Last Updated: Mon, 03 Mar 2008 12:11
Boro have been hit by the news Robert Huth is again set to be ruled out for the FA Cup quarter-final clash with Cardiff next Sunday.
The German international has missed the last four games due to a foot injury which has seen Middlesbrough slip to two successive Premier League defeats, while struggling to overcome Championship side Sheffield United over two games in the FA Cup fifth round. And it looks like the former Chelsea defender will not be ready to return to the side for this coming weekend's last-eight showdown against the Bluebirds at the Riverside.
Boss Gareth Southgate has other problems to contend with as midfielder Fabio Rochemback missed Saturday's 1-0 defeat to struggling Reading with a knock, while both strikers Mido and Afonso Alves were struggling before the game due to illness and injury respectively. Jeremie Aliadiere will sit out the third of a four-match ban so the club's resources will be stretched for the Cardiff clash given that Boro travel to Aston Villa and Arsenal in the following week.
Southgate told the Gazette: "In the previous cup games we've been able to leave people out to rest them and keep them fresh.
"We tried to do it with Tuncay against Sheffield and I thought he looked bright and fresh against Reading.
"There were two or three I would have liked to have rested on Saturday but weren't able to.
"We were hoping to have one or two more available. Mido was throwing up all night before the game and Afonso was carrying an injury from Wednesday - it's the same old, same old.
"It frustrates the life out of me not being able to get the whole squad fit, but we've now got a week to try and get everybody fit."