TONY PULIS today admitted to being more concerned about FC Thun's synthetic playing surface than the current strength of his squad as he prepared for the Europa League play-off tie in Switzerland.
Pulis believes that a "new experience" for the Club in European competition will be made even tougher by the pitch in Thun when City aim to boost their prospects of progressing to the group stages of the Europa League.
His preparations for the trip have been hampered by the injuries suffered by winger Matthew Etherington and midfielder Rory Delap in Sunday's Barclays Premier League opener against Chelsea at the Britannia Stadium.
A further assessment of their fitness will be undertaken today, but Pulis plans to take the pair on the trip in the hope that they will be available for Sunday's Premier League visit to Norwich City, if not the tie against FC Thun.
"We won't know the full extent of their injuries until we have fully assessed the checks that they had yesterday," said Pulis. "Matty has had an X-ray on his shoulder and Rory underwent a scan on his hamstring problem.
"We plan to take them with us to Switzerland and we will give them every chance of being fit for the games we've got coming up.
"It's a very tough period for us with three away matches on the bounce and we will need to use the whole squad for them."
He added: "The trip to Switzerland is going to be particularly tough because we will be playing on astro-turf. It's a big disadvantage to us when we are up against a good side with an excellent home record who are top of their league.
"It's difficult enough just learning about going away in Europe and trying to get results, but the conditions makes it doubly difficult."
Despite the challenge of playing on a synthetic surface, Pulis says that his players will relish the task in hand out in Switzerland.
"Playing in Europe is a new experience for many of us. It's lovely to go away to different countries and different cultures," he said.
"The atmosphere in Split was quite amazing, it was a fantastic night for the Club and the supporters, and we really enjoyed it.
"Going to Switzerland is going to be a completely new experience again, particularly as it's a new stadium and it's an artificial pitch.
"It's an experience we'll relish though. We'll go there and whichever team we pick, we'll have a right go and give it our very best."
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