HE has spent much of the last month embroiled in a debate about playing styles, but even Gus Poyet concedes it will be “impossible to play football” when Sunderland meet Bradford City tomorrow.

The FA Cup fifth-round tie will be staged on a Valley Parade pitch that is in competition with Blackpool’s Bloomfield Road for the unwanted accolade of being the worst in the country.

Rutted, uneven and largely devoid of grass, the surface looks tailor-made for an FA Cup shock, and while he readily admits he would much rather be playing on some better turf, Poyet concedes it is his responsibility to ensure the sub-standard conditions do not lead to an embarrassing FA Cup exit.

“To be honest, I don’t think we are going to be able to play football this weekend,” said the Sunderland head coach. “But we are looking for a result, and we want to be in the next round somehow.

“We have all played in the park, or when we were at school, where the ball didn’t roll properly. Some people would still try to play along the floor, whereas others would lift it and head it. It is down to individuals.

“I watched the game (on Monday), and nobody died. All the MK Dons players were okay. I’m not going to blame the pitch, I promise you. I hope the ball doesn’t bounce in completely the wrong direction, but can we make the pitch fair? That’s going to be a difficult one.

“I think you need to avoid a certain part of the pitch. Not constantly, but most of the time. And also certain risks.”

Bradford boss Phil Parkinson insists the surface is not as poor as is being portrayed, but admits he is hoping his players use the conditions to their own advantage.

“The pitch is better than it was,” he said. “We’ve done so more work on it since Monday.  I went to Sunderland and I’ve got to say their pitch was pretty heavy. They’ve had some worse weather than us up there, and it wasn’t the bowling green that Craven Cottage was the week before.

“If we can use it to our advantage, we will. But we’ve been working on the pitch because we’ve got good technical players who want a decent surface themselves.”

Sunderland will be without Anthony Reveillere, Lee Cattermole and Emanuele Giaccherini tomorrow, but Jack Rodwell should return after missing the last four games.