Portsmouth boss’ clear message to Jordan Williams after surprise Sheffield Wednesday call
Jordan Williams has featured four times for Pompey in the Championship this season.
John Mousinho has detailed what Jordan Williams needs to do to work his way back into a starting role.
And the head coach admitted the decision to deploy Regan Poole in favour of the 25-year-old during the second half against Sheffield Wednesday ‘didn’t play off’.
Despite starting the campaign as first-choice right-back, the former Barnsley man dropped out of the starting XI against West Brom with Zak Swanson since making the position his own.
Williams has featured just in the league twice since dropping to the bench and was surprisingly overlooked at half-time against the Owls on Saturday, with Swanson coming off through illness.
While Mousinho admitted the decision ‘didn’t pay off’, the head coach has revealed what the full-back has to do to break back into the side.
John Mousinho’s message to Jordan Williams
He told The News: ‘We just thought in the second half that we’d have a bit more of the ball and more of an attacking impetus.
‘I thought Regan (Poole) with his energy and some of the athleticism he can display down the right-hand side was one of those calls we made in the moment, with a few right-backs.
‘Obviously Zak (Swanson) had started the game, we had Terry (Devlin) and we had Willo (Jordan Williams) on the bench as well.
‘We just thought it would suit Regan getting in at the back post for that aerial threat and ultimately it didn’t pay off but whether it would’ve done if we played a right-back there, I don’t think it would have made a difference on the day. But it was something we looked at.
‘He’s just got to keep being diligent in training, keep doing the right things, keep making sure he works on all the things we want him to work on as a right-back.
‘The reason why we signed Jordan Williams was because he’s an excellent player and we’ve seen that last season as well.
‘He’s got to keep his head down, he’s got to keep going and when the opportunity presents itself he’s got to take it.’
John Mousinho loving right-back competition
And Mousinho is pleased to have strong competition in his ranks as they look to impress in the Championship this season.
‘It’s great to have competition in the squad and it’s great to have players that can battle it out in every position.
‘That’s the whole purpose of how we wanted to build the squad and why we wanted multiple players in the same position because it gives us that competition.
‘We’ve had a decent start to the season in terms of injuries, we hadn’t picked up a huge amount - we had a couple who we knew about already that were longer term but all of a sudden if you add the Conor Shaughnessy injury to what we we have with Callum Lang, Nico Schmid all of a sudden and Murph (Josh Murphy) at the weekend then we need players to come in to those voids and step up.’
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