Anton Walkes “not bothered” by playing on turf

As Atlanta sits in the middle of a two-week break, the players received the weekend off in order to recover from any knocks that they have endured during the last couple of games, or to get out of town and enjoy some free-time or to take their minds off soccer before they take on what will be a busy September.

The players resumed practice today and defender Anton Walkes talked with the media afterwards and we discussed some topics surrounding United.

Walkes is coming off a good run with Atlanta, as he has started the last six games and the team has only allowed four goals and have obtained 14 points of a possible 18 during such time.

“I’ve been in a good place recently so I just want to maintain it,” Walkes said. “It’s just about making sure that I’m ready to go again this week. I don’t really think I needed a break but it’s just good to come off and get away from the group and get some personal time. It was just about making sure I was ready to go again, so that’s what my focus was.”

Atlanta will practice for the first time at Mercedes-Benz stadium on Saturday, but the players will get an inside-look of the new stadium on Tuesday as they will be taken on a tour.

“I tried to avoid looking much into it much because the first time I want to see it is when we actually go there, so I’m definitely going to look forward to it tomorrow” Walkes said. “I’m excited, I seen a few videos and I made sure that I don’t look much into detail but everyone is excited.”

As many of us know, one main change for United as they move into Mercedes-Benz stadium will be that the stadium will feature an artificial turf field instead of a natural grass field, like we saw at Bobby Dodd. Manager Tata Martino said last week that the team would train on the artificial turf fields at the training facility at least once a week.

“I’ve always been used to grass, but personally I’m not bothered, it’s just about making sure that we’re ready to go,” Walkes said. “Our new pitch will have artificial grass as well, which is a lovely pitch, lovely stadium so we can’t take anything away from it and we just have to be ready to go.”

My question to you is, do you prefer natural grass or artificial turf? Or both?

Leave your comments below and let me know what you think.