‘John Mousinho will be banging on Portsmouth boardroom door’ after what Thomas Waddingham did
John Mousinho surely has serious concerns over the number nine position at Portsmouth.
It has been an up-and-down start to the season for Pompey, culminating in a 2-1 away defeat against Norwich City on Saturday (16 August).
Things could have been so different for Portsmouth had Colby Bishop scored a penalty before Adrian Segecic scored what ultimately proved to be a consolation goal.
With that in mind, there have got to be concerns for the forward line at Fratton Park, summed up by the lack of impact of Thomas Waddingham from the bench.
Waddingham poses huge worry at Portsmouth
There is no getting away from the true lack of depth right now in the striker role for Mousinho. It has to be viewed as a concern.
With Bishop, the PO4 club do have a more than capable operator at Championship level, but every player can have an off day, as he did against Norwich.
The problem is, when this happens, there are few options in which to replace the 28-year-old and afford him a rest and time off the pitch.
This is especially the case after letting Kusini Yengi leave Portsmouth to join Aberdeen, leaving the south coast club with very few selection dilemmas up top.
With that being said, Mousinho was forced to utilise the services of Waddingham from the bench at Carrow Road, something that turned out to be ineffective.
| Stat | Thomas Waddingham vs Norwich |
| Minutes played | 21 |
| Shots | 2 |
| Dispossessed | 1 |
| Defensive actions | 0 |
Despite getting two shots off, the Australian wasn’t able to cause a problem for Vladan Kovacevic in goal for the Canaries.
This wasn’t helped by a general lack of impact elsewhere on the pitch as the 20-year-old also lost three duels throughout his 21-minute cameo.
Unfortunately, if Pompey want to compete higher up the second tier and move away from the relegation zone, they need better than the youngster.
Mousinho must demand better from the Portsmouth board
It just isn’t good enough that a manager of Mousinho’s quality is being left with a true lack of quality from the bench as it stands.
There is some positive depth elsewhere in the squad with new signings Florian Bianchini, Min-Hyeok Yang and Luke Le Roux on the bench against Norwich.
Even with the Frenchman’s introduction, it certainly feels as if another forward option will be necessary rather than putting all faith in Waddingham moving forward.
It will be interesting to see if another striker option will now move in at PO4, but it feels as if the Pompey boss will have to push to make such a deal happen before transfer deadline day.
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