- 5 months ago
Pompey boss John Mousinho talks to the media ahead of Saturday's game against North End
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00:00John, a full complement of results so far from the first week.
00:04What would be your overall assessment to the start that you've made at this point?
00:07It's been okay. We've had some good performances.
00:12Parts of the performances haven't been good enough.
00:14I think we've let ourselves down in moments that are slightly frustrating, I think,
00:18if we take away the set-piece goals that we've conceded against Norwich,
00:21that we've conceded one from open play,
00:23and we've had a much more positive start to the season.
00:26So, we can't take that away. That happened. We weren't good enough in those moments.
00:30But I think overall it's been a solid start,
00:33and we've been competitive in all three of the games as well,
00:36which is important for us.
00:37And, yeah, we're looking forward to the game of the weekend
00:39to try and go into the international break with a bit of momentum, confidence and positivity.
00:44High thought point last time, did that kind of sum up the character that you want to see on your side?
00:49Yeah, I've never worried too much about the character.
00:53I think that we've shown that consistently throughout the time that I've been here,
00:57so that's never been something that's concerned me too much.
01:00But certainly in terms of the way that we want to progress,
01:03I was pleased with the character.
01:05I was probably more pleased with a few of the technical aspects of the game.
01:07The fact that there were large spells of the game where we looked quite comfortable,
01:10and we actually kept possession pretty well.
01:13And you guys that know me, I'm not obsessed with,
01:16we're not obsessed here with keeping the ball relentlessly,
01:19but every second that we do have the ball it means we're not defending,
01:22and that's something I didn't think we did well enough, particularly away from home last year.
01:25So I think barring the last sort of 15 minutes of the game,
01:28I thought we controlled the game pretty well.
01:31There was always going to be spells where West Brom had the ball,
01:33and those are the sort of, I think, pleasing improvements that we need to keep making.
01:37How important is it to build on that ahead of the weekend against Preston?
01:40Yeah, really important.
01:41It's going to be a completely different game though,
01:43so we've looked at many different aspects of what we think we're going to face at the weekend
01:47against a side who are in really good form and have had a very, very good start to the season.
01:50And yeah, it's more important just to build on the positive start that we've had.
01:53What kind of tests are going to be against them?
01:55Because them themselves had a very positive start,
01:57had a very good result last weekend against Ipswich.
01:59Yeah, they've taken maximum points off two of the promotion favourites in Leicester and Ipswich,
02:03and a point away at QPR the opening day of the season,
02:05which is no mean feat, that's a tough, tough place to go.
02:07So I think that it's been a really good start for Preston.
02:11They've looked strong, they've organised as you expect any pool sides to look like,
02:17and I think a real improvement over the summer in terms of what they're trying to achieve
02:21and what they're trying to do as a football club,
02:22and I expect it to be a really, really good game
02:24and a really tough game for both sides actually at the weekend.
02:27Teenage-wise, first of all, how has Cameron Lang?
02:29Yeah, Lang is OK. We had that second opinion, as I said last week,
02:34on the scan, and there were two different routes we could have taken.
02:38Route number one was leave it as it was, rehab it as we had originally planned,
02:42which should have been sort of four to eight weeks.
02:44The problem is at the back of that, the risk of injury still would have probably been a bit higher
02:49than it would if we hadn't have gone down the route that we've gone down,
02:52which is for surgery. So the recovery time is going to be a bit longer.
02:56We're now looking at more like the eight to twelve week mark, but the risk of re-injury significantly reduced.
03:01So we took the advice as a whole, Callum made the decision, and I think it's the right one.
03:05Are there anything else to report from that department?
03:07No, Colby's fine after the weekend, so that was just a knock. We knew he'd be fine.
03:11Everything else is as is, so we'll go to the game at the weekend with the same squad plus Josh Knight that we did to West Brom.
03:18So finally from me, how important is it to get to the first international break with a win,
03:22just to make those few weeks that you have off a bit more of a comfortable one?
03:26Yeah, it would be nice. It's what we want to do. We're definitely focused on trying to do that.
03:31It's not the end of the world if we don't, but we'll try and make it feel like that going into the game.
03:36That's the key, I think. We've had so many times, particularly last year, we've gone into games thinking this is a must-win,
03:43this is a must-win, and we didn't necessarily win the game, and it turns out it isn't a must-win.
