Portsmouth v Millwall: John Mousinho verdict

The News, Portsmouth

Pompey boss John Mousinho gives his reaction to the Championship defeat to Millwall.

Transcript

00:00John, considering how much play you had today, I suppose frustration must be a word that

00:04comes to your mind?

00:05Yes, I think it was frustrating from a couple of points of view. First of all, the fact

00:09we didn't put the ball in the back of the net with a couple of good chances, but just

00:13more the opportunities in the areas we got ourselves into. We got ourselves into some

00:16really good areas and didn't test the goalkeeper enough. I think that was the first disappointment.

00:21And then the fact that we'd gone a goal down in the first place to a side who know how

00:25to play at 1-0. They do it very well. They do it very well on Saturday. And the goal

00:29is really disappointing because I thought we were well in control of the game at that

00:32point.

00:33How did you see that goal?

00:34I thought we should have just ended the attack right in front of the bench there. It was

00:37a good bit of play from Millwall, but there's no way we should let Van Gorder get the other

00:40side of us. And then, yes, a good bit of play off the back of that, but really, really frustrating.

00:44We had the ball, we were driving close to the box, so very, very disappointed with the

00:48way we conceded.

00:49Yes, because it was your attack and you're looking strong down that side and Conor Ogilvie

00:52had gone down there as well.

00:54We were looking pretty strong, I think, as the game went on. We started the game really

00:59poorly. We conceded the chance at the back post, which was just really, really sloppy

01:03from us and then settled down completely after that. And Nico had very, very little to do.

01:08I think having said that, with the amount of pressure that we had on Millwall's goal,

01:10we just didn't test the goalkeeper quite enough. But we were well in control of the game, really

01:14bad time to concede. But, yes, we just didn't quite have enough to get back into the game.

01:21Josh Murphy had a great game. Again, so many opportunities to deliver the ball and it didn't

01:25quite happen all the time.

01:26Yes, I mean, I think that's probably the next step. That's what we want from Murph.

01:30When he's at his best, we've got those goals and those assists and a lot of opportunities,

01:34a lot of really, really good play down that left and ultimately not the end product that

01:39we'd like. So, something that I think on another day we'd come off and we'd get the equaliser

01:44and maybe go on to get the winner.

01:45Is it a difficult one to be annoyed about, considering you did have a lot of the players

01:51you let yourselves down, really, in those great positions?

01:53Yes, I think so. But, no, that's why we can be annoyed. I think we can always be annoyed

01:58by not creating enough off the back of being in those really good positions. So, creating

02:06opportunities but not creating chances.

02:07Yes, because like you say, that keeper didn't have anything to do, really, did he?

02:10No, no. It's strange. It wasn't one of those games where we thought, oh, we can't get near

02:14the box or we can't get any opportunities there. We just didn't test the goalkeeper enough.

02:18There were a few players missing tonight as well. Jordan Williams?

02:22Jordan felt his hamstring on Saturday. So, we're going to send him for a scan tomorrow

02:25and see what the extent of that injury is.

02:27Is that a new potential injury?

02:29Yes, a new one for him.

02:30Oh, dear. Was that when he came on at West Brom?

02:34Yes, when he came on at one of those where we're really trying to protect against injuries,

02:38obviously, with the squad rotation and the team rotation that we do on Saturday. And

02:42we felt we had to give Conor a rest because Conor's been the one that we haven't been

02:45able to take out at all. And, yes, everything sort of signalled towards us being able to

02:50bring Jordan on. But, unfortunately, it's a bit of an injury.

02:52And Conor's obviously great to see him on the pitch.

02:54Yes, really pleasing to see Conor back. It's been a long, long time. I think I'm almost

02:58six months out now. So, yes, I'm really happy for him.

03:01Was that your intention to give him a few minutes there at the end there?

03:03It was just based on the game Hayden was going down with, with Cramp. I thought Hayden played

03:08really, really well. So, we weren't necessarily going to take him off. But he started to cramp

03:11up and we thought, well, we've got Conor on the bench. So, great opportunity to bring him on.

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