'Disappointed': Portsmouth boss’ Josh Knight message after former Leicester City man’s Coventry City setback
The arrival from Hannover 96 has produced decent Pompey form, but found himself under the spotlight for Coventry City’s second goal on Tuesday night. Josh Mousinho discusses Josh Knight and his side’s errors at the back against the leaders.
John Mousinho has handed his support to Josh Knight as he faces responding to Pompey’s defensive blip.
And the Blues boss has stressed he’s keeping the mistakes which proved costly against Coventry City in context, after some impressive displays at the back this term.
Knight would’ve been ‘disappointed’ with Coventry goal
Pompey fell to a 2-1 defeat against the powerful Championship leaders on Tuesday night, with weak set-piece defending and poor decision making for the visitor’s second goal behind the reverse.
Knight’s decision to engage with Ellis Simms on the halfway line out wide and not come out with the ball was significant, as Brandon Thomas-Asante was afforded acres of space to put the game to bed.
It was the first blip for the arrival from Hannover 96, whose Fratton career has been gaining pace and hit an impressive high in the victory against Middlesbrough before the international break. Mousinho is putting his frustration over the defending against Coventry in context with what came before, however, in terms of his side’s solidity.
He said: ‘I think Josh would’ve been disappointed with the second goal, absolutely.
‘I think one thing which is really important, though, individually and collectively is we were really positive with the previous two performances against Leicester and Middlesbrough. I thought we defended very, very well across the 180 minutes in those two games.
‘Against Coventry I don’t think we defended up to those standards, but we don’t want to lose sight of where we were. We don’t want to get too carried away with the result against Middlesbrough and drawing at Leicester. Then we don’t want to get too down about Coventry.
‘He (Knight) didn’t need to be there when we assessed where we were with things, but there’s more than one mistake there. There’s no way we should have left Thomas-Asante in all that space in the middle of the park, then we get attracted to the ball and don’t make the challenge. Whenever that happens you’re in trouble.’
Knight is now seven games into his Pompey career, after sealing a three-year contract in a deal worth around £1m. The former Leicester City and Peterborough man was a big transfer target last summer, before the possibility of a move resurfaced in the last transfer window.
Pompey boss ‘pleased’ with Hannover 96 signing
Three starts in eight days followed a couple of sub appearances, as he arrived back in the second tier where he has operated impressively in his career previously.
Mousinho was pleased with the levels seen from the 28-year-old then, as he weighed up Knight’s Pompey contributions so far.
He added: ‘I’d go back to where we were with him.
‘His first start was against Ipswich, he came into the game and grew into the game well. He performed well against Watford and performed very well against Middlesbrough and Leicester.
‘If you look at the cross-section of games from him so far, we’re pleased with where he’s at.’