John Mousinho admitted he was surprised by the level Conor Shaughnessy reached so quickly during his career playing for Pompey.
And the Blues boss has now challenged the defender to continue his impressive start at PO4 and become a Championship player once again.
Shaughnessy was one of the early-season success stories for the League One pacemakers, following a smooth transfer from Burton Albion in the summer.
The 27-year-old was left out of the squad for the opening day draw with Bristol Rovers but won the Carabao Cup at Forest Green and has started every game since.
Mousinho admits that the speed with which the Republic of Ireland player adapted to his new environment even surprised him a bit.
Now Shaughnessy is being asked to return to the form that saw him make nine appearances for Leeds United in the 2017-18 season.
He say:
“When we bring players in, we expect everyone to compete and everyone is either there to start or fighting for a starting position.
“That’s what our entire recruiting process is based on.
“Conor is one of those guys who, if you had said before naming the team for the first game of the season that he would play the next seven games, I would have been surprised.
“But from what he has done since that Forest Green game, he has been excellent.
“He is very consistent and plays on the left like a right foot, I haven’t seen him in any trouble.
“I think when we faced two tough opponents, Derby at Waghorn and Washington, who like to run at the back, once he got them under control he was excellent.
“Then he and the team hosted Devante Cole (against Barnsley), a player who had scored eight goals in seven games at that point and was by far the best-performing player in the country.
Then , he’s always busy with him.
from (Sam) Cosgrove, a really tough player.
“So I’m happy with his performance.
“He is 27 years old but has played in the Championship and his ambition is to return there.
“I’ve just seen some very composed performances from Conor – and that’s a real feather in his cap.
Mousinho explained that the demands placed on Pompey’s centre-backs make Shaughnessy’s form even more impressive.
The head coach expects his midfield duo to be forward-thinking in possession – and also brave enough to engage attackers up the pitch.
Mousinho added:
“He is very calm but at the same time very aggressive.
“His aerial victory ratio went up to par, he intervened and wanted to take the lead.
“We ask the defenders to take the lead and if they make the mistake of being aggressive, we will accept that.
“We don’t want them to drop back and I don’t want them to let the central strikers move into space and receive the ball.
“So they have to be good-footed but have enough physical strength to move back in the other direction when the striker turns.
“It was a difficult thing to do but Conor did it.
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