Jim Jefferies says hands are tied as Marius Zaliukas saga drags on

Jim Jefferies has likened the enforced absence of skipper Marius Zaliukas on the say-so of the club's hierarchy to having to manage Hearts with both hands tied behind his back.

Zaliukas has been frozen out of the first team after negotiations with club owner Vladimir Romanov to extend his stay at Tynecastle beyond the expiry of his current contract in December failed to find an agreement.

The Gorgie outfit want to make the Lithuanian defender's loan deal from FBK Kaunas a permanent one but have accused the 26-year-old, who has not played since the 4-0 win over Hamilton on 21 August, of unrealistic wage demands commensurate with players in the English Premier League.

Without him, Hearts have struggled defensively, with Darren Barr and Adrian Mrowiec proving incapable of deputising satisfactorily and Ismael Bouzid's game suffering minus his regular partner.

Jefferies bemoaned the on-going saga with Zaliukas in the wake of Saturday's 2-0 defeat at home to Kilmarnock, with his inability to secure permission to recruit Northern Ireland cap Tony Capaldi in place of the injured Lee Wallace at left-back also grating in the face of poor defending.

The situation led former Hearts player Gary Mackay to use his weekly newspaper column to express his hopes that Romanov could be replaced because of what he called the Russian-born banker's "ridiculous stance".

Whilst he remains ever hopeful that an agreement will be struck with Zaliukas, even in time for tomorrow's home clash with Rangers, Jefferies knows he must be patient for a decision to be made either way.

"There's been no word on Marius," he said yesterday. "You'll have to ask Marius and whoever else is negotiating it (whether it will be concluded by Saturday] I'm just getting on with trying to prepare the team, as it stands just now, without him.

"The game's still two days away, so there's still an opportunity there to solve it, but that will be up to Marius's agent and the club to sort it out.

"It would be great if we could have him. But that situation has been on-going for a few weeks now and we'll just have to wait until it's sorted one way or another.We just get on preparing without him and if we get him it would be a bonus.

"I've managed with one hand tied behind my back all my life and it probably is (like having two hands tied now], but I don't see that as being a problem for me.

"They're trying to sort it out, we just have to wait until its resolved.

"We have to work away without him and if it's sorted out before Saturday it would be a great bonus for us."

Jefferies has had his squad on the training pitch every day this week, cancelling their usual Wednesday off to work towards solving the problem of a porous rearguard that has leaked ten goals in their last four matches.

Rangers have shown one way to secure clean sheets in their two Champions League outings so far this season, with the ultra-defensive 5-4-1 formation utilised to gain a goalless draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford retained for Wednesday's 1-0 home win over Turkish champions Bursaspor.

Jefferies was taken aback with the criticism levelled at that approach, even before kick-off at Ibrox in midweek, insisting Walter Smith deserves great credit for their results so far.

But he is also hopeful there could be a chink in their 100 per cent domestic record tomorrow.

"We know it's not going to be easy because their confidence is up and they've got one or two players that they left out on Wednesday that they can bring back in," he added, "but that's the positive attitude we've got to take."