Sam Allardyce said his major job at the club was to rid it of this horror injury curse that has dogged the managers for years.
But three pre-season meaningless fixtures and he has been robbed of Michael Owen, Joey Barton, Steven Taylor and Nicky Butt, and the pool of available talent decreases by the day.
Allardyce 'I Haven't Reached The Panic Stage Just Yet'
Allardyce: "We are moving into the transfer market every week on every occasion.
"What the board haven't said is the size of the budget, but what they have said is just move every possible transfer you are looking at forward to us, let us have a look at it and we will see whether we can move on with it and see how far we can get.
"We have bid for many players recently and, unfortunately at the moment, have not clinched a deal in any shape or form yet.
"We have got very, very close to a few deals, but at the final hurdle just haven't quite seen it off, and have then had to put that to one side and move on to the next one.
"Of course, there's no saying that some of the deals we have been involved with might not resurrect themselves later on in the season, but every manager at this time is under a sense of urgency.
"The trick is not to let that change into panic.
"The players available at the moment are getting fewer and farther between with the sort of quality we are looking for."