'More dangerous': Portsmouth boss offers set-piece hope to frustrated Fratton faithful
The Blues totalled 26 corners from their last two matches - yet failed to score from any of them
John Mousinho is convinced Pompey have become ‘more dangerous’ from set-plays.
Now the head coach is urging his players to capitalise on those promising situations laid on by favoured corner-taker Adrian Segecic.
Frustratingly, Pompey have totalled 26 corners from their last two matches - Wrexham and Hull - without finding the back of the net. In truth, they have also largely barely threatened to.
However, Marlon Pack did score at Millwall following a John Swift left-wing corner, sealing a 3-1 success almost a fortnight ago.
Certainly, from a defensive perspective, set-pieces have been an ongoing headache for the Blues this season, frequently proving to be a weak spot.
At the other end, however, Mousinho believes his team have evolved into more of a goal threat - now they just need to start scoring.
‘I do think we have looked a lot more dangerous’
He told The News: ‘Statistically, we have been more dangerous from set-plays.
‘We scored against Millwall, at Wrexham I’m not sure we created anything clear-cut, but definitely against Hull we had a very good chance in the first half with Regan’s shot. I think it should have been a penalty and a red card in the second half when Ebou was pulled back.
‘Under those circumstances, you come away from that and think actually in the last three games we have looked a lot more threatening from set-plays. Even before we scored at Millwall, we had that free header (Ebou Adams) which the goalkeeper tipped over the bar and then led to us scoring from the next one.
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‘I do think we have looked a lot more dangerous, it’s just about now taking advantage of that because we do get a lot of set-pieces and a lot of corners. It’s about putting them into the back of the net.
‘There were some good deliveries against Hull, they defended very well in general. We must make sure we deliver the ball with pace and attack the ball with a bit of belief, that has probably been the one thing missing.
‘A bit of luck would help’
‘Segs’ delivery has been pretty consistent and has been good. We had John Swift taking them against Millwall and obviously he’s come out since then with the injury he picked up against Wrexham.
‘Segs puts a lot of whip on his deliveries, he really commits to it, and his delivery for the most part of the season has been good. Swanny is definitely an option too from the other side.
‘A bit of luck would help, just making sure we are a bit more ruthless in the box, it’s a bit of an intangible thing. When you have players who want to go and attack the ball and head those good deliveries into the back of the net and show that aggression, it makes a big difference.’
‘We saw that against Arsenal. Time and time again, everyone knows what they are doing, but Arsenal just show that aggression and that intent to really want to score.’
With Conor Shaughnessy available again following a quad injury, it potentially adds height to Pompey’s starting XI at Blackburn on Saturday (12.30pm).
From the side which lined up in last weekend’s 1-0 defeat to Hull, Marlon Pack, Zak Swanson and Connor Ogilvie are the only outfield players who have recorded heights of 6ft-plus.
Certainly the Blues aren’t a physically imposing team at present - but Mousinho is adamant success from corners isn’t solely reliant on height.
‘Not purely about height’
He added: ‘It’s not purely about height, but I think it helps. When I say that, look at what we had in the League One season when we were pretty successful from set-plays.
‘If you have Conor Shaughnessy and Sean Raggett in the side, the opposition’s two biggest players inevitably pick up our two biggest players. It then frees up the likes of Connor Ogilvie, who scored a lot more goals in that League One season, and probably frees Colby up a bit more.
‘At the minute, with the way we are going with the two centre-backs, maybe Connor Ogilvie and Regan are being picked up by two of the big men - and we haven’t got a huge amount of height underneath that.
‘Height does make a bit of a difference, but for me it’s much about aggression, desire to score and getting your head on the end of a cross.’