Caley Thistle manager John Robertson is counting on the international break giving his squad the chance to regain full fitness for the next round of testing games in the Championship.
Caley Jags are not in action this weekend but the Inverness boss believes his side’s absence from domestic duties may turn out to be a blessing in disguise with several first-team players carrying knocks.
Robertson said: “It’s been good for us to have a break this week as we’ve had a few guys playing with niggling injuries and we’ve overloaded our physios this week by not letting these players train to ensure they are back ready on Monday.
“One or two lads are not happy as they feel they could have trained through it but we took the decision to get the niggles out of the way by having them focus on hard gym work and physio work.
“Coll Donaldson has a foot injury, Brad Mckay and Joe Chalmers have hip injuries, Carl Tremarco has a wee calf niggle and Shaun Rooney has a thigh problem.
“With a small squad it has been a chance to clear all those injuries up and we should everyone back firing on all cylinders next week.”
Robertson knows his side is underdogs in the Championship title race this season as they try to compete with clubs boasting bigger budgets and deeper squads but the Inverness manager has no qualms about giving youth a chance if needed between now and January when the transfer window opens.
He said: “There are five teams in this league with bigger budgets than us but just because you have the biggest budget it doesn’t mean you will be the best team.
“There were two routes we could have gone at the start of the season. We could have had no youngsters and ran with 22 or 23 players or go with 17 or 18 outfield players and keep faith in our young lads to progress.
“We felt as a football club bringing the youngsters in was a better long term solution for the club. These youngsters are our depth. Daniel Mackay has been in and about the first team and we have high hopes the likes of Cameron Harper, Jack Brown, Roddy McGregor and Ryan Fyffe can step up if we get injuries or suspensions.
“They’ve shown in pre-season and the North of Scotland Cup games that they are performing very well. They will be our depth until January.”
