'He was the brightest': Portsmouth boss assesses his Reading debutants - and who impressed him the most
The Blues started with three debutants and a full debutant in their Carabao Cup defeat to Reading
John Mousinho has pinpointed Luke Le Roux as the pick of his Pompey debutants amid the disappointment of a Carabao Cup exit.
While he has called on Yang Minhyeok - marking his full debut in the Reading defeat - to be ‘slightly more positive’ when in possession.
Bowat, who has been waiting since September 2024 for his debut, partnered Hayden Matthews in the centre of defence against the League One team.
Le Roux operated in the centre of midfield, why Kosznovszky featured in the number 10 role, although Mousinho afterwards admitted it’s not the Hungarian’s best position.
Yet, overall, it was a night of disappointment for much-changed Pompey, who slumped to a 2-1 first-round defeat against Noel Hunt’s men.
Portsmouth boss: Luke was probably the brightest
Mousinho told The News: ‘With Ibane, it was just pleasing to get 60 minutes, it has been a long, long road to recovery, so just getting through that was the most important thing. He’s also no longer getting pain, he’s fine.
‘Mark showed some really nice glimpses, it was one of those with Mark and Luke, we had to manage their minutes with the stop-start pre-season they’ve had, but I thought they showed some glimpses.
‘Mark is probably more of an eight, but, with the team selection in how we had to shift things around on Tuesday night, we decided to play him as a 10 against Reading.
‘Out of the debutants, I thought Luke was probably the brightest, he showed some really good passages, nice touches, nice play and it’s just about getting up to the pace of the game, so it was a good introduction for those boys.
‘He is nice and tidy on the ball, keeps things nice and simple, he passes out wide well and commands the middle of the park really well.’
Three debutants and one full debut for Portsmouth
Spurs loanee Yang made his debut at Oxford on Saturday, featuring off the bench for 24 minutes in the 1-0 victory.
He subsequently appeared in a Pompey starting XI for the first time against Reading and played out the full 90 minutes.
Initially starting on the left wing, he moved over to the right following Florian Bianchini’s introduction in the 70th minute as the Blues exited the competition.
Spurs man ‘showed some really, really nice touches’
Mousinho added: ‘Minhyeok showed some really, really nice touches, we probably would like him to be slightly more direct at times.
‘But coming in very, very quickly on loan and having that adjustment period and starting a game very, very quickly after his debut at the weekend, this was just more to make sure we got the minutes into the young players and got used to the system.
‘Probably we would like him to be slightly more positive at times and keep driving at full-backs and keep going.
‘Once he gets off the mark and once he gets that first assist or goal, particularly with the way that he comes inside, I think he’ll hit the ground running from there.’