'A bit short': Portsmouth boss John Mousinho's honest assessment of their Championship start

John Mousinho assessed Pompey’s Championship start and admitted: It could have been better.

The three-week international break marks the end of the first part to the 2026-27 season - and an opportunity to reflect on the Blues’ progress.

Mousinho’s men are presently 19th in the table with eight points from seven matches, positioning them three points clear of Derby in the final relegation spot.

They have also played one game fewer than 22 of the Championship’s clubs, following the postponement of the scheduled trip to Wolves, now rearranged for Tuesday, October 20.

Nonetheless, Pompey have faced criticism over a start which has brought just two wins in eight fixtures in all competitions.

And while Mousinho accepts improvement is required, he also recognises there are plenty of encouraging signs.

‘We’ve probably dropped too many points’

He told The News: ‘It has been okay, it could have been better.

‘I tend to veer on the side of thinking that, when we break everything down, we’ve probably dropped too many points from good positions and decent-enough performances.

‘That’s my overall take. I don’t think we’ve been lucky to get eight points, we are a bit short of where we should be. We didn’t set a target, my target is just to try to win the game.

‘We look like a half-decent side, we’ve controlled games a lot better than maybe we have done in the past two years. That sometimes comes at a cost where the matches haven’t been quite as frantic and quite as erratic, which sometimes helps us at Fratton Park.

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‘But we are controlling games. We probably need to create a bit more in some of those moments and to make sure we aren’t vulnerable on the counter, which I think we’ve done over the past couple of weeks.

‘I think there’s plenty more to come.’

Three matches undefeated heading into international break

Pompey enter the international break off the back of three matches unbeaten, having defeated Cardiff and drawn with Charlton and Blackburn.

In addition, they have registered two clean sheets during that productive period, although threw away the chance of a victory on Saturday due to glaring defensive errors.

Focus is now on a return to action on October 11, with a trip to Southampton in the south-coast derby.

That fixture kicks off a tough second period of fixtures, also containing Sheffield United, Norwich, Wolves, Millwall, Burnley and league leaders Swansea.

Mousinho added: ‘We've looked like a half-decent side and there’s loads more (players) to come back into the team, which is really positive from my standpoint.

‘If you look at the likes of Marko, Murph and Keshi coming back, just to name three off the top of my head, then we’ll get stronger.’

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