'Worst I have ever known': Portsmouth boss reeling over threadbare squad for Sheffield Wednesday clash
The Blues are without nine players for Saturday’s trip to Hillsborough
John Mousinho has branded the current injury crisis as the worst he has ever experienced at Pompey.
In almost three years at Fratton Park, the head coach has regularly been hampered by packed treatment rooms and lengthy absentee lists - yet nothing compares to the present situation.
The Blues are without nine players for Saturday’s trip to Sheffield Wednesday, including Mark Kosznovszky, Callum Lang, Thomas Waddingham, Josh Murphy, Hayden Matthews, Josh Knight, Florian Bianchini, Franco Umeh and Harvey Blair.
Numbers have been boosted by yesterday’s loan signing of Millenic Alli from Luton, representing the first arrival of the transfer window and available for selection at Hillsborough.
Yet Mousinho is still reeling from the amount of players unavailable to him.
‘It just seems exceptional at the moment’
He told The News: ‘Is it the worst injury crisis I’ve had at Pompey? I think so, yes, it feels like it at the minute. It’s the worst in terms of numbers, in terms of position, if you look at where we are.
‘We were struggling with wingers anyway, we didn’t have a huge amount in the building in terms of available wingers that had played many games.
‘Between the two wingers we played against Arsenal, Segs and Harvey, maybe 15 English league starts between them, Franco (Umeh) not a single league start - and obviously he’s now injured.
‘Injuries are something you always have to deal with, it just seems exceptional at the moment. We’ve had times this season where we’ve looked ahead and felt we’d have a strong squad and this is one of the moments.
‘We thought we might get a few back, if we can get Harvey going, if we can get Franco going, they are going to add to the numbers, they’re really going to help boost us. But, unfortunately, both of them got injured last weekend.
‘We’ve still got quite a few wing options, I won't reveal that quite yet, we might change formation as well, that’s a distinct possibility. We’ll have to see how that goes.’
Franco Umeh not expected to play again this season
Umeh (hamstring) and Blair (hip flexor) are the Blues’ latest injury set-backs after limping out of the action against Arsenal last weekend.
Indeed, the majority of Pompey’s casualties this season have occurred in first-team matches rather than at the training ground.
That includes Kosznovszky (Charlton) and Matthews (Bristol City), who both collected injuries over the Christmas and New Year period.
‘Can you change how you are doing things?’
Mousinho added: ‘Murph came off against Derby, Franco and Harvey were both injured in a game, Connor Ogilvie in a game, Shocks in a game, Langy was injured against QPR although nothing acute, he just came off the back end and felt his hamstring.
‘Sometimes you look at injuries which occur in training and think can you rein things back, can you change how you are doing things?
‘We are clearly in a situation where we want to try to improve that injury record, but there are quite a few clubs struggling with the same thing at the moment. It’s part of the game over that Christmas schedule, with that many games.
‘Couple that with the intensity that sides are being asked to play at, plus the extra-time everybody is playing now, games are a lot longer than they were previously.
‘Put that together with a few of the external factors we are dealing with and it has been a tough period.’
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