Pompey 0-1 Bristol City: John Mousinho's post-match reaction

The News, Portsmouth

Pompey boss John Mousinho chats to The News following the Blues' pre-season defeat to the Robins at Fratton Park

Transcript

00:00 I thought we were excellent in the second half, the first half we started pretty well,

00:07 I thought we just weren't quite practical enough in terms of the way we were playing,

00:16 played in front of Bristol City too much, didn't turn them enough and probably made

00:20 it a bit easy for them to press. We finished the first half pretty well, a bit more positively

00:25 but I thought we came out in the second half and we were excellent against a really good

00:30 side and I'm sure Bristol City will do well this year, I think they're going to be a good

00:33 competitive championship side at the top end of the league.

00:36 Why do you think you were so different in that second half?

00:39 I think maybe we just got sucked in a little bit by the way that Bristol City pressed,

00:42 they dropped off deep and then pressed late and we thought there was probably a bit more

00:45 time than there was. Certainly it was probably a theme for our general play in the first

00:49 half, having thought there's a bit more time on the ball than there actually is and they

00:53 were really sharp, I thought they had two sharp levels that came out at us in the closure

00:57 down and then a second and we started to move the ball on one and two touches and I thought

01:01 we were much, much better.

01:03 Regan Ball, on the match against Bronx, you said you were a game changer?

01:07 Yeah and I thought he'd go into the game really well and we asked Regan in the second half

01:12 to be positive and to make sure that his first touch was forward, not to look backwards if

01:16 possible and there are times when we do have to build from the back and go back to the

01:19 goalkeeper and come out the other side but I think there are a lot of opportunities that

01:22 we have to step beyond their press and Regan's got that ability so we wanted to keep showing

01:27 that, we wanted to keep taking the ball and beating the press, showing his good passing

01:31 range and also on the other side being a bit more solid.

01:34 It's the longest you've played so far, you've been eating it a bit, where is it in the first

01:37 half?

01:38 Yeah I think exactly that, so we played for 60 minutes I think on Tuesday, stepped up

01:45 to around 75 again today so we're hoping that with that step-up he's ready for more minutes

01:51 in terms of the next time he actually plays in a competitive game.

01:54 What did you think of his performance today?

01:57 I thought he was excellent, especially in the second half when he went into the game

02:02 and like I said he was a lot more positive with the way that he played and we're probably

02:06 starting to see parts of Regan Poole's game that we all knew about coming into the summer

02:12 transfer window and the reasons why I think he was such a competitive player and yeah

02:16 there's plenty of improvement to do, I think he's adjusting quickly to life at Fratton

02:20 Park and I'm sure he'll do that really well.

02:22 There's a lot of talk of going to Chambershire, is that a bit of a future that's happening?

02:26 He's now here?

02:27 Yeah we thought so, we always thought so and we said at the time that bringing him in was

02:30 a good result, he was someone that we spoke to early in the summer and to be able to get

02:36 him was really good business for us.

02:37 You spoke to him earlier and then he went away to speak to other people and came back?

02:40 Yeah well we thought he'd gone beyond us and ultimately came back on the table so that

02:44 was great.

02:45 Do you consider him a Championship player in that respect?

02:48 I think in that respect players have got to earn it and players are Championship players

02:53 when they're in the Championship so that's the way I look at everything and our players

02:57 know that as well so if you want to be a Championship player then get yourself promoted to Portsmouth.

03:02 Pre-season over now, how are the team starting the week?

03:06 Yeah and you know exciting times now, we've got to ramp things up and the focus now changes

03:11 from I think fitness largely and looking at performance and looking to build the way we

03:15 want to build and it switches over into ultimately results driven business and that's the way

03:20 it is.

03:21 We'll still try and focus on performances and playing well but ultimately when three

03:25 o'clock comes next week we'll focus on performance.

03:27 Thank you.

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