The first day of pre-season training was a relatively sedate affair, designed to ease the squad back into the rigours of another long campaign.
But Kenny Jackett immediately warned his players that he is expecting an improvement in the months and weeks ahead.
Pompey missed out on League One promotion last term, falling to a narrow defeat by Sunderland in the play-offs.
And Jackett wants his side to continue with what they did well, while looking to add elements that can help them finish higher.
The Blues boss said: “We’ve analysed where we were last season and we want to build on it – we don’t want those standards to slip away.
“Our defensive and attacking records are broken down and looked at because we want to continue evolving and improving.
"We’ve analysed where we were last season and we want to build on it – we don’t want those standards to slip away."
“We want to keep our consistency, attitude and work-rate – which were qualities that really helped us.
“But we also need to go one better and actually get promoted – those traits I’ve mentioned will really help with that.
“So we’re looking to integrate the new players as quickly as possible and make sure we’re ready for August, when we have seven tough games.
“The hard work we do in pre-season is because we want to get off to a good start when that Shrewsbury match comes around.”
Pompey have almost two weeks of training before their first friendly at Irish side UCD on Wednesday, July 10.
Jackett said: “The games came at us a little bit quickly last season and so we wanted more of a bedding-in period this time.”