‘Makes a difference’: The criticised Portsmouth call being proved right as Ebou Adams makes Championship impact
It’s a role for The General which drew flak last season, but now Pompey fans are seeing the midfielder impact games from the advanced position.
John Mousinho lauded Ebou Adams for influencing Pompey’s Championship rise from the No10 role.
The Blues boss is adamant the midfielder favourite ‘makes a difference’ for his side when being deployed in an advanced role.
Mousinho on Adams: ‘He makes a difference doing that in the 10’
Adams could count himself unfortunate to be out of the starting XI against Millwall on Saturday, after a strong performance in the 1-1 draw at Wolves last week.
But The General was deployed in an attacking position across the game’s finale, when adding energy and determination from the bench when replacing Adrian Segečić.
It was a repeat of Adams doing exactly the same against Sheffield United, when he got the late winner in the 3-2 success at Fratton Park.
The No10 position is one the 30-year-old knows, having been deployed there last season by Mousinho after his £500,000 arrival from Derby County.
It’s a call which has drawn some criticism from supporters, especially when Adams was used in the position in the 6-1 mauling at QPR last March.
But now fans can see the benefits of that move, as Mousinho sticks to his guns on his thinking over his player.
Mousinho said: ‘Ebou was excellent the other night at Wolves.
‘I called him into the office and said to him I wasn’t sure if it’s better or worse leaving him out after a really good game, but we were looking for a different balance.
‘We also needed him in the second half against Millwall.
‘We were looking at the game and we realised we needed to get him on as soon as possible.
‘I just think he makes a difference doing that in the 10.’
Adams came out of Pompey’s starting XI on Saturday as one of four changes, at the end of a gruelling run of four games in the space of 13 days.
Rocco Shein, Tyrese Shade and Jayden Meghoma were the other players to make way, as Marko Milovanović, Marlon Pack, Zak Swanson and Ryan Kavuma-McQueen all came into the side.
The physical demands of the run Pompey have been on was on Mousinho’s mind when making the decisions, as his side won to make it a single loss from eight Championship games.
Mousinho said: ‘We went back to the same starting XI as Norwich, minus Jayden but we brought Terry in after he played well at Wolves.
‘In terms of how athletic Millwall were we felt Swanny to left-back, to deal with the threat of Krama was the right thing to do.
‘It was first of all the right thing to do with the physical side of things with Jayden playing game after game. He was probably dead on his feet on Tuesday night.
‘Tyrese is coming back from an injury and started the other night, so that felt like the right thing to do. The same with Rocco, who’s not had a huge amount of minutes.’
‘The schedule has been tough and we’ve been up against that, so to dig in and keep getting results is really pleasing and deserved.’