What Portsmouth boss told his players as Championship belief grows ahead of Sheffield United

And the Blues boss believes his players have shown their maiden league victory is within reach, as they gear up to take on Sheffield United.

It’s no wins from the first seven games of the season, after Pompey’s return to the second tier following a 12-year absence.

It’s been an incredibly tough start for Mousinho’s men, with the Blades clash meaning they’ve taken on the three sides relegated from the Premier League.

In addition, they’ve met pre-season title favourites Leeds along with Sunderland and West Brom - who occupy the top two places in the table.

Stoppage-time defeat to Burnley last weekend was a bitter pill to swallow, but once the dust settled on the result at Turf Moor Mousinho could see a display with most of the components desired from his side.

That has been the message to his players this week, as he makes it clear they have shown they belong at the level.

Mousinho said: ‘We believe the players are good enough. If the players weren’t good enough they wouldn’t be playing here, it’s as simple as that.

‘We can go through all the games really and look at the fine margins.

‘That’s what you get. You go back to the first game against Leeds, we switch off for a millisecond and Dan James gets in for a penalty.

READ MORE: Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder speaks ahead of Pompey clash.

‘Middlesbrough we switched off for half a second on a forward run and give a penalty away.

‘That’s the difference between winning and drawing.

‘I thought it was actually very similar against a side like Sunderland, where there was nothing in for half an hour and Sunderland hadn’t had a shot.

‘There was one cross and no entries into the box but we switched off for half a second and got done down our left-hand side and the ball is in the net - from us kicking it against our own player.

‘The margins are small but have built up and meant we’ve lost a couple of home games by a decent margin, and lost an away game by very slim margin.

‘It’s much more difficult for me to take and much more difficult for me to coach after a really poor performance, compared to a really good performance like Burnley.

‘When I’m searching for solutions like I maybe was in the first few games, it’s different to what it’s been like this week after Burnley.

‘We need to be at it again and on it again. We do all the same things as last weekend but do a couple of things just a bit better - that’s a much better position to be in.’