Portsmouth boss' Marlon Pack admission as Blues weigh up centre-half changes against Blackburn
Marlon Pack remains in John Mousinho’s thoughts at centre-half as the Blues prepare for their crucial Blackburn clash.
The head coach also believes Alex Milosevic is ready for start, having used the fortnight between Championship matches to bring him up to speed on the training pitch following his arrival from Sweden earlier this month.
Definitely not under consideration are Conor Shaughnessy and Rob Atkinson, who continue their rehabilitation following injury, with both defenders now working outside on the grass.
And, according to Mousinho, skipper Pack is also an option to partner Regan Poole, having lost his centre-half spot since the 2-1 home defeat to Plymouth.
Mousinho told The News: ‘I don’t know whether Marlon will play at centre-half again this season, we will see.
‘He has done brilliantly there at times, he’s definitely an option. There would have been big question marks over whether Marlon could fill in and do that, but he came in and did it against Leeds in superb fashion, which was a massive win for us.
‘He’s done it in other big, big games this season and is definitely an option there.
‘Alex (Milosevic) is ready to start. He’s had another couple of weeks fully training with us, which has been really beneficial and will be available for Blackburn. He just needed that extra time.
‘If you don’t play any games since November - and it’s obviously his off-season - you can do work in the gym and train with a couple of sides, but it’s not quite the same intensity as training with a side who are 80 per cent done in their season.
‘Keeping Connor (Ogilvie) there is definitely an option too. He did really well against Preston, he was really solid. I did look at that performance and one of the things which frustrated me was the back four as a whole were really impressive apart from the second goal.
‘We can track the run and close the space between the centre-half and the left-back, that was the only thing the back four really got wrong the whole game.’
Preston man of the match
Retaining Ogilvie and Poole at centre-half against Blackburn would allow Cohen Bramall to continue at left-back.
The former Rotherham player produced a man-of-the-match display against Preston on his full debut, while also stuck the bar with a second-half goal attempt from outside the box.
Pompey’s options for Saturday have also been boosted with the returns of Jordan Williams (hamstring) and Christian Saydee (groin) following injury.
Mousinho added: ‘We've got options with Cohen. He can play left-back, left wing, there are definitely options there, we can shuffle things around.
‘He was very, very good against Preston.’
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