Portsmouth boss admits gravity of situation as attacking injury woes pile up ahead of Stoke City
The injuries and absences are flying through the roof ahead of Saturday’s Championship clash with Stoke City. Here’s John Mousinho with the latest this evening.
John Mousinho acknowledged the extent of his player unavailability is as bad as he’s known it in his time at Pompey.
And the Blues boss confessed the lack of options being focussed on his attacking options is exacerbating his problems, ahead of the weekend clash with Stoke City.
Extent of injury list as bad as Pompey boss has known
Mousinho updated on the injury conditions of 10 players this afternoon, with midfielder John Swift also suspended ahead of the meeting with the Potters on Saturday.
The good news is key man Josh Murphy and right-back Jordan Williams have been deemed available to play some part against Mark Robins’ side.
Mousinho will be without nine other men, however, as they wait to hear the extent of Adrian Segecic’s ankle injury as he undergoes a scan following his Coventry City setback.
Pompey are missing Harvey Blair (hamstring), Franco Umeh (hamstring), Callum Lang (hamstring) and Thomas Waddingham (quad) from their attacking options. Elsewhere, Nicola Schmid (fractured hand), Jacob Farrell (groin) and Conor Shaughnessy (hamstring) are not ready to be considered.
Mousinho: ‘Bigger issue’s injuries in same area’
The issues being concentrated in attacking areas is providing a headache for Mousinho, who has to decide which way to best combat the issues presented as Pompey search for a result against a Stoke side who’ve started the season well.
When asked if the unavailability is as bad as he’s known it in his time at Pompey, Mousinho said: ‘Yes it is, we’ve had quite a few injuries but we’ve still managed to put out a squad of professionals. That’s why we have the squad size we do and we don’t think we’re overinflated.
‘The bigger issue for us at the moment is the fact a lot of the injuries have come in the same area, with the same profile.
‘What we’ve had out over the past few weeks is Murph, Franco, Harvey, Langy - there’s four players who give us that athleticism and pace at the top end of the pitch.
‘We’ve had to adjust to that and we’ve had to adjust in terms of playing style. That’s probably the bigger issue, it’s very similar to where we were last year with the centre-half injuries.
‘We’re probably about par for the number of injuries across the season, but it’s the specifics of the position.
‘We had people breaking down at centre-half and that was the position we couldn’t fill, at the minute it’s at the other end of the pitch for us.’
Everything is pointing to Murphy ending his six-game absence this weekend, with some degree of involvement against Stoke. That’s a clear fillip for Pompey, but the fear is now losing Segecic for extended period to his ankle ligament issue.
The Blues are currently in the dark over the timescale for the top scorer’s absence, with a more definite prognosis expected after the Stoke game.
Mousinho said today: ‘Murphs is available for selection, but he’s not available to start. We've got to give him time. Segs is going for his MRI (scan), so we haven’t seen him and he’s not been in today. We’ll know more when we see the results.’