The return of big players will aid the cause of Sheffield Wednesday - it’s important they find a way to keep them there, writes Alex Miller.

As the the nuns of Nonnberg Abbey (nearly) sang, how do you solve a problem like a year-on-year injury struggle that leaves frustrated fans pointing fingers, frustrated managers without their tools and frustrated players strewn over the physio’s room like extras from the set of Saving Private Ryan?

Sheffield Wednesday are once again in the grips of an unavailability crisis, though things appear to be on the verges of a breakthrough. Of those missing since Dave Challinor was appointed to the role earlier this month, the list of those within 10 days of a return reads as follows; Louie Barry, Liam Cooper, Billy Mitchell, Joe Lumley, Ali Al-Hamadi and Ashley Maynard-Brewer.

Beyond that crew, the likes of Di’Shon Bernard, George Brown and Ricardo Santos are sliding closer to full match fitness after periods out. Davis Keillor-Dunn, Yan Valery and Liam Palmer all suffered cramps during the 120-minute ballad of Boundary Park.

All gravy, then? Well. The loss of Max Lowe for four to six weeks, a week or so behind the same diagnosis of Reece James, leaves the already threadbare left side entirely naked. With Challinor seemingly preferring a wing-back system, the lack of a natural left-footer will cause problems, so much so that he admitted a change in formation may have to be considered.

With Mason Burstow out for a similar period, momentum behind him has screeched to a halt and has raised pressure on Al-Hamadi and perhaps even youngster Brown to hit their straps - and stay fit.

At the back, the likes of Cooper and Santos appear close to delivering much-needed nous, but for how long? The schedules of both men have required close management throughout the season and cruel as it sounds, further lay-offs must be expected. Mitchell hasn’t appeared fully fit and firing since his arrival from Millwall, moments of class though he has shown. These are hugely important players that at full tilt any League One side would welcome.

So how do you solve it? From sofa opinion with no insight into how programmes are managed, little view of how effectively pre-season played out and no medical knowledge whatsoever, none of us know. The fact of the matter is that without the restrictions Wednesday’s recruitment arm operated under this season, players with less concerning injury records would have been signed in greater numbers. So can it be solved?

Perhaps it will. The headline absence of the season so far has been that of Barry, who himself has a less-than-spotless injury record but was struck down in freak circumstances thanks to a lumpy strip of astroturf at Adams Park. His return and the prospect of a partnership with the likes of Barry Bannan and Keillor-Dunn will strike fear into League One opposition. Perhaps this run of injuries is as bad as it will get for Wednesday - you can hardly imagine it being worse.

“We’re just got to make sure we get players back and keep them back,” Challinor said this week. “It can’t become a cycle of one player returning and another going out injured. If that keeps happening, we never get any stronger. We’ve got to make sure that’s not the case.”

How they go about it is upto them and, again, will rely on the management and medical expertise of individuals who in the last 24 hours have forgotten more about sports science than most of us will ever know.

The facilities at Middlewood Road are improved, the gym offering more plentiful but there are the age-old quandaries over the training ground and the surfaces they harbour - and more directly, their influence on soft tissue injuries. Over the years, in off-record conversations with players and staff, The Star has heard more forceful concerns over the hardness of those pitches than have ever made an interview. Investment and the expertise of a nationally-renowned head groundsman have arrived - the issues are historical and seem to run deeper.

The whackamole headache of Wednesday’s injury struggle is no easy problem to solve. Where central defence was not long ago a barren land of availability now stands left-back. Challinor himself has spoken about the need to move the squad towards a more robust future where players are better able to complete matches without cramp or contention.

As said, that left side notwithstanding, it will be hoped the coming weeks are much brighter, with Barry and Mitchell and Cooper et al forming a spine of momentum the Owls can build around. A busy period lies in wait and the squad will again have to be managed through - hopefully with great success. The historical issues must wait for now.

“Momentum is massively important,” Challinor said. “We’ve got 11 games to play between now and New Year’s Day. Nine of those are against teams that would be putting themselves down to be in the shake-up for the play-offs and promotion. The other one is a derby against your local rivals.

“We know that we need to build that momentum as quickly as we can and put a run together. Once that happens and with players coming back, it gives us a real opportunity to build something. We have that opportunity on Saturday.”