Pompey v Swansea: John Mousinho's pre-match press conference

The News, Portsmouth

Pompey boss John Mousinho talks to The News ahead of the Blues' New Year's Day fixture against Swansea.

Transcript

00:00So Jon, obviously we've got Swansea at home on New Year's Day, what's the team situation

00:07regarding injuries and illnesses and such like?

00:10Everybody that was available at the weekend is still available for the game I think in

00:15terms of a couple of players ready to return. We've got Jacob Farrell and Jordan Williams

00:20ready to return, back available for selection I think. In Jacob's case, he has been training

00:26as available for selection but we'll probably give him a couple more days to make sure that

00:30he's fully back into the swing of things. But apart from that, no fresh injuries, no

00:36fresh illnesses and those are the two that will be available to return from the injury

00:41list.

00:42Bearing in mind the gruelling Christmas schedule, how important was it to reduce minutes with

00:47some of your team in the last game against Bristol City?

00:49Obviously I thought it was something that was important and I thought we had such high

00:55output from certain players, particularly at the top end of the pitch and lads that

00:59just hadn't missed minutes, hadn't missed any games and probably certain games where

01:03we had to keep them on for a bit longer than we anticipated because of how tight the games

01:07were and because of the fact that we wanted to secure the points or secure the way that

01:11we were playing at the time. So yeah, we had to make that difficult decision to bring a

01:15few of the front-line players out against Bristol City but there were a couple of things

01:19we needed to guard against. First of all, injuries. Injuries is the most important thing

01:22for us. I think if we lose a couple of the key players at the top end of the pitch in

01:26particular, I think we would have regretted it and then just keeping players fresh really.

01:30I think the way that we're asking players to play with that high intensity press, high

01:34intensity in possession as well, I think it's certainly one of the things we had to bear

01:39in mind with four games in such a short space of time.

01:42Have you learnt from previous experiences to be careful about players getting injured?

01:46I remember Tom and Larry at Cambridge, wasn't it, and you've had times when you've brought

01:50them back in, pushing too hard and they've broken down again?

01:53Yeah, and I remember at the time thinking that was one of my regrets. Tom felt absolutely

01:58fine after playing away at Carlisle. We played away at Carlisle on the Saturday, we checked

02:01back in with him on the Monday and unfortunately he played against Cambridge and broke down.

02:05Christmas period last year, we had Alex Robertson tear his hamstring having started all of the

02:11games and tore his hamstring in training actually, I think just before the Stevenage game or

02:16just after the Stevenage game, sorry. And that was something that again, we tried to

02:20manage his minutes and time but he had started every game over the Christmas period and we

02:24want to make sure that these players are ready to, first of all, avoid injuries and second

02:28of all, they're ready and they're fit and they're available to play the way that we

02:32want to play, which I think this year is with more intensity, they're covering more distance,

02:36covering more high speed distance, more sprint distance and when you see those sort of numbers,

02:40there's a real risk of injury and we have to make sure that we manage that.

02:43The four players that dropped out now, has that benefitted them, do you feel?

02:47I think so, we'll see tomorrow if they start the game and I think that's the sort of acid

02:53test really. It certainly would have benefitted them because they have had a rest and I think

02:59they've got some minutes in the legs coming on the other night, I think all of them apart

03:03from Zac Swanson was the one that didn't but they've got minutes in the legs and I think

03:07yeah, it'll only benefit players in terms of what we'll see in the immediate future

03:10and also through January.

03:12With Zac, can he play two or three times a week at the moment, do you feel?

03:17I think so, I think definitely twice a week, so we played him in the Coventry game and

03:23he backed that up with the performance against Watford on the 26th, so two games in a week

03:28and I thought he handled those two really well so I didn't have an issue with him there.

03:33I thought the third game of the week might have been a risk for him with his injury record

03:36and the fact that we had Terry ready and Raring to go on the sidelines seemed like a sensible

03:40decision so it's something we want to build Zac up and build him towards but he as well

03:45spent a bit of time out with an injury recently so we don't want to put him back in, thrust

03:49him back in and rush him too much, particularly with the backup that we have.

03:52I suppose with Zac again, you've got to be careful with his injury history, you've got

03:55to be careful with him.

03:57Yeah, my first week here we played against Exeter, Fleetwood and then Peterborough and

04:01Zac got injured after the Peterborough game and missed the rest of the season there, in

04:05and out last year with various injuries and obviously personal circumstances and he spent

04:10a bit of time out this year so we want to make sure we have him available for as many

04:14games as possible.

04:15It's a very strong position right back as well.

04:18Yeah, we've got three right backs in the building and we perhaps didn't anticipate that Terry

04:24would feature as much as he has done there but we've got three right backs and Jordan

04:27Williams coming back from injury as well so I'm really competitive there.

