Sheffield United find it impossible to make concrete plans for Norwich City as situation "must" be addressed

The 45-year-old has an idea of who he wants to start the match at Carrow Road. But it won’t be until Thursday morning, when United’s squad convenes for the first of only two training sessions it will stage before departing for East Anglia, that Heckingbottom, his assistant Stuart McCall and head of player development Jack Lester expect to discover whether it is feasible to select that eleven or if another one needs to be formulated at short notice.

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United’s coaching staff can take some consolation from the fact, with City’s season also at a critical juncture, David Wagner is in the same position. Coming on the back of a schedule which has already seen United shoehorn 43 games into a 37 week window, Heckingbottom believes the threat of burnout is one football’s governing bodies must address.

“A lot of these lads, especially the international players, they’ve not had a break now for nearly two years,” he told The Star. “They were playing matches all over the summer, we came back in early as well to lay some things down, and then there was the World Cup. We had two lads (Iliman Ndiaye and Adam Davies) go away to that and then some of the countries who weren’t in it arranged friendlies.”

“They were perfectly within their rights to do that,” Heckingbottom added. “Because the opportunity was there for them, and they have their own responsibilities. But because friendlies were arranged during the tournament in Qatar as well, it meant there’s been very little down time. Everyone has suffered, not just us. I know it’s been exaggerated because of Qatar but it’s definitely something which needs to be considered. I think everyone will tell you the same thing.”

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In a sense, both United and City are being punished for their success in recent seasons as they attempt to win promotion back to the Premier League. Second in the Championship and vying to go straight up, Heckingbottom’s men have seen their route towards the top-flight complicated even further after reaching the FA Cup semi-finals; an achievement which has forced the rearrangement of matches against West Bromwich Albion and Huddersfield Town. City, ranked seventh and fighting to qualify for the play-offs, have seen 10 members of Wagner’s squad called-up for international duty. Like Heckingbottom, with several influential players already ruled-out by fitness issues, the German can ill-afford to lose any more ahead of the clash with United.

“There is going to come a time, I think anyway, when everyone sits around a table and tries to sort the situation out,” Heckingbottom said. “People are picking up injuries because of what they’re being asked to do and sometimes, because the lads who play for their countries are usually, by definition, key players for their clubs too, they then get pitched straight back in when they come back.”

“Personally, I don’t think it’s feasible to ask them to keep doing this,” he added. “And that’s right across the board, not just here. Everyone has seen an injury increase.”

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