Oxford United v Pompey: John Mousinho press conference

The News, Portsmouth

Pompey boss John Mousinho talks to The News ahead of Saturday's trip to Oxford United in the Championship.

Transcript

00:00You were critical about some aspects of your play last night, particularly the first half,

00:06despite Pomeranian having a huge win. Is that you setting your standards now for this side

00:10and expectations?

00:11Yeah, I think we've set them at times this season anyway and there have been plenty of

00:16times we've fallen way below that but particularly at home we've set really high standards. The

00:22biggest disappointment at times was I just thought we made really, really poor decisions

00:26in the moment. Sometimes when things aren't going well and sides are playing well against

00:30you it can be tough but I thought we caused ourselves a lot of issues. We shot ourselves

00:33in the foot a couple of times. Even when we had chances to settle the ball down to play

00:38on the counter-attack, a couple of times a couple of things stuck out of my head. We'd

00:41take a shot from 35 yards rather than sliding in a winger and making it a 1v1. That's just

00:46one example I can think of off the top of my head where we didn't stick to the script

00:50in terms of what we'd done really well for 20 minutes and we got punished for it and

00:54I thought we were clinging on going into half-time. I thought the analysis of the game

01:00in the moment, having watched it back, I'm pretty happy sticking with that. The second

01:04half was still a bit frantic but much more comfortable in terms of chances created I

01:09think for Cardiff. One of those I just think we need to set those standards high. You can't

01:16be happy with a performance like that even when we've won. You can't be happy on Saturday

01:21by not winning the game because you didn't put the ball in the back of the net even when

01:23it was a good performance. You need to put both together and then we're still going to

01:27find things we want to improve upon.

01:28Is that a case of you striving to be better?

01:30Yeah, we always have been. We've never been satisfied at any point this season whether

01:34we've won, lost or drawn and I think that's the way you have to approach things in professional

01:38sport. There's absolutely no use in patting yourself on the back and thinking you've cracked

01:42it. I think at that point you're in real trouble. We've always tried to strive for that at the

01:48Football Club ever since I've been here. I don't like to harp back on it too much but

01:53last year was the case in point. We were never happy after any point in the season until

01:58we did get promoted. It was always about improvement, about getting better. It's been about that

02:04this year but to a slightly different extent because we've had probably harsher lessons,

02:07more brutal lessons, more obvious lessons to learn and to take. It was a bit of a strange

02:13one last night because we won the game but there's still loads to take from it.

02:16Does that reflect the club though, what the club ambition is?

02:19Yeah, I think so. We don't want to be here to make up the numbers. We've been an interesting

02:28outfit I'd say this year from probably an external perspective. Some really, really

02:35good performances, some really, really poor performances and everything in between as

02:39well and too many of those poor performances. We're certainly striving to cut out those

02:44poor performances, cut out the ones that have really, really cost us. If we lose games,

02:49lose games in the right way. Same if we draw games, i.e. there's certain things that I'll

02:52accept on a football pitch and certain things that I don't think are acceptable. I think

02:56the fans are aligned with that. I think the Football Club's aligned with that. I think

02:58we're all very similar.

02:59From where you are in the league, can you stay just on your home form?

03:05Well, it's not something that we're actively thinking about because particularly with a

03:12couple of the previous performances away from home where we felt like over the past month,

03:17if you look at Sheffield tonight, I thought we were the better side. I don't think there

03:21was any doubt. We went up to Sunderland and we did all right. We could have nicked a point

03:25with 10 men. I thought we were fine for 60 minutes at Blackburn. There's been other performances

03:31that haven't been good enough, West Brom for example. So, we do need to make sure we cut

03:35out those big losses and our away record over the past eight to 10 games has been dreadful.

03:41It doesn't feel like it's something we can't turn around at all. I think we're close to

03:44turning it around. We were very, very close to turning it around at the weekend. And what

03:47we need to do is just make sure we do take some points away from home to help us out

03:50when we do come back home. So, yeah, that's not something we're actively thinking about.

03:54But every time we do play a game, particularly at home, we're going to win it.

03:58Because obviously, your away form puts more pressure on the home form, but you have been

04:01winning games at home.

