Portsmouth boss’ honest view on where side stand ahead of Southampton derby
Pompey have started the Championship season in decent fashion, but John Mousinho has given an honest appraisal of where his side are in terms of performance levels ahead of the south-coast derby with Southampton.
John Mousinho admitted Pompey are still a distance from reaching peak Championship performance levels despite their strong start to the season.
And the Blues boss has outlined the areas he feels his team are coming up short, as they search for putting a concerted display of quality together.
Pompey boss: ‘We need better than okay’
Mousinho’s side have opened the season in decent fashion, picking up seven points from their first four league games to go into the international break eighth in the formative Championship table.
It means the Blues will head into the south-coast derby against Southampton above their rivals in the league standings for the first time in a whopping 5,229 days.
The Pompey head coach is honest about the fact he feels he’s only seeing flashes of the performance levels required to succeed in the second tier.
That was the case in the 1-0 win over Preston North End last weekend, with the visitors pushing for a leveller after the break without carving out much in the way of clear chances. Mousinho saw a performance on that occasion where his side needed to start better, before finishing the half well.
The 39-year-old also sees clear room for improvement when it comes to Pompey’s quality on the counter-attack, while also identifying more attention to detail needed in possession and in his side’s ruthlessness in front of goal.
Mousinho said: ‘Against Preston there were patches in there and we took a minute to get into the game. That’s disappointing when we’re at home, we need to start games a lot better.
‘We were okay against Norwich and we were okay against Preston, but that’s not what we need - we need better than okay especially when we’re playing in front of our own fans.
‘Once we grew into the game we were fine and had the better of the chances, we caught Preston on the break a couple of times and their keeper made an outstanding save just before the goal.
‘So I was pleased at half-time, but it was just okay. Then in the second half when we sat in more and defended when we’re struggling in games like that we need to be a lot better on the counter.
Preston win highlighted issues for Pompey boss
‘We need to show more quality and care on the ball and when it presents itself in front of goal, we need to put it in the back of the net to make ourselves more comfortable.’
It’s still early days in the Championship season with Mousinho having to manage a lot of new members of his squad becoming accustomed to his demands, while also adjusting to English football.
The Pompey boss saw issues with his side being too stretched last weekend, as they pressed the visitors after the break. That presented opportunities for Preston to build play, which didn’t go unnoticed.
Mousinho added: ‘We need to squeeze higher. Against Preston at times in the second half we had the front three or four pressing, but the back six more hesitant and dropping in deeper.
‘That made it a bit too easy for Preston to get the ball from the centre-half into the sixes or the six playing from there.
‘Preston weren’t afraid of getting it into the box and that made it more difficult, so we need to stop the ball at source and get higher up the pitch.’