Portsmouth's Championship Struggles: Juggling Injuries and Squad Depth

The Championship never lets up. Managers and players repeat it so often it’s almost a cliché – but for Portsmouth, this season has bent that rule.

Because of the odd postponement against Wolves, Pompey have barely felt the usual grind. Just one midweek league game so far. Now comes something even stranger: three weeks without a league fixture, with only four players expected to be away on international duty.

On paper, that sounds like a blessing. In reality, it underlines how much plate-spinning John Mousinho has already been doing.

A squad used, but not yet hardened

Portsmouth have used 28 players in the league already. That’s a huge churn for this stage of the season. Only three of them have started every Championship match. Just seven have managed to complete 90 minutes more than once.

That tells its own story.

Part of it is tactical. Mousinho has far more high-quality options than in previous years and he has never been shy about using his full bench, especially with five substitutes at his disposal. But the rotation isn’t just about choice. It’s been forced by injuries, niggles and players still building up to proper match sharpness.

New arrivals Marko Milovanovic, Jayden Meghoma and Tyrese Shade all came in short of full fitness. Shade and Milovanovic had their training disrupted as their moves edged closer, and Milovanovic has since picked up a minor injury. Abu Kamara was eased in carefully as well.

Then there’s the youth factor. Ryan Kavuma-McQueen is only 17. Managing his minutes isn’t just sensible, it’s essential – and he’s doing it while playing with a broken hand.

Wingers wiped out, leaders patched up

Injuries happen to every club, but the way they’ve clustered out wide for Portsmouth has been brutal. Three wingers – Josh Murphy, Keshi Anderson and now Luke Brooke-Smith – have all gone down. That strips Mousinho of natural width and forces yet more reshuffling.

Elsewhere, key figures have been in and out. Marlon Pack missed the start of the campaign. Regan Poole has been dealing with a hamstring issue. Zak Swanson and Ebou Adams both carried injuries from the end of last season into the summer, slowing their ramp-up.

Conor Shaughnessy, so important at the back, looked close to his best again last weekend. But he sat out the only midweek game of the season so far. Mousinho has been non-committal on whether the defender can handle playing more than once a week, and with his last two seasons disrupted by injuries, the caution is understandable.

This isn’t a unique crisis. Every Championship squad takes its turn in the treatment room. Yet by the end of September, Mousinho will expect the majority of his available players to be capable of lasting the full 90 minutes, week after week. That’s the standard this division demands.

For now, it’s felt like he’s been juggling fitness, form and availability, helped only by the fact that this is a deeper, stronger group than he’s had before.

An awkward break before a brutal run

You’d think three weeks off might suit a squad trying to get bodies right. Mousinho doesn’t see it that way. At this stage of the season, he believes the pause is unhelpful. Rhythm matters. So does the gradual build of minutes and intensity.

And waiting on the other side is a fixture list that bites.

The South Coast derby is the spark that lights a punishing spell: five matches in 14 days, eight in 28. High stakes, high tempo, and little room to breathe. There are some heavy-duty tests in that run, the kind that expose any lingering fitness issues or lack of cohesion.

Mousinho will need more players not just available, but robust enough to go the distance regularly. The luxury of gentle rotation will disappear. Spinning plates in that period won’t just be tricky – it might define how far this Portsmouth side can really go in the Championship’s unforgiving grind.