Mousinho spinning plates as tough games approach

The Championship is relentless. Every player and manager will tell you that and in many ways they are right.

Portsmouth's schedule so far though hasn't been.

The strange Wolves postponement means they've had just one midweek match so far. Now they have three weeks off with only four players likely to be away on international duty.

Pompey have used 28 players already this season. Only three players have started each league game and only seven have completed 90 minutes more than once in the Championship.

Part of that is down to John Mousinho having more high-quality options from the bench than previous years. He's always been keen to make the most of the five substitutes. But many players have been suffering from or carrying injuries or having fitness concerns.

New signings Marko Milovanovic, Jayden Meghoma and Tyrese Shade have all arrived needing to build up their fitness levels. Shade and Milovanovic's training was limited due to their likely transfers. Milovanovic has since picked up a minor injury.

Abu Kamara was also used sparingly to start with.

Ryan Kavuma-McQueen is only 17 so it's sensible to manage his minutes. He's also playing with a broken hand.

Injuries will always happen but for three wingers in Josh Murphy, Keshi Anderson and now Luke Brooke-Smith to all go down is unfortunate.

Marlon Pack missed the start of the season. Regan Poole has had a hamstring issue. Meanwhile, Zak Swanson and Ebou Adams both had injuries at the end of last season that dragged into summer.

Conor Shaughnessy was back somewhere near his best last weekend but he's missed the only midweek match so far this season, with Mousinho currently non-committal on whether he will play more than once a week. His past two seasons have been injury hampered.

Injuries will always affect sides. They are not a unique problem to Portsmouth. But you would hope most of those available would be able to play 90 minutes by the end of September.

It's felt like Mousinho has been spinning plates so far, albeit the improved squad depth makes that slightly easier.

Mousinho feels a three-week break at this stage of the season isn't helpful. The schedule is tough after the break.

The South Coast derby starts a run of five matches in 14 days and eight in 28 days. There's some tough fixtures in there.

Mousinho will need more players to be able to play the full 90 minutes consistently. Spinning the plates in that period will be tough enough as it is.

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