'You cannot replace him': John Mousinho on his Portsmouth selection headache in absence of influential ex-Bristol City and Luton man

But the head coach is convinced there are plenty of other excellent options to bolster the Blues’ midfield against Port Vale.

Morrell is presently away on international duty with Wales, who have Euro 2024 qualifiers against Croatia (Saturday) and Latvia (March 28).

Mousinho acknowledges the ex-Luton man has been one of his stand-out performers, reflected by the Welshman having started all 13 Pompey matches he has been available for.

Indeed, only a one-match ban for a dismissal at Fleetwood has prevented Morrell being an ever-present under the head coach.

Still, it opens the door for other contenders as Mousinho seeks victory over Port Vale.

He told The News: ‘You don’t look to go like-for-like, you can’t replace Joe because he’s a unique player, and that would be the same for any player we have in the squad.

‘Joe has been brilliant, he’s started every game for me when available. He’s played every minute too, apart from when I took him off for the last 15 at Accrington to protect his legs and being on a booking.

‘He’s tough to replace, but that’s the whole point of the squad, we have plenty of players that can do that, although maybe they are slightly different roles.

‘Joe has been one of our stand-out performers since I’ve been here. From the very first game against Exeter, he scored and was popping up in positions as that advanced midfielder, which he possibly hadn’t done too much before.

‘He was excellent there and then, when Marlon got injured, we asked him to play a bit of a different role, operating deeper and maybe not quite getting as forward as much, trying to dictate play – and he’s been really good at that too.

‘I know sides have tried to stop Joe Morrell playing in order to stop Pompey playing, and I’d probably do the same if I was an opposition head coach or manager.’

Louis Thompson and Ryan Tunnicliffe occupied the centre of midfield with Morrell in last week’s 2-0 triumph at Bristol Rovers.

It now remains to be seen who joins them against the 16th-place Valiants.

Mousinho added: ‘We have plenty of options. It has been really good over the last week to see Louis come back into the side and Ryan has been excellent.

‘Tom Lowery is still coming back from injury slowly, we saw Jay Mingi the other night at Bournemouth, and they mix in with other options in the middle of the park.

‘Paddy Lane has played there, Michael Jacobs has played there, Reeco can have a stint as an eight sometimes, and not forgetting we’ve had Harry Jewitt-White come off the bench at Peterborough.

‘There are certainly plenty of options, it depends on the balance we want to strike in the middle of the park.’