Sunderland midfielder Craig Gardner has described the pitch that Manchester United are scheduled to play on today as "horrendous".

The Premier League champions are due to take on Kitchee this afternoon as part of their pre-season preparations in Hong Kong.

However, the state of the pitch has been the topic of much discussions following the Black Cats' 1-0 defeat to Manchester City in the Asia Trophy final.

"The pitch was absolutely horrendous," Sporting Life quotes Gardner as saying. "It wasn't bad enough for the game to be cancelled but it was soft. It was dead.

"You couldn't pass the ball forward because it wasn't rolling properly and you were scared in case you passed it inside in case it stopped rolling. You had no choice but to hit it long."

United cancelled a public training session ahead of the clash.