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Pompey Talk: Blues news from return from training
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00:00There's not a lot going on really for until they come back to preseason training. So it's so it can break can't it? You hate reading our stories. We hate talking about nothing. It's a difficult period because there is actually nothing going on. People are on a holiday. People are having their life.
00:21So yeah so so they've all had a nice well-earned break Pompey and they're all back now for preseason. We're invited down to the training ground yesterday. Pompey were back there again and we watched the train and it was brilliant. Seeing the injured players back out there on the pitch. Seeing the one new player there as well. Seeing returning faces. Really really good and it gives you a good indication of where the club are at the moment.
00:49And then we had a long sit-down chat with John Messino, the local media. So that was fantastic as well to get up to date on matters on and off the pitch.
01:05Hello and welcome to the latest edition of Pompey Talk. My name is Mark McMahon and joining me today to discuss all the latest developments of Pompey is the news' Neil Allen.
01:15Neil, there's been plenty of developments. Mostly the fact that yous have actually been able to speak to John Messino for the first time in two months.
01:23You must have been able to speak to John Messino for the first time in two months.
01:25Exactly. In case people haven't worked out, the closed season, there's not a lot going on really until they come back for preseason training.
01:35So it can break, can't it? You hate reading our stories. We hate talking about nothing.
01:43It's a difficult period because there is actually nothing going on. People are on holiday. People are having their life.
01:51So, yeah, so they've all had a nice, well-earned break, Pompey, and they're all back now for preseason.
01:59We were invited down to the training ground yesterday. Pompey were back there again.
02:04And we watched the train and it was brilliant. Seeing the injured players back out there on the pitch.
02:10Seeing the one new player there as well. Seeing returning faces.
02:14Really, really good. And it gives you a good indication of where the club are at the moment.
02:20And then we had a long sit-down chat with John Messino, the local media.
02:24So that was fantastic as well to get up to date on matters on and off the pitch.
02:29How was John? The first time you spoke to him in two weeks.
02:32No doubt that he's been working hard over the summer despite a couple of holidays.
02:37How was his demeanour? Yeah.
02:40I read some comments saying he sounded a bit down on the video, which it wasn't at all.
02:46I don't, I suppose it's people have their own opinions about how they assess things.
02:51But he was relaxed, comfortable with how the transfer situation's gone at the moment.
02:58I mentioned only one's arrived.
03:00And very pragmatic. These are different times.
03:05Pompey aren't in League One anymore.
03:06He explained that if Pompey were in League One, you're at the front of the queue for free transfers
03:13and lower fees for players, it's different in the Championship now.
03:19League One, of course. League Two clubs have been very busy.
03:22Bradford have brought a lot in in League One.
03:24The Championship, not so busy.
03:25So that's what it is at the moment.
03:27And as I always keep saying at the moment, under John Messina and Rich Hughes,
03:33they've done a tremendous job in recruitment, especially.
03:37And you just have to trust them.
03:40This is their method.
03:42There's not been a lot, not a lot to criticise them over since they've been at the football club.
03:46So, yeah, I don't really get too wrapped up in,
03:50oh, they've not signed enough players at this stage of the season.
03:52Woe is me.
03:54It's a different scenario for each season, isn't it?
03:56Yeah, we'll get into the transfer situation in a second.
04:01But anything catch your eye when you were watching the guys trailing?
04:06Obviously, Adrian Segesic is the only new player there.
04:11Did he catch your eye?
04:12By the way, that's not a load of question.
04:15That's a wee private joke between me and me.
04:16It's not a load of question.
04:18But, yeah, anything catch your eye at all?
04:20Yeah, it's interesting because what really caught my eye,
04:24I mentioned this actually in, I did an article on what I saw that day,
04:30was Reuben Swan and Jacob Farrell.
04:34And bearing in mind, Reuben Swan arrives as an 18-year-old last year.
04:38Jacob Farrell arrives as a 21-year-old last year.
04:40We've not seen a lot of them.
04:42Swan, he's been on loan to have it on Waterlooville.
