Exclusive:Portsmouth boss’ big Josh Murphy fitness statement amid injury admission over star man
John Mousinho talks honestly about Josh Murphy’s injury situation, how he could’ve done more to help his team-mate and his belief over the huge talent’s Championship impact with Pompey this season.
John Mousinho has outlined a conviction Josh Murphy will play a major role in Pompey’s season amid the key man’s injury worries.
But the Blues boss admitted he will need to manage the winger’s fitness with more consideration, as they aim to keep their star man on the pitch this term.
Mousinho on Murphy: ‘I’m really confident he will play a huge amount of games this season’
Mousinho is adamant there’s no mystery to Murphy’s latest groin concerns, as he was withdrawn in the second half of last weekend’s win at Lincoln City.
But the Pompey head coach admitted there’s been a degree of ‘scratching our heads’ through the 31-year-old’s broader fitness difficulties.
After playing with the aid of injections after suffering a fractured metatarsal the Londoner underwent surgery in December, before surprisingly returning and later having a groin op.
Murphy is expected to miss the trip to Bristol City this weekend, but there’s a confidence from his former Oxford United team-mate he will play a big Championship role this season.
Mousinho said: ‘I don’t think there’s a huge amount of mystery.
‘I think maybe I have to take a certain amount of responsibility for what I asked him to do in certain moments, when I wanted him to play.
‘When you look at his first season in the Championship, he had an extremely good injury record.
‘He played 90 minutes pretty much every game and, for want of a better phrase, we flogged him to death in that first season - for a winger with that output and how explosive he is.
‘I’ve had a few issues to deal with in my three-and-a-half years here. Sometimes when a new one pops us like this we end up scratching our heads a little bit.
‘So I need to take a step back and think about how I can help Murph and manage the situation from my end a bit better.
‘But I’m really confident he will play a huge amount of games this season, I just need to figure out how that looks from my standpoint.’
Mousinho has no doubt Murphy playing while injured impacted him last season, a decision he is taking accountability for as he explained the factors behind it.
He added: ‘Last year when you look at how Murph did when he came back into the fold, I asked him to do 90 minutes at Hull and Wrexham. I didn’t feel we were in a position where we could change that, but it wasn’t particularly fair on Murph.
‘It’s very similar to where we’ve been over the past six or 12 months with him, so I have to take some responsibility for that and look at managing him back up to full fitness.
‘The problem I have is I rate him so highly, it’s very difficult to not call upon him.I know how important he is to the side.
‘Also for Murph, I think he’s so keen to play and play through anything I think it’s about protecting himself as well.
‘So it’s one where I need to take a step back and probably manage it better from my standpoint.’