LIVERANI: 'We have an emergency'
ORIENT manager Fabio Liverani is facing an injury crisis ahead of tonight's trip to Deepdale. The O's boss revealed that he has a staggering 10 first team players unavailable as Dean Cox became the latest to join the injured list.
"We have an emergency. We have 10 players unavailable which is a big problem for us at this moment. It means we will struggle for continuity, it's very frustrating," said the O's manager.
"Dean Cox is a new concern and won't travel for us. He has a hip problem and wasn't fully fit last week but has not trained at all this week. Regardless of the squad available, I want to see a reaction from the players we will have out there. Preston are one of the favourites for promotion and I am looking forward to the test."
Darius Henderson has resumed training but despite Liverani being short on numbers, he is reluctant to rush the big striker back in.
"Henderson is coming back from a long period of absence and we have previous history of putting players back maybe too early so we will take our time to get him right."
The O's manager also had a message for the O's supporters ahead of an awkward Friday night trip to Preston.
"We are very grateful for the support of the fans and understand the difficulties in making the game with the change of kick-off. I would also say to them that they should be proud of us as we have had two good wins recently and we did not deserve to lose the games we did apart from at Barnsley. I would also ask for some patience. Last season is finished and I know it was an amazing year but it is in the past now. Right now the situation is difficult and we are trying to improve and we need support so we can get out of trouble this year as soon as possible and then we can plan ahead for next season."
Ryan Hedges became the third player to join the O's during the January transfer window and Liverani believes there could be more on their way next week.
"We want to improve the squad in terms of quality and numbers and there are areas that we are lacking numbers. We will also look at loaning some players out and maybe next week will be the busier week in that regards," he said.
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