Portsmouth boss sounds Championship survival message as run-in commences against Derby County
There’s 10 games remaining in the Championship, as it gets down to business time in the second tier. Pompey boss John Mousinho fires a clear message to everyone connected with his club at a key moment.
John Mousinho insisted his players have the appetite for a Championship relegation scrap as the run-in commences against Derby County.
And the Pompey boss called on his players to find the cutting edge to turn their positive performances into points, as they enter the final 10 games of the campaign.
Mousinho: ’Mentality and determination hasn’t been missing’
The Blues are now focussing on the business end of the season, with there a two-point gap between them and the drop zone going into this weekend’s fixtures.
Tuesday’s disappointment against Swansea City made it a single point for 12, with that results marked by a weak first-half display in the 2-1 loss.
That goes against the pattern of recent fixtures, with Mousinho’s men generally performing well since the New Year’s Day thrashing at Bristol City. The Pompey boss’ has now fired a message to his players and supporters at a critical juncture in the campaign.
He said: ‘The only thing which is required is to win the game Monday. That’s the most important thing.
‘We can try to look at different points totals, look at the run-in and work things out - but it never works out that way. What happens at the back end of the season with sides at the bottom, as we’ve seen over the past couple of weeks, sides win games you wouldn’t expect them to win and vice-versa as you go up the league.
‘So the only thing for us to focus on is the game we’ve got on Monday, do our best to win that and then it’s a big game before the international break.
‘The mentality and determination hasn’t been missing, the only thing which has been missing at times is not scoring enough goals and when we’ve got into good areas in the final third we haven’t created enough.
‘I think we have done that to a much better extent over the past 12 games, but maybe we haven’t put the ball in the back of the net enough.
‘Across the games, though, we’ve put the ball in the back of the net three times on three occasions.
‘I think really it’s about continuing with those levels we’ve had, taking the first half from Tuesday out of it, then maybe develop a more ruthless edge and clinicality when we get into those areas.
‘It goes both ways. We picked up two huge results away, so now that we’ve not won in four it’s not been a complete disaster and there’s still a two-point gap to the relegation zone with a game in hand.
‘Everything is in our hands, so there’s 10 games to go where we ultimately have to pick up as many points as we can and momentum can very quickly spin around.
‘You can look at Oxford in the past week who’ve got three wins in a row, which puts them right back in the mix. That shows you how it can change.’
Last season shows how survival picture can change
Pompey have seen their gap to the relegation places cut to just two points, going into this weekend’s Championship clashes. Mousinho knows how quickly things can spin around when it comes to the table, with last season a cautionary tale on that front.
He added: ‘The only frustration of the season is we’ve put together a couple of mini-runs, but haven’t been able to sustain it.
‘Up until Swansea it felt like a sustained block of good performances, it had been frustrating a lot of time but I couldn’t fault the effort or mentality most of the time. We’ve just come up short when it’s come to picking up points.
‘It always feels like the end of the world when you lose a game and a little bit the other way.
‘We went on a run where we won three on the bounce and then lost to Luton, then we beat Leeds and were 10 points clear of the relegation zone going into the international break.
‘We then lost our next two and by the time we went into the international break last time, we were only four points clear of the relegation zone.
‘I remember speaking to some journalists who were saying we were safe after Leeds, but it can change extremely quickly.
‘But even when we beat Blackburn we kept following up by losing games by small margins. That’s just the nature of it. At times you look to be pulling away and be safe, then you get dragged back into it.
‘So we have to keep our heads and try to win as many games as we can.'