Pompey boss John Mousinho speaks to The News in Croatia

The News, Portsmouth

Pompey boss John Mousinho speaks to The News in Croatia, with the Blues head coach updating on the club's training camp, transfers and preparations for the Championship.

Transcript

00:00Here with Pompey boss John Massino, fantastic setting, the Eastern Peninsula John, what

00:07a wonderful place to build up for the season.

00:10Yeah, it's been brilliant.

00:11I obviously arrived yesterday morning and the weather's been great, we're out here,

00:14you can see the facilities behind you, we've got this brilliant sports centre with the

00:17two pitches that we're able to access, backing out onto the sea and then we're just a short

00:21minute from the hotel and everything's been top draw from that point of view, so really

00:25pleased with everything so far and then the most important thing is that the lads have

00:28been working really hard, so a couple of sessions out on the grass and a lot of intensity, a

00:32lot of hard work and they're looking in very good shape.

00:34Guys did their homework on this facility, lots of recce missions and for good reason

00:38wasn't it when you look at what we've got here.

00:40Yeah, I think it's a really important part of the whole season, not just pre-season but

00:43making sure you get these sort of things right.

00:45We're asking the lads to do three sessions a day, we're asking them for that intensity

00:49we spoke about in training and we're asking them to be away from their families, it's

00:53obviously an enjoyable job, I'm not bemoaning any of that but I also think they've got a

00:57we've got to make sure we get it right, so it does take a lot of preparation and a lot

01:01of detail does go into it and thankfully so far it's running very smoothly.

01:05From the testing really onwards, you've been rather pleased with how the players have reported

01:09back in terms of their conditioning.

01:11Yeah, they were really good with the numbers that we had on Thursday and Friday with the

01:14testing and since then we've still done a bit of conditioning but most of it's been

01:18done on the pitch with the footballs and been really pleased with everything that I've seen

01:21there, so the group have come back in really fantastic shape and that's the thing these

01:25days it's very different from when I first started playing and the bulk of the first

01:29couple of weeks of pre-season was about probably losing a couple of kgs and getting back into

01:33shape before you could really do any proper conditioning but it's very, very different

01:35these days.

01:36The lads have come back in in really good nick and they're going to benefit from it

01:40in the long term.

01:41I guess the days of the kind of long beastings are gone now, it seems shorter but more intense

01:45stuff but we just sat here and watched the players work for two hours in pretty testing

01:49and hard conditions.

01:50Yeah, we also want to make sure that we get the right balance between making sure that

01:55we cut things down, keep things intense and also work the lads appropriately so that by

01:59the time they get to the games they find them easier than training sessions, that would

02:03be the ultimate goal and that's what we want to do here, we want to make training sessions

02:06really tough, really competitive, make sure that we do things right.

02:10I mean today was probably the longest we'll go for the entire season but once we start

02:14to cut down those sessions they'll look slightly different but at the moment we've got a lot

02:17of time to play with so we've still got four and a half weeks until the start of the season

02:21so there's plenty of time to play with and plenty of time to be creative in terms of

02:24the way we do things.

02:25The group of 24, 25 players out here, that's a good number in the building already.

02:28Yeah, we've got 25 out here all together and we're looking good in terms of numbers.

02:32It allows us to put sessions on, it allows us to do tactical work in the afternoons and

02:37being able to do that I think is really important.

02:39There's still a couple I think we'll look to bring into the building before the start

02:43of the season or before the end of the transfer window but at the moment I think we're looking

02:46in really good shape.

02:47How is that going, that search for players?

02:48Yeah, it's going well, it's very, very I guess intense as well.

02:54There's a lot going on behind the scenes and the recruitment team are obviously working

02:56really hard to make sure that we get the right players in, we don't miss out on any targets

03:01and there's a lot of moving parts to it so we're still really early in the transfer window,

03:05there's plenty of time to go obviously until the end of August but things are progressing

03:08really nicely.

03:09You've got five in the building, are you close to any more at the moment?

03:12Nothing particularly close right now but there's plenty of lines in the fire.

03:18And in terms of players going out, what's the situation there?

03:22No, same at the moment, we're happy with the squad as it is at the minute so I think we'll

03:25reassess that next week.

03:26We've got the three non-league games next week which we need a decent enough squad for

03:30particularly with the turnaround on the Friday and the Saturday with the Bognor and Havant

03:34game so we've got to make sure that we have a squad that can cope with that.

