Thriving keeper admits there’s Portsmouth pain on horizon as former Wolves, Ipswich Town and Burnley man leaves expansive imprint

But the Blues keeper is adamant that woe is far outweighed by the gains to be made from an expansive game, as his impressive Fratton start continues.

Norris’ form has been a plus point from a decent start to the campaign from John Mousinho’s side, as they pause for the international break.

The 30-year-old has forcefully employed a policy of building from the back in an effort to beat the opposition pressing the ball, while the Burnley arrival’s range of passing has also caught the eye.

Norris is clear there will be times when Pompey concede what appear to be cheap goals from the approach - but the benefits make that pill worth swallowing.

He said: ‘You’re not necessarily going to be able to quantify how much you gain from it, but you’re going to control games you wouldn’t necessarily control if you were just kicking it up the pitch.

‘If you kick it up the pitch you’re going to give teams momentum coming back the other way, whereas if you control those small moments where you do beat the press and play out you’re going to control more games.

‘Yes, you may concede one or two which do look terrible, but you may control 10 games of football previously to that happening.

‘It’s one where the people don’t always see the fruits of it, but it’s something we believe in and something everyone has brought into.

‘The mistakes will happen and we have to make sure we don’t go under when they do happen.

‘We’ll puff our chess out and get on with it when they do.’

Although an advocate of building from the back and taking on the opposition pressing high up the pitch, Norris feels there will be times for Pompey to vary their approach.

That’s especially the case when they possess a strike who thrives on balls into the box in Colby Bishop.

He added: ‘All the best teams are playing like that for a reason.

‘If we can emulate that in our own way, while not negating our threat up top in Colby, if we can get the right mix and manage games correctly I feel we can have a lot of success.’