‘We know how bad that was’: Damning verdict from Portsmouth dressing room after Bristol City debacle
Pompey started 2026 in disappointing fashion with a shameful 5-0 defeat to Bristol City.
Conor Shaughnessy has delivered an honest appraisal following Pompey’s capitulation against Bristol City.
And the central defender has reiterated the importance of Sunday’s contest against Ipswich Town as the Blues bid to bounce back on Sunday.
After Adam Randell opened the scoring on 11 minutes, a catalogue of defensive errors were to follow for Pompey, with Anis Mehmeti, Scott Twine Sinclair Armstrong all capitalising to finish on the scoresheet.
The defeat brings a crushing end to the Blues’ four-game unbeaten run, which included a last-gasp winner against Charlton on Monday.
But less than three days later, Mousinho’s men are once again hovering above the relegation zone, with the performance heavily criticised by the head coach and supporters, who vented their frustrations from the stands.
Verdict from Pompey dressing after Bristol City debacle
And Shaughnessy is adamant Pompey’s showing at Ashton Gate fell miles short of their standards.
He said: ‘It’s a difficult one to sum up, it’s a disappointing day for us.
‘We know that’s not the standard we want to set out, the good thing is is that we’ve got another game in a few days time and we’ll do everything we can to put it right against Ipswich on Sunday.
‘It’s a difficult one, probably need to sit down and analyse it tomorrow. I’m sure the gaffer and the analysts will go over it this evening and we’ll watch over it but straight off the back of that it’s hard to say what exactly went wrong.
‘They were clearly the better side today and let's not try and get too down and pick ourselves up for Ipswich.
‘Again, we know it's a bad day at the office, there’s no two ways about that. We know how bad that was and it’s not good enough from all of us as a collective.
‘We saw a few nights ago, we all win together and we all lose together, that's the ups and downs of football. We are all in this together.
‘It’s frustrating no matter when it happens or how it happens. It’s a bad day at the office.
‘We’ve had a good little run, we put together some good results over the last couple of weeks.
‘Bad day but quick turnaround and we’ve got another game on Sunday that we can put it right.’
All eyes on Ipswich after Bristol City thrashing
The action doesn’t stop there for Pompey, who welcome Ipswich Town to Fratton Park on Sunday.
And Shaughnessy has made it clear the Blues have to respond quickly to make sure the New Year’s Day defeat is only a blip.
‘It’s massive for us that we can have another game coming up so quickly.
‘It’s one of the positives about this league, just having another game so fast after this one.
‘It’s all about recovery now for us, getting things right, getting the body right and we’ll analyse that tomorrow and we’ll learn.
‘That’s the main thing I think is learning and improving, that's all we can do. We’ve just got to focus on each game as they come.’
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