‘We’re Portsmouth as well’: John Mousinho’s remarkably honest message to faithful amid Championship frustration
A remarkably honest and revealing insight from the Pompey boss amid some frustration and unrest at Championship results.
John Mousinho is adamant Championship improvement is coming for Pompey as he lifted the lid on his Fratton emotional rollercoaster.
The Blues boss has shone a light on the perspective he battles to find amid his team’s see-sawing second-tier fortunes. And Mousinho has offered a revealing insight into his emotions following the back-to-back home defeats, as his side aim to put those losses to bed at Birmingham City.
Mousinho: ‘We’re the biggest Pompey fans as well’
Those results brought a degree of unrest from some supporters, with it now one win in eight and that run seeing some frustration over selection issues and a lack of goal threat.
Mousinho has told how those feelings are echoed by himself and his coaching team, as he looks to maintain balance over where things stand for Pompey.
He said: ‘When we lose games we sit in the office afterwards and think we’re the world’s worst team. You pick up on every point and it’s the biggest disaster. Then you get a bit of perspective on it, you start to talk about the game and what you can do better.
‘You review the game and you sometimes have those thoughts, because it’s really easy to dissect the video and look at all these different bits you could’ve done better. You could have passed it to a team-mate, you could have done this and done that. It could’ve been a yard here or a yard there, it’s just very easy to do when you’re sat in the office watching the video back.
‘By the time you get to the Sunday or Monday, you have a bit more perspective on it.
‘We’re not born and bred Portsmouth fans, but we are the biggest Portsmouth fans as well. We love being at this football club and getting results, so it really does hurt. We are miserable when we lose games - and that’s the way it should be.
‘You try to get a bit of perspective on it moving forward, how we can be better and what we can do to improve.
‘What we’ve fallen upon this week is we’re deeply disappointed with the result at the weekend, but if the goal goes in for Makenzie what is our objective report on the game?
‘Our objective report on the game is that it’s a 1-0 win where we weren’t good enough in the first half, much better in the second half with a couple of bits to improve upon - but we’re going in the right direction. So we have to keep hold of that, but also be realistic about what we’ve actually produced because it’s a results business.
‘Literally everyone’s mood for the weekend swings on whether (Viktor) Johansson makes that save or not. He made it and we have to deal with it, but we have to be better after that as well - and that’s the situation we’re in now.’
Pompey boss: ‘We should see improvement’
Pompey go to Birmingham two points behind the division’s big-spending new boys and four points above the Championship’s bottom three.
Mousinho spoke about being happy with his side’s start before the past two results, but acknowledged frustrations around the four home defeats already this term.
The 39-year-old is optimistic about how things look when players return to fitness, while retaining a balance over how things currently stand.
Mousinho added: ‘My personal take on it is it’s been an okay start. It’s maybe been skewed a little bit because we’ve lost the last couple and four at home.
‘If last season I’d said to you we would’ve lost one game away at home and four at home by now, everyone would’ve said what are you on about? That’s not what Portsmouth do, they do it the other way around.
‘That’s been frustrating, but I think it’s been an okay start with loads to improve upon. As a positive we’re in every game, as a negative we’re in every game without winning enough and scoring enough.
‘But we’re in a spot where I think once we have those players back and we perform a little bit better in those moments, we should start to see some shoots of improvement. I’m really positive about where we could be, and realistic about where we are.’