Sheffield United lost out to Nottingham Forest last night as they came agonisingly close to stealing a point on Trentside.
A battling and in parts, excellent footballing performance, showed that United won’t be a soft touch this season. The new signings such as Gus Hamer and Vini Souza bedded in well, with Hamer’s fine goal the highlight.
However, there was no place in the squad at all for another new signing, Anis Slimane.
Slimane came on against Crystal Palace last weekend to make his debut. But he was missing at Forest last night, and Paul Heckingbottom has confirmed his new midfielder is carrying a hamstring injury.
“Anis has a slight problem with his hamstring. Nothing serious, just something we’ll have to manage until it settles down,” Heckingbottom said.
Slimane was signed in the summer for a modest fee after impressing in Europe and for Tunisia. However, his injury will be a concern for the player and Heckingbottom, despite it being played down.
Sheffield United News View: Injury problems are becoming a worry
We’ve had this chat before but it does seem to be an issue with Sheffield United for some reason.
There must be a reason other than bad luck that United are picking up so many injuries and also failing to get players back as quickly as we’d like.
Rhian Brewster is nowhere to be seen again, McBurnie has been out for much longer than anticipated, and now Slimane has a muscle problem as well.
It’s a worrying trend and hopefully one that simply sorts itself out. But for now, United need a fully fit squad, so the less injuries, the better.