Portsmouth boss’ revealing dressing room insight as questions asked of players ahead of QPR and Cardiff City

And the Blues boss has detailed why his side’s confidence has been able to withstand their Championship struggles so far this term, as they look to arrest their poor form at QPR.

Mousinho’s men 10-game run without success this season has established a new landmark for winless openings since the war.

But that doesn’t tell the story of how competitive Pompey have been since stepping up to the second tier, as they faced arguably the toughest Championship opening in recent memory.

Mousinho said: ‘Confidence is a lot higher than you’d probably expect, given where we are.

‘We’re not trying to brush it under the carpet, but I think a lot is, if you take the Stoke game out of it, that we’ve been in every game.

‘There’s been some really difficult games too and it’s been no secret that we’ve had one of the toughest starts.

‘But we went to places like Middlesbrough and Leeds and really competed - we should’ve won both games.

‘We went to Burnley and had one of our better performances of the season and we really suffocated Sheffield United, who’ve won a couple of games on the spin after playing us.

‘So we’re really pleased from that point of view and that’s where the confidence comes from, but ultimately we’ve had that reality check that we’ve not won a game despite those performances and playing well.

‘So confidence should be high, but we need to take that and turn it into points - that’s the most important thing.’

Mousinho stressed the importance of maintaining balance amid Pompey’s difficult opening, by acknowledging his team’s faults but also seeing results in context.

The Blues boss pointed to how the squad remained grounded through a record 27-game unbeaten run last year, as evidence that is how the football operation work.

He added: ‘It works on both sides. You can never get too carried away with winning games, like we started off last season with that  ridiculous unbeaten streak.

‘It’s the same this year. You don’t win anything in August, September and October and you don’t lose anything either but we have to start winning games at some point.

‘We’re not in the position we’d like to be in by any means and we want to be a lot higher in the table, but we’re still within touching distance.’