The Portsmouth mentality flaw boss John Mousinho is worried Leicester, Oxford and West Brom could benefit from
Pompey’s hopes of remaining in the Championship were dented by Hull on Saturday, despite looking the better side
John Mousinho said his players’ ability to shoot themselves in the foot on matchdays is the only thing capable of stopping them in their tracks between now and the end of the season.
The Blues boss believes the only team with the capabilities to beat Pompey between now and May 2 is themselves!
It happened on Saturday when the Fratton Park outfit dominated possession against Hull and registered 21 shots, only to be undone by an Adrian Segecic error that gifted the visitors the only goal of the game from one of only two shots they had on Pompey’s goal.
And it’s a mentality issue Mousinho is keen to address before it comes too late.
An approach Pompey cannot afford to take
Saturday’s defeat to Hull came hot on the heels of the midweek loss at Wrexham.
They’re consecutive beatings that leave the Blues firmly in the relegation mix and just five points above the drop zone in 19th.
They’ve also helped dampen the mood somewhat around Fratton Park, especially after successive away wins at Charlton and Millwall had instilled a lot more confidence in the team.
That confidence is a lot more fragile again and probably only remains in tact by the general performances Pompey have been displaying since the turn of the year. There’s definitely a common consensus that Mousinho’s side deserve more than the 14 points they’ve accummulated from their 10 league games played so far in 2026.
Mousinho recognises that, too. However, he’s also fully aware that his side haven’t helped themselves either.
Indeed, he’s come to the conclusion that this current Blues team are a different side when they have their backs against the wall, compared to when the pressure is off them. And that’s an approach they can ill-afford to adopt when there’s still so much at stake at the bottom of the Championship table.
Pompey shooting themselves in the foot
The game against premotion-chasing Hull looked too easy for Pompey at times, as the hosts controlled the game and made the Tigers look second best without actually finding the back of the net.
However, it was clearly a tactic Hull boss Sergej Jakirović had adopted for his side’s visit to Fratton Park, and it was a game plan that worked as they scored on the counterattack in the second half, albeit with a large chunk of help from Segecic.
Mousinho was asked afterwards whether his side had to get used to teams coming to PO4 with the intent of snatching something on the break - as what also happened against Sheffield United last month.
In response, the Blues boss told BBC Solent: ‘I think it's a nice compliment and my take to the boys in there is, it's completely up to us what we want to do this season.
‘Between now and the next international break we've got four games. My genuine opinion is the only team that's going to be able to beat us is ourselves.
‘I think we're, at times, shooting ourselves in the foot. When the pressure is really on and I think we have to win a game, I think that we look like a slightly different outfit., which is something I've really got to address in terms of that mentality.
‘It happened last year, we beat Leeds here last year and went 10 points clear. We lost the next two and all of a sudden it was four points going into the fourth international break. We have to be better at that.
‘We're very good I think when our backs are against them all and we're scrapping against it. The second we've got a cushion we've just come off it slightly.’
Pompey’s next four games before the international break are against Blackburn (A), Swansea (H), Derby (H) and QPR (A).
On their return to action, with Blues have seven Championship fixtures remaining against Norwich (A), Oxford (H), Middlesbrough (A), Leicester (H), Coventry (A), Stoke (A) and Birmingham (H).
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