Portsmouth have enjoyed a strong start to the 2021/22 campaign and are currently sat in fifth position in League One during the first international break of the season.

Danny Cowley's side have 10 points on the board, with three wins, one draw and one defeat after five games. Only Sunderland (12) have more, with Pompey one of six teams tied on 10 points below the Black Cats at the top of the table.

The south coast side won their first three league matches of the season, beating Fleetwood, Crewe and Shrewsbury. They were then held to a 0-0 draw by Doncaster before losing 1-0 to Wigan in their last game of the month in League One.

A number of players caught the eye with their performances in August, including on-loan Manchester City goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu - who started four of the five games and impressed between the sticks with an average SofaScore rating of 7.30 (before denying Cristiano Ronaldo from the penalty spot in midweek).

Forget the Republic of Ireland international, though, as it was Clark Robertson who was Pompey's star man in August with his excellent performances at centre-back, as his defending helped Bazunu to rack up clean sheets and earn a high SofaScore rating of 7.18.

He was a defensive powerhouse throughout the month as he helped the team to keep four clean sheets in five games in League One. The only league goal Pompey conceded in August came in the 1-0 defeat to Wigan, with none conceded in the first four matches.

Keeping a clean sheet is a team effort, but Robertson stood out with his dominance in defence. As per SofaScore, he won an incredible 74% of his duels on the pitch, averaging 6.4 duels won per game. This shows that he was able to dominate the opposition and prevent them from winning much against him, stopping attacks and creating opportunities for his team to hit on the break, or to alleviate pressure by retaining possession.

Robertson, who joined from Rotherham in the summer, also made zero errors leading to shots or goals to further illustrate just how reliable he was for Cowley at the back. This shows how he was virtually faultless in the five matches, which is why he was arguably Pompey's star man during August.

His excellence at the back built a platform for the attacking players to do their work without needing to worry about silly errors behind them. With just one goal conceded from five league games for Cowley's side, Robertson's performances have undoubtedly been key to their strong start to the campaign.

AND in other news, Pompey fans will be buzzing with Cowley's claim on gem tipped to “become a top player”...