04:45Farrell's played one game.
04:46He's been injured forever, hasn't he, really?
04:48So, to watch them in training, they've both physically bulked up.
04:54Farrell doesn't look like a boy anymore.
04:58Really bulked up massively.
05:00The same as Swan as well.
05:01I know it's to be expected young lads get older.
05:05But because we've not seen him so long,
05:06there is a marked difference in the build and physicality of both those players.
05:12I think people will be surprised when they see Farrell in the flesh again this season.
05:17Yeah, yeah.
05:18It's funny because on social media,
05:19a lot of people were looking at the players and going,
05:22who's this guy?
05:23Who's this guy?
05:24It was just Reuben Swan.
05:25But because nobody's really seen too much of him,
05:28he is, they just didn't recognise him clearly.
05:31Yeah, he's growing.
05:32He's got more of a beard now.
05:33He's just broader, bigger.
05:35So Farrell, Farrell,
05:36again, because we've not seen a lot of them for reasons previously stated.
05:44They've grown up.
05:44They've bulked out.
05:45They've clearly worked hard in the gym,
05:47worked hard outside as well.
05:49Farrell's had his own injury problems as well.
05:51So, yeah,
05:52it's going to be really interesting to see how they develop
05:55and their position in the squad this season.
05:57Yeah, no, definitely Farrell.
05:59Like,
05:59I think that a lot of people after that Sheffield United game
06:01were quite excited to see what he could do,
06:04even though he's up against Raksake.
06:05OK, but again,
06:07is Joe Messino,
06:08did he give you any impression that he's really going to be pushing
06:10Conor Ogilvie for that left-back spot next season?
06:14Or is there a high anticipation for him?
06:16Well, first of all,
06:17he has to be fit.
06:18If he wants to push Conor Ogilvie for the left-back spot,
06:21he has to be fit.
06:22And Conor Ogilvie's got a lot of credit in the tank,
06:24isn't he, really?
06:26So, yeah,
06:28it's an interesting one, isn't it?
06:30But again,
06:31some of these players,
06:32we're looking forward to pre-season,
06:33to see them out there in pre-season, aren't we?
06:35Zegasich, of course, being a new player.
06:37Farrell being a new player, basically.
06:39Boat, another one,
06:42a new player, effectively, aren't they?
06:43So we're looking forward to seeing those in action,
06:46especially in pre-season.
06:48And,
06:49encouragingly,
06:50Farrell's
06:51been involved in full training every day,
06:53I believe.
06:54So he's come through that well.
06:57He's going to play in the friendlies as well.
06:59They're not going to hold him back in that respect.
07:00They think he'll be fine.
07:02So,
07:02yeah,
07:03he's fit at the moment.
07:04So,
07:05it's just a case of seeing him in action,
07:07isn't it?
07:07Yeah,
07:08no,
07:08definitely.
07:09You mentioned earlier on there that Massino was very relaxed yesterday.
07:13And,
07:14bear in mind,
07:14there has only been one selling,
07:15as we mentioned,
07:17Adrian Zegasich.
07:18Are you surprised just how relaxed he is?
07:20Why is he so relaxed?
07:21Because a lot of fans out there are wanting to see a wee bit more on the transfer front.
07:26Well,
07:26he's that individual,
07:27isn't he,
07:28really?
07:28He never gets carried away.
07:30He's never too high,
07:31never too low.
07:32Doesn't snap at you when Pompany going through bad spells.
07:35Doesn't get arrogant when Pompany going through good spells.
07:38So,
07:38that's just the way he is.
07:40But,
07:41certainly,
07:41there's no anger there.
07:42He's not,
07:43he's not wound up by any situation at all in regards to the recruitment.
07:48He's been here long enough now,
07:50hasn't he,
07:50at Pompany.
07:50He knows how it works in terms of their recruitment model.
07:55In terms of the people at the top there,
07:57Rich Hughes and Brad Walls come in as well.
08:00So,
08:00yeah,
08:01he knows,
08:02he wants five or six players.
