‘It’s not a popularity contest’: Portsmouth boss fires squad warning ahead of Burnley and Sheffield United

But the Blues boss made it clear he feels all of his 25-man group can impact his side’s Championship campaign as competition is stepped up.

Pompey are finally beginning to see their injury issues abate, after a host of problems have led to an unsettled start to the campaign.

The likes of Tom McIntyre, Regan Poole and Josh Murphy are now back in contention, though Colby Bishop and new boy Ibane Bowat are out for the long term.

Players returning led to Terry Devlin and Owen Moxon being left in the stands against West Brom on Sunday, while Elias Sorensen was added to the group at the last minute following a warm-up injury to Kusini Yengi. Meanwhile, Tom Stevenson and Tom Lowery are outside of the 25–man squad.

Mousinho is forthright in his assertion he’s not worried about noses being knocked out of joint, with his concern that sentiment is channelled in the right manner to impact Pompey’s season.

He said: ‘My take is I only want 11 players content at one time - and I only want them content for a short period of time.

‘I want them happy they are selected - and then at it in terms of their attitude towards the game to keep the shirt.

‘Then if we have 14 other players who are content then we haven’t done a good job of bringing the right players into the building.

‘I don’t want players happy sitting on the bench or not in squads.

‘Players have to deal with it the right way, train hard and get back into the fold.

‘But when you have content players happy with their slot when they are not in the starting line-up, then I think you’re in trouble as squad.

‘That’s what I want, I want players to back themselves to be in the starting line-up.

‘There will be players who think they should play and it’s a really important part of being a professional footballer. If you don’t think you’re good enough to be in the side, then I don’t think there’s too much point in lacing up your boots.

‘I want every single player thinking they are good enough to play. They have to show me that and demonstrate.

‘I’ll always be honest in terms of why they are not playing. It’s not a popularity contest - it’s about winning games.’

Even with nine subs in Championship matchday squads, there inevitably will be players who continue to miss out for Pompey as fitness issues ease.

But Mousinho is clear the 25-man group wasn’t named with passengers on board, with of all those involved able to contribute over the months ahead.

He said: ‘When we select the squad as we do we want players who aren’t in the squad to challenge.

‘If you take one of those numbers on the squad list we think they are good enough to come in and compete for a place in the starting line-up.

‘That’s going to be up to them to actually prove themselves and make sure they do play games.’