'I've never had a fully-fit squad': Portsmouth boss on 2 years of injury woes - and why it won't ever change

The head coach has enjoyed remarkable success since his January 2023 appointment, with potential Championship survival possibly being his latest impressive feat.

However, the 38-year-old’s accomplishments have been achieved amid a backdrop of crippling injury lists and player absentees, particularly to key first-team performers.

It has been an infuriating constant since the day he replaced caretaker boss Simon Bassey for the League One visit of Exeter, when he inherited Jay Mingi, Tom Lowery and Jayden Reid on the treatment table.

According to Mousinho, more than two years into the job and he continues to be deprived of a full squad to choose from.

And considering the rigours of modern football and the high-pressing game he implements, he doesn’t anticipate that ever being rectified.

He told The News: ‘If you look up and down the country at the minute, there are so many squads that are depleted, there are so many players picking up injuries. There were players again in the Championship on Tuesday night which fell by the wayside.

‘It’s how the season has been, particularly for us with the eight games in January. It’s how heavy the pitches are, the schedule, all these different things. The pace of the game as well.

‘It is always going to be one of those things - in the future we will have to deal with them.

‘I curse a bit, it’s not great, I want a fully-fit strong squad, I want a headache and, to be honest, at times this year we’ve been leaving players out of the squad.

‘But I have never had a fully-fit squad at Pompey. There’s always an injury. In the first season we had Jayden Reid long-term, there would have been various injuries through the 2023 summer too.

‘Kas (Yengi) got injured pretty early, Tom Lowery in the first game of the season, followed by the longer-term problems of Regan Poole and Tino Anjorin.

‘So not at any point has there been a fully-fit squad. It’s a rare, rare thing. I remember Paul Warne speaking before we went to Derby (December 2024) about it was probably one of the first times in his career he’d had a fully-fit squad to pick from and was leaving experienced pros out.

‘In the title-winning season, we had some interesting injuries - and big injuries at points in the season, critical points. But we’ve always managed to have that strength in depth and deal with it.

‘We’ve had periods of the season where we haven’t had a full strength squad, where we’ve had a depleted squad and gone into a couple of league games with a few Academy players on the bench and shuffled players around in different positions.

‘It’s something we have to deal with, there’s no point in sulking about it, we’ve got to get on with it.’

There are question marks over Rob Atkinson, Hayden Matthews, Isaac Hayden, Zak Swanson, Freddie Potts and Mark O’Mahony for Pompey’s trip to Luton on Saturday.

Unusually, Mousinho declined to provide an update on the availability of his players at Wednesday’s pre-match press conference, preferring to remain tight-lipped.

Nonetheless, he believes the size of the Blues squad can help mitigate any damage that further injury losses can inflict.

He added: ‘Last weekend we had Ryley, Abdu and a couple of others out of the squad. We’ve had that at times this season - and that’s the whole reason why we built the squad the way we did.

‘Sometimes during my time here, it has been five or six fit players left out of squads, but it changes very, very quickly both ways.

‘So, all of a sudden, you think we’ve got too many players here or we are well stocked - and then, really, really quickly, we’re glad for the squad size.’