John Mousinho fires Portsmouth fitness message ahead of south-coast derby showdown with Southampton
The Pompey boss gives an insight into his squad ahead of the south-coast-derby at St Mary’s Stadium on October 11.
John Mousinho believes his Pompey players will be ready to return to Championship action at full throttle.
And the Blues boss underlined a conviction those players who’ve been building their fitness will be ‘ready for the demands of Championship football’, as they go to Southampton in the south-coast derby at the end of next week.
Pompey boss: ‘Ready for the demands of Championship football’
Mousinho’s men are in the midst of a three-week pause to Championship football, with a behind-closed-doors friendly lined up with Premier League Chelsea today.
That is designed to keep the senior group ticking over, as the trip to St Mary’s Stadium kickstarts a run of five games in the space of 13 days.
That is going to place a strain on Mousinho’s squad, with defensive concerns after both Conor Shaughnessy and Benjy Arthur were sidelined.
Key striker Marko Milovanović is out with a calf injury, though there is hope the big Serb will be back for Southampton.
Keshi Anderson is back from a quad issue, however, with Mousinho seeing positive news in other players being able to get up speed.
That includes Jayden Meghoma and Tyrese Shade who’ve been coming off in pre-planned subs, while Zak Swanson and Terry Devlin have been building off injuries which curtailed their involvement last season.
Mousinho said: ‘I think we’re getting there now in terms of being ready for the demands of Championship football.
‘It’s been an interesting period across the opening few weeks with some of the lads who’ve not played a huge amount getting up to match speed and fitness.
‘That’s not just the new lads, but boys who’ve been out for periods of time.
‘That’s the case with Terry and Swanny. They both had injuries at the back end of last season and are now getting back up to full fitness.
‘There’s a few of the newer lads too, like Jayden, Tyrese and players who’ve been coming off with pre-planned substitutions.
‘That’s because we need to protect them in the right way.
‘We were also protecting Shaughs as well (before his injury).
‘I think it does take until that first international break to really get a grip on the physical side of the game - but we should have the players up to scratch by then.’