"Off the pace" - Portsmouth: John Mousinho urged to make Marlon Pack call after Cardiff defeat | OneFootball

Pompey's defeat to Cardiff City on Tuesday night sees them drop to the bottom of the Championship table

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Portsmouth find themselves propping up the Championship table after Tuesday night’s fixtures, as John Mousinho’s side went down 2-0 to Cardiff City in the Welsh Capital.

Having claimed a first victory of the season against Queens Park Rangers at the weekend, Pompey were unable to follow up that win with another strong performance on the road, as the Omer Riza revolution continues to gather pace for the Bluebirds.

With eight points from their opening 11 league matches upon their return to the second tier, the south coast side have experienced something of a baptism of fire back in the Championship, with a tough opening run of fixtures leaving them bottom of the pile as it stands.

With that in mind, we spoke to Football League World’s Portsmouth fan pundit Miltos Ioannidis about any alterations he feels his side needs, as they look to turn around their fortunes in the coming weeks.

Portsmouth FC: John Mousinho must make tough Marlon Pack call to aid midfield battle

Pompey were two goals down before they even got going on Tuesday night, with the hosts taking an early advantage through Regan Poole’s own goal just six minutes in.

Callum Robinson added another before the match was even quarter of an hour old, with the Republic of Ireland international making it two goals in two games following his strike in the 5-0 victory over Plymouth Argyle at the weekend.

The Bluebirds dominated all over the park for the majority of the 90 minutes in Wales, with Riza’s side peppering both Nicolas Schmid and Jordan Archer in the visitors’ net, with the Austrian having to be replaced on the half-hour mark.

With Cardiff able to carve through his side seemingly at will, Ioannidis believes there is reason enough to see a club stalwart move aside for the time being, and look to add some steel in the middle of the park.

When asked what needs to be altered at the club after Tuesday’s defeat, Miltos told Football League World: “First of all I would like to start off by saying that I love this player, I think this player is a club legend; he has done some amazing things for the football club, and is a great ambassador of the football club.

“But at the same time you would like to think that there is no player that is undroppable, and the reality is that Marlon Pack’s performances have been far off the pace in recent games.

“Yesterday was no different; the midfield looked completely discomposed, and Marlon Pack was at the heart of it.

“He didn’t really play well, and bias aside - I love Marlon Pack - I think a change in midfield is needed, I think Pack needs a rest, deserves a rest.

“I would bring someone like Abdoulaye Kamara into the side, because I feel like that is a change and an experiment that needs to happen, because at the moment our midfield is looking really weak, and something needs to happen in order to solidify ourselves in that position.”

Portsmouth need to learn from Cardiff City collapse

It is no secret that Pompey have had one of the trickiest sets of fixtures to begin the season, having played five of the current top six in their first seven matches of the season.

Despite picking up valuable draws against the likes of Leeds United and Sheffield United, a 6-1 hammering against Stoke City recently will not have done anything for their confidence, as well as their most recent setback against Cardiff.

With upcoming fixtures against Sheffield Wednesday, Hull City and Plymouth Argyle on the cards before too long, Ioannidis believes there needs to be some changes made in the hope of picking up some valuable points as the standard of opposition becomes easier compared to their tricky start.

Miltos added: “I am still very much in the process of assessing last night. A lot of fans - myself included - expected to see a completely different outing, that we obviously didn’t see.

“It is no secret that if we are willing to be - at the very least - competitive at this level, then we need to be a lot better than that. We were just bad yesterday.

“Around a week ago, I said that we will know a lot more about this team after this week goes by, and we are really starting to see some worrying signs about this team that we really need to assess going forward.”