04:03Yeah, and that's probably what we felt a bit last night. The pressure was there because

04:08we hadn't won in three, I think, or hadn't won in four. And two of those games were home

04:14games that we hadn't actually won in. So, we needed to make sure that we corrected that

04:18home form, one of them against Burnley, one of the top sides. So, no issue there.

04:21But that's the main feeling it has at times. We've come back to the frat and the pressure

04:27has been there, which is quite good. I think we've thrived under the pressure for the majority

04:30of the season. And I just think regardless of who we play and where we play, then there's

04:34going to be a lot of pressure on the football club to try and pick up points this year.

04:38So, what, there's seven away games left on there. So, you need to pick up points somewhere,

04:41don't you?

04:42Yeah, that's what it feels like. And yeah, we're going to strive to do that, absolutely

04:47strive to do that. And again, hopefully, like I said, the weekend was a positive step in

04:52the right direction.

04:54Shockingly, obviously, you're still waiting for the scan, aren't you? He's going to take

04:57a scan this afternoon, is that correct?

04:59Yeah, so he'll have a scan this afternoon and we'll get the results probably Friday.

05:02In terms of his performance since he's come back in this spell, how well has he done,

05:06do you feel?

05:07I think he's been excellent. I think he was outstanding when he came on against, I think

05:10it was Millwall for his first game back. Outstanding against Burnley. So, to hold one of the top

05:17sides in the league and to play as well as he did. I think the weekend against Sheffield

05:23United, another really, really strong performance. And last night he popped up with a winning

05:26goal and was part of a side that actually won probably one of the most crucial games

05:30of the season. So, I'm really, really happy for Connor in terms of his performance. He's

05:34coming back, just gutted that he's unfortunately broken down.

05:37And what's he done for your defence?

05:39Well, I think if we just look at it, the first thing that Connor's done is gone in

05:45there as a natural centre-half. We spoke about Marlon chopping back in there and how well

05:48he'd done and how big a contribution that he's had to us actually picking up points

05:54over the last two months. He did a fantastic job. I just think it was one of those where

05:58as soon as we had Connor back and we wanted to get him back into his position, get centre-half

06:02back in their positions and go from there. So, it certainly solidified the defence. I

06:06think he's looked very comfortable, looked very aggressive. And like I say, we're gutted

06:10to have lost him.

06:11So, you look at alternatives. So, Regan, Paul, what's the situation with him now?

06:15Regan trained fully today. Whether the weekend is too soon for him or not, I don't know.

06:19But if not, then it will be the QPR game.

06:22So, Hayden, Matthews, obviously a consideration to replace him.

06:25Yeah, we've got options. We've got Hayden. Marlon's obviously played there. We've got

06:30Riley as well. So, Riley, Regan coming back from injury. Connor Vogel can play at centre-half

06:35as well. So, I think we've got plenty of options.

06:38You praised Hayden last night as well.

06:39I thought he was really good. I thought he looked sharp. He covered the channels a couple

06:42of times really well. You saw an example of his athleticism when we countered. I think

06:47he got onto the end of his own header, defending a deep free kick and ended in a very good

06:52opportunity for us on the break. So, yeah, Hayden came in, did brilliantly well against

06:56Millwall. Unlucky to lose his place in the side but we thought the best thing to do was

06:59to bring shots back in. And, yeah, one of those where we're very, very excited and

07:05fortunate to have him in the building.

07:06So, Lernica, for him coming from Australia, do you think he's adapted well?

07:09I think he has. He got chucked straight into it against Millwall, one of the more physical

07:14sides in the league. A physical game, the way that we play, the way that they play as

07:19well. I thought he handled it really well. And I thought he handled it again really well.

07:23To be fair, I didn't notice him do anything wrong on Saturday when he came on. Same again,

07:29against Burnley. So, I thought he did a couple of really good things against Burnley. He's

07:31come and he's adapted really well. I just don't look at a player that looks out of place.

07:34Cassini-Yang, how is he at the moment?

07:36Cass is on the same programme as Regan. Trained fully today. Probably not available for the

07:41weekend but should be available next week.

07:43So, Cassini's in full training now then?

07:46First full training day today, yeah.

07:48We'll look at the time frame for him.

07:49Next week, yeah. Next week back.

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