Paul Heckingbottom answers Sheffield United injuries question as Blades take drastic step to address big issue

Paul Heckingbottom has revealed that he has altered Sheffield United’s training and preparation schedules in a bid to curb their remarkable injury crisis, after independent and expert help was called in to help fix an issue that is severely hampering their bid for Premier League survival this season. United could be without around 12 senior players for tomorrow’s trip to Arsenal.

Their injury record this season has been a source of frustration for staff, fans and players alike, with Oli McBurnie - the most recent entrant to an already overcrowded Bramall Lane treatment room after damaging his groin last weekend against Manchester United - admitting: “No one has a clue why they are happening.” George Baldock has returned to training in a rare chink of light on the injury front but it is a real issue for Heckingbottom, both in terms of his starting XI selection and also quality options off the bench.

The increased average length of games this season, following the summer directive around timewasting, was blamed for injuries by six in 10 Football League players in a recent study, with Kevin De Bruyne and Virgil van Dijk amongst the high-profile players speaking out about the risk to players’ health. Several other Premier League clubs have also experienced their own difficulties with player fitness - even if not quite to the extent of United, who were already stretched before the season kicked off.

Now, the Blades are committing funds to an independent investigation in a bid to get to the bottom of the issue. “We are getting that done,” said Heckingbottom before travelling to the Emirates. “We’ve been trying for a long time but obviously there is a cost to that. We need to do it. Am I thinking they will uncover things? Maybe not, but it needs to be done and it’s an area we need to invest in. An area, for me, that we’ve shown to be lacking in.

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“What do we change? Practices? preparation? I am looking at how freaky some things have been, it’s been unreal. I find it hard to accept, because if we were one of those clubs who suffered very few injuries imagine how much of an advantage we would have had over other teams. It’s something we need to look at and get on top of.

“We have tried altering training, the gym work has been altered and if it is a case of the nature of the game now, which is beyond doubt because you have seen it across the board on teams, what can we do to get ahead of that curve? And if there are more injuries to come, as a result of the game, then can we be at the bottom side of that curve?

“If you go to any football club you’re virtually copying each other. There are not too many people out there doing weird and wacky things. But if we keep doing what we’re doing, we’ll get the same thing.”

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Heckingbottom, whose side travel to the capital bottom of the table and still looking for their first win of a frustrating campaign so far, is nonetheless convinced that the investigation will turn up any tangible results. “I get that injuries are on the increase across the game, there’s no denying it,” he added. “But it’s only good practice to investigate that and if there’s something we can do to get on top of it. Why wouldn’t we spend to do that?

“We spend on players, we spend on wages. Whether it’s paying for investigations, or for the resources in facilities, personnel, manpower, expertise or skills... it may be none of those things. We are getting muscle injuries that are massive, which result in operations and ruptures. If it is the way the game is going, do we have to change how we recruit or how we make substitutions? Let’s try and really think about how to get on top of this because at the minute we are getting massively handicapped by it.”