'We must take the rough with the smooth': Portsmouth boss' admission about Chelsea starlet after mixed Reading afternoon

That’s the verdict of John Mousinho following a mixed afternoon at the Madejski Stadium for the Chelsea loanee.

Operating on the left-hand side of midfield, Anjorin sparked the fightback for a remarkable 3-2 success with a classy right-footed volley from Paddy Lane’s cross.

Yet he had early struggled defensively for both of Reading’s goals in four nightmare minutes for the Blues.

Regardless, Mousinho recognises the overriding quality the former England youth international brings to his side.

He told The News: ‘When you have players like Tino, you have to take everything as a whole.

‘Obviously for him that role is slightly different from ones he has played before, but once he got to grips with the defensive side of the game he was absolutely fine.

‘For him to get his goal and play 62 minutes is really, really positive because physically he is excellent, he just needs to keep working on his fitness.

‘I told him at half-time, if anybody beats you defensively then it’s because they have done something brilliant.

‘My point to Tino is there’s no-one who will have more physicality than him, he’s a really, really good athlete, so just work people, make yourself difficult to beat – and we expect all 10 of our outfield players to defend brilliantly.

‘He’s only a young lad as well, it’s easy to forget that. He has just turned 22, he’s hardly had any exposure to the Football League, he’s getting used to his own body.

‘We will take the rough with the smooth with him because, when he does perform, you can see what he is capable of. That finish was absolutely brilliant and one of his specialities is also scoring with the overhead kick.

‘Once we get Tino in full flow, we have seen today what he is capable of.’

Anjorin also brought a superb save from David Button in the second half after producing an overhead kick.

Yet he will come under scrutiny for his defending at the other end.

Mousinho added: ‘If you actually look at the first half, there was no issue in terms of him tracking back, he tracked back really well, it’s just a couple of moments where he was beaten.

‘He was there, he was back, he wasn’t hanging up on the left-hand side, so he knows what he needs to do, and that will be the same whether he’s playing in the middle of the park or left-hand side.

‘He’s still going to come up against players one-on-one where he’s going to have to stick to his job, so the same things apply all over the football pitch.’