‘We got exactly what we deserved’: Portsmouth boss blasts players after Derby horror show
After just 29 minutes, the Blues were down 3-0 and ultimately lost 4-0 to a squad that had only won once in their previous 11 games.
Mousinho’s team put in a concerning performance, especially in light of their recent strong play that lifted them out of the Championship relegation zone.
Afterwards, Pompey’s head coach conceded the scoreline may have been far greater – and insisted there couldn’t be any complaints.
“To put it mildly, it wasn’t very good; we got exactly what we deserved and maybe got off slightly lightly,” he told The News.
The start was really poor, we didn’t start on the front foot, we invited too much pressure. There was a chance early on just to let the ball run through to the goalkeeper, which we didn’t do, and off the back of that Derby had a couple of chances, a couple of corners, a couple of free-kicks.
‘We started settling into the game when it was 1-0 down, but then conceded from a set-piece. It was a strange first half because it didn’t feel like wave after wave of attack from Derby, but it did feel like every time they ran forward they scored.
‘The second half was the reverse, wave after wave of attack but Derby didn’t score quite as many and we didn’t have any control of the game or any meaningful possession whatsoever.
The fact that we appeared to make every mistake is the most disheartening thing. As staff, that was a tactical move.
“But if you are courageous and you win your individual battles, win second balls, defend corners, and defend your box properly—and we just didn’t do any of that—you can always hide that.”
Mousinho highlighted the defensive shortcomings in the entire team, despite several subpar performances in the back four.
Certainly Kane Wilson’s eighth-minute opener was the fault of Josh Murphy, who had failed to track the right-back.
He added: ‘That’s not just the back four, that’s the entire XI, in terms of the way we let them get out on too many occasions far too easily.
“You have to make up that extra yard at the back end because Josh ends up a yard off Kane Wilson.” He got back in, but it was okay if Josh was 80 yards away.
Josh wasn’t the only one; everyone was; our performance was summed up by the fact that we were a yard off everything.
“We were unable to fully address any of the challenges, headers, or duels.”
