John Mousinho sends clear warning to Portsmouth squad ahead of 2025/26 season
Portsmouth kick off the new season on Saturday on a mission to consolidate their position in the Championship.
John Mousinho’s men visit Oxford, who they finished above last season, and will be looking for a positive result to set the tone for the new campaign.
Portsmouth have signed six new players over the summer and kept hold of all their top stars. Many have tipped them to improve on last season’s 16th-place finish.
Even so, Mousinho maintains that his team’s goal is to get to 50 points as quickly as possible and see what they can do from there.
Mousinho urges his Portsmouth stars not to get carried away after last season’s late run of form
Portsmouth were in relegation trouble for most of last season, but a late run of form saw them safe with two games to spare and ultimately finish 16th.
Mousinho’s side went unbeaten in their final five games and have been particularly strong at home since the turn of the year.
However, while speaking at a fans forum event hosted by BBC Radio Solent on Monday, the Pompey boss revealed that he has been telling his squad not to get carried away with those results.
He said: “One of the really interesting things for us this summer has been not getting too carried away with the finish that we had last year, and not all of a sudden thinking that we’ve cracked, and thinking that we’re going to become a top six side.
“We don’t want to all of a sudden think ‘haven’t we done well’, give ourselves a pat on the back and lose sight of the things that made us a really good side toward the back end of last year. We’ve got to make sure we do nail down a lot of the basics.”
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Mousinho’s summer signings have given Portsmouth the best possible chance of improving
Portsmouth did incredibly well to survive relegation and claim a 16th-place finish last season, but their squad was looking considerably weaker than last season’s at the start of the summer.
The Blues had to send loan signings Freddie Potts and Isaac Hayden back to their parent clubs, and parted ways with several fringe players.
Credit should therefore go to Mousinho for his business in the transfer market with one of the smallest budgets in the Championship.
| Player | Former club | Fee |
| Adrian Segecic | Sydney FC | Free |
| John Swift | West Brom | Free |
| Mark Kosznovszky | MTK Budapest | Undisclosed |
| Luke Le Roux | IFK Varnamo | Undisclosed |
| Florian Bianchini | Swansea City | Loan |
| Yang Min-hyeok | Tottenham | Loan |
Adrian Segecic and John Swift have been signed on free transfers, with both expected to start against Oxford United on Saturday.
Luke Le Roux and Mark Kosznovszky arrive as relative unknowns to fill the gap left by Potts and Hayden.
Meanwhile, the loan signings of Florian Bianchini and Yang Min-hyeok will provide extra options on the wing.
It all means that Pompey fans have a lot to be optimistic about going into the season opener against Oxford on Saturday.
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