03:48But our attitude is that we're going to try and win every single game, and we think we can win every single game,
03:53there's no difference at the weekend. We want to go and try and win the game.
03:56Preston is going to be a tough opponent, and whatever the result is,
03:59we're going to make sure that we attack the international break as we would have done.
04:02John, thank you. Thank you.
04:04What's your overall recruitment mood, John, as we approach the final four or five days?
04:10Yeah, pretty good. I think that we've added really well in some areas.
04:13I still think we've got a bit of work to do, and I think that overall it's always a challenge
04:20in terms of how and where and when we recruit as a football club, which is part and parcel of being where we are,
04:29and I think that's been no different this summer, and that's, I guess, quite an exciting part of being here,
04:34making sure that we try and outperform, and making sure that we try and squeeze every last inch out of everything we've got,
04:40and that's what we're trying to do again in this window.
04:42So we're positive about the outlook. We still want to do a little bit more business, and we think once we're there,
04:48yeah, we can see where we are at the back end of the window.
04:51Does what happens between now and the closing window frame your overall business for the summer?
04:56I don't think so. I mean, we feel like we're in a pretty solid position with some of the acquisitions we've made,
05:02and the players that we've brought in so far, and it's been sort of slow and steady from that perspective.
05:07Hopefully, we have a really good end to the window. There's no guarantees, and I think if we don't for whatever reason,
05:12because certain things are out of our hands, then we don't, and we move on, and we think,
05:15right, it's been another solid summer of recruitment, and we go from there.
05:19The challenge is to come out stronger, isn't it? That's always the challenge for any club.
05:23Yeah, and every club wants to try and go sort of window to window and get stronger and improve,
05:29and that's what we're trying to do. And, yeah, we'll always strive to do that.
05:33So we'll, I guess, look back at it at the back end of the window and sort of take a view as to how the window's gone,
05:40but ultimately we won't really know until January because it's about how these players perform over the next four or five months.
05:46I know you've got a winger on the shopping list. With Matt Ritchie likely leaving,
05:51does he kind of set the fast for making those improvements in terms of what you're trying to reach with that area of the pitch?
05:57Yeah, absolutely. We want to try and improve everywhere, and we want to try and do that summer on summer,
06:04and when we've had players that have performed as well as Matt did, then, yeah, it's a real challenge for us to try and make sure that we get better,
06:10or certainly different, I think that's probably the best way to put it, and get something that we think really suits the way that we want to play this season.
06:17And, yeah, that's been a really tough one to try and replace, and we haven't probably quite managed to do that yet,
06:24and we're still working hard to do it.
06:25With a potential striker, again, likewise Christian, Sadie, Kaz Yingi, they're good players, again, looking to, in the long run, reach those levels with what you bring in.
06:35Yeah, that's the whole point, really, to make sure that we do get better. Sometimes that's possible, sometimes it's not.
06:42We obviously decided to let the pair of them go because, you know, we backed ourselves as a squad where we were,
06:49and particularly in Christian's case, we wanted to be fair to him because of the service he's given to the club and let him go and get minutes elsewhere.
06:54We wouldn't have done it if we thought it made us significantly weaker. We want to make sure that we do replace him behind that.
06:59You know, Christian, in particular, we considered to be a 10, and this year we've gone into the season with Adrian Segacic and Calamang as our 2-10,
07:09so we just didn't see Christian getting any playing time at all.
07:13So, yeah, that was sort of the decision that we made there, but certainly in that department we're looking to sort of bolster.
07:19You've been kind of consistent that there's money to spend and indeed go to the owners and push the budget if the right opportunity presents itself. Does that remain the case?
07:28Yeah, and we've shown that, I think, over the last eight months. We stepped up the transfer budget this time last year to a level that was much higher than we'd spent the summer before.
07:41So, the summer before was probably a minimal outlay. We spent a little bit more in the January to bring Calamang and Moxon in.
07:48We spent a bit more last summer and then, you know, our first significant transfer fee that we spent in January to bring Hayden Matthews in.
07:55And at the time, we'd already bought Robin and Hayden was sort of that one on top, that extra, I suppose, luxury that we didn't necessarily bank on,
08:04but was really nice because we went to the owners and said, here's a player we think is going to really improve, and ultimately we ended up using him.
08:10And again, we've stepped it up this summer, so the, you know, the increase in spending on the likes of Adrian, Mark, Luke, Josh, and possibly a couple more as we go towards the close of the window.
