As a new Championship season appears on the horizon, everybody looks to see who will be the winners and losers come May next year.
John Mousinho’s Portsmouth spent the majority of last season fighting against the drop after a poor start to the season. The south coast side remained in the relegation zone from match day five to match day twenty-one, followed by a few more weeks in the bottom three after suffering heavy defeats to Derby, Bristol City, and Blackburn.
However, due to a spell of great results and fantastic home fun, the Blues pulled their way out of the drop and didn’t fall back into the drop zone after the eighteenth of January on matchday twenty seven. Ultimately, despite struggling away form and a significantly lower budget than the rest of the teams, Pompey finished in sixteenth place and would reflect on a relatively successful first season back in the Championship.
The club will, of course, have to reinvest to replace key players such as Freddie Potts and Rob Atkinson, who have both returned to their parent clubs. Portsmouth have already made a great start in this window by returning to the A-League and, more specifically, Sydney FC with the signing of Adrian Segecic, who scored thirteen goals from twenty-four games from the right wing.
Portsmouth, of course, will have to compete with clubs with higher budgets this season, coming up from League One, such as Birmingham and Wrexham. John Mousinho has been quoted as saying that ‘There won’t necessarily be 14 new players this summer’ and suggested that there will be a more concise way of budgeting with the squad already more filled out with players contracted for multiple years.
CEO Andy Cullen has previously told The News that ‘There are obviously some key positions we still need to fill and, ideally, we would love those to be permanent, but it might be one of two of those may be loans.’ This could also include re-entering the European market with signings such as Nicholas Schmid, having become such a massive success in the net.
If Portsmouth can fill the holes left by previous loan signings and address the defensive issues away from home, they could be in for a more successful season than last. John Mousinho led the team to become one of the form sides by the end of last season, placing seventh in the table over the previous twenty games and having the eighth-best home form for the entirety of the season.
The huge atmosphere at Fratton Park, combined with the side’s ability to make the ground feel like a tough place to play, was highlighted by key underlying factors such as having the fourth highest tackles won in the attacking third and third highest interceptions, making them one of the best pressing sides in the league. This approach was spearheaded by the return of Colby Bishop, who quickly became one of the most prolific forwards in the league, resulting in Pompey overperforming their expected goals by 1.8xG.
This season also proves to be a massive moment for the Blues, as they will face bitter rivals Southampton in the league for the first time in over twelve years. If there is a time for one club to prove themselves, this season, it could be Portsmouth with so much room for improvement and an incredible home support to build upon.
Quotations provided for by The Portsmouth News.
Statistics provided by FBRef.
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