Kenny Jackett reveals why he didn't add to his Portsmouth squad on deadline day

Kenny Jackett has revealed why he chose not to add to his Pompey squad on deadline day.
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The Blues boss has outlined his thinking over opting not to bring a central defender to bolster his options as his side battle for glory on three fronts.

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Jackett explained his view was the potential signing was not someone who was guaranteed to come into his starting XI.

With Sean Raggett and Chrstian Burgess performing well and his side now keeping three clean sheets on the bounce in League One, the Pompey boss felt going with the players already at his disposal was the right course of action to take.

He said: ‘We were looking but we did our business early and brought three in. That’s good.

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‘You want to do your business early but after that we were talking about how can we improve the team, if you like, and not the squad.

Kenny Jackett. Picture: PinPep Media / Joe PeplerKenny Jackett. Picture: PinPep Media / Joe Pepler
Kenny Jackett. Picture: PinPep Media / Joe Pepler

‘It’s very easy to bring in squad players for every club.

‘As the month went on it became increasingly difficult to actually improve the front line.

‘Then in the last week the potential ins were ones who wouldn’t necessarily affect the starting XI.

‘So I chose not to do it.’

Kenny Jackett now has a squad of 26 players, with his team about to embark on a frenetic period of fixtures.

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The quality he has at his disposal has been underlined by the players who’ve failed to make his matchday squad in the past two games.

Seven players were left out of his 18 to face Lincoln and Sunderland with Brett Pitman, Gareth Evans, Oli Hawkins, Brandon Haunstrup, Paul Downing, Reeco Hackett-Fairchild and Adam May not involved. Bryn Morris remains in the treatment room.

Jackett underlined he wasn’t prepared to bring in a squad player with a number of options already present.

He added: ‘You do want to use the windows to try to improve the team.

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‘We have some players and we have some young players floating on the edge.

‘Where they are floating on the edge and pushing in that’s the right thing.

‘So bringing in a squad player was not something I wanted to do at the end of the January window.’

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