Keith Long admits Bohemians are in urgent need of new signings.
The Gypsies stuttering season continues and just when they appear to be gaining forward momentum, they take two steps back.
Bohs were reeling on Friday night after being outclassed in a 3-1 derby defeat at home to Shamrock Rovers.
And to compound their misery, Rory Feely went to the Mater hospital with an ankle injury just two minutes after coming on as a half-time substitute.
Long was forced to overhaul his squad in the close season after the high profile departures of Georgie Kelly, Keith Buckley, Ross Tierney and Rob Cornwall.
But the new blood that he brought into the club has yet to hit the heights at this point of the season.
“It definitely needs changes,” said Long. “We have to try and strengthen, a blind man can see that.
“We need to strengthen in certain areas, that's quite evident in our performances that we’ve put in so far.
“We’re working with the players that we've got until such a time as we can strengthen the group to try and help them.
“It’s been difficult to try and get players in and we’re also missing some with injuries like James Finnerty and Stephen Mallon.”
Long continued: “Recruitment is key to everything, the better players you have working with you the better performances you can put in.
“Shamrock Rovers showed their quality on Friday. They’re a decent side, good players, a very strong squad and you can see their experience.
“That clearly showed, but we gave them a helping hand along the way.”
Long is hoping that it’ll be easier to snap up players in the summer market rather than the winter one.
More players will be out-of-contract by then but Long stressed that it’s not an easy process.
“Recruitment is tough and it's hard getting players in,” he said. “Rovers have a settled squad and add to it with one or two, but we’ve to replace six or seven players.
“There's not enough high quality players around the league. You look at Dundalk and Pat’s who have brought in loans.
“We’ve done that but you're bringing in unknowns to a certain extent from U23s football. It’s difficult, but recruitment is my responsibility.”
