Pompey v Cambridge United: John Mousinho's pre-match thoughts

The News, Portsmouth

Pompey boss John Mousinho chats to The News ahead of Pompey's game against Cambridge United at Fratton Park

Transcript

00:00 The next game, well you've not been back long from Kyle Arr but straight away preparation

00:07 for choosing last game against Cambridge United?

00:10 Yeah and I think the turnaround is really quick but this is the way I think we'd like

00:13 it. Players want to play, coaches want to be able to coach and prep for games and even

00:16 though it's a quick turnaround from Saturday to Tuesday, the most important thing for us

00:20 is making sure that we get on with it, play games and try and win as many games as possible

00:24 and I think we've put ourselves in a decent position by playing a lot of games and just

00:27 getting them done at this stage of the season so really looking forward to the game against

00:31 Toronto.

00:32 You've had a lot of away games recently but you've got two at home in the Troughton Park,

00:34 how important is that?

00:36 Yeah really important, I think it was probably a nice thing to be away from Troughton, I

00:40 think probably for the boys after the performance we produced under that day at Leighton Orient

00:48 so I think it was good to get it out of our system. We went away from home three times

00:51 on the spin and by the time we came back and played against Northampton I thought we were

00:54 properly at it then and we've got to produce that again, I think that's the most important

00:57 thing, we've got to give the fans something to get behind us about in the first half especially,

01:01 start the game quickly, start the game on the front foot like we did against Northampton

01:04 and we know that when we do that, especially under the lights on the Tuesday night at Fratton

01:07 it can be a really, really special place to play so that's a big part of what we want

01:11 to try and achieve tomorrow.

01:12 Why do you feel it was good at that point going away from Fratton Park?

01:15 I just think we hadn't quite figured out what we were doing in terms of game tempo and the

01:21 way that we were going about our business, nothing to do with the support at all because

01:25 I thought we'd got really good support considering we were 3-0 down at half time against Orient

01:29 and I don't think anybody turned, I thought it was fine, the reaction was great from the

01:32 fans and I just thought it was nice, it took a bit of pressure off the boys going away

01:36 and I thought they got themselves together, sorted everything out that we needed to sort

01:39 out and like I said by the time we came back that was more like it at home and we produced

01:44 I think a much better performance and the fans recognised that.

01:46 Do you feel now that the side is in a better place?

01:49 I think so, we addressed a few of the issues and a few of the shortcomings after the Laken

01:54 Orient game and it was disappointing we put ourselves in that position obviously, we don't

01:57 want to be a reactive side, we want to go into games and make sure that we don't let

02:00 that happen but sometimes it does happen I think at every level, especially at this level

02:03 so we gave ourselves a good opportunity on that Monday, we took a long hard look at ourselves

02:08 and we looked at every aspect of the game that we needed to improve upon and that was

02:12 the big focus going into obviously Fleetwood, Port Vale and the games after that and I think

02:16 we've done a pretty good job and the lads have done a pretty good job of getting themselves

02:20 out of what they produced against Orient.

02:22 Two games at home, a real chance to increase your lead even further at top of the table?

02:27 Yeah I think the biggest thing is just the opportunity for us to go out and get three

02:30 points tomorrow night, that's what we'll be focused on and obviously whatever happens

02:33 in the other games happens, there's nothing we can do to control any of that, the only

02:37 thing we can control is our performance and hopefully the result tomorrow night and it's

02:41 a really good opportunity, we love playing at home, we love playing at home on a Tuesday

02:44 night, I think it's going to be a really tough game against good opposition but these

02:48 are the games that we relish.

02:49 Will you be looking to rotate your team bearing in mind the hectic schedule recently?

02:53 I think it's definitely something that we're going to bear in mind with the hectic schedule

02:56 and obviously the travel that we've had at the weekend and probably a few tired legs

02:59 towards the back end of the game so the benefit of having that squad and I think the benefit

03:04 of being able to make the changes that we've made is that we can look into the game Tuesday

03:07 night and maybe rotate a couple of players so certainly an option for us and I think

03:11 one that we should be using. I think we've got this week and this is probably the last

03:16 midweek game I think we have until Burton and I think everybody's probably fully aware

03:21 we've played more games than most sides at this level so we've got a decent enough run

03:25 in but it still gives us a good opportunity to rotate.

03:27 And no doubt Abu Kamara is under consideration to start again?

03:30 Yeah I think he'd had a spell obviously out of the starting line-up and nothing to do

03:36 with performances, it was just trying to rest abs and make sure that he was good for the

03:40 running for the back end of the season, he'd had game after game after game, hardly ever

03:44 come off, hardly ever had a break and it was nice to give him that break and nice for him

03:48 to come on and look really fresh at the weekend so definitely in contention for tomorrow.

03:51 Any change in the injury situation?

03:53 No, no change in the injury situation, we've come away from the weekend with a clean bill

03:58 of health, the focus will just be on recovery and making sure that players are fresh for

04:03 Tuesday rather than any injury concerns that we've got and no one returning imminently

04:07 probably apart from Zak but he won't be ready for tomorrow night.

04:10 With Karl-Aldrich, how do you manage that coming home so late on Sunday morning or early

04:15 hours of Sunday morning and you're in today as well?

04:18 I just think professionalism is the most important word and the lads have got it in abundance

04:22 and I think what sums it up is that quite a few of them were in yesterday when it was

04:25 a day off and they came in, they did their recovery, used the ice baths, they used all

04:29 the facilities that we've got here, used the pool and I think that shows what the lads

04:34 are all about, they know at this stage in the season that these are the most important

04:37 things because we haven't got a huge amount of opportunity between now and the Cambridge

04:41 game to put physical work into the lads' legs so it's just recovery and preparation so that's

04:45 all we can do, we can make sure we try and get everything right with travel, food, rest,

04:49 recovery and then it's up to the boys to do the rest.

04:52 Thank you.

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