‘Thought they’d be back now’: Portsmouth boss' frustration over absence of key men amid squad promise
Josh Murphy and Connor Ogilvie have seen their injury returns pushed back, but John Mousinho is still positive about the state of his squad and their ability to negotiate a frantic run of Championship action.
John Mousinho believes Pompey have the squad to handle the gruelling run of Championship fixtures they have now embarked on.
But the Blues boss admitted he thought he would be taking on the testing period of five games in the space of 13 days with Connor Ogilvie and Josh Murphy available for action.
Mousinho on testing run: ‘We’ve got a squad with plenty of players who are raring to go’
Mousinho’s men face Sheffield United tomorrow night after Sunday’s south-coast derby disappointment, with outings against Norwich City, Wolves and Millwall to follow.
They do without the services of Murphy (groin) and Connor Ogilvie (knee), who have seen their return dates pushed back after both undergoing double ops.
Mousinho acknowledged that frustration, but still feels Pompey now have a squad to handle the intense runs of games - and a group of players who are ‘raring to go’.
He said: ‘I think we’ve built a squad to sustain that.
‘Some of the injuries and people like Benjy out is is a big blow with some of the longer-term lads.
‘You can probably sustain Wadds (Waddingham) being out with Colby being fit and Marko around.
‘This international break has given us time to get a couple back, but we’re still a bit short with a few of the bodies we’d like to have back and firing.
‘The likes of Murph and Connor Ogilvie, if you’d spoken to me at the start of the season or their injury prognosis, I would’ve thought they’d be back by now. Unfortunately they’re not.
‘So we’ll find out, we’ll find out. We’ve got a squad with plenty of players who are raring to go.
‘With some of the lads away on international duty they’ve got some fitness, which is a positive, with the likes of Iyad who we were waiting for an opportunity to build up fitness.
‘He’s done that, so we’re in an okay position and we need to stay as fit as possible.
‘Normally we’d say everyone is in the same boat, but we have one more game in this period.
‘But other clubs could’ve been playing in the League Cup etcetera, so every club is different.’
The pace is certainly quickening now for Pompey, after a run of weekend games preceded a three-week international break.
That means the focus will now be on going from game to game and keeping the players in the best condition possible.
Mousinho added: ‘Post-Cardiff it’s been quite slow for us.
‘In hindsight now we could’ve played that Wolves game, which was was obviously nothing to do with us. That’s a frustration, we would’ve rather have played then.
‘So now it’s just about game, recovery, game, recovery.
‘There’s going to be very little we do on the training pitch, it’s going to be about being fit, ready for games and tactically prepared so we can go from Sunday to Wednesday.
‘It’s the same turnaround from Saturday to Tuesday.
‘We can have a quick breather after Millwall, but in the meantime there’s five games to play and a lot of points to play for.’