“Ridiculous” – John Mousinho hits out at Portsmouth FC relegation claim
John Mousinho has delivered his verdict on Portsmouth FC’s current survival picture.
Pompey suffered a damaging 2-1 home loss to bottom-of-the-league Plymouth Argyle on Wednesday night.
It followed an unlikely 1-0 win at Fratton Park against league leaders Leeds United just days earlier, in a pair of results few could have predicted.
Following their topsy-turvy form, Mousinho weighed in on where it leaves the club looking forward.
Mousinho claims Portsmouth are still in ‘scrap’ for survival
Despite sitting seven points and five places clear of the dropzone, Mousinho was determined to make clear the job isn’t yet done.
“I keep saying it and I can’t emphasise the point anymore,” the 38-year-old began, as quoted by the Lancashire Post. “Derby have picked up six points in four days, Luton have won, Plymouth have won, Stoke have won, Hull have won.
“It’s the most ridiculous thing for us to get carried away with anything other than thinking we are in a scrap and have to do everything we possibly can to make sure we pick up enough points.”
With Preston North End up next, it’s another side in and around the same position as Pompey, with a win potentially taking them closer to the top half.
Pompey boss wants a stronger winning mentality
While the Leeds win was great, and a sign of what this Portsmouth side are capable of on their day, Mousinho feels, somewhat unusually, that it’s dealing with wins that his team needs to get better at.
Quoted in the Lancashire Post, he said: “I keep saying it, whenever we pick up a win, we need that mentality as a football club to say: ‘Fine, we’ve got to go again and again and again’. Because very, very quickly, you get dragged back into it.
“We have to be a lot better at dealing with that. Absolutely, that has been my message to the players, my message to the media; that is what I genuinely believe.
“There can’t be any more evidence than there has been this week where the bottom three sides have won, including Derby picking up six points. It’s very tight.”
Plymouth loss will be a sore point, but Portsmouth must bounce back
Losing to the bottom of the league will never sit well with any club, but the manner of Pompey’s loss will be frustrating.
Not only had they just defeated one of the league’s best sides at the same venue days earlier, but they also dominated Plymouth on Wednesday, retaining a whopping 80 percent of possession.
And they created chances, hauling an xG of 1.72 compared to Plymouth’s 0.25.
| Portsmouth v Plymouth stats, as per FotMob | ||
|---|---|---|
| Stat | Portsmouth | Plymouth |
| Possession | 80% | 20% |
| xG | 1.72 | 0.25 |
| Total shots | 16 | 6 |
| Big chances | 2 | 1 |
| Accurate passes | 547 (84%) | 72 (44%) |
| Corners | 7 | 0 |
There is, of course, only one stat that matters – goals scored – but it will be a source of some worry that Portsmouth failed to make such domination pay, especially against one of the league’s poorer sides.
With only nine points now separating Pompey from the bottom of the league, and all the lower sides capable of picking up points, Mousinho is right to make clear the club aren’t yet safe.
If they stop picking up points, it would only take a few results to go against them elsewhere to be dragged straight back into the relegation fold.
Championship manager’s future reportedly on the line – just weeks after sparking controversary by praising Portsmouth faithful
That’s according to TEAMtalk, who claim the Tigers hierarchy will meet in Turkey during the international break to discuss the German’s position at the MKM Stadium.
Walter is coming under increasing pressure as Hull remain in the lower reaches of the Championship standings. Pompey’s rivals currently sit 19th in the table and outside the relegation zone on goal difference following a seven-match run that has produced zero wins, four loses and three draws.
The Blues’ 1-1 draw in Humberside is included in that run of form. However, John Mousinho’s side should have added to Walter’s misery as the Blues returned to the south coast extremely disappointed not to have turned a dominant second-half performance into a winning display.
Boos greeted the Tigers players at the end of that November 2 stalemate, prompting Walter to praise the 2,106 noisy Pompey fans and urging his own supporters to follow their example.
The Hull boss told BBC Radio Humberside: ‘I heard the reaction from Portsmouth (fans) and they kept going all the time, also when they were behind.
‘So maybe we have to work more together and they (Hull fans) can help us as well because sometimes you have bad situations and you are down and you need maybe a push from the fans. That is what I expected to be honest and that’s what we can do even more.
