‘No guarantee’: The key selection dilemma facing Portsmouth boss after emergence of new Fratton favourite
Pompey face Ipswich Town this evening as head coach John Mousinho has a tough selection dilemma on his hands.
John Mousinho has made it clear there is ‘no guarantee’ Conor Shaughnessy will come straight back into the starting XI against Ipswich Town, despite being rested for Saturday’s triumph over Middlesbrough.
And the head coach has lauded the impressive rise of Madiodio Dia after a brilliant showing at the Riverside Stadium last-time out.
The Blues boss faces a key selection dilemma at the heart of the backline for tonight’s showdown against the second-placed Tractor Boys as the run-in accelerates.
Pompey earned a huge triumph in their battle to beat the drop over the weekend, securing a 1-0 win over promotion-hopefuls Boro.
The 22-year-old replaced Shaughnessy in the starting line-up after the Irishman played the full 90 minutes against Oxford United last week. The the Blues opted to rest the 29-year-old at the Riverside, having been limited to just one game per week as they continue to manage his minutes.
With another double game week in Ipswich and Leicester on the cards for Mousinho’s men, the head coach has admitted he will not be afraid to chop and change his side in the coming weeks as they bid to secure their Championship survival.
Pompey boss’ facing selection dilemma against Ipswich
And despite Shaughnessy missing out against Middlesbrough, the Pompey boss has stressed there’ll be no guarantee the defender will come straight back into the backline against the Tractor Boys tonight
Mousinho told The News: ‘We’ve got two players playing well, two players who have really different attributes and two players that in different ways we’re managing.
‘Jojo, if we’d have asked him to play two games in four days at the start of his career at Portsmouth in February he wouldn’t have been able to do it. I think he’s more than capable of doing that now.
‘And Shocks by the same token is ready to go having missed out on the Norwich game and having missed out on the Middlesbrough game.
‘I think we’ll pick based on all the factors, physical factors who could suit the game and all the above.
‘Thankfully for us at the moment we’ve got a good choice there.
‘There’s no guarantee for anything. After you have a positive result, keep a clean sheet, it seems more like certain players will keep their shirts.
‘At this stage of the season, no one’s precious about what we decide as a coaching staff to chop and change and that’s the way it’s always been. We’ve always decided to play players who we think will suit certain games.
‘We’ve made changes after wins quite frequently over the past three-and-a-half years and I won’t be afraid to do the same on Tuesday night.’
Impressive emergence of £600,000 signing
Dia put in a strong performance in the backline on Saturday, helping Pompey on their way to a crucial 1-0 win.
And with his showing getting ‘better and better’ by the week, according to Mousinho, the Senegalese defender’s impressive display on the weekend was something the head coach was expecting.
‘No I expected (his performance against Middlesbrough) to be honest. My faith in Jojo and how good he’s been and what I see in training every day meant that I wasn’t surprised by what he did on the weekend.
‘The performance he put in against Norwich was very good as well, particularly as the game went on. Maybe made a couple of errors in the first half but as the game went on I thought he got better and better.
‘So I was expecting to have options going into Tuesday night and that’s a positive as a head coach.’