'Not obsessed with passes. Direct. Aggressive' - Preston North End boss provides insight into his team talk ahead of Portsmouth game

The PNE boss is expecting John Mousinho’s troops to be at their ‘aggressive’ best for the game at Deepdale - and won’t be too obsessed with the number of passes they make.

He also believes the Blues represent ‘dangerous’ opponents on the road, despite their over-reliance on points from home games following their return to the second-tier of English football.

Pompey head to the north west with just two away wins all season - at QPR and Oxford United. A suboptimal 10 of their 42 points to date have come on the road, with the 32 points they’ve collected at Fratton Park providing the foundations for their current position of 17th in the Championship table and a healthy seven-point advantage over the relegation zone.

A third away win of the campaign would actually take the Blues above Preston - a team that also suffers from inconsistency this season - in the table and take them a step closer to safety. It would also make today’s hosts more nervous about their own Championship status as we approach the final run-in to the campaign. Indeed, despite a creditable draw at Sunderland in midweek, the Lilywhites are without a win in six league games, while only two teams in the division - Millwall and Luton - have scored fewer goals this term

Heckingbottom will be fully aware of those permutations and stats and will therefore be ensuring his players are briefed in full on what to expect from their visitors today.

And speaking to the Lancashire Evening Post, the former Leeds and Sheffield United boss provided an insight into what he’ll be relaying to his players in the build-up to today’s important game.

Pompey tactics ‘have worked’

‘Their record at home is far better than their away record, but I’ve certainly seen enough of them now away to know that they're approaching the games in the same way,’ said Heckingbottom.

‘Dangerous, dangerous opponents. The Leeds game shows that; the game away at Sheffield United showed that.

‘Their style of play... not obsessed with passes. That was interesting the other day at Plymouth - they (the Pilgrims) literally surrendered the ball and Portsmouth have gone from the team, I think, who have made the least passes in the league to all of a sudden having 80-per-cent possession.

‘So they're a team who, off the back of the little possession they do have generally, (get) so many crosses come into your box. (They work on) high turnovers, high regains, opportunities and goals from regains in the opposition's half. That's been their big shift in style, I think, after their first half a dozen games.

‘Their home form - they went really direct, real high press and tried to use the atmosphere, the crowd and it's worked.

‘Although the results would argue that they're playing far better at home than away from home, they're still trying to maintain that same aggressive style away from home as well.’

Another back-handed compliment

Heckingbottom’s assessment of Pompey will come as no surprise, with fellow Championship managers expressing the same opinion on Pompey.

It’s a familiar analogy Mousinho isn’t ‘bothered’ about, though.

Speaking to The News last month, he said: ‘I want players to compete, I want them to be tough, I want them to stand up to challenges, I want them to represent what Pompey is about.

‘I want them to represent Fratton Park, I want them to represent the city and the fans. They expect a certain level of commitment and that commitment often looks like an intense, aggressive side.

‘There are some words that opposition managers have said about us and I genuinely take them as a compliment. Talk about intensity, physicality - both things which top-level sides have.

‘There’s no top-level side you see getting bullied on a consistent basis, that’s for sure. Look at some of the top athletes at the top level and they are physical.

‘What they are saying doesn’t really concern me. It’s not something which overly bothers me, the most important for us is to stay in the league - and what I think is the best way to do it is how we’ll go about games.’

For your next Pompey read: Preston North End v Portsmouth team news as 12 out and 3 doubt