‘You now know’: The huge Championship lessons learned which will give Portsmouth advantage over Derby County, Hull City & Co
Pompey secured a 16th-placed finish in their first season back in the Championship in more than 12 years.
John Mousinho now knows which players in his Pompey squad can perform at Championship level.
That’s the no-nonsense verdict of The News’ chief sports writer Neil Allen, who is adamant the head coach’s understanding of the second tier will pay dividends next term.
After a difficult start to the campaign, which saw the Fratton Park outfit win just one of their opening 14 games, Mousinho’s men were able to secure a 16th-placed finish in their first season back in the Championship.
Colby Bishop, Josh Murphy, Connor Ogilvie, Nicholas Schmid and more stepped up to the mark, while loan additions including Freddie Potts and Rob Atkinson played crucial roles in Pompey’s survival bid.
With a better understanding of the league and the challenges which the division possess, the Blues will have a clearer knowledge of what’s expected if they want to progress next season.
And Allen believes Mousinho will know which players can perform at Championship level, which will help him build his squad for next season.
Speaking on the latest episode of Pompey Talk, he said: ‘The biggest lesson they will learn is that they now know who is capable of performing at this level. You now know Ogilvie can perform at this level, Bishop can perform at this level, Poole can perform at this level.
‘Other players have been found out and they will be surplus to requirements or they have gone already. Pompey at least know who is equipped to perform at this level.
‘You never know until the season starts. It sounds obvious but we learnt as the season went on who could do it and who couldn’t. Some left in the January transfer window for example. We now know who can perform at this level, which is an important lesson learnt.
‘In other terms, you are now looking around with the recruitment. They are confident in the Australian market for example, I don’t think they’ll be raiding Denmark soon for getting anymore Danish second or third division players.
They have success and not so much success in different markets. The loan market, O’Mahony didn’t quite work out for various reasons but Freddie Potts did and so did Rob Atkinson. It’s trial and error in a lot of cases.
‘They will have definitely learned how they approach it and what markets they look at and staying with recruitment, they had a lot of success last summer which kept Pompey up.’
Pompey recruitment plans ahead of summer transfer window
Pompey scoured Europe in search for new talent last summer, with Abdoulaye Kamara arriving from Borussia Dortmund, Schmid signed from Austrian side BW Linz, while Elias Sorensen joined from Danish outfit Esbjerg.
The Blues also utilised the loan market along with the Premier League 2, with Harvey Blair penning a deal from Liverpool.
And knowing what areas to recruit from will also be a huge advantage for Mousinho and Rich Hughes ahead of the summer transfer window, according to Allen.
‘You look at Harvey Blair who came from Liverpool and the Premier League 2, he struggled to make the step up as well. That’s an example of getting young, upcoming players.
‘Kaide Gordon came in on loan but he didn’t tear down any trees. They’re looking at different markets.
‘We all know Schmid was a success coming in from Austria. There was much hype about (Abdoulaye) Kamara having come from Dortmund and that he must be a good player, but he’d only played in the Bundesliga 2 and he’d never played a first-team game.
‘They’re looking at these different markets and I’m fine with that. As long as they’re good quality, I don’t care where they come from.
‘They have had their successes but they’ve also had some failures. At this moment in time, we don’t know who is coming in but there’s definitely gems to be found abroad - Schmid proves that overwhelmingly. On the back of his performances for Pompey, he’s got in the international side.
‘There are successes to be had out there but you want to look at the home market as well and Pompey - because of where they are financially - will not be getting top level players in the Championship. They’ve got to find gems, players, older players like Matt Ritchie who did well, they’ve got to be looking at those as well. Being creative is the phrase.’