Long absentee list stretches Jim Jefferies' resources to the limit
Laryea Kingston was the latest to be added to the list of absentees when his sending-off against Aberdeen was upheld on Thursday, and Eggert Jonsson is also suspended for the trip to Tannadice. It is the number of injuries, however, which is really stretching the club's resources. A total of nine senior players are sure to miss the game, while Dawid Kucharski and Suso Santana are doubtful.
"We may have to go and grind out and chop and change," Jefferies said. "One or two players will probably know they'll be playing in different positions on Sunday. Last week I'd never made so many changes of position. Three or four players played in three different positions during the game, just to try and cover the pitch."
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Hide AdMarius Zaliukas, Andrew Driver, Scott Robinson, Craig Thomson, Jose Goncalves and Ian Black are the ones who will miss out because of injury, while Christian Nade remains excluded pending the outcome of the internal hearing into his alleged breach of discipline. The scale of the squad's medical problems has prevented Jefferies from playing anything like a settled team, but he recalled yesterday that he once faced even worse problems while in charge of Kilmarnock. He had 15 players out injured and another suspended for a game against Inverness in 2007, but still managed to get a draw.
"We had unbelievable injuries," he said. "We had all the young boys and inexperience that day. It sort of galvanised them to pull together because you're under the cosh. Nobody expected them to get a result against an Inverness side who weren't going too badly at the time. We should have won and it ended up 2-2, but it was great for the team we had out."
Calum Elliot is continuing his latest comeback attempt at Hearts, but admits he is living in fear of his knee giving way. The striker's season has been blighted by problems with his right knee, which required surgery back in August. It was thought he had recovered at the end of November and he subsequently made two substitute appearances. But the 22-year-old suffered a recurrence of the injury and spent another two months on the sidelines.
Tomorrow's game at Tannadice will mark just over a month since Elliot made his latest comeback. But he revealed it will take him a lot longer before he stops worrying about further setbacks. "It's probably taken me more time to get to grips with it in my head," he said. "Hopefully by playing, I'll force it out of my head and forget about it. But at the back of your mind, you're thinking it may come back."
Meanwhile, United striker Francisco Sandaza may make his long-awaited comeback from injury against Hearts. The Spaniard has not played all season after having a double hernia operation in the summer but returned to full training this week and is likely to be handed a place on the bench.