Strikers Jason Scotland and Gorka Pintado look set to miss the season opener at Charlton
Scotland has so far been missing throughout pre-season and Pintado was taken off as a precaution in last night's friendly win over Chester but now seems certain to miss the game against Charlton a week on Saturday.
He will definitely miss the two home friendlies this week - against West Brom and Den Haag with the initial diagnosis being a minimum weeks absence from playing.
But Roberto insists that there is no striker crisis at the club witrh Bauza, Brandy and Morrison all ready for action when called upon. Bauza was pretty much a nailed on starter for the opening game anyway having scored 10 goals in pre-season already and whilst Pintado was his likely strike partner, Roberto has the options available to himself to overcome the loss of the impressive looking Pintado.
Speaking after the victory over Chester, he said “I would still be comfortable with my options, we are not talking about long-term injuries, just minor niggles. The last thing we want is to rush these players back when they are not 100 per cent. And I’m very confident the players we have got will score goals.
“Gorka had to come off as a precaution. He felt his groin go slightly in a challenge with a Chester defender and we will just have to see where we are over the next 48 hours.
“There is no major concern though. With these kind of injuries the worst-case scenario would normally be that he is out for 10 days, but we will just have to wait for the scans to come back.
“Jason had another good session in training yesterday. But he is probably 10 days away from playing at a competitive standard and I wouldn’t expect him to play at Charlton.”