Eight games into the Premier League season and already Kieran McKenna has used 26 players.

Third-choice keeper Cieran Slicker, back-up left-back Conor Townsend and the recently fit-again Nathan Broadhead are the only ones not to have got on the field for league action so far.

There are reasons for that.

Six players – Sammie Szmodics, Kalvin Phillips, Jens Cajuste, Jack Clarke, Dara O’Shea and Chiedozie Ogbenne – all joined late in the transfer window.

There have been injuries too. Harry Clarke, Broadhead, George Hirst and Ali Al-Hamadi all had limited pre-seasons, Aro Muric, Kalvin Phillips and Wes Burns have been forced to sit games out, while Axel Tuanzebe, Jacob Greaves, Ben Johnson, Massimo Luongo and Cajuste are currently sidelined.

I make it three different centre-back pairings, three different midfield partnerships and six different combinations of the attacking trio behind the striker so far.

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“It was a challenging summer, a lot of the group didn’t really come together until the end of August, and since then we’ve had four weeks when players have been away on international duty,” said McKenna, speaking after Saturday’s disappointing 2-0 home defeat to Everton.

“We’ve had one home game since the end of August, so it’s not been very easy to get momentum and get into the season, especially when we’re having some injuries and we’re having to be put debutants in every week and new players in different partnerships with players they haven’t played with before. There’s no doubt that makes a challenge.

“But it’s a long season and there will hopefully be spells where we will have more consistency and continuity.”

Early defeats to Liverpool and Man City came as little surprise, then four successive draws – against Fulham, Brighton, Southampton and Aston Villa – raised positivity levels. Successive defeats to West Ham and Everton have dampened spirits though.

“We want to have more points on the board than we do. Of course, it’s important to pick up points,” said McKenna, whose side travel to Brentford on Saturday.

MORE: Watch our latest Kings of Anglia podcast following 2-0 defeat to Everton

“We have played eight games and we’ve got a result in four of them. If two of them had been wins, even if one of those had have been a win and we had the same points, then that would be a little bit different.

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