03:36I think we'll look at where everyone is after that sort of spot and look where the squad's

03:40at, we don't want to be over-inflated, we want to make sure that we do have players

03:44in the squad that are competitive and if there are any that need to move out or feel they

03:47need to move out at that point then we'll look at it then but at the moment we haven't

03:50got any thought on that.

03:51The name's constantly coming up, one in the last couple of days, Josh Dakis-Cogby, the

03:55defender.

03:56Yeah, obviously the way that we've been dealing with these over the past year or so or six

04:02months is that players like that who are contracted, we're not going to comment on either way whether

04:07there's any link or not so obviously in Josh's case, fantastic player, he was brilliant last

04:11year but nothing in from us.

04:14So when I say Aidan O'Neill, I'm going to get a similar answer.

04:16Yeah, same thing.

04:17Obviously, I think Aidan was out of contract last season and he's gone into Europe this

04:22year but under contract so I think out of respect for those clubs, we all want it to

04:26happen in the other way so we just leave those ones alone.

04:29How do you find the market, is it evolving now, obviously the free transfers are earlier,

04:33you find that most of the free transfers are now being picked up?

04:37Mostly yeah, there's still a few that are floating about but I think most of the time

04:39at this stage of the season most of them have been picked up and players tend to want to

04:43be somewhere for the start of pre-season so if there are players that are still going

04:47to move on, they're at their club and it's looking to be a loan or maybe a fee later

04:51on in the window.

04:52So I think it's starting to evolve, most of the fees have gone, particularly in our case

04:57the two fees that we had right at the top of our list in Josh Murphy and Jordan Williams,

05:03we managed to get done early, we managed to get in the building, we were absolutely delighted

05:05with those so I think we've obviously got that done.

05:09Most of the rest of the business that we'll probably do is going to be loans and fees

05:12and certainly with loans, we obviously got Sammy in the door quite early but I think

05:17Middlesbrough and ourselves, we had really good discussions early on about what that

05:21looked like and what the purpose of the loan was so I think with other 21s in particular

05:26that are coming through, the academies on the 21 side for Premier League for example,

05:31a lot of them are with the sides pre-season, there's no rush on getting anything out and

05:35they tend to move a bit later on in pre-season.

05:37And with the fees, the better premium players will have options no doubt.

05:42Yeah and that always happens, I think as a rule of thumb, we always want to try and get

05:47our business done early, it's great if you can but at the same time we don't want to

05:50get the wrong business done early so we're not going to rush anything.

05:53We could have taken 10 players a month ago but that's not what we wanted to do, we want

05:56to make sure we get the right players in and sometimes you have to wait and be patient

05:59and when you're waiting for things to develop with clubs and agents and players, it just

06:04takes a bit of time.

06:05I'm really confident that we're working in the right direction, I'm really confident

06:08that we've got everything in the right place and we're very, very diligent in the way that

06:12we do those sort of things and I'm really happy with the stage we're at.

06:16And so in terms of pre-season, you've mentioned sometimes players come back and surprise you

06:20in pre-season or play themselves into contention when you might be thinking about maybe a loan

06:24out for those players.

06:25Are you seeing that with any members of your squad?

06:27There's a few that have come back in really good shape and that's the most important thing

06:30early on so in those Thursday and Friday sessions where we had the physical testing, one way

06:35just to stand out straight away is just to show the coaching staff that you've done a

06:39bit over the summer and that you mean business coming into this season and then obviously

06:42when the football kicks in, we're always looking at sessions when we're live, we're watching

06:46sessions back to see who the best performers are and then ultimately the chances will properly

06:50come in the games, that's when it's the real bread and butter for the players so we want

06:53players to perform really well in training but the games that we've got coming up next

06:57week and then the subsequent games against league sides going into the season, that's

07:01where I think it really counts for these players.

07:03Do you feel your group is in a good place at this stage of pre-season?

07:06Yeah I think so, there's plenty of work to do, the bulk of the work we're doing at the

07:11moment still is conditioning and that includes when we've got the balls out but I think we're

07:15in a really good spot, we're starting to introduce a couple of tactical concepts to the boys

07:18as well which I think have landed really well over the past couple of days but really happy

07:22with where they're at.

07:23Just finally, did the head coach have to set standards in the run in there at the end of

07:25the session?

07:26I don't know if I set the standards but I thought it was a long day, the lads had worked

07:31in the heat, they got out there, there were a lot of cones out there and I thought I better

07:35try and boost morale by getting involved in them and it helps I think because at least

07:41I know, I always tell the lads anyway, I know how difficult they are, I know how difficult

07:44these days are and for me to sort of trot along and try and stay on the coattails of

07:48some of those boys was an interesting experience.

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