Pompey v Shrewsbury - John Mousinho's pre-match thoughts - video Dailymotion

The News, Portsmouth

Pompey head coach John Mousinho chats to The News ahead of Saturday's game against Shrewsbury at Fratton Park

Transcript

00:00 We'll start off by talking about how you've been nominated for the AFL Manager of the

00:06 Year, and Marlon Paxman nominated for Player of the Year for League One.

00:13 Yeah, it's always great I think to receive the nomination and get the individual accolade.

00:20 I'm particularly pleased for Marlon because of how brilliant he's been this season coming

00:23 back and captain in the club, his first full season as club captain, he's played pretty

00:28 much every game that he's been fit for, he's been excellent, he's scored goals, he's got

00:32 assists, he's led by example so I'm really happy for him.

00:35 Yeah, both of us, I think it's nice to receive that recognition but the most important thing

00:39 I think which is obvious to everyone is that we get the job done in terms of promotion,

00:44 get that over the line and all of these things are a nice added bonus.

00:47 Yeah, because obviously these are awards before the end of the season as well isn't it and

00:49 you've got other things to focus on.

00:51 Yeah, it's always a bit strange, the most important thing without a doubt for us is

00:54 to try and get promoted this season and with five games to go we're in a decent position,

00:59 make no bones about that, we'd swap pretty much anything for promotion so that's where

01:05 we're going to be focused on and if we can also get a few awards for individual players

01:11 and the team around that then that's great.

01:14 Regarding Strasbourg at the weekend, they were different teams when you last met aren't

01:18 they?

01:19 Very different teams, a huge amount has changed, they've had Gianluca Strentham, they've had

01:22 a change of manager, Paul Hurst coming in who's got a terrific amount of experience

01:26 with Strasbourg at this level.

01:27 I remember a few years ago playing against the Strasbourg side in League 1 I think they

01:31 got to the play-offs possibly play up front and lost out having been in the top two all

01:35 season so I think they've got a lot of potential, they've taken themselves away from the relegation

01:41 zone in the last few weeks and I don't think they consider themselves safe yet but they've

01:46 certainly put themselves in a really good position.

01:48 Played some good football as well so I expect a really, really tough test at the weekend.

01:52 And it is clearly a huge game for Pompey again.

01:56 It's a massive game, no doubt about that, all of them are at the moment, they've all

01:59 felt that way and I think the build up to this game having got the result on Friday

02:03 and a bit of a point on Tuesday night means that I think it's a good point if we follow

02:07 it up by trying to get three points at the weekend it's going to be a big day.

02:11 We leave ourselves in a really good position if we can pick up the win at the weekend with

02:15 four games to go in the season.

02:17 In this 14 game unbeaten run you've done that, you drew at Charlton and then you won, you

02:22 drew at Blackpool and then you won so it's important to follow up a good point isn't

02:26 it?

02:27 Yeah we did it at Oxford as well and those stick out, Charlton, Blackpool, Oxford, those

02:32 draws really stick out in my memory because after that the message inside the dressing

02:35 room was that take the disappointment, we were disappointed particularly with the Oxford

02:39 game and probably the Blackpool game because I think we should have won them.

02:42 Charlton I don't think we were really at it on the day but they were great points if we

02:45 followed them up with wins subsequently.

02:47 Now those three were all away from home as well, we followed them up with home games

02:50 and this one's slightly different because we had a home game last night but following

02:54 up with a home game at the weekend means that we've got a really good opportunity to go

02:57 and try and make sure that it was a good point last night.

03:00 Speaking to various fans, some are focusing on the title at the moment, some are focusing

03:03 on promotion, what's your focus?

03:06 Promotion is the focus and then we've got to strip that back one more layer to Saturday

03:11 and Saturday takes us one step closer to where we want to be but I think we just want to

03:15 try and get ourselves over the line before we think about anything else.

03:18 It would be disrespectful to speak about that and we haven't achieved anything yet, we really

03:23 need to make sure that we finish the job and put ourselves in a good position.

03:26 So a title would be a bonus for you?

03:29 It would be great, I've been on both sides of my playing career before, I've won the

03:33 title, I beat two and promotion, finishing second and finishing third so it is always

03:40 special I think if you win a title but I think the focus for us and we've been out of the

03:44 league, out of the second tier for so long, it's just got to be to make sure that we do

03:49 the job and actually get over the line first.

03:51 I remember Paul Cookside, they won promotion and then they had three games left and they

03:56 just stepped it up and I was marvelled about how they managed to do that, they achieved

04:00 their goal but then you still have to churn out the results to get to the title.

04:04 It's always difficult, the mentality has to be one that I think we've got in this dressing

04:10 room at the moment and I think if we look at where we've got to so far this season,

04:14 whenever we've picked up a good result it's just been all about making sure that we take

04:18 all the positives from it, enjoy it and then move on to the next game and I think that's

04:21 why we've been able to put together back to back results.

04:24 It was a real focus of us on Friday, I think Friday felt like such a big game for us going

04:29 away from home to Wickham who were in such good form and getting a result in the fashion

04:32 that we did, came in the dressing room, everybody was very, very confident and happy after and

04:36 it was just about keeping our feet on the ground and moving forward again which I think

04:39 we did last night, we didn't get carried away.

04:41 I thought we dealt with the occasion really well, I thought we dealt with conditions and

04:45 we still tried to play football in some really difficult circumstances and I think that's

04:48 what this team is all about, just making sure that they get the job done, move on to the

04:52 next game and keep going.

04:53 And of course, playing Shrewsbury, Derby aren't in action this weekend either are they?

04:58 Slightly strange one without Derby and Peaceful playing so I think it will benefit us, we

05:02 know what the job at hand is, there's nothing we can obviously do about any of those results,

05:06 particularly when they're not playing.

05:07 So one, we can just focus on trying to come away from the weekend in the same position

05:13 as we are in terms of that gap to third and a better position in terms of that possible

05:17 gap to Derby.

05:18 In terms of injuries, you said a couple of players that headed this Derby game were 50/50

05:22 and having fitness tests.

05:23 Yeah, so all fine, obviously got through them and no problems, it was definitely the case

05:30 where there's been such a heavy schedule over the past few weeks, we've actually been relatively

05:36 light compared to some other teams but it still felt really heavy, particularly with

05:39 the weather and the fact that we just keep slugging away match after match with some

05:43 of the pitches we play on.

05:44 But I think we're in a good spot, we haven't been so many injuries last night so we'll

05:48 be able to select from the same squad that we selected from last night.

05:53 And nobody's due to return for Shrewsbury?

05:55 No, Tom Lowry, we're looking at aiming for Bolton, I think is probably going to be the

06:01 wise move for him and hopefully if we can get Callum back out on the grass next week

06:04 done at the same time.

06:06 - Thank you.

Pompey v Shrewsbury - John Mousinho's pre-match thoughts

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