Exclusive:Portsmouth boss agonises over Adrian Segecic's best position after timely Swansea reminder
The Croatian Under-21 international has 14 goals in 55 games for the Blues
John Mousinho reflected on Adrian Segecic’s most effective Pompey playing position and confessed: ‘I’m not sure’.
The 22-year-old attacker has established himself as one of the Blues’ most inspired pieces of transfer business in recent seasons after joining from A-League side Sydney FC.
Segecic was primarily used on the right wing last term as he finished as Pompey’s 11-goal top scorer, while this campaign he’s mainly been employed in his favoured number 10 role.
Having been taken off at half-time against Burnley, Segecic was surprisingly restored to the right for Tuesday night’s 3-1 win over Swansea, producing an encouraging return to form in the process.
And, ahead of Saturday's clash with Stoke (12.30pm), it has left Mousinho agonising over what position can bring the best out of the Croatian Under-21 international.
‘I don’t know where he’s better suited,’
He told The News: ‘We adjusted his position, played him off the right (against Swansea).
‘I think it gives him a bit more freedom to make those runs in behind and it gives him more freedom to roll inside and arrive in those pockets, rather than being stood in that 10 pocket.
‘He was a constant threat, ran in behind, the chance he had in the first half probably if he’s on form he at least hits the target or tests the goalkeeper. He had the chance to shoot in the second half as well, which hopefully, as Segs builds up a bit more confidence, he will get back to those goal-scoring levels.
‘He has performed well and it was a nice thing for him to rebound off the disappointment of Saturday, where we ended up making that change at half-time.
‘When I make those changes, it doesn’t all of a sudden mean the player is no good to us any more. Segs kept his head down, he didn’t sulk after Burnley and put in a very good performance on Tuesday night.
‘I don’t know where he’s better suited, he has scored goals from both positions. When he came back into the side off the back end of last year, he was playing off the right, scored the hat-trick against Stoke and scored against Birmingham as well.
‘I’m not sure, there are different aspects to his game. If he properly develops in that 10 role, I think that will be his position. There’s just a bit of work and a bit of development to do there.’
Started 14 of Portsmouth’s 15 games this season
Segecic has been an automatic choice this season, starting 14 of Pompey’s 15 matches in all competitions, while weighing in with three goals.
It also represented the first time Segecic has been asked to play on the right in the Championship this season - and he produced a much-improved display.
Mousinho added: ‘With Segs it’s easy to forget - I forget a lot of the time - that he’s still incredibly young.
‘He’s only had one full season over here off the back of a good season out in Australia. He adjusted really quickly, adjusted really well, and he is still a very young lad with a really promising future ahead of him.
‘That has shown over the past year or so we’ve had him, 11 goals last season, very close to the full Croatia side in the summer. He trained a couple of times with the first-team, he’s now with that under-21 side and has been called up again for this next international break, so promising signs for Segs.’