'Mixture of the two': Ambitious Portsmouth boss pinpoints playing style changes as he drives Championship progress

John Mousinho is ready to unleash a new Pompey playing style following their Championship survival.

And he believes the memorable 5-3 demolition of Norwich in April provided a tantalising early glimpse of their fresh approach.

The Blues’ head coach’s tactical adaptation at Hull in November 2024 is credited as one of the primary factors behind their successful battle against relegation with two matches to spare.

Sacrificing building from the goalkeeper in favour of a more direct method, coupled with the high press led by Matt Ritchie, that 1-1 draw heralded a crucial change of fortunes following a dismal one win from their opening 13 fixtures.

Now, having secured a second season in the Championship, Mousinho is ready to evolve his playing approach once more ahead of the 2025-26 campaign.

Portsmouth boss: We have to find the right combination

He told The News: ‘The playing style won’t change massively, but we will probably see a bit more of what we did towards the back end of the season.

‘If you look at a couple of the games we played where I thought we were really good, the Norwich game in particular, where the first and the second goal where we built out from the back.

‘We didn’t keep the ball relentlessly, but found Freddie (Potts) on both occasions and went one, two, three, four passes and we were out, making sure we were quickly down the other end of the pitch. We also had the ability in that game to mix it, so we still want to maintain that.

‘At the start of the season, we were probably too focused on trying to build from the back and it cost us. There were times we were too direct and it was a bit too easy to predict. Sides could then go “If you are being direct, we’ll just soak the pressure up. We’ll keep hold of our two sixes and then go from there”.

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‘We have to find that right combination. The football we saw in the last six games was probably much closer to how we will be next year.

‘We’ll still look for the goalkeeper to play the ball out from the back. So, if you take the first goal against Norwich, Nico finds Freddie, splits to the two centre-forwards and we are out.

‘It just won’t be quite as heavy as it was, where we looked to build up every time from the back. So a mixture of the two.’

Portsmouth returning on June 23

Pompey return for pre-season on June 23, with their Bratislava training camp beginning on July 5.

It represents the ideal time for Mousinho to implement his playing changes as he builds into the start of the Championship season on the weekend of August 9-10.

Particularly with the likelihood of new faces in the building, albeit with no Blues business so far in the first period of the summer transfer window.

Mousinho added: ‘We had absolutely no qualms last season about going from back to front really quickly and, to be honest, we did that quite a lot in League One.

‘But one of the big differences in League One is when you are winning the league and going to sides, a lot of the time they sit off you and they let you play.

‘The worst thing you can do is to go more direct because they are sitting there ready to pick up the second balls and break from there. So you have to play.’

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