Portsmouth boss John Mousinho addresses attacking concerns after shooting blanks at Burnley
The Blues have scored 17 goals in 14 games in all competitions this season
John Mousinho remains unconcerned over Pompey’s lack of goal threat at struggling Burnley - but he acknowledges attacking improvements are required.
Marlon Pack’s disallowed goal was the Blues’ only meaningful attempt on goal in Saturday’s 0-0 draw at Turf Moor.
Despite positioned an encouraging 11th in the Championship table, Pompey have managed just 17 goals in 14 games in all competitions this season.
Against the Clarets, Adrian Segecic was substituted at half-time, while Marko Milovanovic and Abu Kamara also struggled as defenders shone, with Regan Poole and Madiodio Dia once again outstanding.
Certainly the Blues are making great strides this term, moving away from being relegation candidates - but Mousinho admits their attacking game still requires improvement.
‘If it’s a trend, then there’s something to be concerned about’
He told The News: ‘No shots didn’t concern me. If it had been an ongoing trend I would be concerned, we just probably had too many players that weren't quite at their best.
‘On another day, the chance where Abu cuts in and has a good opportunity to put his foot through it, it goes in.
‘We had Abs three years ago in League One, he pretty much put it into the top corner every single time. It’s just those little moments we want to improve on.
‘If it’s a trend where it keeps happening, then there’s something to be concerned about, although, as we evolve, we do need to improve on the attacking side of our game.
‘Naturally when we’re at home, there’s probably a bit more momentum, we have a bit more freedom to play.
‘Away from home, with our attacking force at Burnley, the ball broke down too many times due to quality in certain moments. It wasn’t a case of we didn’t have the ability to create anything.
‘Sometimes over the past couple of years in the Championship, we have gone away from home and failed to get any foothold in the game. That wasn’t the case on Saturday, particularly in the second half.
‘But we didn’t create enough, it was frustrating, especially in the second half when we got into much better positions. If you look at some of the opportunities in areas we got into, we didn’t convert anything, whether it was a wayward pass or not.
‘When Burnley got into the final third, they looked effective and created a couple of good opportunities.’
Regan Poole praise
Pompey had to dig in defensively for long spells on Saturday, yet once again stood firm, particularly the in-form Poole, who was singled out for praise by Mousinho afterwards.
And the Blues boss admits they ‘got away with one’, having left Turf Moor with a point rather than a defeat.
He added: ‘We were okay in defence, although we’ve had better defensive performances and maybe not kept clean sheets.
‘One of my frustrations, particularly in the first half, is I didn’t think Burnley were cutting through us, but then they’d have a throw-in in the right-hand corner and all of a sudden ended up with a chance because we weren’t tracking runners, we weren’t winning challenges, we weren’t picking up second balls.
‘I thought that changed in the second half, we were a lot better at doing that and the momentum of the game shifted. We were okay defensively, but, on the balance of it, we have gotten away with one.’