Portsmouth boss’ no-nonsense view on opening to season - and where side now have to improve

But the Blues boss acknowledged there’s still work to do on the front foot, as his side pause for the international break.

And the head coach feels his assessment of where things currently stand for men stands up to inspection.

Pompey sit fifth in League One and a point from the summit after six games, following a sturdy start to the league season where they remain unbeaten - scoring nine goals and conceding just two finishes.

Some tough games lie on the horizon this month, however, which will no doubt afford greater context to where his team’s progress is.

But Mousinho is content over the direction Pompey are headed.

He said: ‘It’s an interesting one to assess.

‘We’ve been very, very solid at the back and not conceded a huge amount of goals - two in six league games.

‘And I feel we’re dominating most of the games we’re playing in, without really having the final touches in the final third.

‘We’ve got ourselves in some good positions and we’re playing with plenty of attacking intent - though we probably want to get a bit more out of the lads.

‘There are some real positives we’ve taken from the league games so far and we’re in a decent enough position.

‘I do think we’ll look back at a couple of games and rue missed opportunities, though.

‘I don’t mean that as in missed chances - but a couple of missed opportunities overall.’

Mousinho feels he has been reasonable and balanced in his views on Pompey’s performances this term, even when giving it in the immediate aftermath of a clash where emotions sometimes run high.

He added: ‘Most of the time when I do my post-match analysis with The News straight after a game, I rarely look back on the Sunday and Monday after watching the game again and think I was wrong in the assessment. Likewise looking at the statistics.

‘The Stevenage game was a case in point.

‘We felt we dominated the game without necessarily creating enough to win it - 0-0 was probably a fair result.

‘But we did feel we got in really good positions and we have to have more quality when we get in some of those wide areas.

‘We need to get more bodies in the box and create a few more chances, but I think everything is matching up.

‘The more worrying thing would be if you had an immediate thought after the game, and then you see something cropping up statistically which is telling you the complete opposite.

‘You then have to really dig down into why that is, but it’s just not the case with where we are.

‘Everything indicates we’re strong defensively and while there is a lot of promise in terms of what we’ve been creating going forward, we do need to do a little bit more in the final third.

‘No one is hiding behind that and it’s not a secret.

‘Before Peterborough we were sitting there frustrated about where we were, but overall we’re in a position where we can affect the top parts of the league.’