Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill has slammed the state of the pitch at Wembley for last weekend's Carling Cup Final against Manchester United, claiming "it looked like a rock concert had been held on it the night before."
Sir Alex Ferguson has blamed the playing surface for the injury that will keep Michael Owen out of action for the rest of the season, and it had barely improved for England's subsequent friendly clash with Egypt.
While O'Neill was not impressed with the pitch he says he would love to take Villa back there for the FA Cup Final. They face Reading this weekend in the quarter-finals.
O'Neill said: "We are going to try to win and get back there, even though the Wembley pitch is not great. It would be fantastic.
"It is very poor for a national stadium. There is really no excuse for it.
"The stadium costs STG800million to sort out and the one thing you'd think they'd get right would be the playing surface."
He added: "We will be expected to win (against Reading). I would expect that. It was the same at Crystal Palace. But, in the FA Cup, anyone can be beaten on the day but that is not the attitude we are going in with.
"We are going to try and win and the experience of Wembley last week should give you the incentive to get back there."