- 7 weeks ago
Pompey boss John Mousinho chats to the media ahead of the Blues Fratton Park fixture against Norwich at Fratton Park
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00:00What were your over-riding thoughts on that performance that gets read in the Carabao Cup round one?
00:07Yeah, very similar to last night. Nothing's changed at all.
00:10Disappointed with the performance and disappointed with the result,
00:12but we've come in this morning and put that to bed,
00:13and I think it's important that we move on really, really quickly and don't dwell on it,
00:17so it's been straight on to Norwich this morning.
00:19Mark Kosnowski, Luke LaRue, and since signing from Fulham in August 2024,
00:25with Bam Boak, they all made their debuts.
00:27What do you make of those three's performance?
00:29I think that it was really positive to get Bam back on the football pitch and give him his full debut.
00:35There was always planned that he'd come off after 60 minutes,
00:37so the big thing for Bam was to make sure he got through that injury-free and pain-free,
00:41and I thought that Mark and Luke showed some very nice glimpses in the middle of the park.
00:46I think it was the first time they've obviously pulled on a Portsmouth shirt,
00:48the first time that they've actually played together,
00:50and I think considering it was their debuts, they've had a really stop-start pre-season,
00:54I'm pretty pleased with large aspects of their performance.
00:57Jan Minhuk getting 90 minutes.
00:59He played on both the left and right. What did you make of his performance?
01:02Yeah, I thought he showed some bright sparks as well.
01:03Again, Minhuk's not had a particularly fluid pre-season so far,
01:08and he came into the building late, just time for us on Friday,
01:12so he's not had a lot of time to adjust to the system or adjust to what we're trying to do here,
01:16and so it was just about getting the minutes into his legs.
01:17Going on to probably the only positive of the night last night,
01:21Theo Singer's goal, what did you make of him coming off the bench and getting that goal,
01:25and is he someone you're looking to have in and around the first team going forward?
01:28Yeah, I think Theo did very well, first of all, to deserve his place on the bench,
01:32to come on, and took his goal really well.
01:35I thought he put himself about.
01:36We'll see. He's given himself half a chance, I think, to be involved as we go forward,
01:40and the most important thing is that he keeps himself grounded.
01:43He knuckles down, and he keeps doing the right things that got into this spot in the first place,
01:47so we'll see how he progresses.
01:49Going on to Marlon Pack, he obviously had surgery on his knee yesterday.
01:52How did that go?
01:53Yeah, it went really well.
01:54Marlon's been backing today.
01:56He's walking straight away.
01:58He's probably aiming to get back quicker than the six weeks.
02:02I think the five-week deadline probably takes him to the derby,
02:07so I think he's really keen to get back for that.
02:09We'll just monitor that and see how it goes,
02:10but Marlon, it's not going to be a long, long-term one, so that's really positive.
02:13Going on to Norwich, you've had a few battles against Liam Manning's teams over the years.
02:17What are you expecting from him?
02:19Obviously, they played a bat four on Saturday, and they changed to a bat five,
02:23something he was used to at MK Dons.
02:25Yeah, Liam's side's a very, very competitive.
02:29He had an extremely successful, I think, first season with MK
02:31where they got to the playoff semifinals,
02:34followed it up with taking the Oxford job, doing really well there,
02:39the Bristol City job, overachieving there,
02:41and I think there's high expectations in terms of what they're taking on at Norwich,
02:45and they've had a big investment in the summer.
02:47So if you look at Liam's record and how good Bristol City were last year
02:51and the good football that they played,
02:52we expect a lot more of that,
02:54and the sides are very, very tough to come up against.
02:57They're very, very tough to prep against,
02:59and I think it's going to be more of the same.
03:00We're going to have a really difficult task on our hands.
03:03We're going to look to try and nullify that as best as possible,
03:05and yeah, we expect a tough day.
03:07Going back to the injuries,
03:09obviously you still mentioned that Josh Murphy's probably not going to be back to the West Brom game.
03:13Is that it going into Saturday?
03:15Yeah, most likely.
03:16Murph's fine.
03:16He's fine as in there's nothing too serious there,
03:20but we're just monitoring that,
03:21and again, it just doesn't seem like it's at this stage worth the risk.
03:25We'll always reassess,
03:27and we'll have a look at it and how it is on Friday,
03:30but as we are at the moment,
03:32then I don't think there's too much chance of Murph playing.
03:36Just going back to last night,
03:38Ben Killett playing in goal.
03:39What were your thoughts on that referee's decision
03:41when he pit the ball outside the 18-yard box?
03:44Do you think it was handball from Marco Marni?
03:47I don't know.
03:48I mean, I thought it was quite harsh, to be fair.
03:51Yeah, I thought it was a harsh handball.
03:54Transfer update.
03:55Are we looking at any more signings before Saturday,
03:57or is that going to be it till after Norwich?
03:59No more signings before Saturday.
04:01That'll be it till after Norwich.
04:02And then finally, going on Saturday,
04:04going to be in front of pretty much a sold-out Fratton Park.
