'We have the quality' - Portsmouth star defends poor start to 2024/25 season amid 'proper welcome' claim
The Pompey star has full faith in his side, despite not yet securing three points in the Championship
Pompey star Conor Shaughnessy has opened up on the club’s return to the Championship, admitting that it has been an exceptionally tough initiation.
The Irish defender famously scored the winning goal that saw the Blues win the League One title last season and went on to be named in the EFL League One Team of the Season for his 2023/24 efforts.
However, his start to the new campaign has not been so joyous. The 28-year-old has been missing from the squad since the side’s 2-2 draw at Middlesbrough due to illness and a subsequent calf injury.
The Blues’ head coach John Mousinho has once again been unable to confirm whether the defender will be available for the impending clash against Burnley at Turf Moor but the side remain hopeful that this can be the weekend they secure their first, and much needed, win of the 2024/25 campaign.
Speaking to Sportsboom, the Irish international confessed that while it’s been quite the ‘welcome’ and there are a lot of improvements to be made, he believes he and his teammates will be ‘absolutely fine’.
“It’s a proper welcome to Championship football, isn’t it?,” Shaughnessy admitted. “We’ve put in some good performances and can take a lot from those first few games. We’ve come very close to coming away with some wins in those games, conceding late on.”
In Pompey’s opening match against Leeds, the club came desperately close to winning after being awarded a 90+2 minute penalty. However, a 90+5 minute equaliser from Brenden Aaronson ended that dream and it was another 90th minute goal that saw the three points slip down to just one when they faced Middlesbrough two weeks later.
This weekend, the side prepare to take on the recently relegated Burnley at Turf Moor. The Clarets have won three of their opening five matches and Pompey’s star centre-back is not unaware of the difference in calibre that taking on Championship clubs entails compared to their 2023/24 rivals.
“You can tell there’s a higher quality you come up against, they are more intelligent players”, Shaughnessy added. “You’re more likely to get punished when you make a mistake, that’s the general feeling we have.
“We deserve to be there as a squad going off what we did last season. I think we have the quality of player to be there and the signings we’ve made have only made us better.”
In the recently concluded transfer window, Mousinho welcomed 15 new stars to Fratton Park. Unfortunately the club were then hit with a plethora of injury concerns, including Shaughnessy, new acquisitions Josh Murphy and Ibane Bowat, as well as star striker Colby Bishop.
“We know there’s a lot of improvement to be made, which is a good thing”, Shaughnessy concluded. “We had some players come in late in the transfer window and some players coming back from injury so when the squad gels and gets to know each other we should be absolutely fine.”