Bristol City’s defensive crisis has deepened as George Tanner has been ruled out for “weeks” with an ankle injury.
Tanner played the whole 90 minutes of the 2-0 defeat against Leicester on Tuesday but has since been diagnosed with a tear in his ankle ligament and will miss the trip to Middlesbrough as well as games after.
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City are already without Rob Dickie and Rob Atkinson, likely for the rest of the season, and with Luke McNally still on the sidelines as he recovers from an anterior cruciate ligament injury they have just Noah Eile available as a specialist centre-back.
“We will miss the next centre-back for more weeks, it looks at the moment he’ll [Tanner] be out and not available for the next few games,” Struber told BBC Radio Bristol.
Struber’s side have lost their past three Championship matches – four including the FA Cup defeat to Port Vale – and have scored just once during that time.
On-loan Boro duo, left-back Neto Borges and forward Delano Burgzorg, are also unavailable for Saturday’s match due to it being against their parent club.
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Struber said the team “have to be creative” as players will be lining up out of position in the coming games.
“Maybe not every single player is in his best position,” Struber said.
“But this is sometimes the situation and we have to bring out the best and what could be a good mix and could help us in the end – especially against a team like Middlesbrough – a good chance for a good performance.”
The Robins sold long-standing centre-back Zak Vyner in January to Wrexham while defender Jamie Knight-Lebel remains on loan at League Two Swindon.
Eile was signed on deadline day, from MLS side New York Red Bulls, but is new to the Championship and team style although has gone on to play every minute of the past five games.
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Struber conceded that with the injuries it seems “smarter” to have brought another player in during the window and that he has been speaking to players about who is best suited to a more versatile role.
“I confronted players with a bit of a different task and I have to feel with players could close the gap for one or other game in the next few weeks,” he said.
“This is a really big time to show character, show a big mentality individually but also team-wise.
“It’s a tough time but we have to handle this time with a good mentality, a clear mindset and also a really big optimism.”