Portsmouth boss John Mousinho has said he still has the backing of the club’s board despite their recent poor run of form in the Championship.
The Blues currently sit 21st in the league table and just a point above the relegation zone which is occupied by Leicester, Oxford United and Sheffield Wednesday.
They return to Championship action on Friday when they travel away to Norwich City, looking for their first league win since beating Millwall in February.
In the games played since that victory, Portsmouth have lost five of their six matches, drawing once.
When asked if this was the toughest spell Mousinho had faced since becoming Portsmouth boss, he replied “probably”.
“The difficulty though this spell – and I won’t hide behind the results because they have been really poor – is that off the back of those performances away at Charlton and Millwall, we were really looking to kick on,” he added.
“We definitely put the performances in, we just couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net enough and conceded some sloppy goals.
“In my opinion, we’ve been playing really well since the turn of the year but we have to do a lot more to turn our form around.”
Mousinho’s two main seasons at Portsmouth so far have been memorable ones, winning promotion in his first full campaign and last season achieving Championship safety with a five-point cushion.
This is still his first head coach role in football since leaving Oxford United, where he served as a player and coach until 2023.
Despite the likes of Oxford, West Brom and Leicester introducing new head coaches and interim bosses since the turn of the year, it looks like Mousinho will be given the chance to keep Portsmouth in the second tier.
“Myself and the club have been through a fair bit over the past three and a bit years,” the 39-year-old added.
“I put myself under a huge amount of pressure and there is pressure that comes with this job, but I’ve had the full backing of the board from the CEO to the sporting director.
“I know we need to improve results but that [potential of being sacked] is not playing on my mind at all.
“If there is a change that needs to be made, then absolutely fine I can live with that but it isn’t anything that is influencing decisions at the moment.”
Current squad ‘capable’ of wins
Mousinho is hoping the international break will give him and his players the chance to reset and pick up some valuable points after the recent rough patch of form.
After the trip to Norwich on Friday, they host Oxford at Fratton Park and they also play fellow strugglers Leicester City at home as part of their run-in.
“We’ve not been pleased with the results we have had but we’re still a point above the relegation zone with a game in hand,” he said.
“This squad has shown and proven that we are capable of picking up results so we can definitely string a couple of wins together and ultimately that’s what we have to do between now and the end of the season.
“It’s always going to be a rollercoaster ride and there’ll be lots of changes with the teams down the bottom that start winning games from out of nowhere. We have to be one of those sides and try our best to stay in the league.”
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