Callum Lang's Portsmouth role under spotlight against Blackburn Rovers for Championship’s lowest scorers
Only Sheffield Wednesday have scored as few Championship goals as Pompey this season - with Callum Lang a focus as they bid to improve fortunes at Fratton Park this weekend.
John Mousinho believes Callum Lang is showing promise as Pompey’s number nine.
But the Blues need to consider how to get the best out of the Scouse dynamo’s assets leading the line, as they bid to halt their Championship slump.
Only Sheffield Wednesday scored as few league goals as Pompey
Lang is a strong contender to once again start up front for his side, as they aim to improve their position as the division’s lowest scorers against Blackburn Rovers this weekend.
Mousinho’s men are also out to improve a bleak run of a single success in 10 games, which leaves them three points from safety going into a big clash at Fratton Park.
Mousinho opted to freshen his front line up at Swansea City on Tuesday, moving Lang forward to the number nine position and dropping Colby Bishop to the bench amid his goal drought. Min-hyeok Yang was deployed down the right flank in the Blues’ 4-2-3-1 formation, with Conor Chaplin replacing Adrian Segecic in the number 10 position.
It’s been tough going for Bishop, with his confidence draining amid a single goal in 17 games for the club’s top scorer for the past three seasons. That led to Mousinho searching for a different formula up front, with Lang offering a very different set of attributes to Bishop.
That was evident amid a bright Pompey start at Charlton Athletic last weekend, before the game was abandoned after 12 minutes following a medical emergency - with Addicks fans Norman Barker’s death tragically confirmed later.
Lang was full of running in south Wales as his side fell to a disappointing 1-0 defeat, but Mousinho acknowledged his side didn’t necessarily best utilise the 28-year-old’s attributes. The Pompey boss feels that will need to be a focus is Wigan Athletic arrival continues in the role this weekend.
Pompey boss: ‘Slightly different’ with Lang up front
Mousinho said: ‘I thought Langy stretched the game really well early on at Swansea - and I felt Cabango should’ve been sent off (for pulling Lang down).
‘If that’d happened then maybe we would’ve been saying that was the big difference in the game, because Langy stretched the back line.
‘I thought he occupied the centre-halves well, which enabled us to play beneath that.
‘Yes, there’s definitely a different side we need to look at, that’s not from Callum’s perspective but the way we’re playing into him. It’s slightly different.
‘He’s the one player on the pitch I felt we didn’t get the ball to enough at Swansea. But I thought Langy’s performance in general enabled us to get the ball to the three behind him a fair bit, that was because he occupied the two centre-halves.
‘Unfortunately, we just couldn’t convert but he’s different - he’s different for us in there as a nine.’
Whatever the line-up this weekend, the need to find a formula to improve Pompey’s attacking threat is clear.
The Blues have now failed to score in their past three outings - with blanks against Sheffield United, Bristol City and Swansea.
Mousinho’s side have scored just 15 goals from 19 Championship fixtures this term, a total which leaves them as the Championship’s lowest scorers with Sheffield Wednesday.