Portsmouth boss’ squad depth admission as he fires warning to players
Pompey’s Carabao Cup exit to Reading shone a light on squad depth as the transfer window nears its conclusion. John Mousinho gives his response tonight, with a clear message to his players.
John Mousinho acknowledged his Pompey squad still lacks the required depth.
But the Blues boss is adamant it was performance levels, and not the players at his disposal, which led to his side’s Carabao Cup exit.
Pompey boss: ‘Not where we want the squad to be’
And Mousinho has made it clear to his men lengthy injury lay-offs or a lack of match fitness will not be used as an excuse for poor displays.
Tuesday’s defeat to Reading came amid 10 Pompey changes, with those given a chance to stake a claim for league inclusion coming up short.
That shone a light on those players and their suitability for league involvement, as the transfer window nears its climax.
Mousinho didn’t hide from the continuing need for recruitment, but didn’t connect that requirement to what unfolded on Tuesday night.
He said: ‘My observation would be we didn’t stand up to the challenge which was posed against Reading.
‘That can either be a squad depth issue or a performance issue on the night, I put it down to how we performed on the night.
‘Ultimately, we’re not quite where we want to be with the squad yet, but by saying we’re not done in the transfer window we’re admitting that we need to strengthen the squad.
‘My overall take on the game was we should have done better, we should have performed better, we shouldn’t have panicked when a goal went in and we definitely shouldn’t have let Reading score the second goal. I just think the performance wasn’t good enough for the players we had out there.
‘I didn’t look at it and think, oh god we haven’t got players who can cope or handle the level - I thought we had players who didn’t play well enough.’
Mousinho: ‘I can’t have players feeling sorry for themselves’
Mousinho today drew a line under the cup exit with a post-match debrief, as attentions started to turn towards Saturday’s league visit from Norwich. Part of that discussion focussed on those involved in Reading coming back long-term injuries, or playing fitness catch-up after stop-start pre-seasons.
Mousinho sees both as legitimate points over performance but made it clear those factors have to be put aside by the players they relate to, if they want to be considered for Championship inclusion.
He said: ‘There’s plenty of reasons for the performance and things to look at - my job is to assess that as objectively as possible.
‘I still demand more of the players, I still expect more of the players and I expect them to play better than they did.
‘But I do look at it and think Ibane (Bowat) hasn’t played any football in 14 months, Hayden (Matthews) hasn’t played any football for seven months and Jacob (Farrell) has played one game in 15 months.
‘That’s difficult for those players coming in, but if you put them in front of the camera they’d say they have better expectations of themselves and higher standards for what they want to produce.
‘We can look at excuses and reasons but, when we’re picking a team for the weekend, players have to banish that, put it all to one side and not have those feelings.
‘Those players who played last night, whether they’re injured or not, if they’re called upon at the weekend they need to put those things aside and make sure they don’t have those feelings.
‘I can’t have players feeling sorry for themselves because they’ve been out injured for a while or they have excuses. It’s got to work - because we have a league to compete in.’