John Mousinho apologises to Portsmouth fans, shares 'bizarre' admission at Stoke hammering

John Mousinho has done something he has not yet had to as Portsmouth head coach and issue the fans an apology after being embarrassed 6-1 by Stoke City.

Pompey shipped a barrage of goals either side of half-time to see the Potters five goals ahead before the hour mark at the bet365 Stadium, undoubtedly the low point of the club's return to the Championship so far.

Mousinho did not hold back in his post-match comments with the official Portsmouth FC channels [2 October], apologising to those who travelled.

"We're really disappointed - it's difficult to dissect certain parts of the game at the moment, but we lost 6-1, we were awful for large parts of the game and we got what we deserved," the Blues boss raged.

"The worst thing about it is we came into the game off the back of a really positive performance at the weekend, we started abysmally - I don't know there was a thought it would be easy coming away to Stoke for some bizarre reason.

"We clicked into gear for half an hour after they scored, and then afterwards it was incomprehensible. I've never had to say it before, but apologies to all the Portsmouth fans who travelled, because they don't deserve any of that. It's not fair - and we're an extremely lucky group to get that backing."

John Mousinho blasts 'incomprehensible' Portsmouth display

Portsmouth were utterly shambolic on Wednesday - not one side across the EFL would not have beaten Mousinho's team on the night.

The head coach deserves credit for curbing his words as much as he could in the press, because he knows there is simply not enough time to iron out every problem from the disastrous showing in Staffordshire before his former club Oxford United arrive at Fratton Park.

The squad were straight back into training for pre-match preparations and recovery with such a minuscule gap before Saturday's lunchtime kick-off, which for confidence and momentum purposes has become a must-win in early October.

The Championship has reared its ruthless head to the Blues already, who despite no wins had shown flickers of promise for the marathon ahead, but Wednesday's shell-shock leaves little adjustment time - it must be put straight to the back of every player's mind.

One considers there could well be a clutch of changes from Mousinho ahead of the visit of his ex-employers to PO4.

In other Portsmouth news, the women's team also lose 6-1 as they face WSL opposition.

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