08:23Yeah, and just obviously I say it, but I've also, I think, I'm pretty accurate in terms of what we said because we've actually gone and done it.
08:30Yeah. Hayden Matthews is one that gets reference because it was the highest fee for a number of years, and you spoke about pushing on from that one in particular.
08:39I mean, there's been fees around that mark, but again, have you really pushed on from that in terms of an individual signing?
08:47Probably not yet. And that's one where, again, we've gone however many times our transfer budget from last season, which has been a significant jump.
08:57And probably not for this window, those sort of signings, if you're looking to push to sort of two and a half, three million pounds.
09:04But I think if we progress as a football club, then certainly those are the sort of signings that we'll be looking to make.
09:10I mean, that's optimistic and news for the supporters here, and obviously there's a belief about what's going on here that you're making that kind of progress.
09:17Yeah, I think the biggest thing that we need to highlight is progress. So that's the reason I speak about those sort of windows as we go through.
09:24The increase in spending in every window, the increase in our ability to spend as a football club, our willingness to spend as a football club.
09:30And what we don't want to do is all of a sudden go seven to 10 million pound players straight away, which some sides have done absolutely fine,
09:38because they've got different structures, different levels of resource to go and do that.
09:43That's the way they want to do things. We want to do things slightly differently in this football club, but to build to get to that stage.
09:49And if we build window on window and this time next year, we're looking to increase that budget again.
09:54Then I think whether we get to that level straight away, this time next year or not, I don't know, but we'll be a lot closer.
09:59Likewise, if a significant fee isn't spent before the close of the window, because of the way the narrative works in the window,
10:05there's so much attention on the finale. I guess people sometimes come away disappointed, but I guess you're thinking more on the round than that.
10:11Yeah, we're actually, you know, as a football club, we're not necessarily looking at going out and having to spend a huge amount of money
10:19before the end of the window, because we think we've done that with a few of the players that we signed this summer.
10:25If the opportunity presents itself, then again, you know what the policy is.
10:29We'll definitely flag that to the board and see where that takes us.
10:33But we want to spend the money wisely. We don't want to waste it.
10:36The chance of recruitment is always very, very difficult in terms of the way that you have to go about your business.
10:40But yeah, if there's any opportunity we think is worthwhile and we think fits within the parameters of where we are as a football club,
10:45then the evidence tells me so far at this football club that the board will say yes.
10:51Likewise, with a striker specifically, you've been kind of quite open about the fact that you've got Colby there
10:56and the sensibilities around investing in depth there. Would you potentially look at an up-and-coming type of player in that department?
11:02Yeah, we certainly wouldn't shy away from that. It is a very difficult thing to recruit a centre forward underneath
11:10a centre forward that's been so successful over the past however many years.
11:14Certainly last year at this level, the two seasons prior when I worked with Colby
11:20and he was outstanding both years and previous to that, I think previous to him signing for the football club,
11:25always knew what a good sort of operator he was at this level, having actually done it with Accrington.
11:30So yeah, very, very hard sometimes to convince somebody that they're going to come in and have a crack at getting into the starting line-up
11:39when Colby's playing and he's captaining the side currently, so we have to be smart about what we recruit underneath that.
11:45Dobre at Chesterfield's been mentioned as a potential target, anything you can tell us?
11:49Yeah, he plays for Chesterfield, so yeah, no comment on that one.
11:53Shock, horror. Okay, in terms of players going out, where do we stand with both of those?
11:58I think you've been quite open about the names in the frame there, haven't you?
12:01Yeah, I think we're working pretty hard to make sure that we come to a resolution with the three of them,
12:06with Abdu, Matt and Tom. I think we're pretty close on Matt and Abdu.
12:12Again, that's something I've sort of broadly been across, but not in the specifics of anything.
12:18With Tom, I think there is a bit of interest as well, so hopefully for the players as well to go and get that playing time,
12:25we'll have that figured out by the end of the window.
12:28Yeah, you anticipate them being fixed up on Monday evening then?
12:32I think so, I think they're good enough players that clubs are definitely going to take them.
12:35Sometimes it takes sort of the start of the season and a couple of injuries for clubs to sort of readjust where they are,
12:41and naturally clubs just don't do all their business early on.
12:44And Josh Knight, what's the latest with him? He said he's had a good week.
12:46Yeah, he's available, so he's ready to be in the squad this weekend.
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