Pompey boss John Mousinho brings the latest from Fratton Park ahead of meetings with Wycombe Wanderers and Derby County over the Easter period.
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00:00 Here with Pompey boss John Messina. John, according to one report you got lucky in the
00:06 Peterborough game so hopefully you can get lucky for the final seven game for the season.
00:11 Yeah I mean that would be nice. I thought we thoroughly deserved to win the game and
00:15 everything that we looked at post game, just watching the game and some of the things that
00:18 we look at objectively as well. We're more than happy with the performance so it doesn't
00:22 bother us in the slightest. I think we definitely deserve to come away with three points, especially
00:27 with a second half performance. So really pleased with a lot of aspects of the game
00:30 and I think to restrict Peterborough to as few chances and just the one shot on target
00:34 as we did, I think was a real sign of how far the team's come.
00:38 Going into the international break we debated about whether it was good, the pause, going
00:43 in on reflection looking back, what's the assessment now?
00:46 I think sometimes if you come off the back of a win it can sometimes seem like the momentum,
00:49 you've not been able to build that momentum but from our point of view we said prior to
00:54 the game we thought it was going to come at a good time. We selected from 18 fit pros
00:58 on the weekend, we had a couple of illnesses on the day, there's quite a few injuries that
01:02 I think if we've got those two weeks or because we had those two weeks, they're obviously
01:06 two weeks closer to return so it's come at a good time I think for us and there's a couple
01:09 of benefits I think from having that break. First of all we get to give the lads a bit
01:13 of rest which we did after the Peterborough game, they'd had a heavy week of travel with
01:16 the Blackpool game, coming back at home to Burton and then going away to Peterborough
01:19 again. Obviously everybody listening to this knows how difficult it is to travel from
01:23 Portsmouth to all of these places and then the second part of it is actually getting
01:26 some time on the grass. It's been quite good actually since the New Year because we've
01:30 got so many games in over Christmas and not many other sides have played as many as us
01:34 but when we've had those three weeks and when we've had that international break like we've
01:37 had with a couple of really good training blocks it's been quite useful for us as coaches
01:40 to really try and nail down a few things with the boys.
01:43 Now there's a story emerging over the weekend with some comments towards one of your players
01:47 Abu Kamal, perhaps ill-conceived at best. How is Abu?
01:52 Abu I think has dealt with it in a really mature way and obviously everybody saw the
01:56 statement. I think it was pretty upsetting at the time for Abs to hear that but he's
02:02 dealt with it brilliantly. Abs is fine now, I think he's got a really good support network
02:05 around him and I've known Abs not for a huge amount of time but he's a fantastic kid. I'm
02:10 sure you guys that have interviewed him will know that he's a really nice, humble lad,
02:14 probably too polite and too nice at times but just a fantastic young man, a pleasure
02:19 to coach every day and having met his family in the recruitment process as well, brilliant
02:24 people that follow him up and down the country and I think he's got a really good support
02:27 network there as well. The most important thing for us is to make sure that we're behind
02:32 Abs and we're with him every step of the way and he's had such a fantastic season for us
02:36 as well. Not that that would matter but I think he's a really important part of everything
02:39 we're trying to put in the football club.
02:40 Yeah, Northampton derby last weekend, again you were apparently watching Mark Leonard
02:44 but there might have been another reason that you were taken in derby as well.
02:48 Yeah, so same again, it just so happens a lot of the time with the sides that we go
02:52 and watch, which clashes with us watching Northampton but it was a really good game
02:58 to go and watch. With derby, as our opposition coming up in I think seven days' time now,
03:03 it was very, very useful. A really rare opportunity for us as coaches to actually go and see opposition
03:07 live. There are so few games that we can get to go to that fall within, first of all, a
03:11 decent enough geography for us to be able to go up and get to the games after training
03:16 but also just the fact that the games fall on a day that we didn't have a game. So, really
03:22 important I think for us to go and see teams live and I think it picked up some really
03:26 good stuff.
