Gaffer For A Day: Sensational John Mousinho is Portsmouth's biggest asset - he must stay
Gaffer For A Day Stuart Wetherly, aged 48 from Cheam, assesses Pompey’s 1-1 draw with Birmingham...
Firstly, how do you view the John Mousinho situation?
He’s the biggest asset we’ve got at Pompey, he has done a sensational job since he’s taken over. Clearly he was a very left-field pick, but we should give more credit to Rich Hughes and Andy Cullen for that, they get a lot of stick and a lot of it unnecessarily.
Apart from Harry Redknapp, he’s our best manager in the time I have been supporting Pompey. Fair play to him, he has been quite vocal putting in some good challenges on the owners.
Aside from when he’s talking about who is fit and available, Mousinho tells it like it is. He has made some mistakes this season, probably more than his other years, and there are certain things I don’t always agree with, such as some of the substitutions and playing Ebou Adams at 10.
But, generally speaking, he is a fantastic manager. Young, clearly very bright, he seems to learn and is getting better. It would be an enormous blow if he was to go.
Equally, I wouldn't necessarily begrudge him. If someone offers to double or triple his money and hand over a bigger playing budget and better infrastructure, it’s quite hard to expect him to turn it down.
What do you make of Pompey’s performance?
It was always a bit of a nothing game and there were a few ropey moments when we gave away some silly balls which could have been punished, but I actually thought we played some decent stuff.
I was looking at that starting XI and thinking how many of those players are going to be starting the first game of next season. Connor Ogilvie, Andre Dozzell if he had stayed and Adrian Segecic - so that’s three out of 11.
Despite that, I thought we played pretty well against a good team which finished in the Championship’s top 10 and were pretty near full strength.
The game was a bit reflective of a lot of our season. We played some nice stuff, but didn’t create all that many openings.
Who impressed you?
Adrian Segecic was my man of the match. Not only a great goal but he just seems to have a new confidence about him, he has really stepped up over the last few weeks.
Suddenly he’s playing with his chest out, making things happen. It’s that eye for goal, particularly in a team which has struggled to score all season. The fans have the belief he’s going to put it away, probably more than anyone else in the team.
You sense he can now be the main man for us.
What are your thoughts on Andre Dozzell leaving?
It’s sad, he has made a big difference, you look at him coming back from injury at Norwich and putting the ball in for that late equaliser.
Dozzell has never let us down, is 7/10 pretty much every week and he will be a difficult player to replace. He’s unshowy, he has a great engine, nice feet, he’s had moments where he shows a bit of skill, he’s very dependable, has a good technique, can get around the pitch and break up play.
He’s definitely a loss. Ideally, you’d like to think he’s not a nailed-on starter, but a great guy to have in the squad.
We are not so blessed with Championship-proven players and losing him feels a bit unfortunate.
Ben Killip - 7
Jordan Williams - 7
Hayden Matthews - 8
Ibane Bowat - 7
Connor Ogilvie - 6 (Regan Poole - 7)
Andre Dozzell - 7
Luke Le Roux - 7
Adrian Segecic - 8 - MOM
John Swift - 5 (Conor Chaplin - 8)
Milli Alli - 5
Jacob Brown - 5