He's back: Portsmouth boss lifts lid on two-and-a-half month absence of player the Fratton faithful wanted to see
It had been approaching two-and-a-half months since the Fratton faithful last glimpsed Abdoulaye Kamara in action.
Yet John Mousinho is convinced the 20-year-old midfielder has returned from that lengthy absence as an improved player.
Kamara’s 89th-minute entry off the bench in Tuesday night’s goalless draw against Norwich represented his first outing since the thumping at Stoke on October 2.
Although named among the substitutes for the subsequent nine matches, the summer signing from Borussia Dortmund had remained unused, much to the fans’ bewilderment.
However, he was back on the pitch for the Canaries’ visit - and Mousinho is convinced that time away from the public glare has boosted Kamara’s game.
He told The News: ‘Abs has trained really well over the past two or three weeks. My big thing for him is that when we want to stick you on in the Championship, let’s make sure we know what you are going to do.
‘We know you are reliable, we know we can trust you, and hopefully he saw against Norwich that, when we needed to make the change.
‘We were thinking about taking off Owen earlier to protect his legs, but as soon as we decided to make it, Abs came on and made an impact.
‘I think he has improved, the football club hasn’t seen that because of the fact he hasn’t spent a minute on the pitch since Stoke, but there was a time when we were bringing him on when we were losing games to give us a bit of a spark.
‘We wanted to make sure he has that defensive reliability, particularly with the way we press, and we have seen that with Abs in training. He’s just got to keep on top of himself.
‘He should be happy to come on the pitch on Tuesday night, he should be unhappy that it wasn’t for long and unhappy he’s not starting. That’s what we want from the lads - and I think he’s in a good spot.’
Although the likelihood is Andre Dozzell will leapfrog above both in terms of starting selection for Friday’s trip to Derby (8pm), having served a one-match suspension.
Mousinho added: ‘Abs has improved loads already this season, I think quite a few of our players have.
‘We need players to improve, we need players to improve quickly and adjust to the level, we speak about that a lot. It’s a big, big step up and we have seen that.
‘We have learnt that the hard way a lot of times and the more we can put in performances like Norwich, the better for those lads and they will improve a lot more.’