Portsmouth captain Marlon Pack believes the latest international break came at the wrong time for the club.
Pompey beat Preston North End 3-1 for their first home Championship win of the season before the interval for the November international matches, denying the chance for any momentum to be built.
“It’s really hard as a player with these three international breaks coming so quickly and for us we’d probably have preferred not to have it,” Pack told BBC Radio Solent’s Pompey podcast Who Needs Mourinho.
“But it was just important to get that result and use this week to re-evaluate.”
Portsmouth are second from bottom and three points adrift of safety as they prepare to visit Blackburn Rovers this weekend.
Veteran midfielder Pack also found himself dropped from the side earlier this season, despite being the club captain and he admits that was difficult.
“Regardless of being captain you should want to play and I was very disappointed,” Pack added.
“But I’m quite pragmatic and during that time we’d only won one game so the gaffer had every right to try something to find a winning formula but I want the team to do well even if that comes at my expense sometimes.”