What Portsmouth boss said about state of his squad as he prepares to take on Sheffield Wednesday, Ipswich Town, Sunderland, Charlton Athletic & Co this season

The Blues begin their campaign with the long trip to Fleetwood today in their League One opener.

Cowley has ripped up the options with 10 arrivals after an exodus of players at the end of the last term.

The head coach has focussed on free transfers and loans, and is looking to create flexibility to bring in his remaining targets by potentially offloading players.

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Michael Jacobs and Ellis Harrison look the favourites to do so at present, with Ipswich Town and Oxford United interested respectively.

Cowley feels those who think Pompey are going into the season with a capable starting XI, but flimsy options underneath are on the mark.

He said: ‘It’s very fair. You don’t achieve success with 11.

‘We’ve got some work to do to create the competition, because the competition drives the standards.

‘Also it gives you tactical flexibility in games and between games.

‘It’s really, really important and it’s what we’re working towards.

‘Now we know August is a busy month, so we would like to get close (to a good squad now) but we also know if we do keep a little bit of finance back there could be some really good value.

‘Maybe some players will be available at the end of August who wouldn’t be available to Portsmouth at the end of May and June.’

Despite a lack of depth in quality, Pompey have got a promising pre-season campaign under their belts, with some decent displays against capable opposition.

Cowley feels not having a wealth of senior players to call upon has helped develop partnerships at this formative stage.

He added: ‘One positive is we’ve had a group who’ve played quite consistently together, and we’ve started to build some relationships as a consequence.

‘I guess that’s been a benefit of where we’ve been in terms of numbers in the squad.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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