Pompey boss John Mousinho speaks to The News after the 3-0 win over Havant and Waterlooville

The News, Portsmouth

Pompey boss John Mousinho speaks to The News after the 3-0 win over Havant and Waterlooville and updates on transfer news, triallists, injuries and much more.

Transcript

00:00Here with Pompey boss John Massino after another decent night's work here against your North

00:05Tavern at Mortlakeville.

00:06Yeah, really happy with the night's work, everything about it I was delighted with.

00:09I thought the first ten minutes was a bit of a sticky period for us, haven't came out

00:13of the traps, they were at us.

00:15The centre forward was really physical which was great, I thought it was a really good

00:18test for the two young centre-halves, which is brilliant, that's exactly what we wanted

00:21and I played with Harvey a few years back so I'm really pleased with that.

00:25I thought once we settled into the game we played some really good stuff, especially

00:28as the first half went on, deserved a lead, maybe could have had a couple more and really

00:32pleased actually with the way the lads took on board a couple of bits at half-time, it

00:36wasn't a full run down like we usually do for a league game but they took on a few bits

00:40at half-time, came out in the second half and I thought we were just a lot more disciplined,

00:43the structure was there and we created a couple of really good opportunities, two of which

00:47we scored from, maybe you wouldn't consider Riley to be a good opportunity but I thought

00:52he played with a lot of confidence tonight and the third goal I thought was superb so

00:55a really well worked move.

00:57And then even more pleasing I suppose in a lot of senses was the fact that we had the

01:01nine academy players come on in the last half-hour and I thought they were a credit to themselves,

01:06a credit to the football club, I thought they battled hard, I thought they tried to play

01:09some football, they controlled the game largely, maybe could have conceded but also could have

01:14scored two or three at the other end so really, really pleased for them and that's a really

01:17good moment.

01:18One of the things I said to them there is we don't want this to be the pinnacle of their

01:23career by any means but I do remember playing for Brentford against Dagenham in a pre-season

01:28friendly, it was the first ever time I'd been involved in professional football and it was

01:32an amazing moment for me.

01:33I thought at that point, I thought no-one could ever take that away from me, I didn't

01:35expect to have a professional career off the back of it and the same goes for these boys

01:39and really pleased for them that they've come and they've managed to play in front of a

01:42few thousand Pompey fans and played really well.

01:47Also there's Harry to mention I think in the first half as well who ended up playing sixty

01:52minutes and played really well so really pleasing all together to have the ten academy

01:55players.

01:56When you've got a couple of trialists in, lies tend to gravitate towards them, I thought

01:59Baptiste tonight particularly in that first half, you dealt with the physical threat and

02:05good on the ball coming out as well.

02:07Yeah I thought really calm and composed on the ball and switched the ball a couple of

02:10times with both feet, looked nice and technically competent which you'd expect from a lad that's

02:15had that background and also I thought after a bit of a tricky first couple of challenges

02:20he grew into the game and became much more aggressive so I thought a performance on the

02:24whole for Jamal, I was really pleased for him and I thought he was excellent.

02:29He's had a time of it, he's had some tough times with illness, where do you stand with

02:34that at the moment?

02:35Yeah he's fully fit, he's firing, he had a loan last season and I think he's come back

02:43after that and he's hungry and he's willing to go.

02:45He's been on trial at another league club prior to coming to us and I think that was

02:50a successful trial but I think the lure of the step up to Portsmouth meant that he decided

02:56that he was going to just wait on a decision and come and see what another week did for

03:00us there.

03:01So in terms of fitness I think he's in really good shape and he looks like he's come back

03:05this pre-season with a bit between his teeth so yeah very, very happy for him.

03:08Is that very much a live situation moving forward now?

03:11Yeah we don't know how that's going to play out and we're not entirely sure how that fits

03:14in in terms of the squad but certainly something we're going to monitor and have a conversation

03:17with over the next couple of days and see what that looks like and there's lots of permutations

03:21going into next week in terms of what that does look like but I think what Jamal has

03:27done is given himself every chance of earning something somewhere, maybe here, we'll see

03:33what that looks like but he's given himself the best chance.

03:36And Sean Patton, Brighton Breezer, getting himself on the score sheet?

03:40Yeah really good finish, really good finish, probably a difficult game for him to get into

03:43particularly with the fact it was a possession-based game in the first half and sometimes the nines

03:47can go by the wayside because they're just occupying a sense of half but I thought Sean

03:51did in the second half what he's done really well and the reason we've brought him to the

03:54football club on trial is because his finishing has been excellent and he's looked sharp in

03:59the box, he's done that in training as well, there's plenty of sides to his game that Sean

04:03can improve but at 17 I think that's a real promising start to his career.

