Ex-Striker Sees ‘Clear Mental Block’ In Portsmouth Players | OneFootball

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Ex-Championship attacker Sam Parkin has insisted that away games are causing a mental block for Portsmouth and he stressed they need to rethink in the summer to perform better in away games.

Pompey had a horrible start to their campaign following promotion from League One as they spent the majority of the first half of the season in the Championship relegation zone.

However, since the turn of the year, John Mousinho’s side have turned the tables and are sitting 17th in the table, three points above the relegation zone.

Their results at Fratton Park have been excellent as they have been able to make their home a fortress for other teams in the Championship.

Their away form, though, has been poor and Parkin insisted that playing away games is a mental blockage for the Pompey players.

Parkin stressed that it is a bad mental habit which takes time to go away and he suggested Pompey rethink their approach to get better results from away games over the course of the summer.

“The pressure on them at Fratton Park to continue delivering”, Parkin said on What The EFL (16:33) about Pompey.

“I think it is going to take a little bit of reset, rethink, maybe in the summer, if they do consolidate, how they can be better away from home.

“Because this is a clear mental block at the moment, and I think that happens, it is more of the players than the manager and the coaching staff.

“You get deeper, you get anxious, and the opposition senses that; I have been there as a player.

“It is a recurring theme, and it is a difficult habit to break.”

Even though Mousinho’s men are 17th, they still need to be very careful with their three-point lead, and two of their five remaining games are away from home.