John Mousinho issues message to Portsmouth supporters after Stoke City hammering | OneFootball

Mousinho made an apology to supporters who saw their team lose 6-1 against the Potters.

Portsmouth manager John Mousinho took the opportunity to apologise to his side's supporters after they were hammered 6-1 at Stoke City last night.

Speaking to The News, Mousinho held his hands up and didn't hesitate to say sorry to those who had made the long trip to Staffordshire.

Heading into this clash at the bet365 Stadium, Pompey had failed to win any of their seven league games, winning just four points in the process.

However, they secured a 0-0 home draw against Sheffield United and could have won that game, which would have given them real belief ahead of yesterday evening's clash in Staffordshire.

Stoke had also been struggling, with Narcis Pelach losing his first two league games in charge, another reason why the south-coast side would have been hopeful of securing a point or three.

And when Mark O'Mahony made it 1-1 against the Potters, Mousinho's side would have been hoping to build on that.

Unfortunately for them, Stoke went on to score twice more before half-time to make it 3-1, which all but sealed the three points for the Potters at that point.

And they made sure Pompey weren't going to get back into the game, with Tom Cannon's quickfire double after the break and Andrew Moran's strike making it 6-1.

This was a devastating night for Mousinho and his side, who failed to take advantage of their equaliser.

John Mousinho apologises to Portsmouth supporters after Stoke City clash

Their collapse last night will leave many of their fans concerned about the future - and they will need to respond against Oxford United this weekend.

Speaking after yesterday's game, Mousinho took the opportunity to say sorry to fans, saying: "The fans were amazing, they didn’t deserve that, we don’t deserve what they gave us tonight.

"Massive apologies to everyone that spent their money to come up to Stoke on a Wednesday night. It’s unacceptable and we all know deep down that we’re very, very lucky to have that backing.

"Myself and the coaching staff are taking full responsibility for anything we need to take, but the players have to take a long, hard look at themselves as well. It’s their careers that these sort of performances affect.

"I didn’t see this coming, it was a big surprise to me because we had been so good in the last three games. We were excellent at the weekend against promotion contenders and had a real chance to come and get something.

"It was the nature of the way we went under. We didn’t run, I didn’t think we competed, we lost tackles, we lost headers, we lost second balls. The players have to do a lot better than they did."

Portsmouth need to respond against Oxford United

Pompey have made a very poor start to the campaign.

They may have picked up a couple of promising draws, but wins are needed more than anything else at the moment and they are yet to win a single league game so far this season.

They need to produce a response against Oxford, but that won't be an easy task, even though they will have the home advantage.

Des Buckingham's side have made a very decent start to the season and look like a Championship side, so it wouldn't be a surprise to see the U's win that game.

This is a must-win game for Pompey though - and this is a game to keep an eye on.