Segecic and Lang reveal – Three things learned as Portsmouth thrash Reading
Portsmouth beat Reading 4-0 in a pre-season friendly on Saturday.
John Mousinho’s men treated the travelling fans to a dominant display with goals from Jordan Williams, Callum Lang and Colby Bishop (two).
Mousinho named a full-strength side for the first half of the game, where Portsmouth were particularly dominant. They were leading at half-time 3-0. Both sides made several changes during the second half, which slowed the game down, but it was an impressive performance overall.
Below, Pompey News evaluates what was learned from this encouraging performance.
Adrian Segecic preferred to Lang in the central role
Adrian Segecic scored 18 goals in the Australian A-League from the ‘number 10’ role last season, but he’s also capable of playing on the wing.
There has been some debate about where Mousinho will use him in his Pompey side, seeing as Lang did remarkably well playing in a central attacking role last season.
Based on Mousinho’s line-up in this game, it seems that the Pompey boss is planning to use Segecic as his central playmaker with Lang on the right wing.
With that said, Lang was replaced by John Swift at half-time. At that point, Segecic moved to the right with Swift being used as the central playmaker.
The Australian was quiet in both halves, but his versatility could prove to be an advantage for Portsmouth.
Jordan Williams is keen to get forward whenever possible
Both Lang and Segecic were keen to cut inside whenever possible when Portsmouth were attacking.
This provided plenty of space for right-back Jordan Williams to get forward on the overlap.
Williams burst beyond the Reading defence and was put through on goal by Marlon Pack for Portsmouth’s first goal.
Mousinho will be hoping he can remain fit this season, because his attacking prowess is a key tool for the Blues.
Conor Shaughnessy and Regan Poole are the preferred partnership
Conor Shaughnessy and Regan Poole have barely played together in the last couple of seasons, as both have suffered from injury problems.
They played 60 minutes together in this match before Shaughnessy came off with a slight knock.
| Shaughnessy | Poole | |
| Signed | June 2023 | July 2023 |
| Appearances | 58 | 43 |
| Goals | 5 | 4 |
Ibane Bowat replaced the defender. He and Hayden Matthews will be fighting for a place in the starting XI, but it looks like Poole and Shaughnessy are the preferred defensive pairing.
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