'You could see it': Portsmouth boss explains why impressive West Ham loanee had to be substituted

The 21-year-old was handed his Pompey bow at Burnley last weekend, representing his first competitive action since featuring at Wycombe on April 23.

Starting in place of Andre Dozzell in the centre of midfield, Potts turned in a confident display and played a part in Callum Lang’s 42nd-minute opener.

However, following his withdrawal in the 61st minute, the Blues conceded twice in his absence as Burnley ran out 2-1 winners in a heart-breaking finale.

Some of the Fratton faithful have subsequently questioned that substitution - and Mousinho has detailed his reasoning.

He told The News: ‘It was Freddie’s first start for a long, long time and we had to bring off after 60 minutes because he was tiring. We didn't want to risk an injury and didn't want to risk a moment in the game where we needed fresher legs.

‘You could see it. I don’t know if anyone remembers that tackle in the middle of the park where Freddie went to ground, but I thought it was a sign of his legs really tiring at that point. He’d put in such a good shift.

‘Freddie hardly played a minute of pre-season, not since the back end of last season in terms of competitive football. It was a huge ask anyway to ask Freddie to lace his boots up, go out at Turf Moor and play as well as he did against such a decent Burnley midfield.

‘He actually looked very, very comfortable and very much in control of his game. He played a huge part in our goal and I’m really, really pleased with him.

‘But we have to make sure we build that up, like with Josh (Murphy) last week, who had 60 minutes against West Brom and then managed to play 90 minutes at Burnley. We’ll get there quickly with the players.

‘Freddie has really impressed in training, he’s been very assured, very cool and calm, and for Burnley we were looking to change things because we had gone through a patch where we’d lost two games on the spin.

‘Giving Freddie a chance to go and play was the right thing to do.’

Potts played 43 times on loan at Wycombe last season, scooping the Supporters’ Player of the Season, Young Player of the Season and Players’ Player of the Season.

Yet Saturday signalled the promising West Ham youngster’s maiden Championship outing as he maintains his development.

Mousinho added: ‘Freddie was calm and composed, he’s in position when the ball drops to him and he puts his foot on the ball.

‘The best example of that is our goal, where the ball breaks down, he picks up the second ball and plays it to Zak. He follows his pass, then ends up finding Paddy Lane on that left-sided 10 position and we score from there.

‘The biggest compliment I can give is the only worry I had about him was the fitness side of it, I didn’t have any other worries. He was in position most of the time, competed well and passed the ball well - it was a really well-rounded performance.’