'We Have To Be Determined' – Rowett On Portsmouth Battle

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'We Have To Be Determined' – Rowett On Portsmouth Battle

A clinical edge is required from his Leicester City side during this weekend’s crucial encounter with Portsmouth, according to Gary Rowett.

2026-04-18T09:00+01:00

by Sam Jones

Published

18 Apr, 2026

'We Have To Be Determined' – Rowett On Portsmouth Battle

A clinical edge is required from his Leicester City side during this weekend’s crucial encounter with Portsmouth, according to Gary Rowett.

Sam Jones

2026-04-18T09:00+01:00

'We Have To Be Determined' – Rowett On Portsmouth Battle

A clinical edge is required from his Leicester City side during this weekend’s crucial encounter with Portsmouth, according to Gary Rowett.

Sam Jones

2026-04-18T09:00+01:00

'We Have To Be Determined' – Rowett On Portsmouth Battle

A clinical edge is required from his Leicester City side during this weekend’s crucial encounter with Portsmouth, according to Gary Rowett.

Sam Jones

2026-04-18T09:00+01:00

'We Have To Be Determined' – Rowett On Portsmouth Battle

A clinical edge is required from his Leicester City side during this weekend’s crucial encounter with Portsmouth, according to Gary Rowett.

Sam Jones

2026-04-18T09:00+01:00

Just four matches remain in the Sky Bet Championship, with two of the sides still embroiled in the fight for survival coming head-to-head at Fratton Park on Saturday (12:30pm BST kick-off).

For the Foxes, the need to pick up points is greater than ever. Five points adrift of safety, it’s now or never for Rowett’s side, who are without a win in five matches. Ahead of the clash on the South Coast, City’s Manager addressed the assembled media in Seagrave.

‘We’ve got to do something’

Unable to find the net against the Swans.

A 1-0 home defeat to Swansea City last time out compounded matters for Leicester’s current position, unable to find the winning formula on Filbert Way, despite fashioning a host of opportunities in front of goal, a familiar story during Rowett’s short tenure.

“We have to take care of ourselves and our own business,” the 52-year-old stated, speaking from LCFC Training Ground on Thursday. “We haven’t managed to do that often enough.

“In the last four games we’ve created numerous big chances that you would expect us to score and had three times the number of shots on goal and on target than our opposition, but we’re not finishing those moments off.

“We haven’t done what we need to do, therefore we’re in a position we don’t want to be in. We’ve got to do something about it. The only thing we can do is concentrate on the next game and do everything we can to win it.

“If other teams win around us, they are doing their job. They are doing what they need to do for their own club. We can’t rely on other people. Sometimes it’s nice if other results go for you, but ultimately we’ve been in that position for three or four weeks where we need to win the game ourselves.

“The performances have been good enough to do that; we just haven’t been clinical enough in those moments. Apart from the odd silly goal conceded, that’s the only thing missing. We have to make sure we’ve got all those elements in the game on Saturday, because we’re running out of games. We know that and we know the urgency of the situation.

“It still comes down to doing the right things in games to win and it’ll be a question of finishing off the chances that we’re creating.”

‘You have to fight’

Getting ready for a huge match on the South Coast.

Pleased with the response from the players since his arrival, the disappointment and frustration has come from a lack of points to back up the improvements he has seen from the team and haul us out of relegation danger.

“In the last 10 games, there’s been a different type of energy,” Rowett evaluated. “We’ve performed really well up until the key moments, which we know define games of football. That is frustrating, because we’ve definitely seen big improvements in areas, just not the main areas, which then translates itself into points.

“The team have fought for me. We’ve a different type of profile of player. We’re not a squad that’s necessary been designed for a relegation fight, so we have to do it a different way.

“The players have given us a lot of hard work and energy. My only focus is on what we need to do to win the game at the weekend to give us the best possible chance.

“If you know me as a manager, I’m not going to be done until we’re done. You have to fight. You have to have that pride. You have to have something that gets you up on a Saturday morning and makes you feel like this is still possible.

“There are clubs which have been in far worse situations than this and still got out of it. We’re only going to do that by sticking together, pulling together, for four games. We need a little bit of unity at the moment.

“We have to show how important this game is and if the fans see a team out there doing everything they can to win the game, regardless of the outcome - we’ve seen that in some of the games - they’ll at least get behind that. It’s up to us, we’ve got to do that.

“That’s a non-negotiable for this weekend, certainly. I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

'Be clinical'

'Pompey' winning streaks continue in midweek.

The home side have earned two impressive results over the past week, beating promotion candidates Middlesbrough and Ipswich Town in back-to-back matches, seeing John Mousinho’s side move out of the bottom three and four points above the dotted line.

“When you’re going down to Portsmouth, you saw it against Ipswich - they are fighting for their lives and play with a real good intensity,” he analysed. “They’ll put balls into the box and play as well, playing a mixture of a game.

“I know John [Mousinho], he’s a player I signed in my early management career. I know all about his character.

“I’ve played against their team a few times recently and I know what they are all about at Fratton Park. They’ll be feeling like this could be the game which secures their status so of course it’s another opportunity for them to try and do that.

“They’ve got a real determination and first of all we’ve got to match that. In the position we’re in, that should be an absolute given. We’ll give the players all that information and be really clear with what we feel we need to do.

“They are a team, like any team in this division, that when they’re on it, they play with a little bit of fire about them. They can play a very good team like Ipswich and win the game. Fair play to them, I was impressed with their performance and I know what they are capable of doing.

“It’s irrelevant to us in some ways as we know we’ve got to go down there and produce one of our best performances and be clinical in those moments which make a difference. We saw that in the last four games.

“We’ve had a good week’s training and it’s probably going to come down to some of those moments we’ve perhaps struggled to get right consistently all season. That’s going to be the focus. It’s time to stop talking and time to start acting. It’s as simple as that.”

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