'Even Man City are hurt by injuries' ... Rotherham United boss Steve Evans writes for the Advertiser

Just give me the likes of Mallik Wilks, Jonson Clarke-Harris and Andre Green, just give me an opportunity to go a few weeks with a full squad.

Then we'll win games.

Things will turn around as our big players leave the treatment room and become available again.

We'll have really good options then as we pursue our aim of improving our position in League One and closing the gap between us and the top-placed sides by the time Christmas comes around.

We're in a period of only one league game in only a month and we're using it to re-root in the players' heads the style that we want to play.

In all my career, I've never had a spell as bad as the one we've just been through. The answer is to get on the training ground, work hard and fight your way through it.

We've got good people in the dressing room, people who really care. The scenes at the end of our derby defeat at Barnsley weren't pleasant and I want to stress how emotionally hurt the players and myself were by what happened.

The only way we can redeem ourselves with fans is to play with that high intensity, that focus, that attention to detail, that channelled aggression that leads to wins.

Having our key men back will certainly help with that. No club, no matter what level they are playing at, can remain unaffected when too much of their talent is stuck in the treatment room.

Premier League winners and champions of Europe Manchester City have been without three or four of their top performers and suddenly they've lost four games in a row. That's unheard of for them.

I work hand in glove with our head of medical, Chris Royston. He's a great guy and he and his staff work really hard.

We've just been unlucky with our number of absentees. We don't have a consistent injury – it's not all groins or all hamstrings or all calves or all knees. We're experiencing different injuries. If it was consistently one type, we would relook at our training loads.

Coming back to Rotherham United to revive the club after the decline of the last two years is as hard a task as I've ever taken on.

I always knew that we’d have inconsistencies, but I never thought we'd have all the injuries that we’ve had. Not once this season have I been able to put my strongest team on the pitch.

The run-up to the festive period is a crucial period for us. It is a time for action, not words. Supporters don't want to hear me talk, they want me to applaud them after a good win.

Meanwhile, Barnsley was a night none of us will remember with any fondness but one positive thing did emerge from it.

I said to the players at the team meeting a couple of days later: ‘I believe we'll come good, I'm standing in front of you, I'm supporting you.’

Many of them said: ‘We stand with you, Gaffer.’

That was good to hear.

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I DON'T work for the money, I work because of my love for Rotherham United.

I'm lucky that, financially, my family and I are fine for evermore.

The minute I didn't think I had a contribution to make to the Millers now and in the future, I wouldn't be here.

I had an outstanding job at Stevenage working for an outstanding man in Phil Wallace and I'm proud of what we achieved there.

However, the lure of coming back here was too strong to resist.

I didn't come back expecting it to be easy, and it hasn't been easy. But I've never shied away from a battle in my life and I won't be starting now.

I'm here to bring back the times that the Rotherham fans need and deserve.

My idea of utopia isn't winning the Lottery, it's hearing our supporters in full voice when we bounce into the play-off places.