Pompey boss John Mousinho speaks to The News from Slovakia

The News, Portsmouth

Pompey boss John Mousinho speaks to The News from the club's training camp in Slovakia. The Blues head coach covers everything from signings, triallists, the pre-season camp, Adrian Segecic, Ibane Bowat and much more.

Transcript

00:00Here with Pompey boss John Massino near Bratislava at this outstanding facility, John. What's

00:07it been like this week?

00:08Yeah, it's been great. We've arrived here on Saturday, had a sort of down day Saturday

00:15just to make sure that we rested and recovered from the travel and then it's been three really

00:20good training days since then. So, you know, brilliant facility here, really sports focused

00:24and you can probably see that from being around here. The pictures are great. The weather's

00:28been very, very good for football training, so probably not so good for the tourists but

00:32really good for training and overall it's been a really good start to the camp.

00:35Home from home in terms of the weather?

00:37Yeah, and it has been. It's one of those things during pre-season. You never know what you're

00:40going to get in England, you never know what you're going to get when you're away. A couple

00:44of times in the past we've been to places where the temperatures have just been too hot to

00:47sustain the level of training that we want to sustain. So this morning was a really good

00:52example. Cooler temperatures, there was a bit of rain, it makes the pitch a bit more playable

00:55and we can really go hard at the players.

00:57Was it 19 out there this morning? Does that sound about right? 19 players. 19 outfield

01:03players.

01:04Yeah, so a lean group and obviously your goalkeepers as well, a lean group in total.

01:07Yeah, we're definitely lean at the moment. We've obviously, we lost all of the loans at

01:12the back end of last year. We've lost a couple of players on permanence as well. Yeah, we're

01:16definitely looking to replace that. First of all on the loans, we've spoken extensively

01:20about when the loans are going to become available and on the other side of it in terms of looking

01:24for permanent solutions, then we're working hard at it and it's just a case of making

01:29sure we get the right player at the right time and be impatient on it.

01:31We've been fortunate enough for you to give us access and we're also fortunate enough

01:36to watch your new boy, Adrian Sekic, make a good mark so far.

01:39Yeah, he's been really sharp. I think he suits the league really well, suits our playing

01:44style really well. Energetic, sets the press really well as a 10 or even as a wide man and

01:50then always wants to get on the ball, always wants to make things happen. And yeah, Sekic's

01:53been a breath of fresh air this pre-season so far. So yeah, the one new player that we've

01:58got coming into the group, he's made a real impact.

02:00Is he ready to go for the championship?

02:02Yeah, not quite yet. I think in four weeks' time though, he will be. So yeah, he's certainly

02:06a player that we've brought in to impact the first team straight away.

02:09And of course, this time of year, transfers are never far from the surface. How are things

02:14going on that front?

02:15Yeah, they're going well. It's obviously one of those that we have to get the right balance

02:19between bringing in the right players at the right time. There's no doubt in my mind.

02:25We could have had 25 outfield players here for pre-season, but they wouldn't have been

02:29the right ones. We definitely could have filled the squad, but we've passed on players that

02:33we don't think are going to be the right fit for Portsmouth and the right fit for the championship.

02:37And we've got to get the right balance on that. And a lot of the, like I said with the

02:41loans, the loans will come out a bit later, but certainly with the permanent transfers

02:46as well. Yeah, we're just making sure that we, you know, we bide our time and don't miss

02:51out on ones that, yeah, are readily available to us. But, you know, the list is, the list

02:56is there. We're speaking to a lot of players every single day and hopefully we can add

03:00to that group really soon.

03:02Sometimes managers say that and it feels like lip service and sometimes they mean it. I

03:05mean, it feels like you genuinely are as relaxed as you can be about that because, you

03:09know, the greater goal is getting the right players.

03:12Yeah, it's true. We've, it's really easy to, it's really easy to sign players. You can

03:18sign whoever you want and at any time it's not so easy signing the right players. And

03:23that's definitely something over my two and a half years of being a head coach, I know

03:27is really important is signing the right players and sometimes taking your time. And we're

03:31in a very, very different position now to when we would have been sat here speaking two

03:35years ago where we, I think we arrived in Spain with maybe 11 of the 14 summer signings,

03:40but most of them were on threes. We were looking at a situation where Portsmouth and League

03:45One were the big hitters and there wasn't much rivalry at all. Every time we speak to

03:50a player now, there's some bottom end Premier League clubs, there's a lot of top end championship

03:54clubs and everything in between. So it's a very, very different landscape to how it was,

03:57which means we need to be smarter. We need to make sure we make the right choices. And particularly

04:02when we're paying big fees for players, get those 100% right.

04:06Yeah. Um, there's probably 20 players you've been linked with that I know are contracted.

04:09I probably know what the answer you'll give for an interesting one that came up yesterday.

04:12A free agent was Grady Dean Garner. Can you shed any light on that?

04:17Is he on a free, is he? Yeah, there's, there's nothing, there's nothing in that. Um, so yeah,

04:20no, no contact at all from, um, from any of us.

04:22It's that time of year, isn't it? Where these names come thick and fast.

04:25Yeah, there's, there's loads of players that, um, sort of fly about on, on the internet and,

04:30um, um, it's, yeah, it's quite amusing. Sometimes it's really accurate and, and sometimes it's

04:34not. And, and that's one we haven't spoken to.

04:36Uh, one player we say goodbye to is Riley Towler. Um, quite an emotive one for a lot

04:40of supporters. They really built up an affinity with Riley.

