'No heroes here' - Portsmouth warned no cavalry on its way to help save their season
Pompey will largely need to find solutions to their current Championship problems from the players available to them - with no white knights from their injured list emerging
Pompey have been warned there’s no cavalry on the way to save their season.
According to The News’ Neil Allen, that’s the harsh reality the Blues must take stock of as they desperately search for solutions to their Championship problems during the international break.
John Mousinho’s side slipped further into relegation trouble at Loftus Road on Saturday following a 6-1 hammering at the hands of QPR. The result leaves them just one point and a place above the dreaded drop zone with just eight matches of the season remaining.
Pompey’s next game is a tough assignment away to Norwich on Good Friday, a side who have claimed maximum points from seven of their past eight matches at Carrow Road. A home game against fellow Championship strugglers Oxford United then follows on Bank Holiday Monday (April 6) - a fixture the Blues simply have to win if they are to have any hope of retaining their second-tier status for another season.
Focus over the coming days will, therefore, centre of those crucial matches, with some much-needed soul-searching among the first-team squad a must.
Solutions were sought immediately after the debacle at Lofus Road, with John Mousinho and the players locked in the away dressing room for 45 minutes as the inquest began.
But if it’s answers they’re still looking for, there’s no need to cast eyes in the direction of Pompey’s injury list for inspiration. Nine players missed the trip to west London beause of injury - including last season’s player of the year Josh Murphy. However, only two - Andre Dozzell and January signing Keshi Anderson - are likely to be in contention over the Easter weekend.
And with Murphy out for the rest of the season with a foot injury, that’s a worry as far as Allen is concerned.
D'Alessandro, Mendes, come down and save this team
Speaking in the latest episode of Pompey Talk about Mousinho’s desperate need to find a winning formula, The News’ cheif sports writer said: ‘Every manager goes through periods where they'll chop and change their team, they'll change their system. It's just trying to find that winning formula.
‘Pompey stumbled across it with Matt Ritchie given a rare start at Hull last season, and that of course coincided with Colby (Bishop) coming back from his heart surgery, so that's what happened last year.
‘But the problem (now) is... what's going to happen next?
‘Okay, re-jig the team around. Bring in Conor Chaplin again, bring in Colby Bishop again, (Gustavo) Cavallaro, put him on the right wing again. Nothing changes.
‘Dozzell's coming back from injury, so that might change. Nothing changes, (though), you're still rotating, mixing around the same players, trying to find the scoring recipe. It's just a vicious, vicious circle!
‘The only thing Pompey fans have got to hope for is that the international break resurrects them somehow, and ‘the saviours’ - Andre Dozzell and Keshi Anderson - they're coming back from injury. That's it.
‘Keshi Andersson's the only attacking player coming back from injury.
‘Come on, come on, D'Alessandro, Mendes, come down and save this team, because Pompey needs somebody from somewhere!
‘There's no heroes here at the moment, they need somebody. So you’re relying on those two. (But) Keshi Andersson was injured 15 days after being at Fratton Park.
‘Two months later, he's scheduled to come back for the Norwich game. How much pressure is that guy (under)? Who's going to provide the creativity that we're not seeing?
‘(Harvey) Blair's struggled, Chaplin's struggled, Millie Alli's fallen off a cliff, Caballero's struggled, (Adrian) Segacic on the right struggles, (Jacob) Brown's struggling.
‘Who's going to come in and score these goals? Bishop? I don't really know.
Yeah, it's depressing, isn't it? ‘
Josh Knight is the only other injured player likely to feature for the Blues again this season, with Pompey’s game at Middlesbrough on April 11 earmarked for his return. Murphy, Mark Kosznovszky, Aji Alese and Franco Umeh are all out for the season. Meanwhile, the Fratton Park club remain in the dark about injuries to Florian Bianchini and Thomas Waddingham.
In addition, Ebou Adams is an injury concern after he picked up a knee injury against QPR.
For your next Pompey read: 'Major set-backs': Portsmouth boss' frustration as attacker's six-and-a-half month absence continue