Premier League ask Spurs groundsman for help

The pitch in the first game of the Asia Trophy was a nightmare, a quagmire that claimed a victim in Jan Vertonghen.

Andre Villas-Boas has admitted Spurs didn't want to play for that very reason and how right they were proved. There have even been stories of Spurs wanting to pull out of the competition, the only Premier League sanctioned competition outside of England.

The tournament is all about taking the game to the huge Asian market, it's basically a giant PR exercise. There is a 48,000 sell out crowd and million of TV viewers who will be disappointed if the games don't go ahead. So the Premier League want to do everything possible to make sure it goes ahead despite it's chiefs (Richard Scudamore) hollow claim that he'd have no hesitation calling the games off if the pitch wasn't fit enough. What like you did for the first game do you mean!

They have therefore asked Spurs groundsman Darren Baldwin to take over and make sure the pitch is playable. Has he flown out there, no Spurs actually take him everywhere anyway, hope we are charging them for his time!

It has been raining in Hong Kong all week so he has his work cut out to make the pitch playable, I don't see to many first XI players being risked myself, why would you.

Sunderland boss Paolo Di Canio said: “ I’m worried about the safety of my players. It’s a killer pitch in this weather with injuries, especially at this stage of the season.”

Well it's a bit late for us, Jan misses the start of the season now.

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