Revealing concession from evolving Portsmouth reveals weakness Sheffield Wednesday can attack hard
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That’s been the honest admission of Pompey’s rookie coach John Mousinho, who speaking after their disappointing 3-1 defeat at Barnsley in midweek made clear that while he was disappointed with their reaction to going a goal down, he is accepting of mistakes that will be made along the way as he attempts to change the way they play.
Mousinho was a shock appointment brought in from Oxford United – where he was still a player – back in January.
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Hide AdAnd his preference for playing out from the back is one there have been teething problems with, not least when it came to Joe Morrell’s sloppy pass that lead to James Norwood’s opener at Oakwell.
Wednesday have picked and chosen the matches in which they have pressed from the front this season but may well be tempted to do so at Fratton Park as Mousinho bore the brunt of Morrell’s error and maintained there would be no knee-jerk change in how he wants his side to pass the ball.
“I’ll take it on the chin, no problem,” he said.
“I’ve always said that, I’ve said that since the first day I’ve walked into the building. If I’m asking the boys to play, so if they do and sides score against us, I’ll take it.
“Otherwise we can go safe and every goal kick we can squeeze up,” he said sarcastically. “Then we can lump it and every time the ball comes back we can do that again and again.
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Hide Ad“I’ve got no problem with it. Long term, once we work on a few of these things a bit more I can see them coming to fruition.”
Supporters making the long trip down to the south coast for Saturday’s match-up can expect to see both sides attempt to play.
In terms of long-balls played per 90 minutes, both Pompey and Wednesday are among the teams least reliant, with Portsmouth fourth-bottom with 49.01 per match and the Owls seventh-bottom with 50.09.