Switzerland

Brian Flynn's hopes of being named John Toshack's successor have been dealt another blow after Wales arrived in Switzerland tonight missing 13 players through injury and suspension. The Celtic midfielder Joe Ledley has added his name to a long list of absentees after being granted compassionate leave to return to Glasgow, giving the caretaker manager a callow squad to pick from for the Euro 2012 qualifier against Switzerland on Tuesday night.

After admitting his chances of landing the manager's job were "dented" by the 1-0 defeat by Bulgaria on Friday, Flynn needs a positive result and improved performance in Basle to persuade the Football Association of Wales he could still be the man to replace Toshack. The 54-year-old was led to believe the FAW will look not only at results when it comes to making a decision, although presiding over back-to-back defeats in five days would be impossible to ignore.

There will, however, need to be some consideration for the number of players missing. Already without Aaron Ramsey, Jack Collison and Craig Bellamy, Flynn lost Robert Earnshaw, Brian Stock, Neil Eardley and Danny Gabbidon from his original squad for the Bulgaria game. Sam Ricketts and Chris Gunter have since picked up suspensions while Ledley has returned to Scotland for the birth of his first child. Hal Robson-Kanu, Ched Evans and Joe Allen are all injured.

Flynn added three youngsters, Rhoys Wiggins (Bournemouth), Shaun MacDonald (on loan at Yeovil from Swansea) and Ashley Richards (Swansea), to his squad yesterday, meaning there were eight uncapped players in the 22 that travelled to Switzerland – the squad has just over 200 caps between them. It seems inevitable Flynn will have to name at least one debutant in his starting line-up, with Cardiff's Darcy Blake the most likely to make his first appearance because of the absence of Gunter and Ricketts in defence.

All of which places Flynn in an unenviable position as he looks to strengthen his own credentials at the same time as helping Wales pick up their first points of the qualifying campaign against a side that have also started life in Group G with two defeats. The former Wrexham and Swansea manager says night is about rebuilding confidence in the players rather than enhancing his own prospects.

"The result is important for the team, not for Brian Flynn," he said. "The most important thing is that this team needs a win, especially away from home. We need that morale-boosting win that we haven't had. The players have winning mentalities as individuals but we have to do it as a team and there is no better place to do it [than] at a team [who are] very strong at home [and] who qualified for the last World Cup."