Portsmouth Chief Responds To Criticism Over Signing ‘Injury-Prone’ Players

And the sporting director made no apologies for the Blues training with intensity, as he defended the fitness records of the club’s 15 summer signings.

Hughes has responded to supporters looking at the factors behind Pompey suffering a long line of issues over an extended period across the League One title win and Championship return.

The volume of serious injuries last season was unprecedented with Alex Robertson (hamstring), Tom McIntyre (broken ankle), Tino Anjorin (hamstring), Joe Morrell (knee), Regan Poole (knee), Terry Devlin (shoulder) and Josh Dockerill (knee) all affected.

That prompted an investigation by the club, though there has been little respite this season with Colby Bishop (heart surgery) out until the new year and Ibane Bowat (knee) seeing his season over before kicking a ball following a £500,000 arrival from Fulham.

Pompey have seen training ground injuries to the likes of Robertson, Kusini Yengi, McIntyre and Jacob Farrell, with Mousinho admitting he dreads having to relay news of issues taking place when not witnessed by supporters.

Meanwhile, Yengi and Conor Shaughnessy have unusually both been sideined in pre-match warm-ups at Fratton Park in recent weeks.

Some fans have suggested Pompey are bringing in ‘injury-prone’ players and aren’t doing homework over the fitness records of signings, with Hughes highlighting that doesn’t add up when assessing this summer’s recruits.

And the sporting director believes picking up issues through contact injuries in training is a necessary consequence of being ready for the rigours of the Championship.

Speaking recently at the Tony Goodall Fans’ Conference, Hughes said: ‘We analyse everything carefully. Of the 15 players we signed, four have suffered injuries. Mark O’Mahony and Jacob Farrell were both contact injuries.

‘The Championship is a tough, physical division, and so it’s important that we train as we want to play – that means intense training sessions, which will naturally lead to more contact injuries.

‘Ibane Bowat is the really disappointing one, but we completed a thorough medical, and he played 32 out of 34 games for his club last year – sometimes you just get unlucky.

‘It can always feel like your club is disproportionately affected, but injuries do impact other clubs too.

‘I watched Luton against Plymouth – they appeared to have 4 players go off injured.

‘When we had three of our four centre backs out – plus Jacob Farrell, which meant Connor Ogilvie couldn’t slot in and play there – that perhaps made our injury situation feel worse than it was.

‘We’re moving towards the back end of our injuries now, and the strength of the team is improving.’