‘If you want to succeed...’: Former Portsmouth defender's Championship warning
The Pompey defender from seasons past has been following his old side in his TalkSport role - and the former Spurs and Chelsea man has given this assessment of the Blues.
Pompey should be aiming for a top half finish in the Championship next season.
But avoiding last term’s early struggles needs to be a priority if that ambition is to be achieved in the 2025-26 campaign.
And John Mousinho’s side have to eradicate the calamitous defending which regularly surfaced, to progress in their second season at the level.
That’s the clear verdict of former Blues defender Jason Cundy, who has offered an assessment of his old club’s Championship return after a seven-year absence.
The man who joined Pompey in 1999 at the start of the Milan Mandaric era has been impressed by Mousinho’s work, as he’s looked on in his role as pundit with TalkSport.
The Blues struggled early on, accumulating just one in their first 15 games before their form started to build through the latter stages of 2024.
In the new year Pompey embarked on a run of nine wins and four games from their final 21 games, which would have returned 67 points if replicated over the season. That would have seen the Blues finish a single point outside of the play-offs, highlighting how much the season accelerated.
Cundy is now looking for continued progress, as the former Chelsea and Spurs man considered the path ahead for Pompey.
TalkSport pundit: ‘Pompey need to be better defensively’
Speaking to BetUK, he said: ‘If you want to succeed in the Championship to finish in the top half or challenge for the playoffs, you must get off to a fast start.
‘Last season, it just took Portsmouth a while to acclimatise to the league, which is ultimately why they didn’t finish higher in the table.
‘However, in the second half of the season, they showed what kind of team they are and did really well after they got used to the competition and stabilised.
‘They need to be better defensively, and that’s how you start to build as a football team that wants to improve and succeed, it starts with keeping clean sheets and not conceding three or four goals every second game.
‘They grew in confidence as the season went on, especially in front of goal, which won them matches, as their defending was brilliant, but finishing five points above the drop zone is still a bit close for comfort.
‘However, last year's target will have been to stay in the league, which they achieved.
‘They are a well-supported team with a good manager and a set of players who now have an extra year's experience in the Championship, so the target will be the top half of the table next season.’
Cundy’s stay at Fratton Park spanned just 11 appearances, when he was brought in by Alan Ball ahead of the 1999-00 season after leaving Ipswich.
The central defender started among a fast start for the Blues, with hopes high at the season’s outset.
The Londoner was then hit by a hamstring issue, however, and later suffered a knee injury which eventually put paid to his career with his retirement announced at the end of 2000.