John Mousinho on 27th September 2023

The News, Portsmouth

27/09/2023

John Mousinho

Transcript

00:00 So Jon, looking ahead to the Wigan game at the weekend, what do you make of this match?

00:10 A really good test for us, the next step in terms of where we want to go in the league.

00:15 There were definitely no easy games, we've seen that this season.

00:20 If you look at the side like Cheltenham who have picked up one point against us, we thought

00:26 that was a pretty tough game, they made it difficult for us.

00:28 So yeah, no easy games and this is no exception.

00:31 I think that Wigan's league position doesn't tell the full story obviously with the points

00:36 deduction, the fact that they have assembled a squad pretty quickly under some difficult

00:40 circumstances and come together and played some really good football over the last few

00:43 weeks.

00:44 They're certainly a side that has taken a few teams apart, I think Bolton being one

00:50 of them, so we've got to be very wary.

00:52 They are a very good side full of league 1 and championship players at the very least,

00:55 so a really good test for us I think.

00:58 You mentioned about their squad, they lost a few in the summer but they've still got

01:03 a good core there haven't they?

01:05 I think they've got an excellent core, some very good players who've had brilliant careers,

01:09 some upcoming players as well.

01:11 If you want to have a read up, get on the Wigan website, have a look at some of their

01:15 players, I'm sure the more discerning fans amongst everyone will know that these are

01:19 players who have proved themselves at this level and actually beyond.

01:23 I think they have assembled a very good squad, they've got options in terms of changes they

01:27 can make, they made a few changes at the weekend and then brought a few off the bench as well.

01:31 So definitely a side that have got plenty of things going for them.

01:36 In terms of injuries, how are you approach this game?

01:40 We're certainly in better shape than we were last week, so Christian Sadie has been out

01:45 training with us since Tuesday, so two full days worth of training, we expect him to be

01:48 fully available for the weekend.

01:51 There's a couple of others that we don't expect them to be available for the weekend, they're

01:55 getting closer, Cassini Yenghi did a fair chunk of his rehab last week with Christian,

02:01 so at a similar level ultimately Christian just overtook him because he's not quite as

02:05 far away but hopefully we'll have Cassini back out within the next 10 days on the grass

02:10 fully.

02:11 And then a nice long term one for us to build upon is Tom Lowry, he was out on the grass

02:15 the first time today in trainers and just getting a few movement patterns, a nice next

02:21 step I think in his recovery and his rehab, so really positive signs there.

02:25 The only unfortunate one we spoke about at the weekend was Anthony Scully, he's due to

02:29 go under the knife next week and I think we'll figure out a bit more in terms of the meniscus

02:34 damage that we've got to deal with once that's happened.

02:39 So yeah, that's obviously a shame for everybody involved but apart from that, yeah, fully

02:44 fit squad from what we spoke about last week.

02:48 With Yenghi, when do you think he'll be available for selection again?

02:52 Season one I think if we look at that 10 days to two weeks for him to be back out on the

02:55 grass then because he's been out for I think it's going to be a relatively significant

03:00 period of time, it's probably going to be one or two weeks before we're looking to actually

03:03 push him into the fold.

03:05 Cassini will definitely be wanting to get back involved as soon as possible so one of

03:11 those where we might have to hold him back slightly like we did pre-season, he's champing

03:14 at the bit to get going, we just want to make sure with such a powerful athlete that he

03:18 doesn't break down so I think very conservatively he'd be available for selection in four weeks

03:23 time and hopefully we can work back from that and accelerate that.

03:26 And Christian is available for this weekend?

03:28 Yeah, Christian available for this weekend, we did take it very cautiously with him over

03:33 the period that we spoke about last week.

03:35 We saw he was at the Derby game, we decided not to take him to the Barnsley game in the

03:41 end because we thought the travel was a bit too much for him and then he was touch and

03:45 go for Lincoln and ultimately didn't quite get there and we really wanted to make sure

03:50 that when we had him back this week, when he put his boots on for the first time we

03:53 had no doubts and even just putting him out there in training I don't have to worry about

03:56 whether I'm pulling him out, whether I'm managing his load, he's ready to go and ready for selection.

04:02 What's the situation with Zach Swanson?