03:27 I think you've been quite honest about other results and taken the positives when they
03:30 come along this season, you've been quite consistent about that. Obviously, Pompey fans
03:34 were pleased with how things shaped up at the weekend and you were as well but ultimately
03:38 go and do the business yourself?
03:40 I think so, yeah. There's nothing we can do about those results so the important thing
03:43 is to make sure we don't get too carried away or too down. I think if Derby had picked up
03:48 a result which they well could have done on the day, based on the chances that they created,
03:51 if they'd have picked up a result, we don't want to have our heads down in the dumps and
03:55 we don't want to feel too disappointed about anything that we can't control. So, of course,
03:58 we're going to look at the results and we do that after games, we do look at the table
04:01 but the most important thing is just to focus on ourselves and that's what we do going into
04:05 the weekend.
04:06 There were some eyes this morning on Cassini, Yenge, getting an assist himself as he shinned
04:09 the ball in off a post and into the back of the net but up and running for Australia,
04:12 how pleasing is that?
04:13 You know, just a light for Cassini. I think if you look at where Cassini was when he came
04:18 into the fold here at Portsmouth, from an international point of view and also a domestic
04:22 point of view, he had a stop-start season last year and when he first came into the
04:25 fold at Portsmouth, I don't think he started his first league game for quite a while, despite
04:31 the fact that he'd been prolific in terms of some of his cup output in particular. Since
04:37 then, particularly in the league, he's progressed into a player that is a serious contender
04:41 for a starting spot now and he was extremely unlucky to lose his place against Peterborough,
04:47 having scored two on Tuesday night and then came off the bench and scored the win against
04:51 Peterborough and he turned himself into a real contender for that number nine spot in
04:56 this side.
04:57 And then also on the international scene, I think he'd been called up and capped for
05:01 the 23 squad, Australia's 23 squad, before he came and joined Portsmouth but now he has
05:06 not only had his first senior call-up and he got his first cap, I think, during the
05:09 Asia Cup, he's now started back-to-back games, important games for Australia, scored his
05:16 first international goal, I think he's moved himself a huge way forward in terms of his
05:20 international and his domestic career.
05:22 Asset-wise, he's grown measurably probably in this last 12 months, how pleasing for him
05:28 to have developed like that?
05:29 I think the most pleasing thing for us is the fact that we do feel he's developed as
05:33 a player and he's always had a lot of those raw attributes that we'd seen consistently
05:38 from all of the work that we did when we looked at him in the A-League but I think he's really
05:41 developed in terms of his hold-up play, how he plays from his back-to-goal, the intelligence
05:45 of his runs, the way he presses.
05:48 I think his physicality has developed as well because what he's had since we signed him
05:54 is that knack to get good goalscoring positions and this morning was a really good sign of
05:58 that.
05:59 Maybe he got a little bit of luck with the ball coming back off the post but he was there,
06:02 he makes sure that he's there in between defenders, in the right place, at the right time and
06:05 he gets a lot of those goals.
06:08 Honestly just watching Cassini start for the international side, there's quite a lot of
06:12 pride in the staff room and they should be amongst the whole football club, I know the
06:16 whole football club feel that as well and it's a fantastic step for the young lad in
06:20 terms of his progression.
06:21 Now you're on the naughty step on Friday, how's that going to work out for you?
06:25 I've been watching from the director's box, I can be in the changing room before the game
06:29 at half-time and after the game as well so there'll be no change in terms of the way
06:32 we prepare and in all honesty it won't change anything because the amount of information
06:37 that I'm able to get onto the pitch anyway is minimal.
06:40 We obviously make the substitution, sometimes make tactical changes but there's not going
06:43 to be any difference because we've got fantastic coaching staff that are going to be able to
06:47 do all that and I'll be in communication with them anyway so I don't think it's ideal but
06:51 at the same time I think if there's a huge amount that I can do at three o'clock on a
06:55 Saturday to influence the side then we're in the wrong spot.
06:58 I think we have to do all our work out on the training pitch, we have to make sure that
07:00 we're fully prepared going into games and to be honest my trust in the lads is definitely
07:08 there in terms of what they're able to produce and problems they're able to solve in-game
07:12 anyway.
