View: Mousinho must demand more from 0% Portsmouth ace after announcement y’day
John Mousinho will be expecting more from Portsmouth forward Kusini Yengi.
It has been a miserable few weeks for Mousinho’s side.
Having claimed their first win of the season by beating QPR 2-1 in the Championship at Loftus Road on Saturday 19 October, supporters at Fratton Park would have been hoping for their team to kick on.
However, instead, the Blues have lost three and drawn one of their four matches since that victory.
Pompey’s most recent result, a 1-0 Championship defeat to Plymouth Argyle at Home Park on Tuesday (5 November) was perhaps their most frustrating result of the season.
Despite arguably deserving to leave with all three points, Portsmouth left Home Park empty-handed and allowed one of their relegation rivals to steal a march on them.
Therefore, Mousinho will be hoping to see a lot more from his players in the coming weeks, and Yengi is someone who should be leading by example at Fratton Park.
As per The News (8 November), Yengi has been recalled to the Australia national team for the upcoming November international break. However, this is likely to have raised a few eyebrows.
Yengi’s performances haven’t been great as of late, and Mousinho will be expecting much more from the 25-year-old, especially considering he is one of the few internationally recognised players in the Portsmouth squad.
Yengi is yet to find the back of the net this season for Portsmouth after scoring nine goals in League One last term.
That hasn’t been helped by his stop-start beginning to the season which was disrupted by injuries. He is beginning to find some rhythm, and has started Portsmouth’s last two Championship matches.
However, his displays in those matches don’t demonstrate a player who deserves an international call-up.
John Mousinho to demand more from Kusini Yengi at Portsmouth
As per Sofascore, Yengi managed just one shot which was blocked against Plymouth, while succeeding with zero per cent of his dribble attempts.
In addition, he managed to complete just 67 per cent of his passes, managing just 16 touches overall. He also struggled defensively, losing all three of his ground duels and being dribbled past once.
It was a similar story in Portsmouth’s previous match, a 1-1 draw with Hull City at the MKM Stadium on Saturday (2 November).
That afternoon Yengi managed just two shots off target, missing one big chance in the process. In addition, he only had 13 touches of the ball on this occasion, playing just one pass.
While he won two of his three ground duels against Hull, he lost all three in the air, and was inaccurate with his one attempted cross into the box.
Therefore, it is fair to say that the Australian hasn’t made the greatest impact in recent weeks, which makes his international call-up all the more surprising. However, Mousinho will hope that this call-up gives the player a confidence booster.
After all, Yengi is an international player, and his performances need to reflect that fact.
In other Portsmouth news, the club are set for an additional £7,000 in income.
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