Portsmouth boss John Mousinho previews clash with Luton

The News, Portsmouth

John Mousinho press conference ahead of Pompey's clash with Luton.

Transcript

00:00What's the injury situation like, please?

00:11Yeah, I know everybody's keen to get a full update on the injury situation. I think the

00:16best thing for us at the moment, rather than me, as you're probably used to on a Wednesday

00:21sometimes giving you the full extent of it and sometimes not and everybody unpicking

00:25it, I'm more than happy to give you the full rundown after the game at the weekend. I think

00:30everybody will get a fairly good idea of where we're at injury-wise once the team and the

00:35squad are selected at the weekend. So yeah, I think the best thing for us going into the

00:38game is to approach it like that and yeah, no issue after that giving you where we are

00:42with everything.

00:43Why the change in policy?

00:45I just think that it's one of those weeks where there's going to be players returning

00:52from injury, there are going to be some that miss out, there's going to be some new, some

00:56old injuries. I think the best thing for us in terms of preparation for the game is to

01:01make sure that we keep everything as in-house as possible and then go from there.

01:05In general, since you've been here you've had to cope with loads of injury problems,

01:09do you still remain quite positive and not beat over at all?

01:13Yeah, it's one of those things that there's nothing you can do once players are injured

01:17and you've just got to deal with it really, really quickly and in the moment on match

01:20days and then the same applies in the week when you're building up to games. You've just

01:24got to make sure that if somebody is injured then you've got the squad for a reason, you

01:27adapt really quickly and that's the way we've had to process it. It's never nice picking

01:32up those injuries. What we always do is, even though I may seem like it's something that

01:37we just deal with and move on, we always do review what we can do about certain injuries

01:41and how we can improve things and that's a big discussion we've been having for the last

01:45couple of seasons. It's a big discussion we're going to have again in the summer and we're

01:48going to try our best to prevent as many injuries as possible. I think if you look

01:52up and down the country at the minute, there are so many squads that are depleted, there

01:55are so many players picking up injuries. There were players again in the Championship last

01:58night that fell by the wayside and it's one of those things that I think with the way

02:05that the season's been, particularly for us with the eight games in January, how heavy

02:08the pitches are, the schedule, all these different things. Particularly, I've spoken about the

02:13pace of the game as well and it really does affect things. It's always going to be one

02:16of those things, I think, in the future where we have to deal with them.

02:18You seem to do it the hard way though with injuries, like last season of course, you

02:21lost so many crucial players and still won the title.

02:24Yeah, we had some interesting injuries and picked up some big injuries at points of the

02:30season where they were critical points for us. We always manage to have that strength

02:35and depth and deal with it and we're going to have to try and do that again at points

02:40this year and we've done it. We've had periods of the season where we haven't had a full-strength

02:45squad, where we've had the depleted squad, where we went into a couple of league games

02:49I think with a couple of academy players on the bench and we shuffle players around at

02:53different positions. It's something we've got to deal with, there's no point in sulking

02:56about it, we've got to get on with it.

02:58Behind the scenes, do you curse every time you hear an injury blow?

03:02Yeah, a little bit. It's not great. I want a fully fit squad, I want a headache and to

03:08be honest, we have had that at times this year. There have been times when we've left

03:11players out of squads. At the weekend we had Riley and Abdu and a couple of others maybe

03:18that were out of the squad. We've had that at times this season and again, that's the

03:22whole reason we build a squad the way we do.

03:24Have you ever had a fully fit squad since you've been here?

03:26No, you never have. I think there's always been an injury, whether it's in the first

03:29season we had. I think Jadon Reid with the long-term, when he had his ACL. There would

03:35have been various injuries through the summer in my first spell here. I think Cass got injured

03:39pretty early. Tom Lowry got injured first game of the season, followed by the longer

03:44terms with Regan and Tino. So there's never been a fully fit squad I think that we've

03:47had at any point.

03:48Even this pre-season on tour, some players couldn't train because they're injured,

03:51isn't it? All sorts.

03:52Yeah, and it's a rare, rare thing I think. It's a rare thing. I remember when we went

03:56to Derby, I think, and Paul spoke about prior to the game, it was probably one of the first

04:02times I think in his career that he'd had a fully fit squad to pick for him. He was

04:04leaving experienced pros out. We've had that through my time here. So we've had times

04:09where we've left five or six players out of squads and it changes very, very quickly

04:13both ways. So all of a sudden you think, yeah, we've got too many players here or we're

04:17well stocked and then it flips really, really quickly and you're really glad for the squad

04:20size.

04:21Colby Bishop, it's fantastic seeing him sign a new deal. Three and a half year deal as

04:25well. Shows you how hard he can be guarded.

04:29Yeah, and the best thing I think is the commitment from Colby and the commitment from the

04:34Football Club to be matched in terms of his ambitions and our ambitions. And it's fully

04:38deserved. That's the most important thing for me is that it's fully deserved. And if

04:42you took out the fact that Colby's come back from major heart surgery, I think it would

04:46be fully deserved anyway. And when you add that in, you think, what an incredible achievement

04:50to come back from that much earlier than scheduled, to contribute to the team this year, to

04:56score goals, to be effective, to pretty much start every game that he's been available

05:00for has been brilliant. And we don't give contracts out lightly. We give contracts out

05:04to players that we think deserve them and Colby thoroughly deserves it.