07:13 So you will have a line of immediate communication if necessary?
07:16 Yeah I think that's the right thing to do and I'll have a different view.
07:18 To be honest having that view is probably a bit better, you don't really see anything
07:21 from the touchline anyway.
07:22 I think it's the right thing to do for head coaches to stand in the technical area but
07:26 I think it'll certainly be different but I don't think it's going to affect us in any
07:30 way.
07:31 We were just joking earlier, it might be someone north in the technical area, will it be John
07:35 Harley?
07:36 Yeah, north he's been down to the Reese outlet I think to get a couple of tops but yeah John
07:41 will be there, you'll probably notice that Zesh does the first half up in the gantry,
07:45 gets any communication down to us at half-time and then comes and joins us on the bench in
07:48 the second half so John's the coach that will be there on the touchline and I think everybody
07:53 at Portsmouth knows how much we value all of the coaches' contributions and how much
07:59 I value John's contribution and yeah there'll be no difference to what we see on the Saturday
08:03 and it'll just be John delivering the message.
08:05 In a way the Northampton derby game was almost a bit of a cautionary tale for people getting
08:10 carried away at this point in the season, the teams are tucked in mid-table, perhaps
08:13 in a more comfortable position to some observers, they can go out and put performances like
08:17 that and you can see that being the case for Wickham and also Wickham, a really powerful
08:22 former, I think it's the one defeat in 12 at Adams Park.
08:25 Yeah, same message for me as it's been all season really is the fact that I go back through
08:31 all of the games and I just think none of them have been easy.
08:35 We've had some fantastic performances against sides at the top, some decent performances
08:39 against sides at the bottom.
08:41 The one that I pulled from memory or the ones that I pulled from memory most recently are
08:45 the really tough games that we had against three sides down the bottom of the league,
08:48 Carlisle away, we won 1-0, Port Vale away 1-0, Fleetwood away 1-0.
08:52 On paper, sometimes you might look at those and think those are sides, if you're going
08:56 away as a top of the table side, then they're maybe going to be more comfortable victories.
08:59 We never ever approached them in that manner because we know how good the sides are.
09:03 All 24 sides in this league can give each other a game at any time and we've seen it,
09:07 we've seen it time and time again.
09:08 So we want to keep having that message away and Wickham are no different.
09:11 I think that they're residing in really good form, they recruited brilliantly in January,
09:15 they're well-coached, they're well-organised.
09:17 I think Matt Bloomfield's got them going since he's had a pretty tricky start, I think, to
09:21 the first half of the season.
09:22 But definitely a side that we have to be very wary of.
09:26 It'll be a tough afternoon, as are most away games, but we've got to be on top of our game
09:30 to make sure we come away with the result.
09:32 Another positive, Tino Andra back at Pompey.
09:35 Yes, so Tino's been back since Thursday and he's been flying in training.
09:40 It's been really good to have him back.
09:41 I think we made sure with Tino that we took the long route in terms of his injury rehab
09:46 and that was us and that was Chelsea.
09:47 It's been great throughout in terms of the communication.
09:49 We're really pleased to have him back and it's a great person, great player to have
09:54 around the place and he'll be available for selection at the weekend.
09:57 So you say he's flying in training, he's come back at a good level?
10:00 He's come back at a really good level and I think that's probably a reflection, first
10:04 of all, on everything he's done at Chelsea.
10:05 A reflection on him as a young lad, wanting to make sure that he does his rehab properly.
10:10 And to be fair, when Tino first did his hamstring, he was really upset, naturally, because I
10:14 think he was coming into a bit of good form here and the severity of the injury could
10:18 have definitely gone the other way.
10:19 He could have let his head drop and thought, 'I'll just come back at the start of next
10:22 season'.
10:23 But he hasn't done that.
10:24 He's been to plenty of home games, he's really enthusiastic about coming and having an impact
10:27 at Portsmouth and he's come back in really good physical shape.
