Three successive Championship defeats have not changed Chris Hughton’s thinking on what Nottingham Forest require in the remainder of the transfer window.
The Reds boss says the number of new additions he would like is roughly the same as the figure he had in mind at the start of the summer, regardless of how his team have performed so far.
Up until now, three have come through the door - Ethan Horvath, Philip Zinckernagel and Jordi Osei-Tutu - but positive results have proved hard to come by.
A return on loan for Manchester United midfielder James Garner is believed to be close to being agreed, with Forest having little more than a week in which to complete the rest of their business.
"We made decisions at the end of last season, losing 11 players who were with us - five on loan and six out of contract,” Hughton told NottinghamshireLive ahead of Saturday’s trip to face Stoke City.
"There are also some players we made decisions on who weren't going to be in our plans for this season.
"On the back of it, we had numbers we wanted to fill.
"Occasionally, what can happen with that is some young players can step up to the mark and persuade me that, yes, they should be involved, or loan players who have come back. That was always going to be in the equation.
"But generally, we had rough numbers of what we needed for this division.”
At the end of last term, loan deals for Garner, Filip Krovinovic, Anthony Knockaert, Cyrus Christie and Luke Freeman expired. And contracts were not renewed for Michael Dawson, Michael Hefele, Abdoulaye Diallo, Samba Sow, Sammy Ameobi and Yuri Ribeiro, while Glenn Murray announced his retirement.
Since then, Nicholas Ioannou (on loan), Tyler Blackett and Fouad Bachirou have also departed - the latter being part of a group also including Harry Arter, Carl Jenkinson and Gaetan Bong who were told they could find other clubs.
Despite still finding himself short of options in certain areas of the pitch, most noticeably at full-back, Hughton says he wouldn’t change any of the decisions which were made.
"No, because you don't have choices,” he said.
"At the end of last season, we had to make decisions. You have to make decisions on what you want for this coming season, and what you think you can do for this coming season.
"Any thoughts of, 'should we have done that', are almost not even worth thinking about. Ultimately, you have to make decisions.
"If you are looking to go forward, there's no point leaving a player in a position where he doesn't know what's happening and you end up trying to move him on in the last few days of the window.
"It's best to try to be as clear as possible.”
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After finishing 17th last term, the hope was that the Reds would be challenging at the other end of the Championship table this time around.
Having been beaten 2-1 by Coventry City, Bournemouth and Blackburn Rovers, though, they now find themselves playing catch-up.
Only Forest and Preston North End have yet to register a point in the league after three outings - something Hughton’s men will be aiming to put right at the bet365 Stadium (3pm kick-off).
The former Brighton chief says he will have a better grasp of what his squad are capable of once the window closes at the end of the month and he knows what he has to work with.
And he is “hopeful and confident” of getting more new faces through the City Ground doors before deadline day on August 31 - something which will come as a welcome boost, given options have been limited in the opening weeks due to injuries, illness and suspensions.
"My aims haven’t changed, only because my aims in the summer were always going to be based on where we were come the end of the window,” said Hughton.
"On the first day of pre-season, I don't think you can speak about a finishing position or being in the top two, top six or whatever, until you know the squad you will have come the end of the window.
"By then, I think I will have a better grasp of what the capabilities of this squad will be.”
He added: "To be successful in this division, you do need a big enough squad to cope.
"Every club has the ability, in January, to further improve their squads. But you certainly have to have the strength in depth to cope with a Championship season.
"You also have to have good fortune with injuries.”