05:08Did it take long?

05:10I don't know. You'll have to ask Colby and everyone else. It's one of the good parts

05:13of my role at this Football Club is that I just get to coach the boys. So there's always

05:19contract negotiations, always. There's plenty to be done with them. Contracts these days

05:23aren't as simple as they used to be 20 years ago. There's plenty that goes on. But yeah,

05:27the only thing that I ever bother myself with is actually now having Colby for the

05:32next two and a half years, which is great.

05:34It's rare that this Football Club gives someone of that age a contract during the season as

05:38well.

05:39Yeah, well, it felt like Colby was coming to the end of his contract at the back end

05:43of this year. The club had an option to take another option in terms of the year on Colby.

05:47So we felt safe in that, but we didn't want to be getting into the last 12 months of Colby's

05:52contract. We wanted to try and secure his services for the long term. And we're trying

05:57to build a squad. We're trying to build a successful squad at this level. And we think

06:02Colby can really be part of that. And we see him for the next three years really, really

06:06contributing. And the amount of centre forwards that are out there that can do what Colby

06:10can do, we don't think there's many. We've got one in the building. We think it's wise

06:13to secure his services.

06:15Did you feel fortunate in the way that when you walked into the door of this Football

06:18Club, you already had your centre forward here. You've never had to worry about that

06:22position necessarily, have you?

06:24I spoke about it in the interview, how the number nine that we had in the building was

06:29the number nine you could build the team around. And I thought we were quite fortunate at the

06:32time. We had Colby, Joe Piggott and Dane Scarlett when I walked into the building. And Dane's

06:37now playing for Spurs in the Premier League, which I was convinced that there was a Premier

06:41League player in there. But Colby started the majority of games. We literally spoke

06:48about how we could build the team around Colby and have him as that focal point. And

06:53it's been successful over the past couple of seasons. In my first season, I think he

06:57scored 20 league goals. He went better last year in terms of that league contribution

07:03and he's hit the ground running again this year. So, yes, it's always been great that

07:07we've had that. And now I do feel in that centre forward department as well, we've

07:11got plenty of competition.

07:13Obviously, your form at Flattened Park has been tremendous recently as well. I did a

07:18piece of the day looking at all the managers, what they've said after your wins. And they've

07:22raised issues such as physicality, bullied, intensity, long ball. Do you think it's a

07:29bit harsh as criticism?

07:31I see, I hear a couple of those words and most of the words and genuinely take them

07:36as a compliment. You talk about intensity, talk about physicality. Those are the both

07:40things that top level sides have. There's no top level side you see getting bullied

07:46on a consistent basis, that's for sure. Look at some of the top athletes at the top level

07:51and they're all physical. There's been adjustments to playing style. It really doesn't

07:57concern me. I know that we did it in a certain way last season where we dominated the majority

08:03of games. We weren't afraid to go longer as well. There were plenty of games we had

08:05to go more direct last season as well when sides pressed us. I look at the game at the

08:09weekend and I think QPR's pressure was really good. They were really aggressive and really

08:12intense. The amount of times that Cher got his head down from the middle of the park,

08:16went to press the centre back and he was backed up by Saito on that left-hand side and backed

08:19up by the six. I'm thinking, well, there's option A, which is to try and pass around

08:25that and to try and break the press. It looks great at times and you might get caught. Or

08:30option B, I think if sides press, let's see where the space is. If the space is somewhere

08:33else, then we're going to try and take that. If that feels like long ball, then fine. I'm

08:38not too bothered about it. We're trying not to get caught in the press and I think our

08:43second goal was when we did catch QPR in the press. My final point on it is I guess that

08:48I did look at the stats after the game. We had 49% possession. I think QPR completed

08:53nine more passes than us. It's not something that really overly bothers me. The most important

08:59thing for us is to stay in the league and however we manage to do it, or however I think

09:05is the best way to do it, that's how we go about games.

09:08I don't think anyone will call you a novice physical side because you don't get loads

09:10of bookings. Also, one of your star men are left-wingers, so it's not that direct, is it?

09:15Yeah, but I think we picked up three at the weekend. One was Connor Ogilvie's challenge

09:18early on. One was Regan's challenge later on in the game where we were stopping a counter-attack,

09:23which is fine. Then I think Christian Sadie had a bit of a to-do near the bench, so not

09:27an overly physical game. I thought for 75 minutes, not a fractious game either. It

09:31spilled over a bit towards the back end. I want players to compete. I want them to be

09:35tough. I want them to stand up to challenges. I want them to represent what Portsmouth is

09:39about. I want them to represent Fratton Park. I want them to represent the city and the fans.

09:45I think they expect a certain level of commitment and that commitment often

09:48looks like an intense, aggressive side.

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