The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Tangerines trio close in on first-team return
United: Laszlo’s selection options increase with key players in training
Dundee United have received some positive injury news as they prepare to take the weekend off.
The Tangerines aren’t playing in the Championship tomorrow due to scheduled opponents Dumbarton’s involvement in the Irn-bru Cup.
They don’t get the boots back on until their trip to face second-placed Livingston next Friday night.
That spare time is being put to good use on the training park and both midfielder Jordie Briels and central defender William Edjenguele took part in the workout at St Andrews yesterday.
The pair have been long-term absentees, with the Dutchman’s previous match coming in the away loss to Livi on October 14 and the Frenchman last featuring in the win at Morton on December 9.
Manager Csaba Laszlo is slowly but surely increasing his selection options, with both men likely to be in contention for the trip to the Tony Macaroni Arena along with fellow comeback man Tam Scobbie.
Paul Quinn, who sat out Sunday’s 4-2 William Hill Scottish Cup loss to Aberdeen, has also shaken off the thigh injury that sidelined him at Pittodrie.
Also, star midfielder Scott Fraser Dundee United boss Csaba Laszlo has not been hammering his team on the training pitch with the busy league schedule in mind.
“For this reason we are thinking that we don’t want to over-train the players,” said Laszlo, who will use his free Saturday to take in the Livi versus Buddies clash at Almondvale.
“This is a bit like pre-season when you have training but no game at the end of it,” said Laszlo, pictured.
“After this, though, we have a lot of match – weekend games followed by midweek matches – so we have to manage the situation.” continues to make progress and could be just a fortnight away from resuming training.
There was some bad news, though, with Laszlo predicting that James Keatings is out for the season after he had hip surgery.
The Tannadice boss said: “We don’t have the same amount of injuries that we have had so that’s encouraging.
“It has been a long, hard fight to get all the players back but it is looking better for us now. We have 14 games to go and I hope to have as many options as possible for the run-in.
“It is very important to have William and Jordie back training. Jordie trained fully with the team today and that’s good, while Tam Scobbie should be back next week too.
“I think William and Tam should be OK for Livingston, with Jordie a possibility. Also, I think Scott can come back training within two weeks so it’s all positive news.
“He has been here every day and wants to play tomorrow as he is a really passionate boy but we have to be careful as we don’t want to damage the foot.”
United are currently experiencing the calm before a storm of fixtures, such is their backlog of games.
The next month or so certainly looks daunting. After they play at Livi next Friday, they host Queen of the South at Tannadice on Tuesday, February 27.
After that, league-leading St Mirren come calling on Friday, March 2; they go to Brechin on Saturday, March 10; it’s down the road to Dumfries to face Queens of Tuesday the 13th; and then Inverness are at Tannadice on Saturday 17th.
‘Players not over-trained’