Portsmouth boss considers Stoke City answers amid fitness and fatigue factors
The extent of the absences is the worst the Pompey boss has known in his time at Fratton Park - but John Mousinho believes the answers to the issues lie in his squad.
John Mousinho is adamant he can shuffle his Pompey pack for Stoke City despite his selection challenges.
And the Blues boss believes managing his players’ minutes has eased concerns over fatigue, going into Saturday’s Championship clash with Mark Robins’ men.
Pompey boss managing minutes to keep Stoke City options fresh
Pompey head into their third game in eight days off against the Potters with a swathe of players sidelined for the clash at Fratton Park. Nine players are expected to be missing for the encounter at PO4, with John Swift suspended in addition to the wave of injury absentees.
Mousinho has acknowledged the injuries are as bad as he’s experienced, with the problems concentrated on his attacking options.
But Pompey made five subs in the 2-1 defeat to Frank Lampard’s side, with the load on his players a consideration as well as chasing a return from the game.
There’s also the likes Mark Kosznovszky and Luke Le Roux who can come into the fray fresh this weekend, after sitting it out against the Sky Blues. So Mousinho sees potential answers in his squad to the posers presented to Pompey.
He said: ‘We’ve tried to manage the players with higher outputs.
‘If you look at Minhyeok he’s not played 90 minutes, we’ve managed his minutes.
‘Colby has played 90 minutes after 90 minutes. Chappers played his second 90 minutes since Southampton against Coventry. We wanted to get Connor Ogilvie off because his output is so high, so that was to give him a rest.
‘We’ve managed to do that a little bit throughout the squad, we do have options to bring people in and freshen things up a bit.’
Coventry City defeat not about Pompey tiredness
Pompey’s clash with the leaders on Tuesday night saw Coventry dominate for significant periods of the game, with both goals coming from poor defending.
Brandon Thomas-Asante’s killer second 11 minutes after the restart was a blow, given it arrived with Mousinho’s men having one of their best periods of the game. The visitors looked largely comfortable from there and had chances to extend their advantage, before a late Blues charge amid Makenzie Kirk’s first goal for the club.
Mousinho played down fatigue as a factor in Coventry having control of the game for long periods, however.
He added: ‘I thought we looked fairly strong towards the back end of the game, it was more a consequence of the nature of the game and the state of the game. Coventry were 2-0 up and dropping deeper. I didn’t think physically it was an issue, I thought there was other issues.’