Portsmouth boss John Mousinho previews the trip to Preston North End

The News, Portsmouth

John Mousinho's press conference ahead of Saturday's visit to Preston.

Transcript

00:00John, you want to wear the phrase, don't get too high, don't get too low in football. And

00:05we've seen that over the last two hours, haven't we, really?

00:08Yeah, it was always going to be difficult after the Leeds game to not get too high.

00:11We were trying to guard against that. We were really, really vocal publicly and also internally

00:15with the group around what it took to be a good team and what it takes to be a good team

00:20is to win those sort of games against Leeds and follow it up with wins against the next

00:25opposition. And we didn't manage to do that. So I think it tells a story in terms of where

00:29we are as a group. We've still got to get better at those sort of things. We won three

00:33on the spin and then went away and we were disappointed against Luton and backed the

00:38Luton loss up with a really impressive win a week later. So, yeah, we just have to get

00:45better at all these sort of things. And it's part of the progression of the group.

00:50Did it remind you of League One days? Probably having a lot of possession, trying to break

00:54size down at home?

00:55A little bit. Yeah, it did actually, a little bit. One thing I think we coped better with

01:01last year was dealing with sides on the counter. We didn't concede cheap goals like we did

01:05last night, not too often anyway. And when we had the chance, we put the ball in the

01:09back of the net from set pieces or stayed in the game until the 80th, 90th minute and

01:13we'd always sort of pop up with set pieces. A lot of the time, if you're patient and if

01:18you do the right things consistently and you make sides work, my take was, we'll never

01:22know right, but my take was that Plymouth could sustain what they were doing for 45,

01:2760 minutes. After 70 minutes, I think it becomes really difficult in doing that physically.

01:32The physical output was right up there. I think it becomes difficult, you start to make

01:36mistakes, gaps start to open up in defence. And that actually did happen in the last 20

01:39minutes of the game. Unfortunately for us, we were 2-0 down, so it was just a bit too

01:42much of a mountain to climb. Rather than being 0-0 going into the last 20, 25 minutes and

01:46popping up with a set piece or all of a sudden one of those crosses comes off, we gave ourselves

01:50too much to do.

01:51Do you expect to see a game like that again this season?

01:54I don't think there'll be a game quite as extreme as that. I think the majority of sides

01:57in the Championship will come out and play and press. But maybe it's one of those things

02:04that maybe in the future, we're nowhere near there yet as a team, but maybe when sides

02:09do sit off a bit more, we have to be a lot better with the ball and make sure that we're

02:13locked up in the back as well.

02:15Your high pressing style, is that affected as well in games like yesterday?

02:19Yeah, we just didn't have to press. We didn't have to press at all yesterday. Plymouth have

02:24played from the back plenty this season and under the new manager. They didn't do it last

02:29night. But yeah, we'd set ourselves up for a certain style in terms of how we were going

02:34to press them. We didn't have to do any of that or execute any of that. There were other

02:38things that we talked about, particularly forward runs from the front three and how

02:41the 10s make those runs down the side and that's what we didn't deal with well at all.

02:44So the first goal just comes from not tracking a run down the side of the pitch, opening

02:48up the channel for Obafemi. And when we did that, we were a bit too aggressive and left

02:54ourselves exposing behind.

02:55Are you expecting a different game at Preston?

02:57I think so, yeah. Preston are a side who've managed to steady the ship this year. They've

03:05been pretty solid in terms of their league position. They've probably threatened a bit

03:11more of the upper echelons of the league, but they've picked up some good results,

03:14particularly at Deepdale, a really good result in the week. And I think they've got a really

03:18good side, a really, really solid side. I think they're really well coached and it's

03:21going to be a tough game.

03:24You obviously signed Regan Paul to a new deal. Were you delighted with that?

03:27Yeah, absolutely. I think that Regan was coming to the end of his contract in the summer,

03:32so it was one of those things that we wanted to make sure that we'd boxed off. Regan gives

03:38the club security, particularly in that position where we're trying to build the centre-halves

03:45and trying to build good partnerships between all of the centre-halves and make sure that

03:49we're secure for the future. So really pleased we've managed to do that and we've got another

03:52contract to centre-half next year.