08:05It's not going to be an overhaul like we've seen in previous seasons.
08:08First season was about 13 signings.
08:12I think the second summer was 15 signings.
08:15It's not going to be that case because he's got the basis of a strong squad here now,
08:19which obviously needs additions.
08:21No one's disputing that.
08:23Again,
08:24they need,
08:24they need two central midfielders.
08:27They need two wingers.
08:28They need a striker.
08:29They may need a central defender.
08:31That's obvious.
08:32The club know that.
08:34We know that.
08:35Everybody knows that.
08:36So,
08:36it's a case of recruiting players who can improve the squad in those positions.
08:41Not every player assigned since Pompey reached the championship have been good enough in those positions.
08:47A lot have,
08:48but not everyone has.
08:49So,
08:50it's just trying to find players who can fit into there and impress for Pompey.
08:55Yeah.
08:57He also said there's nothing imminent in terms of incomings.
09:01Again,
09:02Burnham and Pompey have been back pre-season.
09:04They're going off to Bratislava on Saturday.
09:07Is there any part of you slightly surprised that they haven't brought anybody in just to help integrate them into the team?
09:14We all hear about how important it is for them to integrate when they're away in these trips.
09:19But yet,
09:19SegaSitch is the only one that's actually going to benefit from this here.
09:23Yeah.
09:25The cliche is,
09:27Danny Cowley's saying it all the time,
09:28and John said it yesterday.
09:30You'd want every new signing in on the first day of pre-season.
09:34But it doesn't work like that.
09:36You have to be realistic.
09:38It's not championship manager.
09:40It's not football manager.
09:42You're negotiating.
09:43You're talking to people.
09:44It's not that simple.
09:48It's not an ideal world.
09:50And the same applies for every single football club.
09:54We talked about this earlier, I think.
09:56I've seen football fans from other football clubs moaning they haven't brought enough players in at this stage of the season.
10:00It just happens, isn't it?
10:02It's a little frustrating.
10:03And I can understand the supporters are saying we need more in.
10:05I get that.
10:06Totally.
10:07You want as many as possible, don't you, for pre-season.
10:09I remember Yangi arrived just before Pompey went out to Spain under John Massino's first pre-season tour.
10:18Zach Swanson arrived just before they went out to Spain under Danny Cowley as well.
10:22So, you want as many in as possible.
10:25Hopefully, there'll be more.
10:26But at the moment, it's only one.
10:28But you can't risk these things.
10:30It is what it is.
10:31Especially if you're negotiating, paying transfer fees, competing players with clubs for players, signing players from abroad.
10:42It's not ideal.
10:43But it's life.
10:44It's football.
10:45I'm sorry.
10:45That's how it works.
10:46Yeah.
10:49John alluded to the fact that you've got the Club World Cup championships.
10:54You've got the European under-21 championships all at play here.
11:00So, that may explain certain aspects of why it's been slow.
11:04But also, the fact that Pompey are entering different markets, high-caliber players.
11:10How much of an impact has that been in Pompey's situation?
11:14The fact that they are having to go abroad, negotiate with maybe agents they've never dealt with before.
11:19So, that all must add up to quite a more complex situation, transfer-wise.
11:25Yeah, it is.
11:26You think about last summer where Harvey Blair signed quite late on because he'd been with Liverpool in America on their pre-season.
11:34Yeah.
11:35Freddie Potts arrived from West Ham.
11:37He'd been on the pre-season tour with them as well, hadn't he?
11:40So, a lot of these young players go on pre-season tours with the senior team as well.
11:47So, that delays their arrivals in terms of loans and permit signing as well.
11:52So, they're facts.
11:55They're examples of what happened last year.
11:57It's just, it's not Pompey trying to be difficult and not signing players.
12:01It does happen.
12:02Not every case.
12:03But if they're looking for Premier League players, they'll likely arrive later in the window.
12:08Yeah.
12:09When clubs know what they want to do with them.
12:12And Pompey got those two late on.
12:15Yeah.
