John Mousinho has criticised Portsmouth’s alarming opening 25 minutes following Saturday’s home defeat to Bristol City, admitting his side “weren’t at the races” as they slipped into the Championship’s bottom three.
The Blues boss expressed deep concern over his team’s sluggish beginning, which saw Anis Mehmeti capitalise on defensive frailties to net the match-winning goal at Fratton Park.
Mousinho on defeat vs Bristol was forthright in his assessment, stating the contest was decided during that opening period when Portsmouth failed to match their opponents’ intensity.
“The game was defined in the opening 25 minutes. We weren’t at the races and that’s putting it mildly,” Mousinho admitted.
“We fell behind to a side that just looked a lot hungrier than us and it took a little intervention to finally get ourselves going.”
Portsmouth FC showed signs of life approaching half-time and dominated large periods after the break, creating numerous opportunities without finding the breakthrough.
“The message was very simple – you can’t lose runners and let players drift past you, which was happening far too much,” the manager explained.
“From that point we were good in areas and had a spell of pressure just before the break, but ultimately didn’t do enough to get anything from the game.”
Clear-cut chances fell to Portsmouth players, including a goal-line clearance and a late opportunity for Colby Bishop, but Lady Luck deserted the hosts.
Mousinho struggled to explain why his side performed so poorly from kick-off, highlighting basic errors that proved costly.
“It’s difficult to put your finger on why we started so slowly and we just didn’t do any of the basics very well – losing 50-50s, second balls, not clearing our lines,” he said.
“It was as worrying to me as it felt in the rest of the stadium – it’s difficult to look at that side and think it resembled what we saw against Millwall last week.”
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Despite Portsmouth’s precarious league position, the manager dismissed suggestions of panic whilst acknowledging the urgent need for consistency.
“There’s no panic, though, because we’ve still got plenty of time left this season. We have to find a level of consistency, as it’s been far too up and down.
“When things aren’t going well we just seem to fall apart at the moment, when we really need to start digging in.”
