‘Portsmouth already have Makthar Gueye blueprint’ ahead of Blackburn clash
Blackburn Rovers striker Makthar Gueye could cause problems for Portsmouth on Saturday.
Pompey are preparing for a clash against Valerien Ismael’s side on 29 March in hope of securing three points after back-to-back second-tier defeats.
John Mousinho is set to welcome Rovers to Fratton Park who are in a poor run of their own after losing four of their last five games.
If the English head coach is to secure a much-needed win, he needs to lean on previous matches to keep Gueye quiet on the south coast.
Portsmouth must follow Cardiff City’s Gueye blueprint
In Blackburn’s last outing, they welcomed Cardiff to Ewood Park and fell to a 2-1 defeat, thanks to goals from Yousef Salech and Yakou Meite.
The Blue and Whites did get on the scoresheet through attacking midfielder Yuki Ohashi who netted an equaliser on 16 minutes.
This saw Gueye have little to no impact on the game, having the least touches of any outfield player to play 90 minutes with just 33 touches [FotMob].
With those limited touches, he failed to take advantage as he kept up a zero percent shot on target ratio and was caught offside once.
Despite being a physical number nine, the Senegalese forward lost nine duels as Cardiff managed to keep him quiet.
Pompey should have had a close eye on this performance from the Bluebirds and will be hopeful of replicating that through Regan Poole.
The 26-year-old and his defensive colleagues have to be on top form and follow the example to make life easier for their side against Rovers.
Portsmouth must keep Gueye quiet for Blackburn
In his debut season in England, the 27-year-old has netted six and assisted six, posing a danger in almost every game he plays in.
Although that record may not sound too amazing, he has 12 more involvements than Kusini Yengi and would rank joint second for output at Fratton Park.
As a result, Mousinho has to have one eye on the Blackburn striker and hope that his defenders can do their side proud.
Whether Marlon Pack comes back in to Connor Oglivie remains at centre back, there is already a blueprint to silence Gueye and that should be followed as closely as possible.