04:07First home game of the season.
04:08How much are you looking forward to that?
04:10Yeah, I mean, it'll be brilliant to be back at Fratton Park.
04:13It'll be great to be back at home.
04:15We had a lot of success at home last season.
04:18We need to build upon that
04:19and make sure that we don't forget what made us a good side
04:22when we were decent last year.
04:24And, yeah, a big part of that is the fans
04:26and how much they get behind us
04:28and the atmosphere that we create.
04:30So I think all the boys are looking forward to getting back.
04:32I'm sure all the fans are as well.
04:33And we've got a bit of work to do after last night as well
04:36to make sure we put things right.
04:38Thank you for your time, John.
04:39Cheers.
04:39Realistically, which game would you be pencilling in Josh Murphy for a return?
04:43Say again?
04:44Realistically, which game would you be pencilling in?
04:45Oh, Westbourne.
04:46Realistically, he could play.
04:48Yeah.
04:48What's the procedure in training as well, building him up to that game?
04:52Just full training next week.
04:54That would be the plan.
04:55Josh has been out on the grass.
04:58So he's been out on the grass today.
05:01But we're not really quite as comfortable as we would normally be
05:06or close enough for him.
05:07So what we want to do is probably get him a four-week's worth of training next week
05:10leaving into the Westbourne game.
05:13Is Abu Kamara a prime example of why you need to be patient
05:16with lone players coming to this football club?
05:19Yeah, probably.
05:20Yeah, I remember I had really vivid memories.
05:23I can't remember which game it was exactly,
05:25but a game in October of the season that we ended up winning the league
05:29and Abu was one of the outstanding players
05:30where there was a lot of frustration in Fratton Park at Abu's performance
05:34and how he probably started his Portsmouth career.
05:37I mean, his first league start for Portsmouth,
05:41I subbed him off at half-time against Leighton Orient,
05:44even though we were winning because, yeah, he looked a little bit out of his depth,
05:47but it was fine.
05:48It was his first away trip with a senior side,
05:50the first time he'd actually had to compete in the league
05:53and it just took a bit of time.
05:55Young lad, adjusting to the system, adjusting to Portsmouth,
05:58adjusting to Fratton Park.
05:59Yeah, a really good example of why players,
06:01whether they're lone players or not,
06:02whether they're permanent signings players,
06:04just need a bit of time.
06:05I suppose it's just that lone players are expected to adjust straight away,
06:09aren't they?
06:10And they judge for their first appearance,
06:11but it's not necessarily all the case, is it?
06:13Yeah, it doesn't happen.
06:15It just doesn't happen.
06:16Sometimes it does and you see the bright sparks
06:18and it's the same with lone players,
06:19it's the same with permanents.
06:21You know, everybody that we've signed this summer,
06:24they're at varying different degrees of their journey
06:26into the Portsmouth career.
06:28If you look at the likes of Segs,
06:29who's really hit the ground running,
06:30he was in the building from day one.
06:33He pretty much feels like he's part of the furniture.
06:36He doesn't feel like a new signing to me
06:37because we've had him around for so long
06:38and we signed him so early in the summer.
06:40And others are just going to take a bit more time
06:41and that's fine.
06:43So I think even the second half of last season,
06:44obviously,
06:45Ackerson hit the ground running,
06:46Isaac Hayden's got a little bit longer.
06:48So it can alter from player to player, can't it?
06:50It does, yeah.
06:51It definitely alters from player to player
06:52and some positions are easier to fit into our system
06:54than others.
06:55And yeah,
06:56there's certain demands that we place on players
06:58that just take a bit of time to get used to.
07:01If you look at Mark and Luke,
07:04two really good central midfielders at the weekend
07:06against Oxford,
07:07we thought throwing them in the deep end straight away
07:09probably wasn't the fairest thing to do
07:11before they had at least a bit of a taste of football
07:13against Reading
07:14and we'll keep adjusting and keep trying to make sure
07:17that we get these things right
07:17as we go through the season.
07:19And for yourself,
07:20you've got to keep patient with them as well.
07:22Yeah, yeah.
07:22We'll be patient with everyone.
07:24We'll be patient with all of the players.
07:26It's a long, long season.
07:27It's a marathon.
07:28It's not a sprint.
07:28And we want to win games as quickly as possible.
07:31But at the same time,
07:33we've got examples in the past
07:34where you've seen the patience
07:36that we've shown in players has paid off.
07:37I suppose, realistically,
07:41looking at yesterday's result,
07:43we probably know your line-up for Norwich.
07:45Is that fair to say?
07:47You can guess it if you want.
07:49There'll probably be some changes
07:51from what you guess.
07:53And yeah, we'll go from there.
07:55Well, obviously Oxford,
07:56you know, you won it,
07:57you changed it.
07:57And the guys that came in
07:59didn't do that well last night.
08:00And there were no fresh injuries,
08:01presumably, as well,
08:02for Stati's game.
08:04Yeah, one thing that's abundantly,
08:06or hopefully is abundantly clear
08:07to everybody that follows the football club
08:09is we're not afraid to make changes
08:11after we win games.
