Vidmar blames fitness hangover

"There's been one or two more soft tissue injuries than last year," Vidmar said. "There's been more knees (injuries) this year. The testing that we did do at the beginning of the season proved that our condition hasn't been great."

Adelaide cut loose its much-lauded fitness and conditioning coach Nik Hagicostas in June.

Hagicostas has also recently assisted the Socceroos and the Olyroos before ex-Adelaide coach John Kosmina landed the Sydney FC job.

Fatigue has also hit Adelaide hard with eight rounds remaining before the play-offs.

Back-up skipper Travis Dodd has been given time-off from training this week after Vidmar cited physical and mental stress.

Teenage prodigy Nathan Burns seems to be another victim of weariness, with Australia's best rising star left out of the Olyroos' starting XI by coach Graham Arnold in the 2-0 win over Iraq at Gosford.

It is believed that Arnold didn't want to increase Burns' already burdened workload on Saturday.

Adelaide is yet to field the same starting XI in succession this season.

Vidmar will again start a different formation tomorrow night against Perth Glory at Hindmarsh with United's injury list growing with every match.

The former Socceroo captain said injuries had forced the club to play its young guns.

"We've been blessed with our under-20s this year," Vidmar said.

"In the past years our under-20s never played. In the last two seasons we've been blessed with Brucey (Djite) and Nathan (Burns). They've played a big part."

It seems that after two A-League seasons of being relatively injury free, Adelaide has been snagged by a case of wretched luck and perhaps hack conditioning.

Currently Adelaide has five players on its injured list including Mike Valkanis (knee, season), Daniel Beltrame (quad, six weeks), Djite (ankle, four weeks), Bobby Petta (calf, three weeks) and Jason Spagnuolo (knee, one week).

Adelaide's new fitness team is headed by performance and conditioning consultant Mike Nunan.

Vidmar said Nunan has had to fast track United's fitness levels after the previous regime recorded unsatisfactory results.

"We've to really cram in a lot with the short break that we've had," Vidmar said. "It's been done over eight weeks and it's a big difference from last year.

"We had eight weeks of pre-season (2006) before we played our first competitive game and this year we've halved that.

"In that four weeks we've had to put the screws on and they've responded well."

Vidmar said Adelaide won't benefit from Nunan's new conditioning regime for at least 12 months.

"In my opinion it could even take up to 18 months for us to feel it," Vidmar said.

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