John Mousinho ‘could shock Portsmouth fans’ with Colby Bishop decision
Portsmouth play Reading in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday, only three days after overcoming Oxford United in their opening Championship match.
John Mousinho’s side won 1-0 at the Kassam Stadium thanks to a goal from Adrian Segecic.
The Pompey boss has admitted that some very tired bodies were in the training ground on Monday after that match.
However, he has still hinted that he could name a “very strong” side to face Reading at Fratton Park.
Mousinho could field Colby Bishop against Reading
Portsmouth have already sold 12,000 tickets for the match, despite many people seeing the Carabao Cup as an inferior competition these days.
In an interview for the club’s official YouTube channel, Mousinho suggested he wanted to reward the home fans with a winning performance.
He said: “There’s a couple of opportunities for us to make a couple of changes. I think we’ll look at that as the day goes on.
“But we want to be careful. We want to win the game. We want to put out a strong side, and the side we put out will be very strong in our opinion. We’re going to try and win it. We’re going to try and advance in the cup. That’s very important to us.”
Club insiders had previously suggested that Mousinho could rest all 11 players who started the game against Oxford, but his words in this interview suggest otherwise.
There’s every chance that we could see Colby Bishop leading the line for Portsmouth again, despite him recently recovering from a groin injury, which would be a surprise to many fans in attendance.
The likes of Callum Lang and Adrian Segecic could also feature despite the shift they put in against Oxford.
Mousinho’s words should be taken with a pinch of salt
Before the Oxford game, Mousinho had told the press that Bishop would be out of action for at least three weeks with his groin injury.
Then, when the time came to announce his team, Pompey’s top scorer was a surprise inclusion, and he played a key role in Segecic’s goal.
| Colby Bishop Portsmouth statistics | |
| Signed | July 2022 |
| Appearances | 133 |
| Goals | 56 |
After the game, Mousinho admitted that sometimes he will be honest about his team news and sometimes he won’t.
So, it’s only right to take this pre-match interview with a pinch of salt.
Mark Kosznovszky and Luke Le Roux are expected to make their debuts in this match. The likes of Hayden Matthews and Josh Farrell should feature too.
Perhaps there will be a few ‘big names’ to balance the team, but it would be surprising to see a full-strength side running out at Fratton Park on Tuesday.
Sign up for the Pompey News WhatsApp channel and turn on notifications to have all the latest, breaking Portsmouth news sent straight to your phone.