Jos Luhukay has spoken about the challenge of making team selections from an injury-plagued squad after criticism for not fielding a striker in the starting line-up at Millwall.
In the immediate aftermath of the 2-1 defeat at the New Den on Tuesday, Luhukay said it was his responsibility to protect the players with regard to having to play several games in a short space of time and said the problems on the night were caused by defensive errors and not up front.
Speaking at Thursday’s press conference to more questioning about his team selection at Millwall, Luhukay said he and his coaching staff keep a close on the squad, who train with GPS so that their fitness can be monitored.
He added: “We see the physical condition of the players every day.”
Luhukay also referred to the fact that, with so many injuries, some of the replacements have had little competitive football in recent months and this has led to players like Marco Matias and Liam Palmer suffering injuries of their own.
The manager said: “We now have 16 players not available. In the next two weeks we have hard and heavy games, so I must look who can play for the last game, who can play for the next game.
“I must be very careful about what I do with the team.”
On the remarkable injury list, Luhukay said: “It is a complex problem that we have. In the short time I have been here I see a lot of things that is maybe the problem. I now must handle the situation and it is very intensive and very hard to come to the decision for every new game.”