Portsmouth Boss John Mousinho Hails 5-3 Win Over Norwich City as Season Highlight
In a thrilling Championship match, Portsmouth secured a remarkable 5-3 victory over Norwich City at Carrow Road, a result that has significant implications for the team’s survival hopes. According to Portsmouth manager John Mousinho, the win was a season highlight, with the team’s performance, particularly in attack, being a standout.
The final margin of victory did not entirely reflect the dominance of the visitors, who moved six points clear of the bottom three with three league games left. However, Mousinho was delighted with his team’s display, stating, "One of the best performances, certainly from an attacking sense, scoring five goals, and probably could have scored a couple more," as quoted in an interview with Pink News.
Mousinho did acknowledge that the team’s defensive performance was a concern, with Norwich City’s attacking prowess causing problems. "Obviously disappointing defensively, when you concede three goals and two set pieces," he said. "One thing I would say is that every time we’ve watched Norwich, they’re a very, very good attacking force, and they’ve scored a huge amount of goals, and if you look at some of the players they’ve got across the front line, it’s frightening."
Despite the defensive concerns, Mousinho felt that his team had given themselves a sufficient buffer to secure the win. "So not that we were always going to concede, but there’s always going to be a chance away from home. And fortunately for us, we gave ourselves enough of a buffer," he explained. The result was a significant boost to Portsmouth’s survival hopes, with Mousinho emphasising that there is still work to be done.
The Portsmouth manager believes that his team needs to have more belief in themselves when playing away from home. "The message to the team has been that we’ve got to have a bit more belief in ourselves when we come away from home and not be negative," he said. "I think it sometimes takes us a minute to realise, ‘Oh, actually, we’re not terrible. We’re in these games. We’re playing against really good opposition, but if we are organized, if we do the right things, we’re going to cause some problems, and we’re going to be able to defend well.’"
Mousinho is now focused on his team’s upcoming match against Watford at Fratton Park on Easter Monday. "It’s about taking that next step. We’ve got to keep doing that, and it’s a bit of a cliche, but just keep believing in our own ability," he said. "We just have to be very, very clinical and ruthless and approach the game on Monday as we did here, and try and win it. If we take care of what we take care of, then, you know, we’re going to be absolutely fine, but we have to make sure that we don’t go, ‘Oh, we’ve got the highs of beating Norwich and we don’t follow it up on Monday.’"
The win over Norwich City was a significant result for Portsmouth, and according to Mousinho, it was a performance that his team can build on. As Pink News reported, Mousinho was thrilled with his team’s display, and he will be looking for his team to continue their good form in the coming weeks.
In related news, Portsmouth’s victory over Norwich City has sent a statement to the rest of the Championship teams, and it will be interesting to see how the team performs in the remaining games of the season. With a bit of luck and some hard work, Portsmouth could secure their survival in the Championship. As John Mousinho said, "If we take care of what we take care of, then, you know, we’re going to be absolutely fine."
