Adi Viveash admits Middlesbrough could be somewhat counting the numbers, particularly defensively, ahead of Tuesday night’s clash with league leaders Coventry City.
The Sky Blues visit the Riverside on Tuesday evening, fresh from extending their lead over Boro at the top of the Championship to seven points. That followed Coventry’s come-from-behind win over West Brom, with Boro then only managing a draw at Oxford United.
That away draw came at a cost too. Already without three defenders (Dael Fry, George Edmundson and Darragh Lenihan) and three attackers (David Strelec, Sontje Hansen and Sverre Nypan), Boro then also lost Matt Targett at half time of the 1-1 draw, with no clarity at this stage on the severity of the calf issue that forced him off.
As for the four notable absentees of Fry, Strelec, Hansen and Nypan, three were due to injuries, while in the case of Hansen, that was a decision taken due to the time he arrived back on Teesside following his international obligations, in which he helped Curacao reach the World Cup.
Asked for an injury update after the Oxford game, Viveash said: “As I mentioned on Thursday, there were a couple of knocks, and that was those players. Dael wasn’t fit enough to play in this game and, at the moment, I don’t know where he’s at. If he’ll make Tuesday or not, I don’t know.
“David and Sverre are bangs really from playing international football. Playing on a heavy pitch in Sverre’s case, and they then had to both step out of training on Friday. That wasn’t ideal. Sontje was out because he was the latest back with his international commitments. We’re hoping that we will have him back in the squad on Tuesday.
“It meant we were missing three attacking players when the game transpired where we could have probably done with them - at least one of them. But that’s football and the bench was the bench.”
With a number of under-21 players named in the Boro match-day squad, Viveash only ended up using three of his permitted substitutions in the game. One of them was the half-time change as Targett was unable to continue. Viveash admits the draw was a game where Boro could have done with the extra firepower.
“The lads who came on did well,” the interim boss said. “It was disappointing to lose Matty who offers us that left-footed balance on the ball. He felt his calf about ten minutes before the break. Reedy [Adam Reed, physio] came to me and said it just depends if it stiffens up.
“Unfortunately it did stiffen up. We made the decision pretty quickly that if he went back out he’d probably make it worse. Sammy did a job for the team. He’s a different kind of full-back… well, he’s a winger really but we used him at wing-back earlier in the season, but full-back is a different challenge altogether and one he dealt with well, so fair play.
“Kaly came on in an unfamiliar position out wide and gave his all. We didn’t quite find him a moment. He’s a goalscorer and that’s why he’s there. We’ll have to see how we move through into the early part of next week. Hopefully there are one or two of them back because it’s a little bit stretched at the minute.”
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Dael Fry (L) of Middlesbrough celebrates scoring
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