'Our big focus': Portsmouth boss details selection plans for injury-hampered Fratton favourite
The centre-half has started 21 league matches since scoring the goal which saw the Blues crowned League One champions
John Mousinho has accepted that Conor Shaughnessy’s injury record dictates he ‘may have to be treated differently’.
Although Pompey’s head coach has emphatically delivered his backing to the classy Irishman - and is adamant there remains a place in his starting XI for him.
Disappointingly, Shaughnessy has started just 19 league games over the last two seasons following the Blues’ return to the Championship.
Losing a player of such high calibre for lengthy periods represents a huge blow to the Blues, who are in the market for another centre-half this summer after missing out on Luke Graham.
Nonetheless, irrespective of the 30-year-old’s wretched injury record over the last two seasons, Mousinho still has every faith in Shaughnessy.
‘No single player is going to be available for all 46 league games’
Pompey’s head coach told The News: ‘Shocks is fully fit, firing and ready to go, but no single player is going to be available for all 46 league games.
‘Look at Regan Poole, he had an exceptional injury record before he came to us and then, a couple of months into his Pompey career, tore his ACL. There’s nothing you can do about it a lot of the time.
‘Our big focus with Shocks is just to try to keep him as fit as possible, but in the mix of having centre-halves in the building. Cover is always a consideration when you have players who have been out injured for long periods.
‘Whenever he has been available, I’ve put Shocks back in the side. We managed him towards the back end of last year with some starts and coming out for those Saturday-Tuesday games and being really flexible with that. We have to do the same this pre-season.
‘Maybe we have to treat him differently this season? Towards the back end of the season, we did handle him a bit differently.
‘Before this international break, we have a few Saturday-Tuesday games. I think that’s probably something to manage around Shocks, like we did towards the back end of last year.’
Well-stocked for centre-halves at Fratton Park
Since the Irishman’s iconic winner against Barnsley in April 2024, he has started just 21 league games in little more than two years.
He ended last season on the substitutes’ bench as a precautionary measure, having returned to action from a quad injury in March, following a nine-game absence.
Certainly the Blues are well-stocked for centre-halves at present with six on their books, although they are prepared to move on Ibane Bowat and Josh Knight’s future is uncertain.
Meanwhile, the long-running pursuit of Graham ended in frustration, with the Dundee defender instead opting to join Stoke, despite the Blues also having a transfer fee accepted by the Scottish club.
‘We have tried to ease him back in’
Mousinho added: ‘The only thing I would say is that when Shocks had his first injury last year, it was off the back of an international break where he had played consistently going into that.
‘He then played against Southampton (September 2025), we had a full week between Southampton and Sheffield Wednesday, and unfortunately broke down again against Sheffield Wednesday.
‘When we brought him back in the New Year, it was a very, very slow incremental reintroduction back into football. He did 27 minutes and then did another 62, then another 62.
‘We looked to play the full 90 minutes against Sheffield Wednesday (January 2026) and unfortunately he broke down again. So we have tried to ease him back.’