John Mousinho wants to expand Pompey’s team for the Championship.
The need to fill nine-man benches on match days, along with prior lengthy injury lists, has convinced the Blues manager that he requires more playing time next season.
As a result, Mousinho plans to construct a squad of 24-26 players over the summer to attack their long-awaited Championship return.
Pompey’s depth this season was critical in securing the League One title, supporting Rich Hughes’ recruitment strategy.
Mousinho believes that playing numbers should be expanded once more in order to sustain the club’s exciting momentum.
According to Pompey’s head coach, ‘We probably need two more players in the squad compared to this season.’We started with 24, which is probably a good number, but when injuries began to pile up, we had to increase that to 26.
‘It’s comical today, but our injured starting lineup used to be Swanson, Poole, McIntyre, Ogilvie, Lowery, and Morrell, followed by a front four of Devlin, Scully, Anjorin, and Lang.
‘You can’t do that with a 24-man squad and expect to get away with it, which is why we expanded the squad near the end of the year.
‘We ended up with 24 fit pros, with Josh Dockerill returning, bringing the total to 25, but there are still 6-7 injured. We needed to strengthen it with the five in January.Squad size is never a precise science, and we’ll pick up injuries, but for the Championship, it’ll be about 24-26, especially with nine on the bench.
‘This season, we wanted two players in each position and an extra centre-forward, so we had three.
‘We also had goalkeeper cover early on in Toby (Steward); unlike outfield players, they may be recalled on loan.
‘We needed players in every position, but only two outfielders were available for each game: Jack Sparkes and Abu Kamara.’ The Blues have already released ten players from this season’s squad, but only Sean Raggett, Joe Rafferty, Josh Martin, and Lee Evans have played for the first team in League One.
Out-of-contract Joe Morrell and Zak Swanson may also leave, depending on how contract discussions go. Mousinho went on to say, “This season, we needed both right-backs, both left-backs, and the center-halves, but we didn’t need the goalkeeper.”
We had Marlon, Morrell, Lowery, Robertson, and Anjorin out, so we needed cover.
In the center of midfield.Lang sustained an injury, as did Paddy earlier in the season, and Whyte and Scully were also injured; we obviously needed that cover.
‘We were afflicted by injuries this season, and maybe they will be less severe next season. However, you still need that cover in case those things happen – and to maintain team competition.
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