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'Something I need to get on top of': Pompey boss debates reasons for QPR capitulation

· Neil Allen · 2026-08-15T17:26:17+00:00 · nguồn gốc

'That's something I need to get on top of': Portsmouth boss details reasons for startling QPR capitulation The Blues have lost both of their opening match of the 2025-26 season, John Mousinho agonised over the reason for Pompey’s worrying QPR capitulation and insisted: It changed after we scored. Terry Devlin’s stunning 30-yard strike handed the Blues a deserved 15th-minute lead and they continued to maintain their superiority by subsequently creating other scoring opportunities. However, once Ilias Chair levelled in the 33rd minute, Mousinho’s men collapsed in appalling fashion, conceding three goals in 12 minutes to trail at the break 3-1. That remained the final score as Pompey failed to rally from that rapid-fire set-back to make it successive defeats at the start of the season. And Mousinho is convinced their performance changed from the moment Devlin handed them a 1-0 advantage. He told The News: ‘It’s very hard as a coach to particularly pinpoint what the turning point was. ‘I will have a look back at it tonight, but, in the moment, I think the turning point was actually us scoring. After we scored, we stopped doing the things we had done so well to put ourselves in that position. ‘It wasn’t just the goal, it was the way we were playing, how we were moving the ball. We were tracking runners, we were dominating runners, and our shape looked really good off the ball as well. ‘I’m not sure why that changed (after scoring), that’s something I need to get on top of. Last week we went a goal up and continued that good performance for a bit of time, we had the sucker punch just before half-time. ‘Today there were issues straight away and I felt the goals at the back end of the half, particularly after we conceded one, were probably coming.’ Aside from the awful manner in which they let in three goals, there was also criticism of the Blues’ failure to make the most of their chances. Abu Kamara, marking his return to Fratton Park, missed three glorious chances, while Conor Shaughnessy’s usually-reliant heading ability was glaringly absent. Mousinho added: ‘There’s a big lesson there when you are a goal up and when you have momentum, it’s important to be ruthless and to put sides to bed. ‘We had some very, very good chances at 1-0. Then, at 1-1, Abu has the chance where he is slipped through by Ebu and QPR go down the other end and punish us with a really good counter-attack after we’ve given the ball away. ‘It’s one of those where overall we didn’t deserve anything from the game, but there were some extremely positive moments for 25 minutes - but unfortunately that doesn't get you anything.’ Your Next Pompey Read: Michael Eisner: Why we had to change our Portsmouth transfer policy this summer