Steven Pressley insisted he would not adopt a “scattergun” approach to filling the various holes in Carlisle United’s squad – with the new season just 13 days away.

The manager, who now says he wants six new faces, expects to welcome a signing into Brunton Park by Wednesday.

But United, beaten 3-1 by Fleetwood in Saturday’s friendly, require several other additions, with Pressley saying he needs three attackers, two midfielders and a defender.

Despite supporters’ anxiety over Carlisle’s current lack of numbers, he maintained their approach in the market was the right one.

On the prospect of at least one forthcoming signing, he said: “We believe somebody will be here by Wednesday – we’ve been assured of that.

“I’ve said this before but that is the truth, so we hope that’s the case.

On the search for additions in general, Pressley added: “If supporters want players in, I’ll bring players in. I could bring 10 in tomorrow, but they’re not the right players.

“I get offered players every day, but they’re not the players I want.

“The important thing is we have the right targets. I’d be more concerned if we were a club with a scattergun approach. It’s not – it’s a very focused recruitment process and we want to get the players we’ve identified. That’s the bottom line.

“We’re really comfortable. Of course we would love to have the players in by now and we don’t, but we’re prepared to wait because we think they’re very much worth the wait.

“We are very focused on our targets and if we get them I believe we can be a really effective team.”

United have targeted a number of attacking and midfield players on the books of Premier League and Championship clubs, and are also trying to progress a deal for a non-league midfielder.

Their player shortage was highlighted on Saturday with Pressley using trialist defender Aaron Hayden as a makeshift centre-forward in the second half.

Hallam Hope’s suspension left the striking options even thinner against Joey Barton’s side, for whom ex-Blues striker Paddy Madden scored twice in their comeback from Jack Bridge’s opener.

On the need for strikers, Pressley added: “A blind man could see we need that. That’s the reality of it. We have to get these front players in.

“We feel at this moment in time that we need one player that can give us cover in the centre-back-right-back position, we need two further midfield players, and we need three attacking players.

“We are closing in, we are discussing on all of these aspects.”

Pressley will continue to assess both Hayden and Kwame Thomas, the latter playing the first 45 minutes against Fleetwood.

Asked why trialist Hayden, a defender, was then introduced for Thomas in attack, United’s boss said: “I asked if he’d ever played up there and he told me ‘yes’.

“I just asked him to do us a favour, to play up there, and his attitude to that was great. On the tactical periods in the second half, the way we pressure the game, he didn’t understand those things [but] that’s normal.

“After 25-30 minutes we could see Kwame was fatigued, he couldn’t pressure the game in the manner we probably hoped, but that’s normal – he’s not trained like our players have and that will take a bit of time for him to get up to speed.

“In the 20-25 minutes he worked very hard but it will take us a period of time to fully assess him and we’re certainly going to do that.

“We weren’t gonna ask Kwame to play another 45 minutes in case he injured himself. It was purely precautionary.”

Pressley said he was pleased with the physical and tactical efforts of his players particularly in the opening 30 minutes when they had the better of the game.

He was also encouraged by the performance of youth player Josh Galloway, who started the game on the right of United’s attacking three.

The manager added: “I’m very happy with the way they’re working and doing things.

“But with a team generally the success will be very much down to the strikers – they are the ones that can make a difference.

“A team can work as hard as they do, be as effective as they’re doing, but you need the strikers, and that’s why it’s going to be an important part of the jigsaw.”