'It wasn't his best game': Portsmouth boss' frank selection admission after thumping Coventry defeat
The Blues’ head coach has explained why the Senegal defender was taken off at half-time
John Mousuinho has given his backing to Madiodio Dia after hauling him off at half-time in Pompey’s hammering at Coventry.
The 22-year-old had been recalled in place of Conor Shaughnessy for the clash against the Championship leaders, representing his sixth appearance since arriving in England.
However, Frank Lampard’s men led 1-0 at the break after Haji Wright capitalised on poor defending to head home Jack Rudoni’s 12th-minute corner.
With Dia struggling against the impressive Sky Blues, Mousinho opted to replace him with Shaughnessy at the interval, only for two goals in four minutes at the start of the second half to herald a 5-1 thumping.
Nonetheless, Mousinho has every sympathy for the Senegalese defender on an evening when rampant Coventry were crowned Championship winners - and Pompey secured safety.
‘It wasn’t his best game’
He told The News: ‘Jojo picked up a booking and it wasn’t his best game, so I felt that was a straightforward one.
‘Anyone watching saw it, I don’t need to go into that, it wasn’t his best game. It’s a young lad playing against some top players and a top centre-forward in Haji Wright.
‘We’ve seen Jojo play very well lately against Middlesbrough and Norwich, maybe Tuesday night was one game too far for him.
‘But no issues, he’ll be back and he’ll be strong for the rest of the season. I haven't got any criticism of the players, I don't think it’s the right time for it.’
£600,000 signing from FK Haugesund
With Shaughnessy having started successive victories against Ipswich and Leicester City, Mousinho wanted to rest the Irishman at the Coventry Building Society Stadium.
With one eye on the trip to Stoke - and considering previous injury issues - it was decided to protect the former Leeds man, a policy which has been in operation since his return from a hip flexor injury.
As a consequence, Dia was handed his fourth start since joining Pompey for around £600,000 on transfer deadline day from Norwegian club FK Haugesund.
His previous outing was a strong showing in the 1-0 victory at promotion-chasing Middlesbrough, aiding a heroic rearguard action from the Blues.
Although, after replacing him at half-time against Coventry, Pompey went on to concede four goals with Shaughnessy alongside Regan Poole in the centre of defence.
But Mousinho absolved the 29-year-old substitute of any criticism following a second half in which Poole registered an own goal, while Nicolas Schmid’s awful mistake gifted Ephron Mason-Clark another.
‘You can’t give a side like that a leg up’
The Blues’ head coach added: ‘The first goal after half-time wasn’t Shocks’ fault and, off the back of that, there was a deluge of Coventry attacks.
‘It was genuinely one of those games when you can’t give a side like that a leg up, like we did with the second goal.
‘The first goal was fine, we reacted really well off the back of that. When you give a side a leg up like that, though, it is almost impossible to play against.
‘Coventry had athleticism all over the pitch, technical quality all over the pitch, tactical quality everywhere - and we couldn’t live with it.
‘My focus had probably wrongly switched over to Oxford at that point.’