'The best way...': Portsmouth boss on whether Callum Lang's frustrating hamstring problems can be prevented
Callum Lang has featured just five times for Pompey since mid-February
A third hamstring injury in six months yet again deprives Pompey of the explosive talents of Callum Lang.
Yet, according to John Mousinho, preventative measures are not necessarily that straightforward - or effective - as the Blues bid to get to the bottom of the devastating recurring issue.
Since then he has been restricted to just five more appearances, plus three pre-season friendlies, after twice aggravating it.
The latest set-back occurred during Saturday’s defeat to Norwich, when Lang was forced off in the 57th minute, with ex-Wigan’s frustration highly visible.
At this early stage, the popular attacker’s absence has been put at 4-8 weeks, fluctuating between best-case scenario and worst-case scenario.
And alongside Lang’s latest rehabilitation, Pompey must also explore ways to ensure his hamstring issue doesn’t flare up once again.
‘That’s not going to happen’
Mousinho told The News: ‘Is it preventable? We never quite know. The best way to prevent this is for him to not play - that’s not going to happen. For him not to sprint - that’s not going to happen.
‘I suppose there’s plenty of things we can do to mitigate the risk of Callum's hamstring injuries, which we try to do.
‘He had a long road back to recovery from the one he picked up against Oxford and we got him back at the end of the season. Then he had a slight recurrence and slight issue with his hamstring during pre-season, nothing too bad. Then he picked up a serious one against Norwich.
‘If we knew how to prevent that type of injury then football would be a straightforward game and no-one would get injured. Unfortunately, if you want to play someone explosive who operates at the top end of their capacity, then they’re going to pick up injuries.
‘One of the biggest predictors of future hamstring injuries is whether you’ve had the injury in the past, it’s one of those things which recurs, unfortunately.
‘You can deal with it through a combination of rehabs, sometimes lifestyle changes, small tweaks, whether that’s getting a new bed or adjusting the levels on your car seat.
‘As a player, I went through it myself, having had a couple of years of really, really bad hamstring injuries. You want to try everything to make sure you really get to the root of the problem.
‘There's a lot of times you can probably overthink it, but it’s one of those things, you will pick up injuries in the game.’
Jordan Williams offers hope
Right-back Jordan Williams offers hope the situation can be resolved, having returned from repeated hamstring injuries last term to start this season in Pompey’s side.
Although Harvey Blair is still sidelined by the hamstring damage he sustained in the final match of last season, with the winger set to see a specialist this week to learn whether he can now step up his rehabilitation.
That injury was caused by a foul from Hull’s Sean McLoughlin, earning the defender a yellow card in the process and, three-and-a-half months later still confining Blair to the treatment room.
Likewise, Lang also damaged his hamstring while winning a foul early in the second half against Norwich.
Mousinho added: ‘I don’t think it was the tackle itself, it was that mechanism of pushing off, just before the tackle.
‘It was a fairly similar mechanism to the way he did it against Oxford, but thankfully not the same result.’
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