03:54Before you and Rich Hughes arrived at the Football Club, you probably had a history

03:57of letting good players go when the contracts ran out. Is that something you've tried to

04:01address since you've been here?

04:03Yeah, less so. It would certainly be my strategy, but less so anything to do with me. I think

04:07that's something that the executive at the Football Club, and Rich in particular, has

04:14taken care of and we've been very, very wary of letting players go because it's really

04:19difficult to replace players. What we've found at this level as well, there aren't many free

04:21agents. I think when you go, when we were operating at League 1 and I guess the same

04:26would have been said when Portsmouth were in League 2, it becomes a bit easier to pick

04:29up free agents. The contracts are shorter, people tend to sign two-year contracts, they

04:35come to the end of them, people don't really secure the assets. But it's very, very different

04:39than this level. We actually found it difficult in the summer, there weren't that many free

04:42agents available. We're looking at the free agent list this year, it's very, very similar.

04:46There's a lot of clubs that are being wise and are being prudent about making sure that

04:50they do have players sign up to long-term contracts. So we have to do the same and I

04:54think we've done well this year.

04:55Have you noticed since you've been here, the club has improved its organisation in

04:59dealing with things like contracts so effectively and efficiently?

05:02Yeah, I don't think, well, when we say improved, I mean, since I've been here for two years,

05:07I've never thought there's been an issue. Whenever we've needed to do a contract, I

05:10think we've done it, we've done it efficiently. And whenever we haven't wanted to do a contract,

05:13it's the opposite as well. So yeah, it's always been run very, very smoothly in terms

05:18of what we've been, the operation of the football club.

05:20And of course, you don't get too involved in that anyway, do you?

05:23No, so when we have the conversation about who we want to retain and who we want to offer

05:28new contracts, and then yeah, I've got nothing to do with it after that point. And usually,

05:33Rich gives me the nod just before he goes out into the public. I know what's going on,

05:36I know it's going to happen, but it's something I don't have to focus on. It's the football

05:39side I do get to spend the majority of my time doing.

05:42Are there other players being talked to at the moment?

05:45I think we're going to always review every single contract. And if all of a sudden we're

05:51going into the last year of players' contracts next year, then we'll be reviewing all of

05:54those, and even ones with longer term contracts as well, like you saw with Terry, just making

05:57sure that we tie players to the appropriate level of time we want to keep at the football

06:01club, reward them appropriately as well. So it's always ongoing.

06:05So with those players, because in their futures, and few are out of contract in the summer,

06:09are you looking at a big overhaul again this summer?

06:12Certainly not as big as last summer, or the summer before. So I think the summer before

06:15we did 14, I think 14 in the summer. We did eight in January. I think if you look at the

06:23transfer windows that we've had, the first summer transfer window, we were very, very

06:27clear about what we needed to do in order to compete in League One. That was our take.

06:31We wanted to build a squad that was ready to compete at the top end of League One. We

06:34bolstered that again in January, so it looked like across the season, I think 19 new faces

06:37coming in. We were really comfortable with that. I think had we stayed in League One

06:41an extra season, there would have been far less activity in the summer, but we got promoted.

06:47And I think in order to compete at this level, we thought that the right thing to do was

06:50to probably have that squad overhaul again, to make sure we're competitive at the next

06:55level. So we did that in summer. We've done it again in January. I think if we do manage

07:00to stay at the level, then things will be a bit more steady. We'll still look to bring

07:05players in, obviously, but I think you've got to go through a few of these transfer

07:09windows to get to a position as a football club, like some of the sides higher up the

07:13league, where they're only bringing in one or two every transfer window, and maybe it's

07:16one or two with a bit more quality that are costing the club slightly more in terms of

07:20fees, etc. But we're certainly not in that place yet. We've got to keep building. We've

07:23got to keep being aggressive in the transfer windows, and I think that'll come with probably

07:27two or three more windows at least.