12:17John yesterday gave us a wee bit of an insight into the situation when it comes to some of the players that have been linked.
12:23What, the past week we've seen Kelly Mattson.
12:26We've seen Griffin Yeo.
12:27Alex Robertson.
12:29Yeah.
12:30How good is it just for them to give us a wee bit of an insight into what the current situation is?
12:34Bear to mind, there's rumours galore out there at the moment, especially during Sully season.
12:39Yeah, I spoke to him about Alex Robertson.
12:45Do I think he'll come back?
12:46I can't really see it.
12:48I can't really see it in terms of, Pompey would like him back.
12:54John Massino explained at length how he would never turn away a player they've tried to target before who didn't want to join.
13:00He said it doesn't make business sense.
13:04So, yeah, Pompey would love to have him back.
13:07Still highly regarded.
13:08He still speaks highly of his time here.
13:11Fans remember what a very good player he is.
13:14But he's with Cardiff at the moment.
13:15He's got three years left on his contract.
13:17No doubt they've got plans for him.
13:19So, as John Massino said, Pompey monitoring it like they would do with all former lone players.
13:26So, they'll be keeping an eye on that from afar.
13:30But there's nothing happening there at the moment unless things change for Cardiff then, I suppose.
13:35Yeah.
13:37What is he still looking for?
13:38I know you talked a wee bit at the start about two wingers, two midfielders, centre-halves.
13:42But, like, there is a pressing need to fill these positions.
13:47What's the priority?
13:48Is that centre-midfield still the priority or what?
13:52Yeah.
13:53Centre-halves are not that much of a priority, is it?
13:56But they need two centre-midfielders.
13:58First-choice centre-midfielders.
14:01You'd imagine one of them would be alone.
14:03That would be the simple thing, wouldn't it?
14:05And they need a couple of wingers.
14:08I think everyone agrees they need a couple of wingers.
14:10You've got Josh Murphy.
14:13They have the app to the squad, isn't it, really?
14:15Yeah.
14:15You've got Josh Murphy on the left.
14:17You've got Matt Ritchie on the right.
14:20John Messina said about two months ago in the last season that he sees a reduced starting role for Matt Ritchie because of his age and to get someone else in.
14:28So, he needs somebody in the right wing as well.
14:32Cover for Josh Murphy.
14:33So, you're looking at two there.
14:35Paddy Lane's back training as well, which is really good.
14:39Unfortunately, Harvey Lane's injured still with the hamstring injury sustained in the last game of the season.
14:44So, you know, there's still wingers around there.
14:46But it's an area they need to strengthen because Murphy was such an outstanding player.
14:53Pompey didn't have the same creativity from the right, did they?
14:57They were fortunate that Murphy, well, was robust and didn't pick up many injuries last season.
15:03So, they need to improve that.
15:05And they need another striker, don't they, really?
15:06Because you've got Yangi's gone out.
15:08You've got Sadie's gone out.
15:09And now you've got Waddingham and Bishop up front.
15:13So, they need another striker, don't they?
15:15I mean, it's a lot.
15:16It's just common sense, really, isn't it?
15:19I've read a lot of fans and I think every fan would agree.
15:22They had the positions.
15:23Two there, two on the wing, one up front, maybe one at the back.
15:27I think everyone would agree there.
15:29You can see it.
15:30They don't need any more centre-halves.
15:31They don't need any more right-backs.
15:33They don't need any more goalkeepers.
15:35They don't need any more left-backs.
15:38They've got the two number 10s.
15:40It's there.
15:41You can see what the issue is, isn't it?
15:42Straight away.
15:43Pompey know that.
15:44We know that.
15:45That's the places they're looking.
15:46If they're still looking for a right-winger,
15:49Bernadette Segesic can play out there too.
15:51Part of me is going, well, what about Harvey Blair then?
15:54Where does he fit?
15:54We've seen him at the tail end of the last season.
15:56He scored against Sheffield Wednesday.
15:58He's obviously still injured.
16:00But is there hope that he can sort of kick on next season?
