'I'd hate to play against him': Portsmouth boss salutes talismanic presence of Queens Park Rangers hero
By John Mousinho’s own admission, he would hate to play against him.
So it’s entirely understandable why he regards Callum Lang as a ‘huge’ performer and a crucial first-team selection.
Despite having only returned to training last week following a three game lay-off, the former Wigan man was thrown straight back into Pompey’s starting XI at QPR on Saturday.
Lang responded with a man-of-the-match display to inspire the Blues to a first win of the season, while registering his fourth of the campaign.
The attacker’s second-half penalty was the match winner in the 2-1 success, while in the first half he’d conjured up an assist for Freddie Potts.
And afterwards Mousinho was singing the 26-year-old’s praises.
Pompey’s head coach told The News: ‘Callum was back training with us on Wednesday and Thursday.
‘We actually left him out of a couple of sessions to make sure we got him back in at the right time, before reintroducing him this week.
‘We wanted to get him back into the side. He had scored three league goals prior to Saturday and showed a huge amount of energy. The two goals you saw at QPR summed Callum up.
‘The first one when he showed all that energy to force that mistake in the right-hand channel, then the coolness and the calmness considering we missed the penalty last week.
‘He’s the sort of player I would hate to play against back in the day. It’s the fact he has always scored goals, although his record with Wigan in the Championship the second time they went up probably isn’t as good as it is now.
‘The four goals he currently has for us from not a huge amount of games is brilliant.’
Lang made an instant Fratton Park impact after arriving from Wigan in January, netting off the bench at Oxford United on his debut.
He subsequently scored four goals in 12 appearances to help fire the Blues to the League One time - and secure a Championship return.
He added: ‘Callum had a massive impact when he came in in January.
‘Just to have a player with the ability and willingness to run and also put the back into the net is huge for us.’