04:30The transfer window is obviously coming up and we ask you about it every single time.

04:36What do you see happening in this window for Pompey?

04:39Well, I think that what I see happening is us coming out of the window stronger than

04:43we went into it.

04:44That's got to be the sole ambition and we want to be significantly stronger.

04:48We know that we have to improve because of the league position and because other sides

04:51around us are going to improve as well so we obviously have to improve relative to our

04:55own squad and we have to make sure that we improve relative to other squads as well.

04:59I think that's a really important point and yeah, it's just all systems go, all focus

05:05on making sure that we do come out of it at the back end of January or maybe the 3rd

05:10of February when the window closes and we look at it and think that the squad is stronger

05:13than we are sitting here speaking now.

05:17The last January window, obviously you were top of the league, the earners dug deep and

05:21gave you £1M around that to bring in important players to see you over the line effectively.

05:27Do you think you'll get that financial backing again for this January window?

05:30Yeah, I think so.

05:31I think it's all indications so far that we're going to get the backing, whether that's through

05:34fees or whether that's through bringing players in on loan who might have significant loan

05:39fees or significant wages to cover and yeah, we're definitely willing to be able to do

05:44that as a football club and I know that the earners have prioritised making sure that

05:47we do strengthen and we do bring players in that are going to affect us.

05:51How important was it, that January window, last year?

05:54I thought it was hugely important.

05:55We ended up bringing in, I think we brought five players in, so I thought it was, we brought

06:00Matt Macy, Owen Moxon, Callum Lange, Miles Port-Harris and Tom McIntyre, all to come

06:06in and affect the side.

06:07Matt was probably the only one who we did bring in as a back-up to Will Norris, but

06:11the other four, the way that we did things straight away came in and had an impact, particularly

06:16Miles started the first game that was available, Callum came on straight away against Oxford,

06:22Mox maybe took a couple more weeks to bed in, but Tom McIntyre played that game against

06:26Northampton as soon as it was available.

06:28We were really willing to go for it and make sure we had players that came in and affected

06:32the side and we want to do the same this year.

06:34And you basically need that, again, this window for different reasons.

06:37Yeah, we'll need it again.

06:39We definitely need it again.

06:40I think, first of all, we've experienced times this season where we've been slightly thin

06:45and mainly because of injuries more than anything else, so we've actually got a healthy squad

06:49size in terms of where we are with players, but we've had so many injuries at certain

06:52times this year that we have felt a bit thin, so we need to make sure that we go through

06:58those phases of the season where we've got enough cover.

07:00It was an interesting question about last year, you know, we brought in five into a

07:04squad that we thought was OK in terms of numbers and there were times last year where we were

07:09only able to name the 18 that we had even bringing the five in, if that makes sense.

07:13So yeah, brought five in and Janis still could only name 18 or just had 18 fit players.

07:18It's probably going to be a similar situation this year and we've got to make sure that

07:21yeah, we just strengthen appropriately.

07:22Are we likely to see anyone in place before the Sunderland game?

07:27Probably not before the Sunderland game.

07:28I think that might be too soon, but if something opens up and we can move quickly, we're ready

07:32to move quickly on it.

07:34I think what we find is with loans in particular, a lot of clubs aren't willing to let players

07:39go before that third round of the FA Cup and not many clubs are willing to let players

07:44go that quickly in the first two, three, four, five days of the window, but certainly our

07:48target will be to possibly have players in the building by the Blackburn game, which

07:55is the next league game after Sunderland.

07:56I did an article with Andy Cullen today actually explaining why most deals happen towards the

08:01end of the window and it seems to impact all football clubs.

08:04Yeah, we did it last year.

08:05I think the first deal that we did was Miles, I think it was on the 18th of January, something

08:09like that.

08:10And that was one where we spoke about it really openly.

08:12Brentford had him involved in the first team, then they had him involved in the FA Cup and

08:16weren't willing to let him go.

08:18So if we're looking to bring loans in from either Championship clubs or Premier League

08:22clubs, that's certainly a consideration.

08:25So yeah, things do tend to hot up towards the back end of January and in all honesty,

08:31yes, we want to bring players in as quickly as we can, but we want to bring the right

08:34players in at the right time and if we have to wait until the last week to get the right

08:38players in, then I think we'll have to do that.

08:40With the other injuries, Marco Mane, what's the situation with him?

08:43Marco's a couple of weeks away, he had his final injection in the injury site at the

08:48back end of last week and we're just waiting for that to settle down.

08:51So it's just been a bit more of a niggly one than we initially thought it would be.

08:55And Yengi?

08:56Yeah, Cass is still in the knee brace, so I think he's coming towards the back end of

09:02the six weeks in the knee brace from when he injured it against Bahrain in the international

09:06break and after that he's still probably about four weeks away.

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