You’re likely to lose your footing, you’re likely to skid, the ball doesn’t run properly, people mistime tackles.
When I was at Liverpool in the late 90s we would always go to Scandinavia: Norway, Denmark, Sweden. You knew the opposition were tough and fit and generally speaking the pitches you played at were decent and at national stadiums: Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Malmo.
In the years that followed the club were encouraged to go further afield, just as Manchester City, Tottenham and Sunderland have now, to Hong Kong.
It is a commercial decision to go out there. Managers probably wouldn’t want to go there in the first place and will have expressed that opinion to the directors months in advance. Now they’ll be frustrated and rightly so.
If the pitches are waterlogged you wouldn’t want your players training on them. It’s really counterproductive. In the UK you’d change your plan and maybe go in the gym, or the pool. You certainly wouldn’t do ball work.
But hard surfaces can also carry a risk of injury. During acceleration and deceleration, achilles or patellar tendons can be damaged and hamstrings can get tight.