04:08He's done a lot for his 17 year old, he's played international football at under-19

04:11level and got on the score sheet and Finn Harps and Derry so he's progressing quite

04:16well for someone of that age.

04:17Yeah I think so and I think if you look at that game without the knowledge that he's

04:2217 you don't think he's a 17 year old centre-forward playing in a men's game and we think that

04:27about what he did the other night against Gosport and also what he's done in training

04:31as well so really pleased and really positive on him.

04:33Has he given himself a chance?

04:35Again I think he's given himself every chance, the trialists that we bring in, obviously

04:40we don't bring trialists in for the sake of it, we bring them in with a view to potentially

04:43signing them whether that pans out or not, it's very very difficult always as a trialist

04:47I think particularly when you're now trying to get into a championship squad but we'll

04:50review that, we'll have a look at what that situation is and then go from there.

04:53And you gave Riley Taylor the armband tonight, why did you do that?

04:56I think Riley's come back in really good nick and he had a really really tough season last

04:59year but he kept his head high, he was a massive part of the squad that ended up winning the

05:03league and whether he felt that or not I don't know but the way that he conducted himself

05:08last season, the way that he conducted himself in pre-season, I think he's thoroughly deserved

05:13it and Riley is a player that we want to keep encouraging those leadership qualities to

05:17come out and I think he was the outstanding candidate on the pitch and I think he led

05:22the boys very well and deserved his goal.

05:23And he's got that in his locker?

05:25Yeah apparently, I knew that driving out from the back, he certainly had that driving out

05:31from the back and he dropped the shoulder really well and he was very very comfortable

05:36in possession and dealt with that physical threat really well.

05:39I'm not entirely sure he had the 40-yard lob in the locker area but really really good goal.

05:45What's the state of play now with transfers and we're expecting things to move a bit more around this period?

05:52Yeah it's still really slow, the market as a whole has been really slow and the situation

05:56we're in at the moment is that we've been patient with a lot of deals.

06:00Where we are is that we're still in a really good position with a lot of the deals that

06:06we want to get done.

06:07The best way I think I can describe it is that when we have our lists for certain positions

06:11at the start of the summer, we obviously target the top of that list and for the majority

06:17of those, the target at the top of the list is still available.

06:20So it's not that we're missing out on any deals, it's just that the market's slow, clubs

06:27are holding on to players for a bit longer, clubs' demands are obviously whatever they

06:33are so we've got to make sure that we get the right deal there and we're really happy

06:37with where we are because we've still got the targets there if that makes sense, they've

06:39not fallen by the wayside.

06:41Last year the difference was that we had the targets and they just became available, they

06:46were available or they were on freeze.

06:48We had the sort of players that we wanted to bring in and we could get them done.

06:52We want to bring the right players into the football club, we want to bring championship

06:54quality players in, we don't want to compromise on that and we feel we're in a good position

06:59and the minute we have to move on from a target we'll move on and we'll go to the next one

07:02but at the moment we don't have to do that.

07:03So we're very, very happy with where we are with three weeks to go in the season and of

07:06course we want to see things moving but at the minute we're satisfied with where they

07:10are.

07:11I'm sure supporters want signings yesterday but there's a reason for sort of not sticking

07:17and waiting to twist at the moment really?

07:18Yeah and we do as well, it would be ideal if we have every single signing that we're

07:22going to make in the first day of pre-season but the second best scenario is getting the

07:28players that you want in at the right time.

07:30The worst scenario for me is getting the wrong players in at the right time so that's

07:34the way we want to play it and sometimes it happens very quickly and this transfer window

07:38I think everything has happened in a slower manner, not just at Portsmouth and we want

07:43to get the right players and we're going to wait and do that.

07:45Just finally, the state of play going into the Bogda game tomorrow, I mean Colby, Evan

07:49White etc, any other injuries as well?

07:52Yeah we don't expect to see either of those tomorrow although both in good places that's

07:58absolutely fine and we're still being cautious on them.

08:01Everything else I think in terms of injuries and illnesses is absolutely fine, we have

08:06had a couple of illnesses this week, nothing too bad so we don't expect any of those to

08:10miss out tomorrow and the strength I think of the squad at this time of the season is

08:14really important because we go into these two games in two days and three games in five

08:18days so we have to make sure that we're all at it and we're nice and sharp.

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