'Definitely a headache': Portsmouth boss on his most problematic position - and concerns over loanee struggles
The Blues have fielded six different players on the right wing in their opening 14 matches this season
John Mousinho admits Pompey’s problematic right-sided spot remains a stubborn headache.
And he concedes Florian Bianchini has still to show he’s the solution after ‘not quite capitalising’ on his opportunities to date.
Following the departure of Matt Ritchie, the Blues have so far auditioned Calum Lang, Terry Devlin, Adrian Segecic, Mark Kosznovszky, Conor Chaplin and Bianchini for the right-wing vacancy.
Damningly, 14 matches into the season, Mousinho has still to find the answer, with Kosznovszky the most recent selection, having started Saturday’s dismal 4-0 defeat at Birmingham.
Wrexham visit Fratton Park on Wednesday (8pm) and, frustratingly, the head coach is still searching for somebody to step up.
He told The News: ‘If you look at where we were at the start of the season, we played Callum Lang out there, we then switched over to Flo for a game or two, then Segs, then it was Conor. We’ve played Mark (Kosznovszky) there as well.
‘The injury to Callum and the fact that Franco (Umeh) and Harvey Blair aren’t fully fit either, have made it a wide-open position.
‘It’s definitely a headache. It’s one of those areas we were really keen on recruiting for over the summer and, unfortunately at the minute, it just hasn’t happened.
‘I guess we had the options there. Minhyeok can definitely play on the right, but had to play on the left because of Murph’s injury, Flo who has done it a little, then Harvey and Franco.
‘They were the two we’ve missed, particularly Harve. Towards the back of the season, the fact he had started those two games and done so well, we were looking at pushing him to see if he could claim that spot.’
Bianchini started four of the opening six Championship matches of the season following his arrival from Swansea on a season-long loan.
However, he has soon drifted out of the first-team reckoning, featuring just two in the last six matches, both from the bench.
In the total, the former £2m man has made nine outings for the during a disappointing loan spell to date.
‘He needs to transfer a bit of that onto the pitch’
Mousinho added: ‘Flo has had a decent-enough impact since he’s come in. He’s started some games, come off the bench in others.
‘From my perspective, I looked at the Coventry and Leicester games and we take our decisions off the back of what we see in those moments and is he then going to affect the first-team.
‘Flo is one of those players who has had his moments and maybe not quite capitalised for whatever reason, but it’s a long old season and he has to keep challenging.
‘He trains well. It’s not a frustration, but sometimes we’d like to transfer a bit of that out onto the pitch, some of the things he does in training, maybe there is a slight confidence issue there.
‘Having gone through a very, very different season last year in terms of system and playing position, it’s just going to take a bit to get it out.’