Millwall v Portsmouth: John Mousinho's Championship verdict

The News, Portsmouth

Pompey boss John Mousinho's Championship verdict after defeat at Millwall.

Transcript

00:00I think it feels like déjà vu from two weeks ago and that is the most frustrating thing.

00:06I didn't think the performance was as good as Preston but certainly after winning the

00:10goal down, I thought we clicked it together and started to play really well, which by

00:13the way is a frustration anyway because we've got a lot of hard-fought to predict on the

00:18first half but you get the equaliser here, tough, hostile atmosphere, difficult side

00:23to play against and I can always accept us conceding goals in a certain way but maybe

00:29conceding that second goal, we lose a header down our right-hand side. Kovacic has gone

00:35off by the way, so Kovacic has gone off and caused us problems all game. Ivanovic wins

00:38the header down the right-hand side, we don't deal with it well enough, we've got to defend

00:41for another set play. Defend the set play well until the second phase and we just left

00:454 v 1 at the back post. I can't quite understand how we're playing so well in certain moments

00:52and then just really, really losing focus when towards the back end of the game we should

00:57just be making sure that we still, same issue as I had at Preston, we've still got a huge

01:03pace at the top of the pitch, attacking players on the left, we've got Harvey on the right,

01:07Christian and Colby, they're making a difference, causing all sorts of problems. Make sure we

01:11defend properly and we'll create something the other way.

01:14Was there a foul on Harvey in the build-up to that second goal?

01:18On the threshold of some of the fouls, we saw absolutely. I thought it was extremely

01:27inconsistent, so I think so, but we still have to defend it better.

01:31What did you think of two changes today behind that team?

01:34I thought it was going to be a physical game and it was. We're not the biggest side anyway,

01:40so bringing Terry in for a deal was part of that. Not just the set pieces, but the physicality

01:45we thought we required in the middle of the pitch to pick up second balls. Zach just felt

01:49his heel in training, a recurring problem that we've had previously, so it was an obvious

01:54one to bring back in.

01:56He should be back fairly soon?

01:58I think so, yes. Kept him out for a couple of weeks last time. It just depends how long

02:04it continues for, because those sorts of things just sort of niggle away.

02:07You mentioned the first half, it was a half with very, very few chances.

02:12Mill wouldn't create much, apart from the fact that we had to defend a few set plays

02:16and long throws, but there's always going to be set plays. We're always going to have

02:20to defend corners, throw-ins, deep free-kicks. We gave away too many cheap fouls, first of

02:25all, I think. My take to the boys was, look, if Mill will come here and they break us down

02:31with the brilliant football I can predict, don't give away the cheap fouls, because we'll

02:34end up defending and they're going to end up hitting Cooper on the back post with a

02:39But we didn't, I thought we gave away too many cheap fouls. When we had the opportunity

02:42to get the ball down and play, we didn't, so we invited pressure on ourselves. That

02:45was it really, we just invited pressure on ourselves. And I think on the flip side of

02:50it, my question to the boys now is, how difficult was it to defend set plays? Mill didn't,

02:54every time the delivery was good, Mill didn't let us off, but not for us. We got a free-kick

02:59to us and we chipped it on Cooper's head. I think we've got to be smarter than that,

03:03we have to be smarter in those moments.

03:05How frustrating is it now? I think 11 defeats from 12 on the road, we've talked about the

03:10improved performances, but still just can't quite get those results.

03:13Yeah, it's massively frustrating because we should be given away for both games. Both

03:17of your away games previously with two points in the bag and that's it, and you just go

03:21OK, fine, there's loads of bits of the performance to improve, but we've got a point and that

03:27takes us a couple more points towards safety, but we didn't, we shot ourselves on the foot,

03:32and that's the most disappointing thing. I thought the only way we were going to concede

03:36is if we did things that allowed the pressure and invited Mill to our boxing, and that's

03:40exactly what we did.

03:41And just one last thing, what did you say to the ref when you called him over at one

03:44point in the second half?

03:45There was just a bit of discriminatory language behind me, so I told the referee the second

03:51time it happened in the game, and I think it's just one of those where it's lip service

03:57is paid to anti-discrimination. I don't think people are serious enough about kicking me

04:01out of the game, so I think it's a joke.

04:03Thanks for your time, Jon.

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