'I'm concerned': Portsmouth boss' frank admission over Blues defence after awful start to season
The same Blues back four and goalkeeper have conceded six goals in two matches so far this season
John Mousinho admits he is ‘concerned’ over Pompey’s defence after another alarming display.
Exactly the same back four and goalkeeper subsequently leaked three goals in 12 minutes in Saturday’s immensely frustrating loss to QPR, also by exactly the same scoreline.
Admittedly it’s still early in the season, yet already there are huge worries over Pompey defensively and, intriguingly, Regan Poole was replaced by newcomer Benjy Arthur in the 72nd minute.
And Mousinho must swiftly come up with a solution ahead of next Saturday’s trip to Lincoln.
‘Defensively we were very poor’
‘With Benjy now here, it doesn’t affect the way that we’re going to play at the back or the way I’m going to coach.
He told The News: ‘Yes, I’m concerned. We’ve conceded six times in two games now.
‘There’s always going to be a bit of quality that the opposition have, but, from my standpoint, the way we conceded the goals was not good.
‘Maybe with the second one we give possession away and there’s a very, very quick counter-attack, but I still think we manage to get bodies back and we don’t manage to block the shot. For the other two, I just think defensively we were very poor.
‘With Benjy now here, it doesn’t affect the way that we’re going to play at the back or the way I’m going to coach.
‘Obviously we have competition in a lot of areas now and that (the defence) is a decision I will have to take over the week or so.
‘I don’t know how Regan played in the moment, we brought him off because we changed shape. I’ll have a proper look back at the game and assess performances.
‘I’m not sure anybody can really turn around - apart from a couple of the substitutes who did very well and had a good impact - and say they gave themselves enough credit in the bank.’
Arthur, who has joined the Blues on a season-long loan from Brentford, is a right-sided centre-half who ended last season with Celtic.
His second-half introduction saw Pompey change to a back three, with Conor Shaughnessy and Terry Devlin completing a new-look defence as the hosts chased the game.
And for the Fratton faithful it was a first glimpse of Arthur, who signed a new six-year deal with Brentford in July 2025.
‘Benjy made his debut for us, playing slightly out of position’
Mousinho added: ‘Benjy made his debut for us, playing slightly out of position, and I was pleased to get him on the pitch. I think there’s loads more to come from him.
‘He was on the left side of a back three, we wanted to change shape to get Marko and Colby on the pitch and to try to get a bit more pressure on QPR.
‘QPR had some really good spells of possession in the second half, so we wanted to do that with keeping attacking players on the pitch.’