View: John Mousinho must take Owen Moxon action after Portsmouth draw v Bolton Wanderers
John Mousinho will surely leave Owen Moxon out of his starting line-up when Portsmouth face Barnsley on Tuesday (16 April).
The 26-year-old was taken off at half-time of Saturday’s (13 April) 1-1 draw at Bolton Wanderers after struggling to get into the game.
Indeed, Moxon won just one of his six duels (17 per cent), as per Sofascore, and lost possession of the ball six times.
Moxon attempted just 12 passes in his 45 minutes on the field and completed only seven of those for a 58-per-cent accuracy rate.
That is down on his season average of 76 per cent [WhoScored] on what was clearly an off-day for the midfielder.
Tino Anjorin steps up v Bolton Wanderers
Mousinho confirmed after the game that the decision to take off Moxon was tactical as he felt Bolton’s Paris Maghoma was dominating midfield.
“I thought Maghoma was running the game,” Mousinho said, as per The Bolton News [13 April].
“We have got a really good bench behind us and I thought it needed a change. We weren’t getting on the ball enough, either.”
The introduction of returning midfielder Tino Anjorin paid off as Pompey won back some control, while Marlon Pack also grew in stature.
Chelsea loanee Anjorin completed 11 of his 12 passes (92 per cent) and won six of his eight duels (75 per cent) – a big improvement on Moxon.
Factor in Tom Lowery’s return to fitness and it may well be that Moxon is now named among the substitutes against Barnsley.
Automatic promotion will almost certainly be sealed next week, but Mousinho will not want to take any risks as Pompey look to get the job done.
In other Portsmouth news, an update has been issued on Terry Devlin.
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