Pompey 1-3 Sunderland: John Mousinho's post-match reaction

The News, Portsmouth

Pompey boss John Mousinho talks to The News after the Blues' Fratton Park defeat at the hands of Sunderland

Transcript

00:00You've gone 3-1 to beat Sunderland today, how do you assess that match?

00:05Disappointed to lose the game but I thought Sunderland deserved to win it and were better

00:10than us in a lot of areas for the majority of the game. I think in a lot of ways it's

00:15difficult to assess and be too critical of the lads because for the first half hour,

00:1835 minutes we were well in the game, conceded a really poor goal, not in the way that he

00:22ends up in the back of the net but I think the way that Sunderland get the ball into

00:25that right side of the box and cross it because we just didn't track runners, we didn't sprint

00:28to get back in. Really, really disappointing to do that, to work so hard to get in the

00:32game at that point and then to allow Sunderland to waltz into the box like that was unacceptable

00:37to be honest. I thought we were okay up until half-time and just two moments, two moments

00:43of quality, two moments where we didn't deal with the threat particularly well and we got

00:46punished.

00:47And a game of a few chances, a few goals, a few goal chances actually, two goals in

00:52five minutes and that was it.

00:54Yeah and weird from that point of view, we've looked at this Sunderland side and what they've

00:57done over the past few weeks and really put sides to the sword and have been excellent

01:05and I thought they were excellent today in a different way, much more clinical, probably

01:08sat in a bit deeper and caught us on the counter and put the chances in the back of the net

01:12but the three goals were the difference between the two sides as well as a lot of small moments

01:18that added up to make it a big difference in the end.

01:21Does that show the difference at this level, how clinical sides can be?

01:25Yeah and it's a funny one actually because I thought we conceded more chances against

01:29Leeds and Middlesbrough than we did today but we lost the game today, we ended up getting

01:34draws at both Middlesbrough and Leeds and so who knows, the game may have been different

01:40if Sunderland hadn't gone up two goals and then three goals where they sit in the second

01:46half and they don't want to create a huge amount so I don't know, I think there is a

01:51difference between the two sides, I don't think the difference is unbridgeable, I think

01:56we can definitely make sure that we're better in a lot of areas and give ourselves a lot

01:59better chance to come here and win games but a lot to learn from and we'll dust ourselves

02:04off and go again in a couple of weeks.

02:05It's not often you see a quadruple substitution after 60 minutes but we saw that today.

02:10Yeah I wanted to do it, we were trying to do it slightly earlier and unfortunately the

02:13third goal went in before we could do it and yeah one of those things that I just felt

02:17we needed that injection of extra energy just to freshen things up really and change

02:23the shape too and I thought the subsequent one did well.

02:26Kamara particularly caught the crowds eye and they sang his name as well, what did you

02:31make of him?

02:32I thought he was really bright, I think he's come in and he's done well over the past week

02:35or so since he's been in and it's going to be a big adjustment for him coming in and

02:38going from the Dortmund B team to Championship football but I think he's done it really well

02:44and I think we're really excited about the prospect that he brings.

02:47What did you bring him in particularly?

02:49I just thought he brought a lot of energy to the side, he's trained really well and

02:52deserves his spot.

02:53You've seen a lot of him in training, we've not seen too much of him, how does he play,

02:58what does he bring?

02:59I think like he's done today, he brings a lot of energy, he's a decent enough technical

03:03player who wants to go and get on the ball and can burst past players as well and I think

03:06overall that makes him a really exciting midfielder.

03:09But you've got plenty of midfield options now I suppose?

03:12Yeah we do, I think we've got quite a few of those midfielders in the building and it's

03:17going to be really good competition for those places going forward.

03:19With your time now without a game, players who have come back from injury you imagine?

03:24Hopefully, I think that's going to really boost the score when we've got players back

03:26from injury in a couple of weeks time.

03:29Also just bedding the new players in as well, that's one of those things that we just haven't

03:32really had the chance to do because of the games and because of the time limit on everything.

03:35So I think bedding all those players in and making sure that we hit the ground running

03:39when we come back in two weeks time is really important.

03:41So Conor Shotman, when's he returning?

03:43He should be back for the West Bond game.

03:44What's the situation with him?

03:45He should be back for the West Bond game.

03:47OK, he's still injured but he's alright then?

03:49Yeah, yeah.

03:50Not too bad?

03:51Yeah, not too bad.

03:52OK, thank you.

03:53Cheers Neil.

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