Portsmouth hit by blow for Spurs' Yang Minhyeok as winger injury problems pile up for John Mousinho
Pompey currently have four wingers injured - plus Callum Lang
John Mousinho rued his lack of attacking options against Sheffield Wednesday after injured Minhyeok Yang took his winger casualties to four.
Josh Murphy had been struggling all week with an ankle knock which subsequently ruled him out of action for the visit of the struggling Owls.
He was also joined by Yang, with the Spurs loanee rolling his ankle in training to sideline him from Saturday’s dismal 2-0 defeat.
Fellow wide men Harvey Blair (hamstring) and Franco Umeh (hamstring) are also presently in the treatment room, devastating Mousinho’s choices.
As a consequence, Florian Bianchini played the full 90 minutes against the Owls on the left wing, despite a hugely disappointing display which earned criticism from some of the Fratton faithful.
Portsmouth boss: Nothing too major for Spurs man
Pompey’s head coach told The News: ‘Minhyeok rolled his ankle in training, nothing too major, so he should be back this week.
‘He’s not had a huge amount of exposure since coming here. I thought he was very bright when he came on against Oxford United, while the Reading game was disappointing for everyone - and he hasn’t played since.
‘He has come into training over the past couple of weeks really well and we would have definitely had him involved against Sheffield Wednesday, we were short and didn’t necessarily have a huge amount of options on the bench to change things.
‘On Saturday morning, I looked into the physio room with Minhyeok and Harvey, Murph and Franco as well.
‘We came a little unstuck with that against Sheffield Wednesday. We talk about depth in certain positions and didn’t really have that.’
Not featured for five weeks
Before missing Saturday’s loss, Yang had been unused off the Blues bench for four successive matches.
His last outing was against League One Reading in the Carabao Cup five weeks ago, which Pompey lost 2-1, although that period does include the international break.
Meanwhile, Harvey Blair is expected to be back in training by the end of this month after suffering a serious hamstring tear in the final match of last season against Hull.
In addition Callum Lang, who started the opening two matches on the right wing despite largely featuring as the number 10 in his Blues career to date, is unavailable until November.
He underwent surgery on the hamstring injury he sustained against Norwich, with the same issue restricting him to just five competitive outings since it first occurred in February.
Franco Umeh injury boost
As for Umeh, the deadline day arrival from Crystal Palace, he has yet to feature for his new club having joined Pompey with a hamstring injury.
Although the 20-year-old is expected to finally make his return to training next week, offering some much-needed good news for Mousinho on the injury front.
He added: ‘Franco has been injured since he’s been here. He’s coming back from a hamstring injury which he picked up at Palace.
‘He should be back in full training this week, though.’