‘Take the shackles off’: Freshened Portsmouth offer new impetus as Swansea City and Blackburn Rovers lie in wait
Pompey offered a glimpse of changes John Mousinho is trying to employ at Charlton Athletic - with some promising signs evident at The Valley.
John Mousinho is looking for Pompey to play with a renewed freedom to get their Championship campaign firing.
And the Blues boss was pleased to see clear signs of that approach being employed, before their Charlton Athletic clash was abandoned as a home supporter tragically died.
Pompey switch about approach as well as personnel
Mousinho actioned a Blues shake-up at The Valley on Saturday, as he made six changes to his side for the clash in the capital.
But that approach was as much about invigorating his team’s style of play as much as personnel, with many of the changes enforced.
There was a promising early glimpse into the shift with Pompey starting Saturday’s game on the front foot and putting some decent patterns of play into action, as they moved the ball around with freedom.
John Swift and Marlon Pack were chosen to anchor midfield, with both offering quality on the ball as well as a stack of Championship freedom. Conor Chaplin was also prominent early on as number 10, with Spurs loanee Min-hyeok Yang bright on the right flank and Josh Murphy patrolling the left.
Meanwhile, the dynamic shift of Callum Lang playing as a number nine was evident as he stretched the home side while also offering his trademark energy.
After Pompey’s recent struggles, Mousinho’s message to his players focussed on finding a few of the fundamental traits needed to get the season moving in the right direction once again.
Pompey boss: ‘It was about trying to take shackles off’
That was while he employed changes to get the team playing with a smile once again, which now can be thrown forward to the trip to Swansea City and Blackburn Rovers arriving at Fratton Park next weekend.
Mousinho said: ‘All we asked for was a positive response to last week.
‘I know it sounds a bit cliched, but we just needed to put some pride back into our performances and find that consistency. I saw signs of that, albeit it was for 10 minutes or so.
‘We got back into the changing room after the game was stopped and the players were raring to go.
‘We chatted about how we started the game against a side who’d had a lot of joy here this season. That may not have been recently, but they have a really strong record here
‘We took the game to them, and didn’t sit in and try to kill the game away from home.
‘We wanted to have a slightly different approach, I think that’s about all those things. It was about trying to take the shackles off a bit and enjoying their football.’