Portsmouth boss’ honest call over £3m star striker’s form ahead of Norwich City showdown
The man known is Marezi is building his return, with John Mousinho assessing his current levels and laying down a challenge to the UD Almeria capture.
Marko Milovanović is still a distance from hitting his best Pompey form.
And the Blues’ star summer signing is presently building towards his top level, two games into his return from an injury lay-off.
Mousinho on Milovanović : ‘We now need to get him consistently on the football pitch’
But John Mousinho is convinced the £3m summer capture from UD Almeria will relish the physical challenges which lie in wait for the big Serb in the Championship.
Milovanović is now eight games into Fratton stay, with high hopes over what the 23-year-old can achieve this term.
Three of those outings have come as starts, with the man known as Marezi seeing his campaign stalled with a five-week calf injury lay-off.
The striker was hitting his best form before that with a rampant showing against Cardiff City, with Mousinho now looking for a clear run of fitness from his No9.
He said: ‘I think Marko was really good against Sheffield United.
‘I don’t think he was quite at those Cardiff levels, but in the build-up to the Cardiff game he’d had a number of substitute appearances.
‘So it’s been a very different build-up to where he is now, where he was out against Cardiff and we’ve had to nurse him back and eventually get him back out against Southampton and then Sheffield United.
‘I think he’s a really good player. His hold-up play is excellent, he’s physical but he’s also very mobile.
‘The only half-criticism so far is he’s not been able to stay fit, but he’s scored goals and he’s looked a threat.
‘We now need to get him consistently on the football pitch and that’s going to be the big thing now with Marco, because he will score goals if he does that.
‘He can link and he can play and, like Colby, he does a lot of things for the other players on the pitch.’
Milovanović was given a taste of the physical battles he can expect this season, as he went up against Japhet Tangagna and Liam Kitching under the Fratton lights on Wednesday night.
Mousinho is confident his player is going to relish similar tussles, as he looks to make his mark in England this season.
He added: ‘I thought you could see early on on Wednesday, Tanganga went up and was getting hold of Marko. Kitching was then trying to sweep up underneath.
‘That’s a great example, Tanganga went to Sheffield United for a huge transfer fee and Kitching won the league with Coventry, is a brilliant player and is unlucky not to be playing in the Premier League this year.
‘Those type of centre-halves are out there and McConville, Cordoba or Darling if he plays will be exactly the same against Norwich.
‘If you look at the level of contact allowed on Colby over the years, Marco is not going to get much.
‘But I think he will be absolutely fine with that. He relishes the contact and the physical side of the game. From what I’ve seen so far that will be no problem.’