Portsmouth boss John Mousinho's Plymouth Argyle verdict

The News, Portsmouth

Portsmouth boss John Mousinhp gives his verdict on the gut-wrenching Championship defeat to Plymouth Argyle.

Transcript

00:00So, John, how on earth did Pompey lose that to you today?

00:04I mean, pretty simple, I suppose. We didn't put the ball in the back of the net when we

00:08had the chances and we didn't create better opportunities when we broke and we nicked

00:13the ball back high up, but I still think we created plenty enough to win the game. And

00:17then you had probably three moments in the second half, the only time that Plymouth had

00:20any chances. One where we lose a tackle in the right-back area, the other where Tom Mack

00:25dwells on the ball and ends up being offside, so it's not a chance. And then the other one

00:29which is the goal, we don't deal with the long ball and ends up in the back of the net.

00:33So, yeah, really disappointing because I don't think we deserved it.

00:36Is that the most frustrating thing because you played so well, dominated over 90 minutes?

00:42Yeah, it's probably... it's a weird one because the performances that we had mid-week away

00:48from home have just been so far away from what we need to produce. And that's been a

00:52real head-scratcher. But you look at the results and think, OK, those results are fair enough.

00:57This one is the reverse almost because we played so well tonight off the back of a really

01:00good performance against Hull and not put the ball in the back of the net and not kept

01:04the ball out of the net and then punished. So, I think, yeah, probably a bit more frustrating.

01:08Is that the most frustrating one for you this season so far?

01:10It feels like it at the moment. They all do in the moment, but I think that is because

01:14of the level of performance, I think.

01:16You're only complaining about that performance, the fact that you didn't score the whole...

01:21Yeah, to be honest. And yeah, it didn't defend the goal well enough. I do think where the

01:31goal comes from is an issue that I've taken up with the referee. He gives the foul in

01:36the box here against Regan Paul. I think it's really, really soft. I think he's a foul and

01:42go up the other end and we don't get the rub of the green on that one. And I think that

01:47Regan does get shoved in the back. It takes him away from where the ball is. He's never

01:50going to just go to ground in that moment. The ball ends up in the back of the net. So,

01:55I think we've got to deal with the first ball a bit better. But yeah, that's just one thing

02:00that's sort of added to the pain of the night.

02:03So the actual goal, you felt that Regan was fouled in that goal?

02:06I thought so. I just think if the threshold for a foul is what's given in the box here,

02:10then it has to be given the other way as well. And yeah, it's one of those we can debate

02:16all night. But yeah, unfortunately, we've come out on the wrong side of it.

02:20What did you say to the referee about it?

02:21I just asked him for his opinion and I gave him my take on a few other bits in the game.

02:26And yeah, that was it. We had a good, honest conversation and we got on with it.

02:32What did Regan say about it?

02:33I haven't spoken to Regan yet. I'll speak to him tomorrow.

02:37And that was a sucker point for you in the whole performance, wasn't it?

02:40Yeah, we didn't deserve it based on the performance. I thought we pressed really well. We pressed

02:47high up the pitch. We got some really good opportunities to hurt them on the counter

02:51and to hurt them on the turnover. We played some really good football, especially in the

02:54first half when we needed to, broke through lines. So it was a really, really good performance.

02:57I thought we went direct when we needed to go direct. We went a bit shorter when we needed

03:01to go short. And yeah, really, really happy with that. So I'm really happy with that overall.

03:06Just disappointed we haven't taken at least a point and what we deserved was all three.

03:10With that goal as well, was there a foul on McIntyre as well, by any chance?

03:13Yeah, maybe. Again, with the foul that was given against us and some of the other fouls

03:18given against us. I thought I was appealing for that, but we've just got to do a bit better.

03:25You brought Matt Ritchie off, another cracking game. What was the thinking behind that?

03:28It was just the fact that Matt's not played a huge amount of football over the past probably

03:34two years really. So just protecting him, making sure that he doesn't get injured.

03:38And I suppose the amount of energy he puts in, you've got to be careful with it.

03:40Yeah, and we've got another game at the weekend and it was an injury risk starting him in

03:45the first place and we decided to take that risk because of his level of performance at

03:48the weekend. And yeah, I thought it was superb.

03:52Was he fatiguing? Did he want to come off?

03:55No, he didn't want to come off. He didn't want to come off, but it was just a case of

03:58tipping into... We have all the information that we've got at our fingertips and it was

04:03tipping into an area where if Matt had gone and torn a calf or a hamstring, we're thinking

04:07what on earth are we doing leaving him on for that period of time?

04:10It would have just been absolutely idiotic.

04:13Considering the fact that we've had the travel, Matt's 35, he's fit as a flea.

04:18But he is 35, you take that into consideration.

04:20You take the effort into consideration.

04:22I think that there was something we saw at the weekend about overall performances or

04:28overall physical performances over the entire season so far and Matt being 10th in terms

04:34of high-speed distance from the weekend.

04:37So, we knew what he was putting into the game.

04:39We saw that again tonight and we didn't want to take the risk.

04:41How's Jordan Williams?

04:42He's OK. He felt his hamstring, wasn't sure what it was.

04:45So, we just decided not to take the risk on that.

04:50You came into the game, as you said, you pressed really well from the start, didn't you?

04:54Did you expect any complaints about the effort that was ruled out?

04:59It looked like it was... We got a really interesting angle from where we were on the bench.

05:04I just trust the referee on that one and the linesman.

05:07They got that right. I haven't actually looked back at that.

05:09But after that, the start like that, did you think, I'm finding it hard to find words for it,

05:14but you didn't score in the game and that must have been really frustrating.

05:17Yeah, that was it really. I think everyone's in agreement with that.

05:20It's one of those, obviously frustrating when we don't score,

05:23considering the chances we created and something we need to be a bit better at.

05:27It's one of the things we haven't struggled with so far this season.

05:31It's been much more of a struggle to keep clean sheets at the back.

05:33We have scored goals, but yeah, in a crucial game like this, in a crucial moment, we didn't manage to do it.

05:38Now, you're calling it crucial, but it's very early in the season.

05:41I mean, did you think it was a big game coming into it?

05:44Every game we consider to be a big game and with the fact that Plymouth have been down there in the league as well

05:50and the opportunity to close the gap, every opportunity we have, there's three points available.

05:57And yeah, we didn't take it tonight.

05:59Boot on the other foot substitutes change games, don't they?

06:02Did that disrupt you in any shape or form?

06:06Were you prepared for the change in striker when Obafemi came on?

06:09Yeah, I mean, we thought that Obafemi would start, to be honest.

06:12So, the centre-halves were fully prepared for that.

06:14I don't think there was any...

06:16If you look at the game, I didn't think the game changed.

06:18Obviously, the centre-forward ends up going and scoring, but it's just from a long goal kick.

06:23So, I didn't think the game significantly changed.

06:25I thought it was just one moment that we didn't deal with well enough,

06:28because even with the substitutions that Plymouth brought on,

06:30I thought, yeah, we're still in the ascendancy,

06:32still dealing with everything they threw at us, but just not quite well enough.

06:36And you had a fantastic support here, plenty of positives to take in the game?

06:42Loads of positives.

06:42We've stood here a couple of times midweek away games,

06:46knowing the performance hasn't been good enough.

06:48And we've come away with a hiding a couple of times.

06:50This was much, much better.

06:51We're looking much more like the team I think everyone wants to see.

06:54And the fans will obviously be massively disappointed.

06:57But I think the reaction we got coming off the pitch probably tells everything we need to know,

07:04but we need to kick on again.

07:05Brilliant. Thank you for your time.

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