With Man City’s  2-1 win at the Etihad over Liverpool. The Epl title race continues to heat up leaving just 4 points between the two contenders. The game itself was a display of the Premier League’s best talents, but reporters decided to ask about the pitch instead, prying about the length of the grass on the playing surface. City Manager Pep Guardiola had a series of dry responses for the media, making it very clear that he had no say or opinion on the length of the grass on the pitch.
“I am not a greenkeeper. I never did [request longer grass],” Remarked Guardiola, in response to a reporter questioning if he had requested a certain surface. “I never speak with the groundsman.” City have scored the most goals in the league this season so far, currently 9 goals ahead of Liverpool in goals scored in the league. Guardiola was quick to point out that City is a team who thrives on a quick pitch, and wouldn’t benefit as a team from tampering with the pitch. “So Liverpool want to play quick, we want to play quicker. So never, never we manipulate it.
“Always we try to put water [on the pitch], here it is not necessary because of the weather conditions and it rains a lot. But I would not suspect that, never, never. We want to try to put the field, always in my career as a manager, in the best conditions for both teams.”City has had no problem scoring at the Etihad this season, outscoring opponents 40-10 in 12 matches, going 11-0-1 in those games. “I never made a trick about that. Normally when this kind of thing happens, in the end, I don’t know if this is karma or something like that, it always punishes you. So you have to do the best for the opponent for the game, you have to respect our game and our rules.”
“Win the game on the pitch, with the rules for everybody.”
“I have many issues in my head, to talk about, to think about the grass, I trust my greenkeepers with what they do.
“But we put the grass in the best condition for both teams. I never make a phone call to say, ‘Do these kinds of things to damage our opponents.’
“We always try to win in the same way against our opponents.”