SCOTT Parker admitted Cherries needed to add more depth to their squad before the transfer window closes and said a striker was an area “we need to look at”.

The Dorset club played no recognised frontman during their 6-0 hammering at the hands of Norwich City in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday.

With Dominic Solanke rested, Parker opted to field midfielder Emiliano Marcondes further forward in a false nine role.

But despite his patched-up side slumping to defeat to the Canaries, Parker insisted efforts were already being made to recruit before the window slammed shut on Tuesday night.

“It’s something we are trying to do,” he said, when asked about adding experience to his ranks. “It’s just depth as well, to be honest with you – not just experience.

“Certainly experience will help. I feel we have probably done that with Gary Cahill and certainly, we just need to have a little bit more depth about us.

“I think you can see that in terms of being competitive and we are going to have to add some. Hopefully we can do that in the coming days that are left in this window.

“It was a disappointing night on Tuesday, no complaints about that. We now need to dust ourselves off and get back on the horse – which is now Saturday against Hull.”

Cherries did have young frontman Christian Saydee on the bench for the trip to Carrow Road, with Parker opting to bring him on for the final eight minutes.

But Solanke remains the only senior striker at the club following the departure of Sam Surridge to Stoke City earlier this month.

Asked whether his side were lacking numbers up front, Parker told the Daily Echo: “Definitely. There’s no hiding. There’s no beating around the bush, that’s very clear. We have one centre-forward who is Dominic Solanke.

“I couldn’t risk that and tried to bring Emi into that position to see where we were – that didn’t work against the calibre of opposition and I thought we looked a little bit disjointed.

“I can understand why.”

Since taking over at Cherries, head coach Parker has seen the club bring in the likes of Marcondes, Orjan Nyland and Gary Cahill on free transfers as well as the loan recruitment of Leif Davis and Morgan Rogers.

Asked by the Daily Echo how many more fresh faces he would like to bring in before the end of the window, Parker joked: “Probably more than the people in the places to be, to be honest with you!

“Look, once we get some injuries back – there is clearly a treatment room which is quite full with (Adam) Smith and (Jack) Stacey. (Jefferson) Lerma comes back and is available at the weekend.

“There were boys coming back on Tuesday after injury - Ben Pearson’s first competitive start after being out. Steve Cook has been out for some time – this was his first game.

“For sure, once the boys get right up to speed and get into that place, we will be in a far better place.

“In saying that, we also need some depth and that’s clear to see.

“I’m not just talking about depth because of Tuesday’s result, we knew that before that and certainly the nine is an area which we need to look at.”