04:04 So Zach's back in training, he's been back since Tuesday, obviously we spoke about the

04:09 family issue last week and I think now that the time's passed and Zach's back in, it's

04:14 probably an appropriate time to let everyone know that very, very unfortunately his mother

04:19 passed away, it was the Monday before the Barnsley game so thoughts obviously with Zach

04:25 and his family, the squad's rallied round him brilliantly well and something that again

04:30 Zach told me after the event but hadn't said, it's something that needs to be public knowledge

04:36 but I think it's appropriate, is the fact that Zach played on the Saturday at the Derby

04:41 game with full knowledge that it was probably a matter of days before his mother was going

04:47 to pass so I thought incredibly brave from Zach, put the team first and then we managed

04:52 to put family first after that which was the one thing I wanted to do but yeah an outstanding

04:56 performance under the circumstances, Zach's only a young lad, I think he's 22 so to have

05:00 to deal with this has been really credit to him, credit to the lads as well hopefully

05:05 rallying round him and yeah very, very sad time to be honest but I think it just gives

05:09 us a bit of perspective in terms of what we're dealing with and I know there were a few people

05:13 that, not eyebrows raised but a few people probably wondering where Zach was and like

05:17 I said at the time Zach most likely would have been in the squad if not in the side

05:22 for the Barnsley game, we felt like this was much more important for him to go and deal

05:28 with and yeah I think he's going to be a much stronger character coming out the back of

05:34 it.

05:35 Is that the human side of dealing with players as well, going through a tragedy and you want

05:38 to give him time off to focus on more important things?

05:41 Yeah I think the most important thing first of all was that he could go and spend some

05:44 time with his mum during his last days and that was something you never want to, you

05:50 never imagine you're going to have to speak about as a head coach but it's obviously I

05:55 suppose going to happen but one of those things that hits you really hard because first of

06:01 all all the lads that I've got and that we've got under our stewardship they're just young

06:07 lads and they're exactly that and that's the most important thing, they're all footballers

06:12 we've got to get the best out of them and we've got to try and make the most of their

06:14 careers but they're people first and foremost without being too cliched so we've got to

06:19 look after that side of it and yeah that is the most important thing, we can bang on about

06:25 it and not take it seriously but families are ultimately the most important thing and

06:30 I'm sure everybody in football recognises that and I'm sure the whole football club

06:34 will recognise that as well.

06:35 In terms of Andy Scully, obviously we know he's going to be injured and have an operation

06:39 next week, where does that leave you for options on the wing?

06:43 I think what we're looking at at the moment is on both sides we've played Paddy, Paddy

06:49 predominantly plays on the right, he came on the left against Stevenage but Gav we've

06:53 seen play right, central and left, I think he's got the flexibility to do so, I thought

06:58 that Gav was pretty lively actually against Barnsley coming off the left in probably the

07:02 best 45 minutes of the season that we showed and Abu showed tremendous flexibility as well

07:07 playing on the right and playing on the left and certainly over the past couple of weeks

07:11 that position on the left, Abu has really made his own, I thought he was really effective

07:14 again at the weekend.

07:16 As another option I think we've got Jack Sparks who can come into the side and play a bit

07:20 higher up on the left like he has done so I think yeah we've got plenty of options and

07:25 we'll be turning to those over the next couple of weeks and maybe couple of months to make

07:29 sure we cover Anthony.

07:30 Inevitably the name of Ronan Curtis has been raised, have you got enough options already

07:35 or is that the name you'd be looking at?

07:38 Obviously Ronan was one we offered a contract to in the summer hoping that by the time he

07:43 got back fit he would be able to come in and affect the squad, I think at the moment he's

07:49 still a way away and totally normal in terms of the ACL rehab, I believe Ronan went under

07:57 the knife in February so he's about 6-7 months post surgery at the moment and it's at least

08:02 9 months in terms of what we're looking at with the severity of Ronan's one.

08:07 It's good to see Ronan keeping up with his rehab, he's obviously coming in and rehabbing

08:11 with us every day, it's good that he's keeping the fans alert on social media in terms of

08:17 what he's doing, I think that's brilliant but yeah still a way away so in terms of short

08:20 term cover at the moment that's not something we're able to look at and if and when we have

08:26 to have that conversation obviously Ronan turned the contract down so it's something

08:30 that we'd have to see if Ronan's got any interest in and go from there.

08:35 So it seems like he's got another two months left then has he?

08:38 You know I haven't had the full debrief from the medical team yet but ACL injuries are

08:44 severe and even though you can be out on the grass and participating, one thing I'd say

08:49 is having done it myself you can be back out and training and you're still probably 4-6

08:54 weeks away from actually being available for selection, the last thing you want to do is

08:58 go back and re-tear the ACL and the graft has to take time to settle in so in terms

09:03 of the modern guidance and everything it's 9 months post surgery at least for the graft

09:11 to actually settle in and I think that would put Ronan November/December time in terms

09:16 of where he is so that's just what we're talking about in terms of the surgeon's advice.

09:20 And then the 9 months then you need to get match fitness I suppose don't you?

09:24 Exactly that and that's a difficult thing.

09:26 I think when we initially offered Ronan the contract we'd always had Christmas/January

09:30 in mind for possibly having him back in and I don't think anything's changed since then.

09:34 Thank you very much.

John Mousinho on 27th September 2023

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