04:42Yeah, quite rightly. Riley's been a massive player for us over the past two and a half years,

04:46maybe not having played a huge amount, but in his first six months had a real impact coming

04:50into the squad, coming into the side in a difficult time for the football club and playing really

04:55well, scoring some, um, really good goals in the league one campaign when we finished eighth.

04:58And he was just really unlucky, I think in there, um, in the previous, in the, in the following,

05:03the following season where, um, you know, Conor Shotnessy came in, Sean Raggett came in,

05:08Regan Paul, really, really excellent performances ahead of Riley. He hadn't done anything wrong,

05:13but found himself on the periphery and found himself playing that bit part. So, I mean, it was,

05:17it was really pleasing for, for us last year to, um, to play him as much as we did in the championship.

05:23And, uh, you know, it was one of those things in the summer where we spoke about,

05:26um, the, the players that have played ahead of him at the back end of the year and, and where we

05:29thought the, uh, the level was and what we thought was the best thing for him to do. And,

05:33and ultimately we thought the best thing for him to do was to, to move on and, and play

05:36regular games, um, at another club. And it's, it's happened to be a really good one. I think he'll,

05:39he'll thrive at Lincoln. I think he'll, he'll do really well and we're looking forward to

05:42tracking his progress and, um, yeah, he's had a, um, a really good time here.

05:46Do you now look to recruit in that department?

05:48Well, we're still, we're still relatively heavy in terms of centre half. So we've still got five

05:52contracted centre half. So at the moment that's not a priority. And, and, and all four of them,

05:57all five of them, sorry, are, are fit at the moment. We've got, we've got Tom Mack come,

06:00coming back from, um, has come back from Charlton too. So it's certainly not, uh, an area of priority.

06:05A couple of individual players, Harry Clout's out here with, uh, with a contract under his arm now.

06:09Yeah. I, you know, really pleasing for us to, um, to, to reward one of the academy players

06:14with his first full professional contract. We've seen plenty of Harry since last season.

06:19I think he came in and had a really, really good impact in, in preseason and probably a stop start

06:24season last year for him in terms of, in terms of injuries and, and loans, but we're certainly

06:28looking to try and get him up to speed this year. And he's been involved in every training session so

06:33far and we'll see where that takes him certainly be involved in the games next week. And we'll go

06:38from there. If you give these, uh, contracts to the academy players, then, uh, you do it for a reason

06:43that they, you know, there's a confidence that they can bridge the gap and step up.

06:46Yeah. And how he's a player we've had a lot of, um, yeah, it's had a lot of promise for, for a long

06:50time. And, and, and, you know, I think really re-burst onto the scene, um, in preseason last year,

06:54had a couple of excellent games. He really caught the eye at the back end of the season before,

06:58I think in, um, a couple of the cup games for, for the academy. And, um, yeah, it's,

07:03it's one of those maybe didn't have the season that we were hoping for him to have last year

07:07based on the, based on preseason, but a lot of that was down to injury. So the first thing for,

07:11for Harry is to make sure that he stays fit and then tries to impact the first team in preseason.

07:15And, uh, we, we, we're here and lucky enough to have the access and see a Bainville act

07:19taking part and that, that's, that's really encouraging.

07:21Yeah. And so, yeah, so obviously something that's brand new for everyone to, to see Ebbs out on the

07:25training pitch and he got through a full session today. So, um, he's had a couple of modified

07:28sessions. That was his first full session today, which is really good progress. It was a heavy session.

07:33Um, and you know, there's a lot of distance covered, so it's going to be really interesting to see,

07:37um, how Ebbs gets on, but he's, he's done very well. He's worked really hard to get back from injury

07:40and we're looking forward to having him. That's got to be a psychological boost for,

07:43for the lead after, you know, a tough period. I think so. Yeah. It's been a really tough period

07:46for him. I think out for the best part of 11 months and, um, yeah, a player that unfortunately for,

07:52for us came in, had three training sessions and, and Torres Patel attendance. So, uh, we, we, we came in with a lot of promise.

07:57And yeah, we're looking forward to seeing more of them. Where does it go from here now in terms

08:00of his progress through preseason? What are the sort of next milestones for him? I think probably

08:04limited game time next week. So if we build into the two non-league games and then Crawley,

08:08I think, uh, we wouldn't be seeing a huge amount of, of Ebbs. I think that's, that's probably the right

08:12thing to do just to make sure that we reintroduce him gradually after the Crawley game. I think we roll

08:17into, um, yeah, roll into games where we could probably, probably see him featuring a bit more frequently.

08:22So I think that'll be a couple of weeks until he's back at it fully. And a couple of faces here,

08:27new faces and lots of people are talking about some trials. Can you shed any light on those, John?

08:31Yeah, we've got, um, we've got Nathan Ferguson here and Stuart Moore. So, um, two great characters,

08:37two really good players. And, um, I think, you know, certainly sort of very, very different in

08:41terms of their journeys here. Nathan's had a very, very promising career, um, at a young age and,

08:46and unfortunately sort of injuries have taken their toll. So, um, it's, it's good to see him back out

08:50and it's good to see him fit as a, um, as a base level. And then, yeah, Stuart coming in here to,

08:56to help out the goalkeeping department and, um, really looking to strengthen there. And just,

08:59it's good to have a look at these players day in, day out on, um, when you're away.

09:02Uh, and Nathan's been someone that's, uh, you know, had a tough time, but he's been,

09:05been around a little bit previously. Is that right?

09:08Yeah. A little bit at the back end of last season. Um, he was in the training ground with us last week.

09:13So we did the three days with us last week. And, um, yeah, he's, he's a player we're really familiar with.

09:17Cheers.

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