Portsmouth boss pledges 'more departures' after FA Cup embarrassment exposes shortcomings
John Mousinho has vowed there will be more Pompey departures following the exit of Elias Sorensen.
The Danish striker was last week sold to Valerenga following an unsuccessful five-month Fratton Park stay in which he struggled to live up to Championship expectations.
Regardless, Pompey’s squad deficiencies continue in his absence, with the abject FA Cup defeat at Wycombe on Friday evening.
John Mousinho made nine changes for the Adams Park trip as he rotated his players, with Colby Bishop, Josh Murphy and Callum Lang rested from the starting XI.
However, the outcome was a dreadful display from the Blues’ much-changed team as their League One hosts cruised to a 2-0 success.
And in the aftermath of Sorensen’s short stay, Pompey’s head coach is still looking to offload others ahead of the transfer window’s February 3 deadline.
He told The News: ‘We’ve known we want to strengthen in January, hence we have brought in a couple of players, but I just don't think there is any excuse for the players on the pitch to produce what they produced.
‘We’ve got a few more weeks in the transfer window and there will be more departures, there will have to be.
‘We are going to have to free up that space in the squad, so that is a likely scenario.
‘We are also looking to strengthen. I don’t know how many, I'm not sure in terms of numbers, that will depend on the transfer window to move forward and who becomes available.
‘There’s more to come, that’s the way to put it.’
Encouragingly, Rob Atkinson and Isaac Hayden both arrived on loan during the opening 10 days of the January window.
Yet departures are also required - in addition to Tom Lowery and Ben Stevenson, who have long been surplus to requirements.
Sammy Silvera is an obvious one as the Blues finalise his return to Middlesbrough, with the season-long arrangement to be cancelled halfway through.
The Australian has been left out of Pompey’s last two squads as details are thrashed out, with that forthcoming exit opening up one place in the Football League 25-man squad.
Will Norris is another earmarked to leave, although that situation may have to be revisited should Jordan Archer’s quad injury prove to be a lengthy absence.
The Blues must decide whether Harvey Blair, Abdoulaye Kamara, Owen Moxon and Tom McIntyre will benefit from loans away from Fratton Park to give them first-team minutes.
Although in the cases of Blair and Kamara, they are classed as under-21 players and aren’t counted in the 25-man squad anyway. In addition, Blair is still sidelined with a knee injury.
Finally, there was plenty of loan interest in Ryley Towler before his sudden return to Mousinho’s starting line-up last month.
The 22-year-old has since featured in Pompey’s last six matches, starting five of them, and has impressed. It remains to be seen whether the Blues now decide to keep him around the first-team.