16:04Yeah, definitely.
16:05They obviously like him.
16:06But there were flashes in the game, didn't there?
16:09But he clearly needs to improve physically.
16:13I've talked about how Swan and Farrell have bulked up since I last saw them.
16:17That needs to happen with Blair.
16:18But at the moment, he's injured, unfortunately.
16:20So he needs to get stronger.
16:23I didn't like the tackle on him at the time, which he had to play the booking.
16:27It was a strong tackle.
16:31And he damaged his hamstring in the process of that.
16:35So, yeah, he needs to bulk up physically.
16:38Still plenty of time.
16:40Likely to be back this pre-season.
16:41So we'll see how he develops.
16:44So it's not over for him yet.
16:46Yeah.
16:46What about departures then?
16:47Any word on potential outgoings?
16:51There's been plenty of names being mentioned.
16:53Riley Tyler, Tom McIntyre, Paddy Lane.
16:56Any updates on those in their situations at Fratton Park?
17:01Well, you look at Paddy Lane's back from injury now.
17:04Pompey will have a look at him in pre-season.
17:07Like I explained, they need two wingers.
17:09So perhaps it might not be the right time for Paddy Lane to leave either.
17:12John Massino is very adamant that Lane was improving just into the championship at the time he got injured, unfortunately, at Blackburn.
17:21So it's a shame because we saw that Conor Ogilvie grew into the championship and got better and better.
17:28And Pompey hoped, believed that Lane might do the same.
17:32But then he got injured in the January, didn't he?
17:34So I think the jury's still out on that one, isn't it, really?
17:40Then you've got Towler and McIntyre.
17:43Fifth and sixth choice centre-halves, which says it all.
17:47They're not going to get past the current four, are they?
17:50Towler will get interest.
17:52Good player for Pompey.
17:54He's been on the bench for two years.
17:55He needs to leave for the sake of his career.
17:58He needs regular football.
18:00We've seen it before.
18:01People like Conor Chaplin had to.
18:04Christian Sadie had to.
18:06He needs games.
18:08He can't sit on the bench forever, Riley Tanner, for another season.
18:11For his own sake, he has to go out there.
18:13And they'll be interesting because he started 10 championship games last year and scored.
18:17And he's a young lad, so I'm sure they'll be interested.
18:19Then you've got Tom McIntyre, who had a disappointing spell at Charlton, despite winning the playoffs.
18:25And, yeah, he had fallen out of favour anyway at Pompey, hadn't he?
18:30And he's now sixth choice centre-half.
18:32So, yeah, the future for him can't be too bright, surely.
18:36Yeah.
18:36At this football club.
18:37Talking about bright futures,
18:39Messina must have been delighted to see some of his walking wounded back after some selection issues
18:46or some injury worries at the end of last season.
18:48You had Hayden Matthews.
18:49You had Ivan Boat, although he's not fully training yet.
18:52But Farrell, as you said, Paddy Lane, he must have been delighted to at least have those guys on the pitch
18:58to see what he's working with over the next few weeks, at least.
19:02Yeah, it's brilliant to see them.
19:03There's that Swanson there as well.
19:05Jordan Williams didn't train yesterday, but they're sort of easing him back after his issues.
19:09So it's great to see them out there.
19:10And even Boat, Boat was training with Max Whittingham, the first team fitness coach, doing running mainly.
19:19So he's progressing as well.
19:21So it's great to see these players back because they all probably had about seven, eight players missing last season through injury.
19:28Now they're nearly all back.
19:29So that balks up the score considerably, doesn't it?
19:34So there are 18 players involved in training yesterday, plus five goalkeepers.
19:39So they've got some good numbers there with players coming back for injury still.
19:43Yeah, good stuff.
19:44Well, Neil, we'll wrap it up for this week.
19:46I know you're jetting off of Pompey, the Bratislava next week.
19:50So get your shuntan lotion with you.
19:52Stay off the drink and report back safe and sound.
19:56Thank you for your help.
19:58We'll see you all again soon.
19:59Goodbye.
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