Pompey 2-0 Port Vale: John Mousinho's post-match reaction

The News, Portsmouth

John Mousinho chats to The News following the Blues' latest victory at Fratton Park

Transcript

00:00 John, another pompy win, 2-0 over Port Vale today, what were your thoughts on that game

00:04 please?

00:05 Yeah, well, you know, overall delighted with the win, delighted with the second half performance,

00:10 I didn't think we were great in the first half, I think a lot of that was down to Port

00:13 Vale and how well they played and how difficult they made it for us, but I think there were

00:16 still quite a few things we could have done a lot better in the first half, we didn't

00:19 move the ball quickly enough, we got caught in between playing and going a bit longer

00:24 and yeah, Port Vale caused us a couple of problems, particularly down their right hand

00:27 side, so I think to regroup at half time and come out as strongly as we did, and then also

00:33 after we scored the goal as well to go again, I'm really really thrilled because I thought

00:37 that was quite a tricky game to navigate for us this afternoon.

00:42 How disappointed were you in that first half for us?

00:44 I was really disappointed to be honest, it was probably the worst we've played in the

00:47 first half for a long time and I always make the distinction between when we go a goal

00:52 down like we did the other night, we went a goal down at half time but I thought we

00:55 performed pretty well so I didn't have a problem with that, versus today where we went in at

00:59 nil nil, no damage done but I did have an issue with the way we were playing and the

01:03 players knew it, I'm sure they did, the players didn't think we were playing to their full

01:05 potential because as soon as we saw a little bit more urgency, a bit more aggression in

01:10 the second half we were chalk and cheese.

01:12 It's easy to say that you played like that because players were missing, was that the

01:15 case though?

01:16 I don't think so because if you look at the eleven that we put out, I didn't think anybody

01:23 performed particularly well in the first half and that wasn't the missing players fault,

01:27 sorry it wasn't the lads that came in, it wasn't their fault whatsoever and actually

01:30 if you look at the two changes that we made with their first league starts of the season

01:34 with Sean Raggett and Ben Stephenson I thought they were absolutely outstanding in the second

01:38 half, two of our better players, Sean really unlucky not to get a couple of goals, Ben

01:41 grew into the game, he was sort of physically in the middle of the park, he was competing

01:44 ahead as he got his foot on the ball, so yeah I don't think we can look at that.

01:50 I think it's more to do with the fact that the highs of Tuesday night just made it difficult

01:54 to come back down, I think we've got a completely different proposition today in a well organised

01:59 side and sometimes you just have to wait and be patient in these games, so again I wouldn't

02:03 have had any problem going 0-0 if we'd just sharpened up in a few areas at half time.

02:08 You mentioned the players that came in, was it simple selection for you?

02:12 Yeah I think if you look at the two lads that have been on the periphery of things, Sean

02:17 is, we know what a servant he's been for this football club and how many games he's played

02:21 in his league career and he's pivotal in everything that we did towards the back end of last season,

02:27 he's found himself out of the side because of the form of the two centre halves and for

02:31 him to come back in and play as well as he did and nearly get a couple of goals it was

02:35 brilliant to see.

02:36 Fitted straight back in, a lot of that's about how he's trained, a lot of that's about how

02:40 he's played the cup games and a similar theme to Ben Stephenson I think.

02:46 Ben's been out of quite a few squads, I don't think he featured in the squad this time last

02:49 week against Wigan, he travelled up with us but him and Rielly found themselves out of

02:52 the squad and yeah it's been a difficult game for him to come back in but we expect the

02:57 lads to be right at it and I thought it took a second for Ben to get in the game but when

03:01 he did I thought he was really good.

03:03 With Ben as well you kept him on the full 90 minutes despite his lack of match minutes

03:06 this season.

03:07 Yeah because he's fit and he works hard in training and he never puts his head down.

03:12 It's one of the advantages of having the cup games as well is the fact that Ben came

03:16 into this with I think three 90 minutes under his belt or certainly three starts.

03:20 So yeah we expect these players to keep at it, we've got two really good professionals

03:24 there and we need that across the whole squad when we have changes, when we have suspensions,

03:27 injuries, drops in form, we've got to make sure everybody is bang at it and ready to

03:31 come and step in and play the role that they played.

03:34 Yeah I thought both those players did that really well today.

03:37 With Sean Ruggat did you have to play differently at the back?

03:40 I don't think so, no, we still look to do exactly what we've been doing over the past

03:44 few weeks, on the ball and off the ball as well and I don't think our style changed whatsoever.

03:50 We've been trying to implement that for quite a few months now and Sean was pivotal like

03:53 I said in playing that way and yeah I thought he was excellent, particularly in the second

03:59 half and yeah really pleased with his output.

04:03 And obviously you stepped up your game in the second half, what do you think the reason

04:05 behind that was?

04:06 I think we made a couple of very minor adjustments at half time but also the way that Porto Vel

04:12 played I think it was difficult for them to sustain the aggression, the physicality,

04:18 they pressed us really well in the first half, they caused us quite a few problems, that

04:21 can be tough to sustain.

04:23 Bear in mind they played away at Bristol Rovers on Tuesday night, that probably helped us

04:27 as well.

04:29 This week have benefited from the schedule in terms of going home game Tuesday, home

04:33 game Saturday, I think Porto Vel had that luxury and I think it paid in the end physically,

04:39 I thought we looked excellent in the second half.

04:41 Two goals in five minutes really changed the game, kills the game.

04:45 Yeah and we came out very very fast in the start of the second half and we got the goals

04:51 I think we deserved because we were positive, we got the ball in the box.

04:55 The first goal I think comes from us delivering the ball really well and putting the goalkeeper

04:59 under pressure, all of a sudden I think it was Joe Rafferty who arrived at the back post

05:03 so the crossers come from Jack Sparks into Joe Rafferty, we've got two full backs that

05:06 have released and you make your own luck when the goalkeeper doesn't quite get to it, we've

05:10 got our right back there and Colby in the right place at the right time.

05:14 The most pleasing thing for me was when we went a goal up in difficult circumstances

05:17 that we pressed on again and we put our foot on the accelerator, got the second again from

05:23 good quality coming into the box, getting bodies in the box and then after that I thought

05:28 we stepped on it again which was really really pleasing.

05:32 For my money today we didn't drop off maybe until the last five, six, seven minutes but

05:36 we still tried to get pressure on the ball.

05:38 But yeah, we didn't drop off and make it easy for Paul Bell at all.

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