'Bare bones': Portsmouth boss desperate for January transfer window after suffering fresh injury blows
With rising injury levels and Pompey’s Championship position, Mousinho cannot wait for the transfer window
John Mousinho eyed the tantalising prospect of January reinforcements and insisted: We’re down to the bare bones.
The remarkable late, late victory over Charlton has surely entered Fratton folklore, but it cannot distract from the importance of a strong transfer window next month.
In addition, Pompey are waiting to learn the full extent of Mark Kosznovszky’s knee injury, which forced him off just 20 minutes after being introduced as a substitute.
The Blues travel to Bristol City on New Year’s Day (3pm) bidding to extend a four-match unbeaten run which has reaped eight points - yet the injury situation certainly isn’t relenting.
Portsmouth boss: Clearly we were down to the bare bones on Monday night
Mousinho told The News: ‘Nothing changes in January because we’ve still got a lot of people out.
‘If you looked at the physio room today, we have Colby Bishop, Callum Lang, Josh Murphy, Connor Ogilvie and Josh Knight - that’s a lot of big names there. Plus Jacob (Farrell) has been injured all season.
‘At any point, you’re probably going to have 5-6 players out. We’ve got 5-6 of our bigger players out at the moment and clearly - in my opinion - we were down to the bare bones on Monday night.
‘That Charlton win doesn't really change anything. We still have our clear priorities in terms of what we want to do next month. It will be an interesting transfer window for us.
‘I guess winning without some of them is one of the positives of the season. Murph has been struggling with a couple of injuries so we’ve obviously taken him out, Colby hasn’t hit the ground running with goals yet, while Callum has only just come back and he’s scored a couple.
‘We haven’t had the output that we had from those three players last year, but we are still battling away. We’re not cut adrift and that is a real positive.
‘Once we get a few of those boys back and strengthen in January, we should be in a much-better position.’
A dead leg suffered by Kosznovszky on Boxing Day against QPR forced him out of the starting XI on Monday night, with Marlon Park handed a recall.
Instead the Hungarian was named on the bench against Charlton, before being introduced for Conor Chaplin in the 64th minute as part of a triple substitution, with the scoreline goalless at the time.
‘We’ll have to see how that settles down’
However, a knee issue ensured he had to leave the pitch five minutes before the end of normal time, with Ibane Bowat coming on to replace him.
Mousinho added: ‘I don’t know the extent of Mark’s injury, he was icing his knee after the game. We’ll have to wait and see how that settles down over the next couple of days.
‘He had a dead leg before Charlton, which was the reason he didn’t start. He trained on Sunday, but not fully. At this stage of the season with the players we have available, we need as many fully-fit players to come and compete as possible.’