View: John Mousinho must demand more from 50% Portsmouth ace Callum Lang
John Mousinho will be hoping to see more from Portsmouth star Callum Lang over the coming weeks.
After back-to-back match postponements, which have cost the club thousands of pounds, Pompey finally returned to the pitch for the first time in three weeks on Saturday [30 November].
Having beaten Preston North End 3-1 at Fratton Park in the Championship in what was their most recent match [9 November], Mousinho’s side would have arrived at the Swansea.com Stadium full of confidence.
And they claimed what could prove to be a valuable point, drawing 2-2 with Luke Williams’ side, as Josh Murphy continued his remarkable turnaround for the club.
It leaves the Blues four points adrift from safety with two games in hand. However, Mousinho would have been frustrated by the nature of the draw, with Portsmouth having raced into a two-goal lead before throwing away their advantage in the second half.
Nonetheless, it was still a step in the right direction, with Portsmouth continuing to improve, having lost just once in their past four matches.
However, if Pompey want to keep moving forward, they will need all of their big players at their best, especially over the busy Christmas period. Therefore, after Lang’s performance against the Swans, Mousinho would be wise to have words with the 26-year-old.
John Mousinho must demand more from Portsmouth star Callum Lang
Lang is a key player at Fratton Park.
Whenever he has been available this season he has been in the starting lineup, missing three games through injury earlier in the season. He has made 13 starts in the Championship, scoring four goals and providing one assist.
However, he has not been at his best in recent weeks and has been without a goal involvement since late October.
And his performance against Swansea demonstrated a player who is really struggling to find his best form.
As per Sofascore, while one of his passes was key, he only managed a completion rate of 57 per cent, while only 50 per cent of his crosses into the box were accurate.
In addition, he didn’t manage a single shot at goal and was only able to succeed with 50 per cent of his attempted dribbles. Lang did a bit better defensively, winning five of his nine ground duels and two of his three aerial duels, while also making three tackles.
However, he also gave possession away 12 times and was dribbled past once. Overall, Mousinho isn’t likely to be as interested in Lang’s defensive work and will be concerned by his lack of contribution going forward as of late.
With seven fixtures to play between now and 1 January, Portsmouth can’t afford any passengers in their team, and Mousinho will need Lang to step up and be the player everybody at Fratton Park knows that he is capable of being.
In other Portsmouth news, Ian Darke has praised one player at the club for his leadership.
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