Portsmouth boss' bold squad rotation admission as Blues aim to end 69-year Sheffield United curse

However, the Blues boss is confident his newly-bolstered squad is now fully equipped to cope with such challenges in the aftermath of a busy transfer window.

Pompey head to second-placed Sheffield United on Saturday, a tough fixture not helped by history, having failed to win at Bramall Lane in more than 69 years.

Indeed, the last time they tasted success at the home of the Blades was November 1955 - with the Blues unable to record victory in any of the subsequent 25 matches held there.

Still, the last week of the transfer window saw Cohen Bramall, Adil Aouchiche, Ben Killip and Kaide Gordon all recruited, joining Rob Atkinson, Isaac Hayden, Thomas Waddingham and Hayden Matthews.

With those eight arrivals, coupled with eight departures, Mousinho is convinced the squad is stronger - and now capable of being rotated during another gruelling three-game week.

He told The News: ‘There are plenty of things we need to do better, but there have also been plenty of positive away performances where we’ve not quite been there.

‘We need to take more of those and then turn those into draws and wins, while really cutting out the dismal ones - and we’ve had far too many of those this season, you can’t hide behind that.

‘But I do feel we are different now in terms of the group we have. Bristol City and West Brom are probably two of our most disappointing away games of recent times where we did have to shuffle the side around and it didn't particularly work.

‘For other away games, however, we have actually been a bit more positive, so we’ve got to address something, we’ve got to change something and hopefully that starts at Sheffield United.

‘There is definitely a possibility we shuffle things again, we have to look at squad rotation going into the Tuesday and Saturday games, so it’s something we are very, very aware of. I just think we’re in a stronger position to do that now than maybe a month ago.

‘The squad is stronger, we’ve definitely got more strength in depth. I do look at the squad now and think we are stronger than December 31.’

Pompey host Cardiff at Fratton Park on Tuesday, a match which takes on huge importance considering it is against fellow strugglers.

Then the Blues venture to Oxford (February 15), who are placed in 16th and are seven points in front, having played a match more.

Mousinho added: ‘With away games, a lot of it is just going to be down to us switching our mindset and having the right mentality.

‘Yes, there are going to be some differences being away compared to at home, the way you prepare, the way you travel, sides take a bit more confidence from being at home, we certainly do. Our home form has been very good up until Millwall, but we still played well that night.

‘We are trying to take a bit of that and not having any fear when you go away from home, certainly not reacting poorly to set-back and adversity.

‘We’ve been in a lot of games until maybe conceding the first goal - and then really struggle to adjust to that or react to that.’