07:29Yeah, because it takes time to evolve a squad, doesn't it, from promotion? You can't do

07:32it all in one summer or in the January window. It does take a bit of time.

07:36Yeah, you need to do enough to make sure that you stay in the league, and that's been our

07:40sole focus, to make sure that we did enough last summer and bolstered the squad again

07:44in January to try and stay in the league. That's what we're focused on. That's what

07:46we're trying to do. We will look at that again in the summer, if we do manage to remain in

07:52the Championship, and that'll be the aim again next year, probably to build upon things.

07:56But certainly, if we do manage to stay in the league, we've got to make sure that we

07:59follow it up next season. I think once you have a couple of windows or a couple of years,

08:06a couple of big summer windows, then I think you can start to become a bit more solid,

08:12a bit less fluent in terms of the squad rotation and the squad turnover, and just add little

08:18bits here and there.

08:19You mentioned in the last issue the other day about how you're waiting for international

08:22clearance. Have you got that now?

08:23Yeah, we've got that.

08:25So, you expect to see him after the window?

08:28After the break, yeah. He'll be available for the backbone game, I think, the fitness one.

08:33He's not injured, he just hasn't, don't panic, he just hasn't trained enough yet.

08:38From what you've seen him in training so far, what sort of player is he?

08:42Really solid, centre-half, comfortable on the ball, brings a lot of composure to the

08:47game. We haven't done a huge amount other than small-sided games, small possessions,

08:52so I haven't necessarily seen him opening up in any of the bigger games, but he's got

08:56a huge amount of experience.

08:57He's capped for Sweden, he's played at the top level and he's sure to be absolutely

09:02fine in terms of his defensive capabilities and his aerial dominance, so we're looking

09:05forward to seeing him.

09:06Is he different to what you've got?

09:09Yeah, I think so.

09:12Every single player, every player that we've got, I think every centre-half that we've

09:15got has got a different profile and they play in a different way.

09:19Alex fits that bill, hence we wanted to bring him in.

09:22What's so different about him compared to the others?

09:25They're not massively different, they're all just different profiles.

09:28Hayden Matthews is different to Rabban, different to Sharks, Regan, Marlon, Riley and Alex.

09:33They're all different players, none of them are exactly the same.

09:36He's a centre-half who's comfortable on the ball.

09:39He can head it, he can clear it, he can lead lines and he can defend, so plenty of the

09:46lads we've got in the building can do that, but just in a different way.

09:49It's understandable why you brought him in as backup.

09:52Do you expect to use him before the end of the season?

09:55Yeah, we wouldn't have brought him in otherwise.

09:57Because you've got some players coming back as well, hopefully.

10:02We didn't bring Alex in and think he was going to play straight away against Leeds.

10:07We'd always had the international break in mind.

10:09There are no free agents out there that are fully fit.

10:12There aren't actually many free agents that have played as recently as Alex has, quite

10:15a few of them have been out of contract since the summer.

10:17So there was no way we were looking at the free agent market thinking, oh, we're just

10:21going to get someone who's going to come in and play 90 minutes.

10:23We knew we'd have to build them up, we knew we'd have to get them up to scratch.

10:25So yeah, that's absolutely fine.

10:27We're well aware of what we're looking at and I think it's really wise business for

10:31us to do that at this time of the season.

10:33Yeah, so realistically, Blackburn onwards then.

10:37Finally, any injury news at all?

10:39No, Colleen Miller fell from last night.

10:40How's Christian Sailing?

10:42Yeah, Christian's fine, he won't be available for the weekend.

10:44So he's okay for the weekend?

10:45No, he won't be available for the weekend.

10:47So what's the time frame with him?

10:49Maybe it's the Blackburn game for Christian.

10:53And Jordan Williams, is he still the time frame for Blackburn?

10:55He'll be back training next week, yeah, Jordan will be back next week.

10:58Perfect.

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