08:12It's good to have players
08:13in decent enough form.
08:15And sometimes it's the right thing to do
08:16to reward players that have played
08:18in a win the previous week
08:19with the starting berth the following week.
08:20But it's not always the right thing to do.
08:22So we adjust team selection
08:24based on who we're playing,
08:26based on, you know,
08:27what sort of game plan that we have.
08:30And sometimes that fits different players
08:32in different ways.
08:33And we've, yeah,
08:34we've done that a lot
08:35through throughout my time here.
08:37I just, I remember
08:38we were in the midst of a,
08:40I guess, a long unbeaten run.
08:42I think we'd won six on the spin
08:43and then we drew against Cambridge
08:45and we decided to bring Terry in,
08:46change the team a bit
08:47after a Tuesday night game.
08:49And I think we've done that
08:50pretty consistently
08:51through the last two and a half years.
08:53You trusted Regan Paul
08:54to come off the bench last night
08:55and strengthen you.
08:56Is that where he is now
08:57with his fitness, his form?
08:59He's ready to play a lot of games now.
09:01Yeah, there was a combination,
09:02the combination of the players
09:03that we had available at the weekend.
09:06What we did with them yesterday
09:07was they either played a part
09:09in the game yesterday,
09:10the likes of Swifty,
09:11Daz, Regan, Flo.
09:14If I'm missing any others,
09:16then it's those lads.
09:18And if the players weren't involved
09:20from the weekend,
09:20then it's because they trained
09:21with us on Tuesday afternoon.
09:22So we wanted to actually make sure
09:23that the lads didn't miss out
09:25on a day's worth of training
09:27and just sit on the bench
09:28and do absolutely nothing.
09:29So they're either training
09:30or contributing to the game.
09:31How impressed have you been
09:32with Regan this pre-season?
09:34Well, he's earned a spot
09:35in the starting line-up
09:36in what's been a competitive
09:38back four this year
09:41and this pre-season
09:42with, you know,
09:43barring Iban,
09:44who's been back in
09:45and he's been fit recently,
09:46most of them being fit
09:47for every single minute
09:49of every single session
09:50of pre-season.
09:50So he's deserved that.
09:52He's deserved to be
09:53in the starting line-up
09:54and he's put himself
09:55in a really good spot
09:56and I think that, yeah,
09:57Regan can be very, very satisfied,
10:00I think, at the moment,
10:01but hungry to kick on again
10:02and to really try and push himself
10:04onto the next level.
10:05Do you think we'll start seeing
10:06the Regan pull before the injury?
10:08I think we've seen that, yeah.
10:09I think we've certainly seen
10:11what Regan's capable of
10:12this pre-season.
10:13I think he's been excellent.
10:14The partnership that he's had
10:15with Shox has been really good
10:16and, yeah, like I said,
10:17he fully deserves to be in the side
10:19and I hope he continues that.
10:20And do you have to handle him
10:21any differently
10:22following his previous injuries still?
10:24We probably did at the start
10:27of his return last year,
10:28although, to be honest,
10:29we needed centre-halves
10:30and Regan probably had to play
10:31a lot more than we would
10:32have anticipated.
10:33So, yeah, that was a difficult one.
10:35I remember Regan and Tom
10:36having to come back into the side
10:37last year and just play
10:38game after game after game
10:39with no relief
10:40and it probably didn't help
10:41either of them.
10:42So Regan now, I think,
10:43is in a great spot physically
10:44so I don't think there's any need
10:45to have to manage him differently.
10:47Eric Eisen's been over.
10:48Have you had a chat to speak to him yet?
10:49Yes, yes.
10:51What do you discuss?
10:52Absolutely anything and everything
10:54from football to non-football
10:56and everything in between.
10:58So, as we always do
10:58whenever any of the owners are over,
11:01any of the owners' families,
11:02anybody from the board,
11:04we always have a good chat,
11:06a good sit-down,
11:07sort of take a snapshot
11:10of where we are as a football club
11:11and make sure we're all aligned.
11:14Presumably you discussed
11:15the Grateful Dead.
11:16Yeah, we discussed
11:17the Grateful Dead.
11:18We did because Eric did
11:21a documentary on the Grateful Dead.
11:24So, yeah, that was one of the subjects
11:25that was on the agenda.
11:28I mean, they time these visits
11:30around at the end
11:32of the transfer window as well.
11:33So you address that soon as well.
11:34Yeah, we talk to the owners
11:37all the time about transfers
11:38and we have regular calls
11:41and always keep each other updated
11:44on where both parties are at.
11:46So there's official lines
11:47of communication.
11:49We speak via email,
11:51via text, via phone.
11:53Andy, Tony, Rich
11:54are always in communication
11:55with the owners as well.
11:56So there's a very, very
11:56sort of fluid system
11:57that we have
11:58and it works really well.
11:59And with two weeks left
12:00for the deadline,
12:01do you expect more business as well?
12:02Yeah, yeah, I expect more.
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