'No stone unturned': Andy Cullen on Portsmouth attempts to end awful injury record - and why it's still happening

Since the summer of 2023, the Blues have frustratingly been blighted by a seemingly never-ending procession of injuries, particularly long-term casualties.

Ibane Bowat has already been ruled out for the season without kicking a ball, while former player Joe Morrell still hasn’t played since sustaining sustaining a knee issue on Blues duty at Oxford United in January.

Meanwhile, in successive home matches last month, the Blues lost Kusini Yengi and then Conor Shaughnessy during warm-ups on the Fratton Park pitch ahead of kick-off.

It’s deeply concerning, particularly the calibre of players currently sidelined, with the club yet to win a match this season.

Cullen has reassured the Pompey faithful that the club are exploring methods to ease the injury list, although admits they will ‘never stop it’.

The Blues’ chief executive told The News: ‘It’s disappointing that we continue to suffer injuries, but actually if you look at other clubs there are parallels as well.

‘We tend to get into our Pompey bubble, which is quite right, but talking to other clubs and seeing other things, everybody else is also suffering.

‘We have upped to a really, really physical league, moved up a division, with the intensity of play going up as well. I am absolutely clear you have to train in the way you need to play, so you might get more contact injuries.

‘Although we aren’t the only ones that have been suffering and I think that shows the need to have your numbers and possess competition for each place.

‘You can never stop it, you are always going to have injuries, it’s a fact of life in the game, it's common across every football club. All you can do is analyse the different circumstances and whether there is anything you could have done differently.

‘In a lot of cases there may not be. In some cases you can say we could improve there, we can improve there, and that’s where the learning comes in. We continue to do that, we won’t leave any stone unturned.

‘Let’s hope we are at the back end of injuries now, we have players starting to come back and overall an improvement on squad strength, but nonetheless we continue to analyse it all.

‘If there's anything we can do differently, anything we can do better, I know our staff are all over it. While we can also tap into insights from external parties looking at these issues across the game.

‘We look all the time. You never stop, you never stop trying to improve.’

In addition to Colby Bishop, the Blues’ injury list contains Callum Lang, Shaughnessy, Yengi, Bowat and Jacob Farrell.

Following the international break, that could well have eased when John Mousinho next addresses the local media on Wednesday afternoon ahead of the weekend trip to QPR.

Cullen added: ‘Injuries could be down to the increase in intensity of the game, which is different from a few years ago in the way we set up to play now, with a much higher press. Also the changes to the rules of the game, trying to speed it up, as well as eliminating things like time wasting.

‘We are now seeing games typically not lasting for 90-96 minutes as they might have done previously. Instead, across those halves, it is typically 112-113 minutes now, so that’s another 10 per cent of time.

‘We need to understand the impact across the game. We are also seeing in the higher echelons of the game, the top international players, coming out and being concerned with the number of competitions, whether that be club level or internationally.

‘We tend to look at it through our own lens, which is natural, but it’s about broadening the scope and looking beyond it all.’