Portsmouth boss' response when asked - where’s the exciting brand of football we were promised?

The words of head coach John Mousinho on the day of his Pompey appointment in January.

It was a promise made to the Fratton faithful to ensure a bit of va-va-voom would return to Fratton Park after some torturous watches under Kenny Jackett and to a lesser extent from Danny Cowley’s sides.

And while a steady upturn in fortunes under Mousinho has lifted spirits and offered renewed hope around Fratton Park, there has been a bit of a mood swing in recent games on one matter in particular.

Indeed, after a series of dull performances over the past five games that has seen unexpected play-off hope replaced by a despondency that only another season in League One can bring, sections of the Fratton faithful have been asking: ‘where’s the exciting brand of football we were promised?’

It was a subject raised again after the Blues’ 1-1 draw at Shrewsbury on Saturday – their fourth stalemate in five unbeaten matches as the gap to the top six stretched to six points.

The News’ Jordan Cross asked Mousinho specifically about the fans’ concerns at a time when such a footballing philosophy would stand the club in good stead, with the play-offs back to within touching distance.

Here’s how the Blues boss, whose side is unbeaten in seven games, responded as he recognised those legitimate worries: ‘We just have to perform a bit better.

‘One of the things I spoke about when I first came in was it wasn’t necessarily results I thought would get the fans onside, particularly with my appointment, I thought it would be performances.

‘For the most part, we’ve put in some really good performances.

‘Probably what has been most disappointing about the past couple of weeks is for 40 minutes against MK we were excellent, maybe our best 40 minutes of the season.

‘Morecambe it was in fits and starts but didn’t really get there and then again against Shrewsbury it was at fits and starts, but not at the levels we need.

‘Performances are the most important thing and we will get results off the back of it.

‘Whenever we’ve performed well we’ve tended to get results and we need to get that positivity and momentum going into next season, regardless of where we end up in the league.

‘We need to make sure we do that.’