John Mousinho weighs in on Portsmouth debate Ben Killip unrest emerges at Fratton Park
Portsmouth were brought back down to earth with a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.
The Blues were enjoying a good run of form in the Championship before allowing the Owls to claim their first victory of the season at Fratton Park.
Barry Bannan set the visitors on their way with a free-kick in the first half before George Brown doubled Wednesday’s lead with a controversial goal after the break.
Portsmouth tried to fight back, but they lacked quality in the final third, with Florian Bianchini proving to be particularly wasteful in promising areas.
It has been labelled as the worst home performance since John Mousinho was appointed, and the Pompey boss is expected to wring the changes for the next game away at Ipswich.
John Mousinho defends Ben Killip’s performance against Sheffield Wednesday
There are question marks surrounding Ben Killip following Saturday’s defeat, with many fans suggesting he’s not a reliable long-term replacement for the injured Nicolas Schmid.
Some have blamed him for letting Bannan’s free-kick beat him at his near post, while there were audible groans from the Fratton Park crowd each time he booted a clearance out of play.
However, Mousinho has chosen to back his reserve goalkeeper while evaluating his side’s performance.
Speaking to The News, he said: “He made a good save early on and probably kept the scoreline down with some of his saves. I will assess everybody’s performance. Ben wasn’t the issue on Saturday; we had far bigger issues than that.”
John Mousinho needs to freshen up his team against Ipswich
Mousinho said he could have made 11 substitutions at half-time against Sheffield Wednesday, such was the state of his team’s first-half performance.
They weren’t much better in the second half, and the Pompey boss must surely be considering making a host of changes to his starting line-up for the next Championship fixtures against Ipswich.
- Luke Le Roux was arguably Portsmouth’s best player after being introduced at half-time
- Josh Knight was solid at the back when he came on, and he was a threat from set pieces
- It’s hoped that Josh Murphy will be fit enough to start the game after missing out on Saturday through injury.
However, it looks as if Mousinho will keep the faith with Killip in goal based on his post-match comments.
The former Barnsley stopper did make a few great saves to keep the score down on Saturday, although concerns remain about his distribution.
Whatever line-up takes to the field at Portman Road on Saturday, they’ll need to put in a far better performance to stand any chance of gaining a positive result.
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