Straight-talking Portsmouth boss fires player warning as he promises Wrexham changes
Portsmouth boss is prepared for team changes against Wrexham after three successive defeats
John Mousinho is promising Pompey changes after the Birmingham debacle - yet has still urged caution.
The Blues head coach is ready to overhaul the side which slumped 4-0 at St Andrew’s amid comfortably their worst display of the season.
Certainly Connor Ogilvie can expect to start against Wrexham on Wednesday night (8pm), having recovered from the illness which ruled him out at the weekend.
Plenty of other places are rightly under scrutiny following three successive defeats and a run of one win in nine fixtures, with the Blues dropping to 20th in the Championship.
And while Mousinho doesn’t want to overlook taking four points from Middlesbrough and Leicester several weeks ago, he cannot ignore Saturday’s failure and the need to urgently address it. Change is most definitely in the air against the Red Dragons.
Portsmouth boss: Are we the worst team all of a sudden? That’s how it feels.
Pompey’s head coach told The News: ‘The natural inclination at the moment is negativity, soul searching and what we need to change. For myself, especially.
‘I go home on a Saturday after a result like that and the weekend is full of thoughts about what we can do differently, what we didn't do well enough. Are we the worst team all of a sudden? That’s how it feels.
‘After you win a game it feels like you’re the best side in the world. When you lose a game - and lose three on the spin - it feels like you’re the worst team in the world. And the worst head coach in the world.
‘There’s far too much of that polarisation in my own head, not just from everybody that’s involved in football. The knee-jerk reaction is right, we’ve got to change everything, we have to change players, we have to change our approach, etc, etc.
‘But then you rewind and say “Okay, there are a lot of things this season which made us a good side with some really settled players and things which we did well”. Obviously, we haven’t been doing them recently.
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‘It's just getting that balance right. What we don't want to do is chuck the baby out with the bathwater. At the same time, we don’t want to bumble on and sleepwalk into another poor performance and another loss.
‘So some things have to change, we’ve got to get the right balance between changing things and not changing things too much.’
Josh Murphy poised to start against Wrexham
Only Josef Bursik escaped criticism from Saturday’s embarrassment and, with Nicolas Schmid still sidelined by injury, he will continue tomorrow night.
With Ogilvie coming back into his left-back spot, Josh Murphy is also poised to start, having made consecutive appearances off the bench following injury.
Conor Chaplin and Colby Bishop, who were dropped at St Andrew’s may also return, while Mousinho will have to decide between Hayden Matthews and Josh Knight to partner Regan Poole in the centre of defence.
‘If that involves changes, then that involves changes’
Mousinho added: ‘There is a temptation to change it when you lose three games on the spin, with one of those a heavy defeat.
‘Then you rewind a couple of weeks ago post-Leicester and the entire narrative around the football club is very, very different.
‘We have put ourselves in a position where that has changed because of the three losses. But we have to really think about what we’re going to do on Wednesday, think about the challenge we are facing - and if that involves changes, then that involves changes.’