Exclusive:Portsmouth 1 QPR 3: Neil Allen's verdict - It's not knee-jerk. The first huge decision already facing John Mousinho
The Blues have conceded six goals in their opening two matches of the 2026-27 - having taken the lead on each occasion
These are early days of course, ludicrously premature to start making sweeping judgements and damning assessments.
Marko Milovanovic’s effectiveness in English football cannot be determined from his first 18 minutes at Fratton Park, likewise Rocco Shein hasn’t instantly cracked it after an encouraging debut at West Ham.
Certainly a matter of eight days and two matches into the 2026-27 campaign isn’t the time to accurately conclude how Pompey’s season will fare.
And yet there was more than one emergency alert intruding upon south-coast tranquility this weekend.
For the alarm bells were also ringing at Fratton Park on Saturday following a second successive defensive capitulation. The truth is, even during this infancy of the season, there is every reason to be worried about the future.
Shell-shocked Fratton Park faithful
This is not knee-jerk territory. Over consecutive Saturdays, John Mousinho’s men have taken the lead against Championship opponents, only to succumb to a 3-1 defeat following a dreadful collapse from a position of strength.
At West Ham it was three goals inside seven minutes, punctuated by half-time. Against QPR it was three goals in 12 minutes, all arriving in front of a shell-shocked Fratton faithful before the interval.
The same back four and the same goalkeeper have now shipped six goals in 19 minutes. It’s not unreasonable to be concerned over the present predicament, irrespective of having just entered the second week of the campaign.
Mousinho has already been presented with his first huge decision of the campaign. Having recruited playing alternatives during the summer, it will be intriguing how he now handles this very early selection dilemma.
Truth be told, this is no makeshift defensive unit, thrown together in an emergency, and neither does it lack Championship experience. Indeed, all remain highly regarded among Blues supporters.
In Terry Devlin and Regan Poole, you have the top-two standings in last term’s The News/Sports Mail’s Player of the Season, having polled 93 per cent of the supporter vote between them.
Zak Swanson enjoyed the best year of his Pompey career, despite being asked to largely fill the left-back spot, while Conor Shaughnessy has long been recognised as the Blues’ best centre-half when spared injury.
As for Nicolas Schmid, he was named 2024-25 Player of the Season by DSA Pompey and the Armed Forces Supporters’ Club, before suffering a post-St Mary’s injury dip in form, albeit remaining first-choice keeper.
Yet the evidence is before our eyes. The past two matches - the only two matches of the campaign - have provided tell-tale signs that all is not well with Mousinho’s favoured available defence.
Question marks over centre-midfield pairing
Admittedly, defending is regarded as a team game, an observation particularly relevant to those two counter-attacking goals inflicted on the Blues by QPR. The performances of Ebou Adams and Rocco Shein as the central midfielders should not escape scrutiny.
However, even with Connor Ogilvie still sidelined by injury, Pompey’s head coach is faced with the necessity of ripping up his back four and goalkeeper to prevent these flashes of weakness becoming a permanent malaise.
Against QPR, Pompey had taken a deserved 15th-minute lead through Devlin, who accepted Adams’ pass from the left, took two touches and then unleashed a 30-yard right-footed shot which emphatically be Pierce Charles.
Then, on 33 minutes, came the game’s turning point - the visitors’ equaliser.
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Kwame Poku’s initial cross from the right was helpfully sliced straight back to him by Adams, only this time it was fed to Harvey Vale, who clipped a clever first-time ball high into the box.
Devlin had carelessly been given the slip by Ilias Chair inside the six-yard box and, with Schmid barely progressing off his line, the attacking midfielder levelled from close range.
Startling collapse for Portsmouth
It would signal a startling collapse from Pompey. On 40 minutes, the visitors launched a quick counter after Adams had lost the ball deep in the opposition half.
Chair eventually pushed through a pass to Koki Saito, whose shot from outside the box took a deflection off both Shein and Devlin, who had both dived in with desperate last-ditch tackles, to wrong-footed Schmid and find the net.
Then it became 3-1 during first-half stoppage time when another break, this time through Amadou Mbengue down Rangers’ right, saw his cross bundled in by the unmarked Chair at the far post, with Poole caught in no man’s land.
There was to be no coming back, despite Pompey ending the match with three at the back, including debutant Benjy Arthur, and centre-forwards Milovanovic and Bishop paired in attack.
Indeed, Brentford loanee Arthur is now viewed as a potential solution, likewise Polish goalkeeper Daniel Bielica. Mousinho undoubtedly has options at his disposal for the trip to Lincoln.
It’s a big call - eight days into the 2026-27 season.