Portsmouth boss John Mousinho told he’s failed to replace two key stars amid recent struggles
Portsmouth recruited 11 new players this summer, but boss John Mousinho has still been told that he’s short in some crucial positions.
Mousinho and his recruitment team were keen to bring in a significant number of new players to avoid being left short in an injury crisis.
The general sentiment around Fratton Park after the transfer window closed was that the club had recruited well.
Still, now the injuries are racking up and Portsmouth have lost their last two games, some fans are starting to question whether Mousinho’s new signings are good enough.
Portsmouth light in a couple of areas after summer transfer window
Portsmouth have been missing injured Josh Murphy – last season’s top assist-maker in the Championship – and it could be argued that any team in the division would struggle without a player of his quality.
They have also arguably become too reliant on Colby Bishop, who is going through a poor run of form up front.
However, Premier League commentator and Portsmouth fan Ian Darke has pointed out two other positions which he believes have been problematic for Pompey.
Speaking exclusively to Pompey News, he named two former stars that Mousinho failed to adequately replace during this summer’s transfer window.
He said: “They haven’t properly replaced Freddie Potts in the centre of midfield, and they’re a bit too reliant on Andre Dozzell in that area.
“The other thing, I don’t think they’ve properly replaced Matt Ritchie. That wide-right position further forward is proving to be a bit of a problem.”
Darke’s comments could be seen as a slight dig against the midfielders signed by Mousinho this summer.
The likes of John Swift and Luke Le Roux were signed to compete for a centre-midfield role, while Mark Kosznovszky and Yang Min-hyeok have been given minutes on the right wing.
However, none of these players can reasonably claim that they’ve done enough to earn a regular starting spot at Fratton Park.
Portsmouth players must accept that they’ll be judged by supporters very quickly
Portsmouth are seven games into a new Championship season, but some fans have already made up their minds about their new signings.
Florian Bianchini has been labelled as not good enough for Portsmouth after just a handful of games in a blue shirt.
Fans were sharing fears about substitute goalkeeper Ben Killip after his first appearance of the season, and he kept a clean sheet during that match.
Professional footballers quickly get used to this instant judgment from the fans. All they can really do is:
- Keep their head down and train hard
- Give their all on matchdays
- Try to help the team win in any way they can.
If any of Pompey’s new signings contribute with a great goal or a clever assist in the next game, they’ll start to change people’s opinions about them almost instantly. It swings both ways. Rightly or wrongly, that’s the nature of modern football.
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