Portsmouth’s leading position which shows how they’ve ‘exploited’ Championship rivals
John Mousinho believes Pompey have been able to ‘exploit’ Championship defences with their incessant crossing bombardment this season.
And the Blues boss reckons his side have played to their strengths in doing so, as they man the supply line for Colby Bishop.
Mousinho’s side aim to win their battle for second-tier survival over the final seven games, with a trip to Millwall the next challenge on Saturday.
Pompey’s weekend success over Blackburn leaves them well placed to complete the mission to stay up, but there’s still a distance to travel to finish that assignment.
One of the hallmarks of the Blues’ upturn in results has been the performances of their wide players, with Matt Ritchie’s season improving once he built his fitness after a summer arrival from Newcastle.
On the left flank, Josh Murphy has not only been one of the most impressive Pompey players but also a standout operator at Championship level.
That’s underlined by Murphy’s 17 goals involvements to date for the Blues, comprising seven goals and 10 assists.
It’s been the supply from wide areas which has stood out, with that underlined by the statistics of crosses Pompey have produced.
Mousinho’s side have now clocked up 667 crosses in the league this season - the fourth highest in the Championship behind Swansea (726), Coventry (702) and Hull (671).
The Pompey boss believes it’s an approach that makes sense, when you have a player who thrives on supply in wides like Colby Bishop.
And the head coach has seen opposition who’ve often struggled to contain the quality his side have produced, when crossing effectively.
Mousinho said: ‘We think we’ve got a centre-forward who can put the ball in the back of the net if we cross the ball.
‘The same applies to any centre-forward we have on the pitch this season, not just Colby.
‘So we want to get the ball wide and we want to get the ball in the box. When we’ve done that with the wingers we’ve got, whether that’s Murph on one wide and Matt on the other - the two who have played the most games.
‘They are very different wingers with Murph doing it one way and Matty doing it another.
‘It is difficult to defend crosses so if you can do it early we can disrupt teams. When we’ve been good this season we’ve exploited teams doing it.’