Portsmouth boss reveals picture over intensifying Regan Poole’s comeback as defensive injuries mount for Stoke City and Oxford United
John Mousinho has given Regan Poole the green light to feature in a three-game week as Pompey’s defensive concerns build once again.
But the Blues boss stressed the outstanding defender’s workload will be monitored, as he builds his return from a 10-month lay-off.
Poole has started the past two games and impressed following his comeback from his anterior cruciate ligament injury, picked up at Chesterfield in the FA Cup last year.
Pompey now have issues in the middle of the defence as they go to Stoke on Wednesday night, however, with Conor Shaughnessy suffering a recurrence of his groin injury on Saturday.
With new signing Ibane Bowat’s season over after picking up a serious knee injury shortly after signing for £500,000 from Fulham, it leaves Ryley Towler and Tom McIntyre as the other fit central defensive options - with McIntyre returning from a broken ankle and hamstring issues himself.
When it comes to Poole, Mousinho feels the Wales international is now robust enough to take on a busy three games in eight days before the international break.
Mousinho said: ‘With Regan, we are definitely monitoring his load.
‘Regan plays the game at 100mph, which is the way we want him to play the game.
‘We’ll have to take a view on what that looks like for Wednesday and the weekend, in terms of team selection.
‘We’re not blessed with options at the back - we’ve got Tom McIntyre, Ryley Towler and Regan.
‘As much as we do have to worry about rotating and the physicality of it, we do have to worry about picking up points
‘So it comes down to picking your best players and putting them on the pitch when you can - we’ll see what that looks like on Wednesday.
‘I don’t see why not (he can play three games in eight days).
‘If you look at what we’ve asked Regan to do so far, would I have said he could do 97 minutes against Burnley?Wewere looking to bring him off and do it earlier, but he was absolutely fine physically.
‘Footballers have an incredible capacity to go beyond what we think they might be able to do, so I certainly think three games in eight days is not too much.’