'A big concern': Portsmouth boss pinpoints vulnerability against Watford after uncomfortable watch
Pompey struck a 79th-minute equaliser to spark a pulsating end-to-end finale
It was a chaotic Watford finale which made hugely uncomfortable watching for the Fratton faithful on occasions.
Nonetheless, John Mousinho has played down concerns over his team’s struggle to combat opposition counter-attacks on Wednesday night.
Instead he has called on the Blues not to give the ball away ‘cheaply’ in the first place, which enabled the Hornets to repeatedly hit them on the break to threaten.
Adrian Segecic’s 79th-minute strike earned a 2-2 draw against Watford, with both of the visitors’ goals coming in the opening 11 minutes of the second half from counter-attacks.
The first arrived 26 seconds after the break, following a loose John Swift pass, while the second was poor defending when the ball was hit down the right channel.
And Mousinho reflected on the weaknesses demonstrated by his side.
‘Giving the ball away is the big concern’
The head coach told The News: ‘We largely had control of the game apart from when they broke on us, it’s a bit of an oxymoron I suppose.
‘You could see from the athleticism Watford have in the side, they were absolutely oozing with it, counter-attacking was their strength, we have different strengths and we need to deal with that.
‘Giving the ball away is the big concern. I looked at some of the times we gave the ball away cheaply and that had led to a counter attack.
‘It’s a weird one because they are sitting deep and breaking on us with that athleticism, but we still have to take risks in and around the box. You have to deliver the ball into the box and commit bodies.
‘Sometimes, if you don’t lock the edge off properly then it’s going to happen. We could have been very, very safe with the ball - and we were slightly safe at times - but you could see what happens on the other side when we give the ball away.
‘We were going for the win and that happens. Late on, Joe had the ball in his hands and rolled it out quickly, we tried to play, we tried to get forward, then the next thing you know we’ve conceded a chance and a corner.
‘We went for it, we wanted to try to win, unfortunately we didn’t but there were loads of positives.’
Certainly both sides were going for the victory following Segecic’s leveller, creating an engrossing finale bounding from one end of the pitch to the other.
Undoubtedly, Pompey looked the most vulnerable out of the sides, with Watford’s pace on the break a constant threat.
Portsmouth boss: We need to take care of the ball a lot more
Regardless, Mousinho was disappointed to get only a point from the Fratton Park fixture.
He added: ‘We can go one of two ways, we can be very, very safe or decide to go a lot more direct and try to pick up second balls. We are not quite in that position at the moment as a team physically, it’s slightly different to last year.
‘If we have Langy in there as a 10 it’s a bit different, we do need to take care of the ball a bit more and make sure we cut off their counter attack.’