10:30 How much of a boost is it, you say the word 'impact', however you choose to use it, how
10:35 much of a boost is it to have that for the final seven games?
10:38 It's a massive boost.
10:39 We probably, when Tino got injured, thought that anything we get this season is going
10:42 to be a bonus.
10:43 Now it feels like we're going to be able to have a bit of that bonus for the last seven
10:48 games.
10:49 However we use him, we're not entirely sure yet.
10:51 We've got to be really cautious with Tino, but at the same time, if he's ready, he's
10:54 ready and we make sure that we don't modicole him too much and we get him back in there.
10:59 I think it's just massive to have a player of that calibre coming back into the fold
11:03 at this late stage.
11:04 Now, strap yourself in, injury update, how long is this going to take?
11:08 You just go for it, keep asking questions.
11:10 OK, we'll start with Christian Sadie.
11:12 So, Christian Sadie, not as bad as maybe a few people first thought when you see somebody
11:16 coming off the pitch with a hamstring, but like we said after the game, it's a neural
11:20 issue.
11:21 It has settled down, it's not settled down quite yet for him to be available at the weekend,
11:25 but certainly he's been out on the grass with the S&C team.
11:29 So we're hoping probably 50/50 for Derby, if not the Shrewsbury game.
11:33 But Christian, no idea as bad as it could have been.
11:36 Callum Lange?
11:37 Callum Lange, progressing nicely, slightly, not slightly behind, I won't mention anyone
11:42 else, but in terms of his schedule, we're absolutely fine.
11:46 Most likely, time we'll see Callum is probably the Bolton game, if not, we might see him
11:51 for Shrewsbury, but I think he hasn't returned to full training yet, so it's one of those
11:55 we need to be cautious with.
11:56 Yeah.
11:57 Connor Ogilvie as well?
11:58 Yeah, Connor Ogilvie, he's been in and out of training this week, really deliberate plan,
12:01 making sure that he steps up every day.
12:02 So some days he's trained with us, modified sessions, and other days he's been back with
12:05 S&C and we've got to make sure we build him up because he's had so many injuries this
12:09 season, which is unlike Connor, so we want to make sure we do things right with him.
12:12 So Connor, I think, will be fit for a week Saturday.
12:16 Positive news on Ben Stevenson?
12:17 Really good news on Ben, Ben's been back in, he's had a couple of modified training sessions
12:21 before the international break, and then he's been back in flying, so we had a couple of
12:26 optional training sessions when all the lads were off, Ben was back in, involved in those,
12:30 he then came in and fully trained from Thursday onwards, so Ben is back and fully available
12:34 for selection.
12:35 Anthony Scully?
12:36 Anthony Scully, yeah, so Anthony is seeing a specialist about his ankle, we've just got
12:42 a couple of questions that we need to answer, so hopefully we'll have a bit more news on
12:46 that by the time we get to the weekend with Anthony.
12:49 Not great news, it's obviously been a difficult season for him, so we're just making sure
12:52 that we manage things properly and try and get him back as quickly as we can, but not
12:57 rushing him either, so nothing imminent in terms of a return for Sculls.
13:01 Tom Lowry?
13:02 Yeah, Tom Lowry, so Tom's slightly behind Connor Ogilvie in terms of his progression,
13:06 he'd been in and out of those training sessions as well over the international break quite
13:10 deliberately, but again, we want to make sure, particularly with the soft tissue injuries
13:15 that Tom has suffered, that we don't push things too far, it's not a contact injury,
13:20 it's not one of those ones where he's recovering from knee surgery or anything like that, so
13:23 they can be a bit more straightforward, but soft tissue injuries, we want to take it very
13:26 cautiously, so I think Bolton for Tom is a realistic date.
13:29 We've seen Paddy with Northern Ireland and Joe, illness-wise, are they recovered now?
13:33 Yeah, Paddy obviously started for Northern Ireland the other night, so he's fine and
13:37 Joe's been back and he's trained every single training session, so Joe's fine.
13:40 Have a breather!
13:41 Thank you.