View: Mousinho must stand by 100% Portsmouth ace Pack despite mistakes v Derby
Marlon Pack didn’t have his finest evening as Portsmouth were thrashed 4-0 by Derby County.
John Mousinho’s side suffered their second-heaviest defeat of the Championship season at Pride Park Stadium on Friday [13 December], with very few players leaving Derby with any credit.
Pompey’s lack of quality squad depth was highlighted by Tom McIntyre’s miserable display as the 26-year-old filled in for first-team regular Regan Poole.
Mousinho doesn’t have many options at the back thanks to a host of injury issues, which means when he does rotate the likes of Poole, the players coming in aren’t of the same quality.
That was evident against the Rams as Portsmouth’s defensive progress came to a sudden halt without Poole in the starting lineup. However, in fairness to McIntyre, he wasn’t at all helped by the performance of his centre-back partner Pack, who didn’t show the best of himself in the East Midlands.
Portsmouth’s injury crisis this season is highlighted by Pack filling in at centre-back.
Mousinho has had to play the midfielder out of position, with the 33-year-old starting the previous five matches heading into the Derby defeat alongside Poole in the heart of defence.
Pack came in as a replacement for McIntyre, who wasn’t doing enough to deserve a starting place, and has formed a pretty reliable partnership with Poole. Therefore, Mousinho would have been well aware that breaking that duo up would be a risk.
However, what he might not have anticipated was Pack’s costly mistakes.
Marlon Pack struggles as Portsmouth are thrashed by Derby
Pack bundled the ball into his own net for Derby’s fourth in the 65th minute, which all but killed any chance of an unlikely Portsmouth turnaround, while he also made an error which led to a goal [Sofascore].
However, despite these costly mistakes, Pack still did more than enough to demonstrate that he deserves to continue to start alongside Poole.
The Portsmouth captain made five clearances and one tackle, as well as a last-man interception. In addition, he won 100 per cent of his ground duels and five of his eight aerial duels, while managing to avoid giving away any fouls.
It was his quality on the ball which was most promising, with the Englishman completing 88 per cent of his passes and playing six accurate long balls from seven attempts.
Therefore, while he certainly wasn’t at his best, which didn’t help McIntyre out, he still demonstrated that he is a key player for Pompey, and Mousinho must reunite him with Poole.
Should the two start alongside each other against Coventry in the Championship at Fratton Park on Saturday [21 December], there is every chance that Pompey will put this defeat to Derby behind them and regain the momentum they had built in recent weeks.
In other Portsmouth news, the club could secure a handy windfall from the FA Cup.
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