‘Mystery to people - I dread it’: Portsmouth boss’ admission after latest training ground injury setback with Aussie defender

And the Blues boss confessed he ‘dreads’ hearing the news of a fitness setback taking away from the eyes of supporters, with it adding fuel to the fire over theories surrounding the spate of issues.

Farrell this week joined those currently in the treatment room, as he suffered a recurrence of a knee issue when slipping on a pitch at the club’s Hilsea base.

It’s a similar problem to the one picked up by the 21-year-old in a summer warm-up game against Wycombe, also staged at Pompey’s training home.

Tom McIntyre picked up a hamstring injury in the same game, following on from Alex Roberson suffering a season-ending hamstring problem there in January.

On top of that, Ibane Bowat’s season is over before kicking a ball for Pompey following his £500,000 arrival from Fulham - that after taking an unopposed shot in training led to a serious knee issue.

Farrell’s blow after his debut against Sheffield United last weekend, follows on from an unprecedented tale of woe with serious injury issues last term.

On top of that, Pompey have lost both Kusini Yengi (groin) and Conor Shaughnessy (calf) in recent weeks, after they went down in warm-ups ahead of games at Fratton Park.

The problems have led many supporters to question if there is anything about the Blues’ methods or facilities contributing to the problems - a notion wholly rejected by Mousinho.

But the Pompey boss acknowledged issues being picked up outside of games can fuel conspiracies, though the hope is Farrell won’t be sidelined for too long.

Mousinho said: ‘The way it happened with Jacob, he just slipped and it’s a very similar issue to what he had before.

‘It’s just the way it happened, it’s very frustrating.

‘There was no one near him, he slipped and opened the knee up again.

‘It feels like there’s a sniper on the roof at the training ground.‘When that injury news comes in, I dread it - because I know what the reaction is going to be. It’s just part of the game, I guess.

‘If you go into a big challenge at the weekend everyone understands it, but if it’s one at the training ground it’s one where it’s more of a mystery to people.’