Pundit airs concerns over Portsmouth next Championship rivals after transfer decisions 'set alarm bells ringing'

Portsmouth enter the international break off the back of a 1-1 draw with Oxford United, who joined them in promotion from League One. However, their previous nightmare defeat at the hands of Stoke City will likely still be mulling over in some fans’ heads.

Pompey were dealt a heavy 6-1 hammering at the Bet365 Stadium, with Mark O’Mahony’s goal lost in the overall dominance of the Potters. After the international break, John Mousinho’s side will be hoping for a win to boost spirits as they push to climb out of the bottom three.

Pompey are the only club in the Championship yet to register a win and have just five points on the board from five draws, including their opening 3-3 thriller against Leeds United. They have also conceded the highest amount of goals so far, with 20 going against them.

Portsmouth’s next two fixtures will see them take on Queens Park Rangers and Cardiff City and they’ll be hoping for maximum points from each meeting. Both upcoming opponents are also in the bottom three and Pompey have a golden chance to put some daylight between the two and claw out of the drop zone.

The Championship new boys will travel to Loftus Road on October 19th to take on QPR, who are currently 22nd in the table, just two points ahead of Pompey. Last season, Martí Cifuentes’ side finished 18th, six points clear of relegation but former QPR star Kevin Gallen doesn’t believe that his old side have made the right moves to strengthen their team.

The R’s brought in a total of 11 new recruits over the summer, including midfielder Nicolas Madsen and striker Žan Celar but Gallen is concerned over the lack of Championship experience the new signings have. Only Newcastle United loanee Harrison Ashby has played in England’s second tier before, which has raised ‘alarm bells’ for Gallen.

“I do feel recruitment has not been great, and only time will tell if they turn that around. But when you go into a season and you sign 10 or 11 new players, and not one of them has played a Championship game before, then that will really — well it did for me in pre-season — set the alarm bells ringing,” he told BBC Sport London.

“The Championship is a tough league, it is a Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday, a lot of away games, a lot of away games up north, and it is a tough league and it is unforgiving. To come in and have no experience of that level and that competition did set the bells ringing off in my head.”

QPR haven’t won a Championship match since August and Mousinho and his men will definitely see this as a huge chance to add an important three points to their own tally.