00:00John, was that exactly what you wanted from a game today against Rossola?
00:07It was. The opposition were very good. They really, really tested us in both halves, particularly in the first half and the physical test was certainly there.
00:14You could see with the work rate that the lads had to put in to deal with the way that the opposition played.
00:19It was perfect for us in terms of that preparation. The fact that everything, things didn't go right for us, so we had to adjust.
00:25We had to make sure that we were, you know, we were bang on it in terms of the press in the second half and, you know, change things around.
00:30So, yeah, really, really pleased with the game overall.
00:33Their style of play, is that what you wanted to face, a team in possession a lot?
00:38Well, yeah, I think the, for the most part, that's the way that the sides want to play these days.
00:43That's a, you know, possession-based football. We're going to see that a lot in the Championship.
00:47I suspect next time that we're here at Fratton Park in the league, we're going to see a side that wants to dominate the ball and is very good at doing that.
00:54So, yeah, I think it's really useful for us and we have to get used to pressing sides.
00:59We've got to get used to pressing sides high and we've got to get used to, you know, teams that are very, very technically good.
01:04And a far improved second half performance as well for you guys.
01:06Yeah, I think it helped that we just went a bit more aggressive.
01:09We decided to sort of press five, ten yards higher up the pitch and take a few more risks at the back in those instances
01:17because of the fact that you are, yeah, you're more aggressive and sometimes you're left 1v1 with your defenders.
01:21But I thought we had to take that risk otherwise I thought we would be chasing the ball for 90 minutes.
01:25And a pretty swift impact from Florham.
01:27Yeah, really good. It came on the right and caused a problem straight away, I think, for the left back.
01:32Just getting it down the touchline and trying to cross it.
01:35And, yeah, really good impact in terms of coming in and providing the assist for the goal.
01:38I'm really pleased that Flo's been in the building now and will train once since he's been here.
01:44And, yeah, to have that to come on to sort of get the press, have a good run around, particularly as for the last couple of weeks.
01:50He's been training, but I think with the fact that we've been looking to make the loan for a couple of weeks now,
01:56that's always bubbling away in the background. So sometimes that means that players have sort of, yeah,
02:02not quite where you need them to be, but certainly in Flo's case, it looks like he's right at it.
02:07Obviously, you can actually sign him, people go on the internet and look through his facts and figures.
02:11What can you tell us about him?
02:13Well, I think he was, Florian signed this time last year for Swansea from Bastia.
02:21A really, really good prospect in terms of the season that he'd had previously to the year.
02:26I thought he had a decent year last year, played a lot as a centre-forward.
02:30He played here at Fratton Park as a centre-forward, which I don't think is his position,
02:32but he still played plenty of games, chipped in with a couple of goals.
02:35My overall take was that if we can get Florian back to the player that Swansea signed this time last year,
02:41I think we've got a real threat on our hands.
02:43So we had an extensive look at the work that he'd done in France previous to making that move
02:48and Swansea paying a good transfer fee for him.
02:51I think we can hopefully get him back to where he was then.
02:55We've seen some good glimpses today, and if we do, I think we've got a real player.
02:58So you're going to use him on the wings?
03:00I think so, yeah. I think that's probably the natural position for Flo.
03:04We certainly brought him in as a winger, and we saw today when we made the change,
03:07we played him on both flanks, and that's certainly where we've decided to bring him in.
03:12What wings does he play on normally?
03:14He's done both. The work that he did when he played in France, he's played off both sides.
03:20And that gives us a lot of flexibility in terms of what we're going to do as well.
03:26And today's a glimpse of what he can do then?
03:28Yeah, on both sides. He picked up the ball early on when he was on the right-hand side,
03:31took on the left-back and left the corner, and the assist from the left-hand side was slightly different
03:37because he didn't pick up the ball and beat anyone, but he put himself in the right position
03:41and provided a really good cross. So, yeah, we know we've got that flexibility and adaptability.
03:46We did it at times last year. Murph played on the right sometimes, Murph played on the left.
03:49I think Seggs has got that as well. Lange has played across all those front three positions as well.
03:54So, I think a lot of the forward players can do that, and he's definitely one of them.
03:57No Callum Lange today against Brighton in the 21s or situation there?
04:00Sorry, Colby Bichu.
04:02Yeah, Colby Bichu.
04:04Sorry, I was going to say, Callum definitely played in both of those games.
04:06Unfortunately, Colby's picked up a bit of an injury, so he's picked up a bit of a groin injury,
04:11which is going to keep him out for two or three weeks.
04:13So, yeah, we're hoping to get him back quickly. It doesn't drag on any longer than that.
04:17But, yeah, one that unfortunately is going to keep him out.
04:19How did it happen?
04:20Just in training, just in terms of that fatigue that we've had through pre-season and none of those things.
04:26We've tried to keep ourselves as injury-free as possible, but unfortunately we have picked one up.
04:32And obviously Paddy Lane's gone as well.
04:34Yeah, a really bittersweet one. We've probably had three of those this summer when Christian went quite early on.
04:40And Christian was a really popular character here.
04:42And it was really sad to see him go, but we thought it was the right decision for the football club.
04:46Similar to Riley. Riley had had a real impact in terms of what he did when he first came into the club.
04:53And last season played a really good part in the championship as well.
04:56And Paddy was such a huge part of what we did in that League One winning season.
05:01I think he scored 12 goals. He got plenty of assists. He was brilliant in that year.
05:05One of our outstanding players.
05:07Yeah, for whatever reason, we couldn't quite get him back up to those levels last year.
05:11He still had a good impact in the championship, scored here against Swansea.
05:15Really, really popular character to have around the place.
05:17And yeah, sort of tough one really for us to decide to let go.
05:21But we thought it was the best thing for us.
05:23We thought it was the best thing for Paddy to go and play regular games at that level.
05:27And try and build himself back up and get back to the championship.
05:30Was there much interest in him this summer?
05:31Yeah, naturally there was. There was a lot of interest in Paddy.
05:34So when you've got that record at League One, there was kind of interest.
05:42You mentioned about stepping up to the championship.
05:44It didn't quite happen for him in that first half of the season when he was fit.
05:47Yeah, and that was probably a reflection of where we were as a football club as well.
05:52We had a few that were adjusting to the level.
05:54And Paddy, he certainly did it in spells.
05:59He had the goal here where he was really good.
06:02He started to actually cement his place in the side.
06:05By the time he picked up his injury, he'd been playing a fair bit.
06:08So it was a bit of a sad world because Paddy missed the last four months of the season.
06:11But if Paddy had been in the building with us this time next week
06:17and had been with us for the season, it would have been great.
06:19We could have used him as, you know, however we needed to.
06:23And if he pushed himself into the first team, then great.
06:25But what we couldn't give Paddy is that assurance that he was definitely going to play every week.
06:29And we think it's best for his development and best for him to go elsewhere.
06:32But he's made his name in Pompey's folklore anyway, hasn't he?
06:35Yeah, when you do what he did in that season.
06:37And he's had such an impact, such a bright, bodily character.
06:40I think no one will ever forget the interview that he did here on that Wednesday after the Barnsley game.
06:46Look, Paddy was an amazing player to work with.
06:49Yeah, it was sad.
06:51It has been sad sometimes when you have that much success with certain players.
06:56And if you look at the side that we went up with in League One,
06:59there's a couple that we've had to say goodbye to that were such a pivotal part of that.
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