Pompey er på ingen måte ferdighandlet før sesongstart, men på venstreback skal det etter planen ikke hentes inn noen nye spillere.
NYHETER: Connor Ogilvie var førstevalget på venstrebacken forrige sesong, men i hans skadefravær spilte Jack Sparkes. Sparkes spilte også noen kamper på kanten lenger framme.
Sparkes sin styrke er først og fremst den veldig presise venstrefoten hans, og den sørget for flere målgivende forrige sesong. Hans hovedutfordring er det defensive, men han hadde noen solide kamper der han temmet motstandernes høyrekant også.
Nå skriver The News at Pompey har bestemt seg for at venstreback ikke er en posisjon klubben vil prioritere i sin jakt på nye spillere. Mousinho og hans team skal være komfortable med duoen Ogilvie og Sparkes på denne plassen.
SE OGSÅ: Connor Ogilvies spillerprofil
Jack Sparkes sine kommentarer
Det ble til slutt 22 kamper i League One for Sparkes forrige sesong. 23-åringen forteller The News at han føler seg klar for Championship og tror han kan ta nivået.
«Defending is probably the one thing every week I have worked on, especially with Zesh (Rehman), who is very good with me. Even when I’ve not been playing, that has been important. The first thing the gaffer looks at is can he trust me defensively and put me in, especially in the Championship with the standard going up even more.
You are playing against better players, it should be interesting. I have worked hard over the summer to get myself ready for it and I’m looking forward to it. I had performances last year, where probably Blackpool away stands out, when I was pretty poor defensively. But it was important to try to learn from that set-back and push on. I had meetings after the game with Zesh and the gaffer about how I could improve and take that into a match.
I had a good run of starts from September and then, around Christmas, I had a few bad performances. Bristol Rovers away stands out, where I was probably a little tired.I hadn’t played that many games on the bounce for a long time and it caught up with me a little around that point. So when I came out it was a good time to reflect and reset. When Connor came back, obviously he played, but when I was needed it was important I was ready to step up. It was obviously good to get through that. I will be better for it and ready for next time.’
SE OGSÅ: Jack Sparkes sin spillerprofil
Connor Ogilvie.